《Reincarnated With A System In A Cultivation World》 Chapter 1 Reincarnated [Congrattions User. You have been chosen to reincarnate with a system to another world.] I woke up to this voice. When I woke up, I could not see anything. My eyes would just not open. I panicked. Frantically, I tried to move around. Again. Nothing. I tried to listen to what was happening around me. But there was only an eerie quiet. This creeped me out even further. What the hell was happening? And why was all of this happening to me, of all people? Why didn''t it happen to any other person? Was I abducted? Did someone put something over my eyes? I was, after all, just your average man. Just went ahead with my job from nine to five, and did normal everyday things. I was not even remotely important. Why would someone care about me? This must have been a mistake. But I didn''t feel anything over my eyes. I felt terrified. I counted the seconds. A few minutester, my eyes started feeling lighter. I tried opening them, and they did. But that was all that happened. I could not see much even though my eyes were open. There was a wall. I think, but all it had on it were pictures of some men dancing. "Congrattions, User. You have just discovered the skill Heaven Devouring. Do you wish to learn the skill?" I suddenly heard a sound. Where did that sounde from? Why did something like that happen? I could see a bright yellow window right above my eyes, and the same thing that I heard was hovering over me. "Is this a dream?" I said with a hoarse voice. Wait a minute! That voice. That voice was just not mine. It felt so wrong, and it did not belong to me. I tried to move around, but my body barely listened to me. I spent enough energy to lift a horse, just to get up. I tried looking down at my hands. I could not recognize them one bit. But more importantly of them all, that yellow screen was still hanging in front of me, and it freaked me out. "I didn''t go to a party yesterday, did I? Someone must have spiked a drink that I took, for me to be hallucinating that much." I told myself. "User. You are not hallucinating. This is a system page that you have been given in response to your extreme karma score. You have been chosen to be one of the few who were sent to another world with a system." That same voice rang in my ears again. "What are you? A different world? I was sent to a different world? What are you talking about?" I asked, trembling. If anything that the voice said was remotely true, then my whole life would be in shambles. All of the friends that I had, all of the family that I had, would all be taken away from me. "That is right, User. You have been sent to a different world. The way to return to the normal world is very simple. You mustplete this world and only then will you be able to go back to your previous world." the system said. I could not understand what was happening. I looked around. I saw that at another end of the room that I was in, there was a huge sack of pills, and these pills looked like they were made of mud. I looked at them curiously. "What are these?" I asked, my voice still hoarse. "These are food pills. They are present so that cultivation can be done easily, and without disturbances." the voice said. "Who are you?" I asked again. "I am the system. And you, Gray Holton, have been chosen to be the first person toe to the cultivation world." the voice said. I sat down once more. This was a lot of information to digest. I had indeede to a new world, and it looked very clear that this system was not intending to send me back to where I hade from. I looked up and saw the pictures of the men. "Congrattions, User. You have just discovered the skill Heaven Devouring. Do you wish to learn the skill?" the same pop-up came once more. "What will happen once I learn this art? How will it help me?" I asked. "User will be able to gain a skill, and that will help the user increase his cultivation and stat points." the system said. "Stat points? How do I look at that?" I asked. "User has to go to system homepage." the system said. "System homepage? What is tha-" The moment that I said the words ''system homepage'', the yellow screen changed into a blue one, and I could see an array of information that truly amazed me. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 1 Strength - 5 Stamina - 6 Agility - 4 Cultivation - 0 Luck - 20 Skills - None "What the hell is cultivation? Why the hell is that zero? And why is my luck stat so high?" I asked out. "User is very lucky. That is the reason that the User has been selected to go through this trial run. But the user is also weak. So you do not have any skills, and hence, do not have any cultivation." the system said. "And what is with this cultivation name? Liu Feng? What the hell does that mean?" I asked. "User is in a cultivation world. Hence, you have been given a name that suits the world. You are also lucky since you are in the body of the young master of the Liu Family. That is a good starting point, and it will be easier to climb up thedder toplete this world." the system said. "Liu Feng? I am in someone''s body? What the hell does that mean? Why am I in someone else''s body?" I asked, horrified at the thought. "Liu Feng is the person who died at the moment of your arrival into this world. Hence, user has been ced into this body. It is a matter of convenience." the system said. So this man had died? How tragic. And to have died in such a ce, with little to no light, and only a wall to apany him. I felt sorry for him. "How can I leave this ce?" I asked. "User is stuck in a cave and will be allowed to leave as long as User has enough power to break through the walls of the cave. The entrance is blocked by a boulder. The system suggests that you learn the skill here so that you can have sufficient power to break through the wall." the system said. I sighed. There was nothing else I could do anymore. The only thing that I could possibly do to get back to my family was to finish this world. "Fine. Learn Skill." I said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2 Heaven Devouring "Processing request. Learning skill, Heaven Devouring." the system said. I saw that there was a progress bar. It was at ny percent. I looked at the pictures themselves more closely. The men in the picture were holding a sword, and every single one of them had a different posture. "They must all be different postures of the skill. Like a sword art!" I realized. It might be my first time in a cultivation world, but I wasn''t an idiot and I knew a little about how all of this worked. Ping! The progress bar hit 100%. I looked at the status window carefully. My stats remained the same, but there was just one difference. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 1 Strength - 5 Stamina - 6 Agility - 4 Cultivation - 0 Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Basic) Skill points - 0 "What do I have to do? How do I learn Heaven Devouring?" I asked. "User has to follow the instructions on the wall." the system said with a little condescending tone. "Then what the hell are you here for? I thought that you would help me with something." I was frustrated. After all, calling me lucky for getting a useless system was a bit hypocritical. "User is still in level 1. Many of the system''s functions are locked. Leveling up to level 5 will allow the user to unlock daily missions and the store." the system said. "And how the hell do I get to level 5?" I asked. "By killing monsters, earning experience points, and by leveling up your cultivation. Isn''t that obvious? But host is too weak and will die immediately. Host has to learn how to use the heaven devouring art first." the system said coldly. Have mercy! So harsh! But it was quite right. I was a nerd for all intents and purposes. I know that I am not strong. I know that the moment that I get into a fight with some sort of monster, then I will die the next instant. I looked around the room. My stomach rumbled when I looked at the food pills. Clearly, they were craving some food. I ran to where the pill vases were and popped one into my mouth. "Yuck!" They tasted nd and chewing them felt like I soiled my mouth. But the moment that they entered my stomach, I felt full. They might not have tasted good, but they certainly did their one job very well. Then, I took a look at the wall filled with diagrams. I looked at the first pose. It felt obvious now. I just had to copy that man, and do what he did. I raised my hands to look like him. My right arm was above my head, while the left was below. I did my best to replicate the same with my legs. I looked at this with satisfaction. Then, I looked at the next move in the sequence. I had to pounce forward, like an animal. I moved my arms towards the same posture. That was when the difficult part hit. Pain filled my body, and my muscles felt like they were being torn apart. I looked at the wall with eyes filled with tears. I wanted to rx my hands and fall onto the ground, but I couldn''t. My body would no longer listen to me. My hands moved of their own volition, and they soon finished the second posture. "Aaaaargh!" I screamed with pain. Who wouldn''t? It was difficult to keep it in thus far already. My arms were red, and I just didn''t understand why they pained like so. "What is with this stupid art? It feels more like the art of self-destruction. Heaven devouring my ass. This is just a stupid idea. I should just stop everything." I shouted out. I was giving up. This seemed like too much for me. "Host does not need to worry. This is just the beginning. After a while, the body will grow stronger. The art will take in energy from around you and will heal the body. You should feel it at any moment." the system tried to console me. "What is your intention? Do you want me to just go die or something? You did not feel the pain that I- oh wait. It is healing me!" I was filled with shock. My arms felt rxed. Some power was filling my body, and my arms felt more powerful than ever before. I could feel myself growing stronger and more energetic. "Just one move could make me feel this much stronger? I shouldplete the entire thing. I will be so much stronger than I ever was!" "That was the intention." the system said. "Way to kill the mood." Ping! Congrattions! You have gained one strength point. Stat has been raised. I saw a blue box pop up in front of me. "I am finally making progress!" I shouted with glee. My arms were still in the second stage. Now, I moved them, trying to take them into the third. It was a position that I have never seen before, and it looked truly peculiar to me. But for now, I knew that it was going to pain a lot, and I prepared myself for it. And boy did it sting. A thousand ants biting would be a better ce to be in than what I was experiencing right now. My body was screaming now. I didn''t need to open my mouth. Sounds came from all over my body. Muscles were being torn apart, and bones seemed like they were cracking. "How is all of this happening right now? Why is it paining this much?" I wondered out loud, but no sound came from my mouth. Finally, the third movement was over. Energy filled my body again, and the muscles that seemed to crack also seemed to heal. It was a process of breaking and building back in. But it was not a process that I enjoyed even one bit. This was just torture. My body did not stop. It kept going. There were twelve more movements left, and it seemed like I had toplete each and every one of them before this spell of control over my own limbs was lifted. I screamed. It was painful, and yet after each and every single movement, my body was more and more eager to keep going. After the twelfth movement, my body might have been stronger than where it had started from, but my mind was about to copse. Ping! Host haspleted the first cycle of heaven devouring art. Host has started the restructuring of the body. Host shall undergo a hibernation of one day. A hibernation? What is this? I did not understand. But I did not pay much attention to it. My eyes were drowsy, and the next thing that I knew, I fell face first falt onto the ground. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3 Restructuring The Body "What the hell is happening? What is going on right now? I have goddamn abs right now?!!! Is this even my body? It looks so much different than before. This restructuring seems to work. I feel so powerful right now!" I shouted with excitement. I felt powerful. I looked around. There was no ce for a reflection, so I couldn''t see myself properly. But I knew the moment I nced down. I had muscles like someone who was going to the gym for a year. If I went out right now, then I would be the one to get those girls. I thought about it even more. Just one cirction of the art was enough to make me so much more powerful than before? This system was not lying to me. The cultivation world seemed much more mystical and extraordinary than I had expected. My body was filled with energy. I lined up my arms to do it once more. But my stomach seemed to have a disagreement with my body. It rumbled with hunger. I should have expected that. After hibernating for so long, a lot of fat must have been consumed. I took one of the food pills and swallowed it whole. I then looked at the wall with the heaven devouring art. I followed the moves once more. This was going to be my second cycle. It was more tolerable than the first. Every move of the first cycle gave me a gut wrenching pain. Now, it was more like someone was stabbing me with a needle. It was still paining, but it was more toned down. I could take this pain. After a while, my upper body glistened with sweat. A pop up came from the system. Congrattions. Second cycle of Heaven Devouring has beenpleted. User has leveled up. Five stat points have been awarded. One skill point has been awarded. "A skill point? What can I use that for? Stat points are obvious enough. I just use them to raise my stats. But the skill point doesn''t make sense. System Homepage." I called out. Immediately, the blue screen came up in front of me. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng p Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 2 Strength - 10 Stamina - 9 Agility - 10 Cultivation - 0 Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Basic) Skill points - 1 Stat Points - 5 Message - You aren''t doing bad. A few more months and you might make something decent of yourself. My eyebrows twitched. "I am not doing bad? What the hell. I did not ask you to start judging me. Just tell me what the skill points are." I shouted with anger. "User need not be so angry. It is just an honesty assessment of the User''s current strength and position. As for skill points, they cannot be used right now. After User has reached level 5, the store shall open, and User will be allowed to buy certain @#$%^&* Information is above User''s authority. Please continue to increase level to learn more." the system suddenly stopped talking. It was weird. Whatever came out, it looked like someone was stopping me from understanding what the system was saying. But I was not an idiot. I could understand a little. The system has a shop of sorts, and I could buy something from the shop using the skill points. I read a few novels like this, but this was the first time that I applied the same principles. Now, all that I had to do was to increase my level. I could not leave this cave though. Some bastard closed it and I could not leave. The only way that I could increase my level was clearly to master the Heaven Devouring Art. Even after doing it once, the skill level was still Basic. It was clear that I had a very long way to go. I sighed as I started my third rep. I had nothing else to do. There was noputer or anything else here, unfortunately. So, doing something was better than just sitting there and doing nothing at all. Ipleted the rep. And then, I did one more. And another. The day passed by. The only way that I knew that a day had passed by was that there was a convenient clock at the edge of the system homepage. I sat down and popped a pill into my mouth. I might have done a full ten cycles of the art. I got a few notifications from the system, but I put them aside. I wanted them to umte, so that I could see what I truly aplished in the one day that I constantly practiced the art. Notifications(5) User has increased strength stat by 3 User has increased agility stat by 2 User has increased cultivation by 0.001 year User has increased skill points by 1 User has gained 100 exp I looked at the third notification with curiosity. Cultivation? From what I had gathered, it was the mysterious energy that seemed to replenish and strengthen my body every time I did the Heaven Devouring Art. Apparently, it was counted in terms of years, and it was very clear that it was a whole new metric that I did not understand. "System. How much experience do I need to level up to level 5?" I asked. "User needs 9000 exp to level 5. It will take 90 days like today for User to grow strong enough to break out of the cave and sessfully survive what is outside." the system said. Ny days?!! It looks like the next three months, this was the only thing that I was allowed to do! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4 Three Months Days passed. I never understood how novels talked about the days passing in a blink of an eye. In my case, it felt like an eternity. They were liars. Every second was like torture. The only thing that kept me going was that there was a world out there that I had yet to see, and it would probably be worth it. I kept going on a lie that I told myself. If this was the world outside, then it was going to be one of murder and power struggles. I enjoy neither. But what could I do? Three months passed. The worst three months of my life. But that was all mental. Physically, my body was having a field day. It craved more exercise. It wanted to do more reps. It was like I was getting addicted to something that I hated having to deal with. My body became only more well developed over these three months. The muscles were perfect. Not too bulky, but enough to show that I had quite the rugged body. I would say that I could probably pass off as a model, given how well my body looked to me. And my stats went up a lot. I meant that for sure. I had so many stat points that I had yet to assign, and I was getting very close to leveling up. Just one more day, one more cycle, and I would be able to break through the barrier that kept me tied here. I started the cycle. I did not even look at the wall. After doing the same thing for so many days, I did not even have to try and recall it. My body knew what to do. It did not need to be reminded. It went on its own flow, and I let it. And it did not hurt me that much! It felt like a few ants bit me, but that was all. Nothing much. Nothing like the pain that I had to undergo during the first month. I did not even change my facial expressions while I was going through this one cycle. I finished ten minutester. This was also a factor that I had improved over the months of practice. It went down from half an hour to just ten minutes. And maybe it would decrease after a lot more practise. And this was all that it took. Ping! User has gained 10 exp Ping! User has leveled up. User is now level 5 "System homepage" I called out, expressionlessly. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 5 Strength - 25 Stamina - 20 Agility - 25 Cultivation - 1 year Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Skill points - 10 Stat Points - 20 "What about the system features that I was supposed to unlock after I reached level 5? Don''t tell me that you really are useless." I asked. "Features will be avable after System has gone through an update. Update will start in five minutes. User will be unable to ess system for one day. It is suggested that User stay inside the cave until update ispleted." the system said, and the blue box in front of me nked out. "Like hell, I am going to wait for you to update. I am going out. I waited three months for this. Do you really think that I am going to wait another day? I am way too bored for that." I grumbled. Then, I looked at the wall that had the inscriptions of the Heaven Devouring art. This art truly changed my life, and I did not know what I would do without it. In just three months, it made my body so much stronger, and I knew that this was a secret worth killing over. I clenched my fists and punched at the wall. A crisp sound came from the wall, but nothing happened. I smiled as I took a step back. Then, I bowed to the wall. I had to show my respect to whoever left this behind, but if I let it stay like this, then it would be the death of me. Then, I turned around to leave. Crumble! Crumble! Slowly, the cave started moving a little. The wall, just where I had struck it, started copsing. It was like the punch happened a few seconds after I had turned around. But I knew that this would happen. The moment I grew this powerful, I started trying out how much strength I had. The results surprised me, to say the least. For one thing, I knew that I could move the boulder that was blocking the cave. I faced the entrance, and put my hands on the curved and smooth surface of the boulder. Digging my heels into the ground, I pushed. And I pushed hard. Yet nothing happened. The boulder did not even budge. "This does not make sense. The system said that if I reached level 5, I would be able to leave the ce." I wondered. Then, I realized. The stat points. I did not use any of them, and I would be able to leave if I put all of that into my strength. I knew that I had to be bnced, but my priority was leaving. "System homepage." Nothing happened. "System homepage!" I shouted this time. Again, nothing happened. "What the hell is wrong with you. Oh shit. You are updating. God, you must be kidding me. Why must god hate me so much!" I shouted. As if God was listening to me, the boulder moved. And this time, I knew that this wasn''t because of me. This was because someone was behind that boulder. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 5 The Outside World Please vote with Power Stones to help support the book. If the book wins WPC, then I will publish five extra chapters. The boulder tumbled out and light shone through the cave for the first time in god knows how long. I looked at the man behind the boulder with apprehension. He was certainly stronger than me. Or else, he wouldn''t be able to move the huge rock with such ease. "Who are you?" I called out. The man stepped forward so that I could see him. It took a few seconds for my eyes to get adjusted to this bright light. I looked at him. He was the very definition of machoism. He had a curly mustache and a very muscr body. But for some reason, I recognized him. A name fit this description. That confused me because I knew that I had never met this man before in my life. "Uncle Du!" I called out involuntarily. "My dear nephew. So this was where you had been stuck this whole time. Your mother spent weeks crying, begging me to look at the forest. I thought that you had run away for the third time, but it looks like I was wrong. I should have looked for you earlier. But what was that sound that led me here? Rocks were crumbling. I thought that the mountain would copse when I saw this boulder." Uncle Du said. "I don''t remember how I got here. Someone might have put me here. An enemy of the family, no doubt. Let us go back to the city. My head hurts, and after all of this time, I am having difficulty remembering the names and faces. I better go there fast." I said. A clever maneuver no doubt. This would help me understand what was happening in the city from this body''s perspective so that I could adjust ordingly. "That is truly unfortunate. How about this? I will take you to the city and give you a full visitor''s exnation. But now, I need to take you to your mother. Or she will kill me this instant." Uncle Duughed as he held my shoulder. He then nodded and he walked out of the cave. I took a deep breath and looked back. The cave, which was where I had spent so much time at, was kind of my home right now. It was time to bid it adieu. p We walked through the forest. Unlike what I had expected, there were no moving trees, talking animals, or anything of the sort. All I could see were normal deer running away from us, normal trees swaying with the wind, and nothing seemed to point to a cultivation world. "How did you survive in there, Liu Feng? You were there for three months!" Uncle Du asked. "There was a basket of food pills, Uncle Du. It might have been the final resting ce of someone great, but all I could find was the basket of food pills. Nothing else. I ate three a day, and slept it out." I said. "Well, you certainly did something. Look at you! You are three inches taller and have a much better body than before. If I didn''t know you for so long, then I certainly would not have recognized you." Uncle Du said. "I don''t know what happened, Uncle Du. Maybe this was the fortune within misfortune." I said, trying to change the topic. We could see the outline of a city by now. And to call it a city was an overstatement. It was like I was picked up and dropped centuries in the past. Buildings that did not cross there stories, and only one that did. It was probably the building of the city lord, or whoever was the most powerful of them all. I saw that there were three sections of the city that were cut off from the rest. These were probably the areas of the powerful ns that I always read about. I probably needed to know more about them. We entered the city through the gates. The guards bowed to Uncle Du, and looked at me with curiosity. They whispered to each other, but I could hear them. "The idiot young master of the Liu Family is back! Who would have thought that he would return! It looks like the Cai family and the Bai Family need to know about this." one guard said to the next. My mouth twitched. Idiot young master? What the hell is this body''s problem? They could have made me the handsome and talented young master right? Why did I have to be the idiot young master? We continued to walk. The city might have been very smallpared to my modern standards, but standing within it, it was bustling. I enjoyed thepany of humans around me. Everyone was talking. And they were talking in Chinese? Wait a minute! I could understand Chinese? How did thate to be? I wanted to ask the system, but it had to have started updating now of all times. I really should have waited until the system finished updating before I came out. A giant arch, very simr to the city entrance, towered in front of the two of us. The words, ''Liu Manor'' were written masterfully. I could feel a piercing re from the words. It was like it was cutting at me, and would kill me if I showed any hostility. "This must be the sword intent, or whatever." I understood. There were three guards this time, and all of them also looked at me weirdly. They bowed down to Uncle Du. "Master Du! I shall inform the third elder of your arrival instantly." one of the guards bowed with haste and ran off into the manor. I knew the moment I looked at this ce that it was one of the three big sections in the city. If I had to guess, the Liu Family, Cai Family, and the Bai family, which the guards were talking about, were the three biggest families in the city. "Remember Feng''er. When you see your father, the first thing that you must do is bow and beg for forgiveness. Your mother might be crying with sorrow after your disappearance, but Liu Qian was so angry that your grandfather had to intervene." Uncle Du warned me. I nodded. I did not know the customs here, but certainly, the ''idiot son'' had to apologize because everything was probably his fault. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 6 Liu Qian 6 Liu Qian The guard came rushing back. He took a breath and bowed once more. "The second elder requested that the young master and master Du enter the family pavilion. He also convened the elders and the family leader." the guard said. "The second elder? Isn''t my father the third elder? Why did the second elder convene this meeting? Smells like trouble to me." I thought to myself as we walked. Uncle Du seemed to have some simr thoughts, because his face was filled with worry. I did not want to disturb the man who tried his best to save my life, so I went with the flow, following Uncle Du. The path that we were on seemed nothing like the city that was outside. To the side, there were multiple bamboo shoots. It looked like a forest, but one that was well cared for. And the buildings that were within were well spaced, with a lot of empty space between them. Just another show of how powerful the Liu Family probably was. I could see that there were people everywhere, and all of them looked at me with contempt. Some of them talked to each other, and all of them seemed to have one thing running in their head. Why did the idiot young master return? We stopped in front of what appeared to be the family pavilion. Uncle Du stopped walking. "Feng''er. I do not think that I can go forward anymore. Tell your father that I did my job. I will go to your mother and tell her the good news. Do not forget. Beg for forgiveness." Uncle Du said. Before I could ask anything further from him, he disappeared. Disappeared into thin air! I did not know how he did that, but it seemed like a cultivation benefit. I looked to the stairs that led to the pavilion. It was closed on the top, for some reason. More like a council room, or something, that they did not know how to name. I walked up the stairs. By now, I could see through the entrance. There were many people seated within. All of them were silent and calm. I entered the hall, and all the eyes fell upon me like daggers. I looked around, and names started matching the faces. And at the top, the very head of the room, there was an old man who was seated, looking at me like I murdered someone. "Grandfather." I knelt down. "Feng''er. Do you understand the severity of the issue that you have caused since you disappeared three months ago?" my grandfather for this life, Liu Hong, asked. I did not answer. I knew that this was rhetoric. I was not allowed to say anything until everyone was done scolding me. I turned to the side, and could see my father, Liu Qian, sitting on the second chair from the right. He did not look happy in the slightest to see me. His face scowled just looking at me. "Forgive me father. It was not my intention to be away from home for so long. But I had no choice. I was trapped in a cave. I do not know how. I was attacked. I almost died!" I begged. This was what the system had told me before. The backstory was that I got trapped in the cave while I was running away from someone. "You expect me to believe the lies that you spout?!" Liu Qian shouted with anger. "I was trapped in a cave. Uncle Du rescued me. You can ask him. The boulder that blocked the cave was not something that I could move even an inch, let alone block myself in a cave with. You must 09:20 believe me father!" I cried. I was a victim after all. Not the culprit. CLOSE Ad "Qian''er. Wait. Let him finish. I know that there is some truth to what he said. There are people within the Bai family who wanted him to die. After all, no one wants this boy to marry their precious jade beauty. But there is not much that we can do. We have to wait for the city lord''s gathering two monthster. After that, the marriage agreement will be dissolved, and then you can punish your boy however you want." Liu Hong said. I was confused. A marriage agreement? It seemed that this body was so stupid that he let go of a wife that he would have had? I could not believe it. How could anyone be so stupid? If he had a surefire win, then he should have held on to it. "Feng''er. Go back home. Your mother is waiting for you. I have something that I want to ask the rest of the council. More particrly, why the second elder called for the entire council to meet." Liu Qian looked at the man opposite to him with eyes filled with anger. "What are you talking about brother? I called everyone here because there is something obvious that needs to be done. Liu Feng is not a part of the family. He is just here in namesake. You know that. And yet, he tarnished the name, and now we lost a chance of an alliance with the Bai family because of him. I say that the marriage agreement be transferred to Kun''s name. That way, we will still remain one of the three top families." the second elder, Liu Zhu, said with a sinister smile. "We shall wait for the gathering two months hence. After that, we shall see what to do. Until then, we will wait. After all, that is all that we can do. The gathering is important. Also, make sure that all the young ones are properly trained these next two months. We need to get one of the five spots. A chance like this will never appear again. We need someone in the Xiantian stage within ten years. Or else, we will be in big trouble." Liu Hong said. "Xiantian stage? That is the way that they measure cultivation? Then why is my cultivation measured in years? This does not make any sense to me." I thought to myself. I got up slowly and left the hall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This was clearly not my ce to be in. If you are not reading this at that means that this chapter has been pirated. Piracy is a crime. To support the author, read the novel at - Chapter 7 Mother Please vote with powerstones. It supports me a lot, and if I get a hundred power stones by the end of the week, then I will release five extra chapters I knew where I was going. The memories flew through my mind. I could see a loving woman who seemed to care for me in a way that I simply did notprehend. My feet were practically flying. And all those points that I had increased in agility also seemed to be paying off right now. I could see that I was going faster than ever before. Within a few minutes, I could see a courtyard. It was where Liu Feng, I mean the one who was in this body before me, and his parents lived. He had a sister as well. It was like this was all the clichesbined together. I could practically see the novel that I had be a part of. Uncle Du was at the entrance of the courtyard. Rather, he was at the exit, because he was just leaving. He nced at me and smiled. "Looks like you survived that just fine. I am really surprised that you got through the war room without any scratches. Well, we have to wait until Liu Qian deals with Liu Zhu first. You should go back and talk to her though. I don''t want to rob Ning''er of that. She waited for so long." Uncle Du said as he turned away and left. I steeled my face and looked forward. The house was right there. I just had to take a few steps, but a heavy force stopped me. I couldn''t ce a finger on it. I just felt pain. I could not pain this woman. I was not her real son. Her real son was dead, and I had reced him in his own body. But if I said that, then she would lose her mind, and I would certainly be dead. I had to weigh my choices. I had to be inhumane, or I had to think about only myself. "Go inside. Talk to her. Mother is waiting for you." someone whispered in my ear. And I recognized this voice. It was the same voice that came out of this body. "Liu Feng? You are still alive?" I asked out loud. There was no answer. Either I was dreaming, or he actually talked to me. But that was enough to tip the scales. I shook my head and went in. I knew which room I had to go to. It was quite big, and a woman was sitting on it. I knew who she was instantly. Her face was beautiful, but the beauty had faded away. What reced it were wrinkles of stress. Her eyes were swollen. She was clearly crying recently. "Mother" my voice cracked. She looked up. There were still tears in her eyes, but she smiled. "You are finally here. I knew that you wouldn''t run away for this long. I knew that something bad happened to you. I knew that I was right." she smiled. Du Ning''er got up and walked up to me. She grazed her hand by my face. "You changed. You look a little different now," she said. The changes that I went through did not even escape Uncle Du. They certainly would not escape my own mother of this life! I nodded. "I did not face only misfortune this trip. But I cannot exin what happened to me, because I myself do not know what happened in truth." I said. And I said the truth. I still did not understand how the heaven devouring art made me the way that I am. It simply changed me. That was all that I knew. "You should rest. I will talk to your father. This was not your fault. You need rest. Your uncle told me. You ate only food pills all these months? I will tell the cook to prepare something especially special." my mother told me. Her mouth opened as if she was going to say something to me. Her hands clutched my own, but then she let go. She shook her head as if she was in some disagreement with herself. She then said," Go. You need your rest." I nodded. I could not disobey her now. I left the room, and I went to my own. I sighed. "What is happening around me? There are so many problems that are apparent. They exist. But I cannot do a single thing about it. I took over this body. I need to repay the family at least. I need to get powerful. I hope this goddamn system is not cheating me. I better grow powerful." I told myself as I walked to my own room. The room was nd. in grey floor, brown walls, and not a single decoration that adorned the wall like in my mother''s room. A single cot sat at the end. It seemed that although I was the young master, that was only in name. For some reason, I was treated really badly. I knew that, becausepared to what I had seen till now, the room that I had was really bad. I shook my head. I was expecting too much. "Just wait for the system toplete updating. How much longer will it take?" I told myself as Iy on the cot. Compared to the cave, it was the difference between earth and heaven. And, for some reason, fatigue filled me. I closed my eyes, and then I fell asleep immediately. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 8 System V2 Please vote with power stones. It supports me a lot, and if I get a hundred power stones by the end of the week, then I will release five extra chapters Ding! System haspleted update. My eyes fluttered open. I tuned my mind to stay awake when I heard that irritating sound because it was so crucial to my survival. I got up and looked around. I was in my room. But the funny thing was that I had no idea how I got here. After taking a little nap yesterday, I went to lunch. Eating something good for the first time in three months felt surreal. And after that, I just wandered about the family grounds. Neverminding the constant looks of judgment from every one in the family, I would say that I handled the day very well. But it looked like sometime after the sky went dark, I came back here and slept. I sighed and got up on my feet. "System Homepage." The blue screen shed in front of me. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 5 Strength - 25 Stamina - 20 Agility - 25 Cultivation - 1 year Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Skill points - 10 Stat Points - 20 "So no change here? Then what changed?" I asked out loud. "User has a feature to use the store. The store can be used to buy certain things, like pills, manuals, and weapons. ording to User''s current status, System suggests that you purchase manuals." the system said. I nodded. "Show me the store then." I told the system. A catalog of products appeared before me. I could see so many things that just caught my eye. There were things like swords, axes, and other weapons, d in a golden light. They were clearly the legendary weapons, and some of them were epic rated weapons. "Show me the manuals. And show me only the ones that I can buy right now. I don''t want to feel down looking at all the high prices." I said. The array was reshuffled once more. All the weapons disappeared. All that remained were ten products. "Iron Fist Art. Steel Tyrant Sword. Blue Dragon Spear Art. What is with the names man? But that spear art seems interesting. Maybe I can ask father if there are spears in the family. I can start learning spear arts. Having a weapon is important after all." I noted. "That is a good choice, User. Blue Dragon Spear Art will cost 3 skill points. Should I confirm purchase?" the system asked. "Not yet. I am not an idiot. I will wait until I get a spear in my hand. Then, I will think about buying something. It took me so long to get these skill points. Do you really think that I will just use them up like that?" I scoffed. I looked at the rest. The pills were lucrative, but they seemed to echo the uncertainty that I had before. "System. Why is cultivation measured in years, and not levels? Because I heard someone say Xiatian here, and that is not the same method you use to measure cultivation." "Error. Error. Information is beyond User''s authority. Level up to learn more." I gnashed my teeth. "Alright then. What are the new features other than the store? You disappeared for a whole day. It must be for something." "User has unlocked missions section. User will have three daily missions to undergo every day. Completing the missions will provide exp for User to level up. There will be one mission which is a story quest, and that will give rewards like skill points, weapons, or legendary pills." the system said. "Finally. Some proper system cheats. What are the missions I have right now?" I asked. "User has three missions." the system said. As it said this, three blue boxes appeared in front of me with the missions written on top of them. Mission 1 Beat Liu Kun in a match Mission 2 Go to the weapons room and obtain a weapon Mission 3 Complete twenty cycles of the heaven devouring art "What about the story quest?" I asked. A red box appeared in front of me this time. Story Quest Win the martial gathering that will take ce in two months. Failure will lead to punishment. Loss of three levels. Completion will give random reward. I looked at this and baked. "I need to win thatpetition that those people were talking about? Are you joking? I don''t even know how powerful everyone is! How will I catch up to them in just two months?" I asked, outraged. "User has the system." the system said nonchntly. "And it better make this miracle happen." I said, growling. By now, a light shone through the window. It was dawn, and the day had started. "Time to start making those miracles." I stretched my arms as I headed out. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 9 Daily Missions Please vote with power stones. It supports me a lot, and if I get a hundred power stones by the end of the week, then I will release five extra chapters "Well, thest one is easy. I guess I should start with that. But where the hell can I train? Doing all those weird poses in the courtyard would be kind of weird." I told myself as I got out of the room. Even at such an early time, there were many people outside. And all of them gave me an answer immediately. There were many people outside the courtyard who were just practicing the arts that they used. Some of them did what appeared to be Tai Chi, while others were practicing their weapon arts. If I joined them, maybe I wouldn''t look so stupid. I stepped out of the courtyard and went to the training hall. This was where all of the young disciples of the family were supposed to practice martial arts. As I walked through the estate, everyone around me looked at me with surprise. "Isn''t that Liu Feng? Why is he awake now? It is so early! I did not know that the idiot son ever woke up so early. But why is he walking towards the training hall all of a sudden? Don''t tell me that he wants to start learning martial arts all of a sudden." one of the people whispered to the other, thinking that I couldn''t hear them. I shook my head and continued walking. The training hall was within my eye of sight. There were about a hundred people there, all my age, dueling each other, and practicing their own martial arts. It surprised me, how many young members there were of the Liu Family. I stepped onto the grounds and immediately met with contempt. "Look who it is. It seems that the idiot young master finally understood that it was time to learn martial arts. Looks to me like it is toote. Why don''t you go back home and sleep in your mother''s embrace? That is all that you know how to do, don''t you?" a young manughed as he pointed at me. I held it in. "Liu Kun. It looks like you have nothing better to do than to start poking at a bear. Why don''t you make yourself scarce so that some people can actually do what they came here to do." I said as I turned around. I started the first cycle of the Heaven Devouring Art. My moves were fluid, as they should be after so much practice. But all of that did not seem to sit well with Liu Kun. He gnashed his teeth and lunged at me. I heard him jump, and my body turned to the second move of the art. Then the third almost instantly. My body moved out of the way, and Liu Kun fell forward. At this opportune moment, I moved onto the fourth move, and pounced at Liu Kun. Before he could even react, I slowly whispered, "Put five stat points into strength." Ping! "Congrattions. New strength is now 30" the system said. I smiled, and my fist collided with his own, which he threw out with desperation. But little did he know that I increased my strength by so much already! His arm curled up to him, and my fist continued forward, and hit his face. He fell back a few steps. My body stopped, and I looked around. With this, I had the attention of everybody on the grounds. All of them were looking at me, some with hostility, and some with wonder. But the one look that was synonymous in everyone was one of surprise. No one expected this oue. "You-you-you must have cheated. That is what you must have done. There is no way that this would have happened to me if you faced me in a fair fight. Come let us fight again." Liu Kun pointed his finger at me and said, trembling with rage, and shock. As if the system knew that he was lying, it buzzed. Ping! "Daily Mission 1 Completed. Defeated Liu Kun. 300 exp obtained." the system said. "Three hundred exp? That is what I get after three whole days of hard work. It seems that the daily missions are a much better way of earning exp. But I think that I need to learn this art and increase the proficiency of the heaven devouring art more. To think that it could be used as an attacking method as well!" "Come. Let us fight like men now!" Liu Kun shouted at me. "Just get lost. I came here to practice martial arts, not to deal with some bbering idiot." I swatted my hand at him. Seeing this, his anger grew even more. "What is happening over here? I thought that only friendly duels were supposed to take ce?" a middle aged man walked over to us. He had a half shaven beard, and what appeared to be a small twig in his mouth. With shabby clothes and unkempt hair, I would have mistaken him as a beggar. But I knew better. "Liu Feng greets the seventh elder." I bowed down with my fists together. "Both of you. Go your own ways. You will fight after two months anyways for the selection of the three participants from our family. Liu Feng wait here. I want to speak with you." the seventh elder, Liu Jian, nced at me. ,m "Yes, elder. Did I do anything wrong?" I asked, trying my best to keep a straight face. "Follow me." Liu Jian said, and he walked past me. I quickly turned around and followed the man. For a man who looked so haggard and weak, he had a very quick pace. I had to jog to catch up to him, surprisingly. We went to the far end of the training grounds, where there was a tall building. The man at the entrance, the guard nced at Liu Jian. The guard was old, and he looked like a frail grandfather. "Old Tian. Let me in. I want to speak with this child in private." Liu Jian asked the guard. The guard, Old Tian, looked at me, and his eyes opened wide with shock. "Such a good body? Such a waste. His peak is over. He would have be so much more. He should havee here earlier. Do what you want to do with him." Old Tian said as he moved to the side. Liu Jian nodded and he walked into the building, with me following him. We approached a room that was empty. Which was surprising, because this room was filled with weapons. It was supposed to be bustling, right? "Alright. Tell me now. How did you get so powerful? I know that you were not hiding anything. I know that you grew this powerful only during the time that you went missing. Tell me what you found out there." Liu Jian asked me, his face serious and stern. "Host is in trouble. System suggests host to use the story line, An old master found me, and he took a little interest. He tapped me on the forehead, and I found myself in a cave a few weekster." the system said,ing to my rescue. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 10 Getting A Spear Please vote with power stones. It supports me a lot, and if I get a hundred power stones by the end of the week, then I will release five extra chapters "You expect me to believe that you met a master who gave you some power, andpletely restructured your body?" Liu Jian had a hard time believing what I said. I knew that I would. I couldn''t believe what the system made me do. I mean, a master in seclusion did this for fun? "Yes. That is the truth about what happened." I said reluctantly. "Alright then. If you don''t want to tell me, then I will leave it at that. Your father helped me a lot, and I owe him a few. Go. Do whatever you were doing." he turned away. "Elder. Actually there is something that I wanted to ask you. Is there any way that I could get a spear? I want to start learning spear arts, and I do not have a spear." I asked him. It was part of the daily missions, so I had to get along with it anyways. "You want to learn spear arts of all things? The rumors are true. You really are an idiot. Do you not know that the spear is the toughest weapon to master? We do not have spear masters in the family, so there are no spear arts as well." Liu Jian scoffed. "Actually, elder, the senior who did this to me also gave me a few spear moves and he told me that if I followed them, then I would be able to achieve something decent. So that is why I wanted to try them out." I said, crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. "You are still going with that story? Fine then. I will see what you do. Go choose a spear from what we have. You can choose only the mortal ranked weapons. Nothing else." Liu Jian shook his head. "Thank You elder!" I said cheerfully and I ran into the far end of the room, where the spears were located. "System, which spear is best for the Blue Dragon Spear Art?" "User still has not purchased the skill, so nothing can be said as of yet." the system said. "Fine, you money grubbing idiot. Buy the Blue Dragon Spear Art." I said, clenching my teeth. "Blue Dragon Spear Art obtained. Three skill points used. Relevant information will be transmitted to Host''s brain." the system pinged. "To my brain? What the hell do you mean? Are you- Oww!" Images and videos of a man holding the spear and wielding it sped through my memories. I could see this man using the spear, turning it, stabbing it, and it just seemed so majestic. And then he jumped. As he jumped, I could see a vague outline of a dragon rumbling, waiting to prowl on something. It was unreal. "Host should choose the spear on the right, three paces forward. It is the best choice for the Blue Dragon Spear Art." the system suddenly said. I nodded and did the same. I went up to the spear that the system was pointing to. It was an unassuming weapon. Pitch ck, and a shiny spear head. At nine feet and nine inches, or so I estimated, it was pretty tall and definitely taller than it was supposed to be. I took it and tried twirling it around. I had to know if I could actually use it. For such a big weapon though, it was surprisingly wieldable. I was able to lift it up, and that was a surprise in itself. I did that effortlessly. So, I held it and headed out. Liu Jian looked at me with his eyebrows up. "You are choosing that? Are you sure? A nine foot spear is not for everyone. Are you even able to swing that around?" he asked me. "My the senior''s grace, I am now able to do many things, Elder. I will go and try learning those moves now." I said. "Fine. That will be the weapon that you get from the armory. All the young ones are given one anyway, and you never got one for yourself." Liu Jian sighed. Ping! User haspleted Daily Mission 2. Weapon acquired. 300 exp awarded. "How much more do I need to level up?" I asked. "What did you just say?" Liu Jian asked me,ing right behind me. "Nothing, elder. I was just muttering to myself." I quickly covered up for myself and took a few steps forward to put a little distance between me and him. But it seemed that he no longer cared because he turned away. "That was a close one. I should be careful about who is around me when I talk to the system. If only there is a way that the system can be essed without so many words." I thought to myself as I left the building. "The feature for host to talk to system telepathically will unlock in the next system update, scheduled at level 20." the system suddenly said. I looked around and confirmed that there was no one there. "And how the hell did you hear me now?" I demanded to know. "Error. Beyond User''s authority." the system buzzed. "Damn this." I cursed and left the building. Old Tian looked at mezily, and then at the spear. "Come back when you fail. It would be bad to let you leave with a weapon that you cannot use. After you are done with this charade, I will give you a good sword. Pity, you are wasting the little of the golden time that you do have left." he said as he rxed on the chair that he sat on. "Who is Old Tian? He is able to talk so disrespectfully to an elder, and a young lord, and yet he is the guard of a ce that is so important? He must be one of those hidden masters of the family." I realized. "I will try my best, and if it doesn''t work out, then I will be in your care." I bowed slightly to Old Tian and ran to the training field. I could see him smiling faintly. He was clearly amused by my response. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 11 Blue Dragon Spear Art I could remember every single stance in the Blue Dragon Spear Art. Every single stance, and position were vividly described, and I could see through them. I raised the spear and held it firmly. I thrust it forward, one of the most basic moves of the spear. The tip wavered a little, moving to the side a little. That little movement led to the whole attack having halved its strength. This was an art that required a lot of practice. As if the system was reading my mind, it pinged. "Does User wish to use the skill assist feature?" the system asked. "Of course! Why the hell did you not ask me this?" I agreed without hesitation. All of a sudden, a silhouette appeared in front of me. It was like a body, except that it did not have a face or any defining features. It also had a spear in its hands, and the spear was exactly like mine. "Can anyone else see this?" I asked, fearing that someone would see what I was. "No one but the Host can see or hear the system, and anything that the system synthesizes, except for the weapons and pills from the system store." the system said, putting me to ease. "So how do I use the skill assist feature?" I asked. "Host must align with the silhouette at every single step. Host must make sure that all positions of the hands and the legs, as well as the rest of the body will be the exact same as the sample body. That way, you will be able to perform the Blue Dragon Spear art within a few days of practice." the system said. "Interesting." I nodded and held the spear just like the silhouette in front of me did. I stepped forward, and aligned myself with it. I stood exactly where it did, standing the same way. I was the silhouette, for all intents and purposes, and even if I looked at myself, I would no longer see the silhouette. The secondary body moved. It started performing the first step of the Blue Dragon Spear Art. It drew the spear forward, and thrust it forward. I followed the exact same steps, and deep inside my body, there was a rumble. The power that I was very acquainted to, the cultivation that I had gained after so many cycles of the Heaven Devouring Art was showing itself. It coursed through my veins and lept into the spear. The tip of the spear shone, and it was like a littleser beam, ready to strike forward. But the skill did not stop here. The silhouette moved once more, performing the second step. The tip of the spear shone even brighter as more of this mysterious power umted at the tip. It was like every step of the art was made to umte this power, and discharge it in one powerful strike. Ipleted the five moves that were in the art, and it felt invigorating. The spear felt much heavier than before, and the pitch ck husk seemed to shine with a glow. It was like the power that I used seemed to upgrade the weapon''s grade. Ping! "Skill Point obtained. Blue Dragon Spear Art Basic Proficiency confirmed. Congrattions for getting second skill. System awards you with random gift." the system chimed. "A random gift? What does that entail? What will I get?" I asked. "With User''s level, possible rewards are pill to increase cultivation, stat increases, new skills, or weapons. Please draw your reward." A huge gacha machine appeared in front of me. There was one red button that I obviously had to click on, and it would probably give me the reward. I shrugged and clicked on the red button. The balls within started rolling around, and one of them rolled out. I touched the ball, but I couldn''t feel anything. Instead, it just burst into pixels. "Congrattions! Host has acquired rare skill - Iron Body!" the system said. The huge machine faded away, and a book with the same name appeared in front of me. "How much does this cost in the shop?" I asked. "100 skill points." the system responded. "A hundred points??! I hit the jackpot!" I shouted. Everyone in the training grounds looked at me all of a sudden. I smiled sheepishly and cowered my head. They looked away after shaking their head. "Damn it. I need to control myself. I might get caught if I keep doing this. But damn though. This seems like an awesome skill. Even the Blue Dragon Spear Art, which was only three skill points, seems like it will do so much damage." I thought to myself. I put the new skill aside. I needed toplete the other mission. I need to get stronger, damn it. How much more to level up?" I asked with a low voice. "Host needs 2400 exp to level up." the system responded. "2400? I can do this. Maybe if I do the daily missions consistently, I will level up in a week? And I should be able to get to level 8 or 9 by the time thepetition arrives. This Liu Kun guy seems like a big shot here. As long as I get twice as strong as him, I should have a pretty good chance of winning." I made a note to myself as I started the heaven devouring art. The sun was pretty high in the sky by the time I was done with the twenty cycles of the heaven devouring art. Ping! Host acquired 100 exp forpleting daily mission 3. Host acquired 300 exp forpleting daily missions. "Looks you are dropping the whole congrattions thing after all." I chuckled as I looked around. Almost everyone left the training grounds and went somewhere. Probably to eat, or into the city or something. I also stopped everything and headed back to the courtyard. Looking at how everyone was shocked at seeing mee to the training grounds, my mother and father were probably going to be looking frantically for me. I failed to ount for this when I came here in the morning. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 12 Berating Please vote with power stones. It supports me a lot, and if I get a hundred power stones by the end of the week, then I will release five extra chapters p By the time I got to the courtyard, I knew that I was in trouble. There were a lot of people in the open space, and they were probably looking at where I was going. I approached them with a heavy heart, and one of them noticed me. "I found the young lord!" he shouted. Then, he looked at me with concern. "Where were you, young lord? Where were you all this time?" the man asked me. "I was in the training grounds. Where else would I be? If you wanted to find me, why didn''t you go there?" I said nonchntly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I had to make this look like someone else''s fault, or there would be trouble for me. "You were in the training grounds? You went there?" he asked me with shock. He then looked behind. Liu Qian was standing there with a calm face. He looked at Liu Feng once, and turned away, going back into the house. "Looks like father is going to leave me this time." I heaved a sigh of relief. As if he sensed my rxation, his voice rang in my ears. "Come to my room. We need to talk." I shook my head with dismay. Ever since I came here, I only got into trouble. No one seemed to be a friend at all! I sighed and walked to the master bedroom. Meanwhile, all the people who gathered here looked at me and quickly vacated the courtyard. Liu Qian was sitting on the bed. My mother was not here, but if I had to guess, she was probably in another room. Liu Qian looked at me with a gaze so furious that I thought that he wanted to kill me. "Do you know how much you worried your mother? She looked everywhere for you. What were you doing in the training ground, of all ces? Stop trying to be something that you are not. You have no talent for cultivation. You need to ept that." he barked. "No talent for cultivation? But father! This master graced me during the three months that I was in the forest, and he seemed to do something to my body. I am able to gather some of this mysterious power, and I can use it through an art that he taught me." I started weaving a story of my own, trying to exin what happened to me along the way. "What did you say? You are able to feel qi? That is impossible!" Liu Qian jumped up to me and grabbed my left hand. He put his fingers on the veins, and I felt a warm feeling from them. His eyes opened wide. "Qi cirction! In the fifth realm no less! How did you get to the fifth realm of qi condensation in just three months? God must be favoring the Liu Family. All these years that you have lost might finally be recovered. You might be able to cultivate!" he shouted with excitement. "Qi condensation? They must be the realms of cultivation. I need to rify thatter. But it looks like I am on the right track here." I made a note to myself. Then, I asked my father, "Father, do you think that there is any way that I will be able to win thepetition happening in two months? I think that I have a good chance." "The martial gathering? There is little chance that one of us, from the Liu Family will win. The Bai family has that young girl who is supremely talented, and the Cai family is just too mysterious. We are the weakest. We always have been. Don''t worry about something that you cannot control. Today, I will teach you how to gather Qi. That way, you will be able to start building up your cultivation, and maybe you will reach the foundation building stage by the end of two years." he said, shaking his head. "Two years? That is a long time. I need to see how long I will take with the system. It should be much faster, considering that I did all that I have right now in just three months." I told myself. "Go eat lunch. Your mother is worried sick. But don''t tell her anything about this. Don''t tell anyone at all, in fact. Don''t go outside anymore. Do everything here. I want you to hide this for a while. Or it will be dangerous. And it looks like you have chosen the spear? I will talk about thatter. It is a tough weapon to yeild, but deadly once mastered. I nodded. This was a surprising oue from what I had expected. I thought that father would beat the hell out of me for this one. For some reason, I had this innate fear of him, possibly because he hit the previous owner of this body a lot. I left the room, and went to my own. I had a ten foot high spear, and I couldn''t exactly take it everywhere that I went. If only the system had an inventory system. But that would probably be too much of a cheat. After I put the spear in my room, I took a deep breath and headed over to another part of the family estate. It was amon gathering for all those who were a part of the main n. All the pure lineage members ate here, while the subsidiary n members ate elsewhere. It was a terrible segregation, but there was nothing that I could do about it. I entered the wide hall and saw many a familiar face. Liu Kun scowled at me, while mother smiled as she saw me enter. She beckoned to me, asking me to sit next to her. I nodded and scurried off to her side. Everything else felt so foreign. "Look who is here. The cheater. You coward. You sneak attacked me then, and look at you, without any shame,ing here so proudly." Liu Kun said, taunting me. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 13 Alchemy Please vote with power stones. It supports me a lot, and if I get a hundred power stones by the end of the week, then I will release five extra chapters "There were at least a hundred others in the same training ground who saw that you were attempting to punch me when my back was turned at you. If that is not considered a sneak attack, then I wonder what is. You know that you were in the wrong and that you lost against me. It just shows that you are a useless idiot who cannot even win against a person who never cultivated. That is all that it shows. Stop trying to cover that." I said coldly. For a person like this, I didn''t need to mince words even one bit. Everyone else on the table gasped. They all looked at Liu Kun, waiting to see what he would say in return, but how could he retort to the truth? He stammered but was unable to say anything at all. I smiled faintly and sat down at the table. There was already food served on my te, and I started eating. "Feng''er, is what he said true? Did you two fight? You should stay out of these fights. They are not for you. You need to start studying and be a schr." my mother whispered to me. "A schr? There were schrs in this world too? But I had no intention of bing a schr. Being a schr was the worst fate that the world could give me. Putting me in such a fantasy world and then making me read books about literature? Isn''t that too cruel?" I thought immediately. But I could not refuse my mother''s words. She did not know that I could cultivate, and father asked me to keep this a secret. I nodded and continued eating. The food was absolutely delicious, and everything else that I had eaten in the previous life was trashpared to this. The huge jump from food pills to such extravagance was too much for my stomach to handle. It started turning a little. I stuffed myself, and I got up. "Mother, I need to walk a little, as I feel a little uneasy. I will go to the city, and take a look at what has changed sincest I disappeared." I said silently so that only she could hear it. I did not want to get in any trouble again. "Go ahead. If you want, I will send my brother. Thest time you were outside, someone attacked you, right? This time, he will be there to protect you." she smiled. "I also intended to go into the city with Uncle Du''s help. I will go to the Du Family and request his presence." I said and left the building. The guards at the exit of the family manor looked at me and snickered. They still thought of me as the old Liu Feng, and they just let me pass. But I could still hear them talking behind my back. "What do you think he will do this time? Go to some brothel? That is all that he does right?" one guard told the other. "A brothel? No wonder everyone hates this guy. He wasted his life like this. Damn it. This is a reputation that I cannot let go." I sighed. I continued walking past the bustling roads. A lot of things caught my eye, and luckily, I had a little money that mother gave me yesterday when the day ended. I went up to a shop and purchased a hat. A hat to cover my face so that I didn''t need to incur the heckling of the crowd wherever I went. The hat covered my face quite well, and I looked very mysterious with it. I even bought a coat to go along with it, and I looked like an assassin, just trying to blend in. "System. Are there any ways that I can use the system to earn money? I really want to earn some money." I asked the system. "Host can learn the basic alchemy guide, avable to purchase at a discount. 8 skill points." the system pinged. "8 skill points? Screw the discount. You just want me to give you everything that I have." I protested. "Alchemy is a very respectable profession, and it will give a lot of money. Entry level alchemists earn close to 100 gold every month, and higher level alchemists earn exponents of that. Alchemy will also help increase cultivation. Buying the skill book will give the user a set of introductory materials, including the furnace and a set of materials, and can be stored within the system." the system said. "What are you trying to do? Are you forcing me to buy this? I cannot believe that I can get this much for just 8 skill points. Buy the whole package." I said. With all the add ins, this was something that I could not pass by. "Basic Alchemist Guide purchased. Please head over to an empty area where there is silence so that Host can start alchemy." the system said. "You want me to do this now?" Ping! New Mission Created Synthesize three Qi Condensation Pills within three hours (0/3) I looked at this with shock. "You have got to be kidding me. This is very. I just came outside for fun, and now you want me to start working?" I looked for an inn to stay at. I did not want to do this at the Liu Family manor, where it would be quite obvious what I was doing. I went into the room after paying for a few nights, and closed the door. I took off my hat and cloak and sat down. "Fine. I am ready. Deploy the set of introductory materials." I said. A ck pot appeared in front of me, and a fire lit beneath it. For some reason, the fire did not even damage the floor beneath it. It looked like another feature of the system. "Follow the instructions given." Hundreds of pictures and methods of making a pill flooded into my mind. Just likest time, a silhouette also appeared, and he was sitting just the way that I was. His hand was on the furnace this time. I did the same. I could see that the silhouette had a few shining points inside his body, and there was a stream of the light going into the furnace. I assumed this to be Qi, so I tried my best to emte the same. I tried moving Qi into the furnace. At first, nothing happened, but then, slowly, it started coursing through my body and moved from my finger tips to the furnace. p -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 14 Qi Condensation Pills Please vote with power stones. It supports me a lot, and if I get two hundred power stones by the end of the week, then I will release five extra chapters The room got exceptionally hot. I added the ingredients that the system gave me. One after another, herbs that I had never heard off went into the cauldron. I lowered the intensity of the Qi that I sent in, as per the instruction of the manual. The fire beneath the furnace died down, and slowly, the ingredients inside were only simmering, at most. They starteding together, and they formed a viscous liquid inside the vat. After some time, they started forming pills, like they were supposed to. At this moment, the furnace lit up and a few runes that were written on the outside glowed. The furnace closed, and the fire went downpletely. My Qi stopped flowing in, and it seemed that the pill making was over. I knew that I had to wait now. I had to wait for the pills to form, and if I was lucky, they wouldn''t have any impurities. Ping! "Host has sessfully made 5 Qi Cultivation Pills. 3 skill points obtained. Basic Proficiency in Alchemy obtained. Missionpleted. 500 exp obtained." "That''s a lot of rewards for just alchemy. It seems that alchemy gives good money everywhere. If this is the case, then I think I will take that up as a side profession. I''ll just sell one of these and see how much it will go for." I said out loud as I opened the pill furnace. Inside, five pills that looked quite muddy just sat there, lying. "If I take this to an auction house, will anyone buy it? They look so bad." I thought as I retrieved them and put them in a pouch. The minute I put them in the pouch, the furnace disappeared. It was like it was never here. I got up and left the room. I put on the hat and the cloak, and roamed the city. Soon, I came across a bustling auction house. People streamed in, but no one came out. There seemed to be something interesting going on there. I approached the attendants, who were very pretty, who were weing the guests. They stopped me and looked at me with apprehension. "I am here to sell." I said, trying to use a hoarse voice to disguise my own. "I will call the appraiser. What do you wish to sell?" the attendant asked with a sweet voice. "Qi Condensation Pills." I said. Hearing this, they raised their eyebrows. "I will call the chief appraiser immediately." she said as she weed me through another entrance. I walked in to a room that was empty, except for a desk. The woman hurried into the hallway that led to this room from the inside. In a few minutes, an old man and a middle aged one entered the room along with the attendant. "So you are the esteemed guest that wishes to sell Qi Condensation Pills?" the old man asked. "You must be the appraiser." I nodded and I took out the muddy pills from the pouch. I took out four, leaving one for me, to useter. Seeing me take those muddy pills out, they raised their eyebrows. "You store those shit looking pills in a pouch and you call them Qi Condensation Pills? You chatan! You fraudster. I will have you thrown out!" the middle aged man shouted at me. "Calm down. I am a poor man, and these are all I have. I do not have a container to hold them in. Let the appraiser tell us what he thinks." I said in a calm and hoarse voice. But inside, my heart clenched. The old man nodded and he took the pills from my hand. He let his fingers run through them, and I could feel that his Qi was checking the pills out. "Impossible. These pills, they are of the highest quality! The ingredients that were used to make these pills are at least a thousand years old! For these to be sold at this auction, it will be a shame. We have to save these for the grand auction next week." the appraiser said with an astonished tone. Hearing this, I rxed. And I used this opportunity to gloat. "And I heard someone say that they want me thrown out? I willply. Give me my pills back. There should be someone else who will sell these for me." I reached for the pills. The old man instinctively took the pills to his chest. "You idiot manager. Do something. Or the main branch will have you thrown out." he snarled at the middle aged man. "I-I... I will discount the cut that the house takes. I will make it five percent, instead of ten. That should be a huge increase. I will also make you a VIP member of the auction house. You will be the fifth VIP member of the Shianxi Auction House in this city since its inception." the manager said in a hurry. I knew that this was an opportunity I could not leave. "Fine then. I will keep these with you for the time being. But I want a token to show that you have them. Also, VIP members need to have some recognition, I suppose." I asked. The manager took out a ck card and handed it to me. "If you show this to any of the guards or attendants at Shianxi, or any of the branches in the country, you will be given your own private room." the manager said. I grabbed the card and a jade token that he gave and left the room. Today was a very profitable one, and I learnt a lot. One thing was for sure. They knew that I was the alchemist who made this, and that was why they treated me like this. I smiled as I skipped off back home. In a week, I was going to earn a lot of money. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 15 Grand Auction Please vote with powerstones. If I get 200 power stones this week, I will release 5 bonus chapters. The next week was the same. I was not able to practise any alchemy because the ingredients were expensive, and I did not have any money to buy them. I just did the daily missions. I practised the heaven devouring art, the blue dragon spear art, and the Iron Body art, all of which gave me quite a few skill points. This one week got me more yields than ever before, and that was saying something. "System homepage." I said quietly. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 6 Strength - 30 Stamina - 20 Agility - 25 Cultivation - 1 year Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Basic Proficiency) Iron Body (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Basic Proficiency) Skill points - 5 Stat Points - 20 "Now I need to allocate these stat pointster. I wonder how I should do that. If only I can get into real fights and understand where I need to improve. Oh well, there is no more time. I need to go to that auction. Too bad everyone in the n is also going to be there. I wonder what price the pills will fetch." I mused as I left the room. My father was also leaving his room at the same time. "Son! Do you want toe to the auction with us? It will be an eye opening experience." he said with a smile on his face. Every since he found out that I could cultivate, he seemed to be happier, and treated me much better than I expected. I did not know whether to thank him for that, or to despise him for showing such favoritism towards one particr aspect. But, I nodded, and followed him. I would rather go now to the auction, and maybeter I could pick up the rewards for the auction. We arrived at the auction house, and there were a lot of people already there. We were stopped by the attendants, who bowed down to us. "I am terribly sorry, Master Liu Qian, but the auction ispletely full. It has been decided that only those who have been members of the auction house so far will be allowed. The others will have to wait outside." the attendant nced at me. Liu Qian nodded. It looked like he wanted to say something, but he stopped. "Wait outside, I will see if there is anything there that will help you out." he said as he strode in. I was left in the huge crowd. But this was better, much better than before. I smiled as I went to a corner of an aisle, and put on the hat that I secretly brought here. Then, I approached the same attendant again. She did not recognize me, as expected. "Do you have a membership, honored guest?" she asked politely. At the same time, I could feel a person trying to push me aside. I nced at the person who was so rude. "What are you looking at? Ever seen someone from the great Cai Family? Move aside, you fool. We areing through." a young man, maybe in his twenties, pushed me and took out a gold card. He then shed it at the attendant. The attendant bowed once more. "I shall prepare a gold room for the guests that have arrived," she said. "I want a room as well." I stepped up and took out the ck card that the manager gave me. The attendant looked at the ck card, and all blood drained from her face. "A VIP guest? Forgive me for my insolence, master. I shall prepare a room immediately." the attendant said as she ran inside. "A VIP guest? I heard that the Shianxi Auction House gave only four of those outside. Since when was there a fifth?" a crisp and melodious voice came from behind the young man. The young man parted way, and a veileddy stepped forward. "Youngdy!" the man bowed. "Since yesterday. Now if you don''t mind, I want some privacy. This arrogant idiot is fouling my mood." I said nonchntly. "It seems that I recognize your voice from somewhere. Have I ever met you?" the youngdy said. Even with the veil, I knew that the woman behind me was an enchantress. And I just made the mistake of not covering up my voice. "Maybe we have met in the past. Maybe we will meet in the future. Who knows?" Iughed, trying my best to sound mysterious. Then, I looked at the attendant who just arrived. "The two rooms have been prepared. Master, you have received Room 1. I shall guide you there immediately. Another attendant will be here shortly to tend to you, Young Lady." the woman said to thedy from the Cai family and then looked at me. I beckoned for her to show me the way, and she did. We went in a different direction from everyone else. Soon enough, I was in a private room of my own, spacious enough for ten people. I could see the whole crowd that was shifting in the crowded space in my own loft. "I assume that they will not be able to see me? I do not want people prying at my matters." I asked the attendant. "Of course, Master. No one will be able to see or sense you. The walls are resistant to divine sense." the attendant smiled as she left the room. "Wait!" I called out. "Yes, master?" "I have an item on auction. Can I assume that whatever I bid for can be subtracted from that amount?" I asked. "I shall inform the manager, and he shall tell you how much the rough approximation of the item is, Master." the attendant said and she closed the door behind her. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 16 Grand Auction (Part 2) Please vote with power stones. If I get 200 power stones this week, I will release 5 bonus chapters. The manager was at my door within a few minutes, panting. He looked at me, and took a few breaths to stabilize himself. "Master, you wished to have a credit for the pills? I am here to say that the total cost of the pills will be anywhere between ten thousand and a hundred thousand spirit coins." the manager said. "Spirit Coins? They must be a more valuable currency than the gold and silver coins. It must be what the cultivators use or whatever." I postted as I nodded at the manager. "Do you have a list of all the items that are going on auction? So that I can prepare ordingly." I asked. "Terribly sorry, master, but we have no such thing. Every item will be special, and a surprise to whoever sees it." the manager shook his head. "I understand." The manager left the room, and I was all alone, looking down at the auction. It was just getting started as well. I had a wonderful view, and could see what was going on with exceptional rity. A woman dressed in a red, provocating dress walked onto the stage. The moment that she entered the stage, a few people cheered. Even I could feel my blood rushing when I saw how much of her legs were exposed. "These auction tactics, I just cannot take them." I shook my head. "Greetings honorable guests! Wee to the Grand Auction of the Shianxi Auction House. This is going to be the most interesting auction in a while, so I hope that you brought your wallets. Without any further ado, let us take the first item. This is a tusk of the white tiger elephant. It is a second order monster beast, and it can be used to craft even a heaven ranked weapon in the hands of the right weapon craftsman. Starting bid will be 3000 spirit coins." the woman said. "3000 spirits coins." a voice immediately came from the front seats. "5000 spirit coins." "6000" "10000 spirit coins!" a voice came from one of the rooms adjacent to my own. I nced with surprise. This was a voice that I recognized. It was that arrogant man who pushed me around. "10000 going once, going twice, sold! To the guest in Private Room number 9" the woman smiled. She then took out the next item. The auction was interesting. I understood a lot about how the world functioned, just looking at all the mythical items that came out of it. There were so many wonders, pills, and weapons that were interesting. But all of these did not matter much to me. I had the system for that. "And this item is a special one. A master brought this rock here because he did not understand what it was. No attack could break it, and no divine sense could go through it. No one knows what it is. The mysterious rock, starting price of 100 spirit coins." I waited for a minute. There was no one bidding. Ping! System urges Host to buy this item! The system suddenly said. At the same time, the auctioneer was about to throw in the towel. "It looks like no one is interested in the mysterious stone." she smiled bitterly. "100 spirit coins!" I shouted with my hoarse voice. I changed it so that I wouldn''t be in the same situation I was in before. The crowd looked in the direction of my room, and even the auctioneer looked surprised. She then nodded and raised her hammer. "Going once, Going twice-" "200" the man from the Cai family interfered. "Damn that prick. I almost had it." I ground my teeth. p "300" "400" "1000" I finally had it. This was something that the system rmended, and I just could not leave it be. Even if it was a lot of money, it was money that the system gave me anyways, for all intents and purposes. I was throwing all my money, betting it all on my system. "It seems that I am not as extravagant as the guest in room 1, to spend so much money on this decorative piece. I will let you have it." the young manughed. "Going once, going twice, sold! To the guest in room 1!" the auctioneer shouted. My mouth twitched. "The asshole just wanted me to lose money." I realized. "The next item is an interesting one. This is the highest grade Qi Condensation Pill that this auction house has ever seen! With no impurities whatever, taking this one pill will almost guarantee that you will increase a level by the martial gathering. For all the young masters, this is the best item in the auction!" the auctioneer shouted. With this, the crowd burst into talks. "They know how to market the product alright." I smiled. "Starting bid will be 10000 spirit coins!" She shouted. I almost coughed. 10000 spirit coins for one of the pills? I thought that I would get that for all of thembined. Or else, I would have bid on a few other interesting items. This was truly unfair. "20000 spirit coins. I hope that everyone show some face to the Cai family and leave this pill to us." the young man said from his room. "You messed with me, I will mess with you." I smiled. "30000. I have no care for the Cai family. Do not think that you are the only powerful ones in this city." I said with my fake voice. "40000. I hope that the Cai family does not use its force like this. This is an auction, not a show of strength. If it was, then you wouldn''t hold a candle to us." an old voice came from another room. It was another prestigious guest. "50000 coins!" another voice came up. With this, everyone went silent. "Going once, going twice, sold! To the guest in room 2." the auctioneer said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 17 Im Rich! Consider voting with powerstones. It helps support the novel. The woman on the stageughed. "It seems that not everyone liked how the end turned out to be. That is why, the Shianxi Auction House is putting the second pill, the exact same as the first, with a starting price of 10000 spirit coins." she said. The crowd went wild. They couldn''t believe what they just heard. "Thirty thousand." Almost immediately, the young man in the Cai family tripled the price. The crowd went silent. No one responded. "Going once. Going twice. Sold! To the guest in room 9." the woman said. "And now, to all those who missed the opportunity to bid on the first two pills, a third Qi condensation pill, of the exact same purity, starting at 10000 spirit coins." the woman said. "Exactly how many of these pills does the Shianxi auction house have? I refuse to believe that you can have so many pills of the same quality, that too which are hundred percent pure. If you are cheating us-" the young man shouted from room nine, but the auctioneer cut him off. "We are the most reputable auction house in the kingdom. I hope that you do not use us, lest you lose the room that you have." the woman said coldly. "The bidding will start at 10000 spirit coins!" she said cheerfully, immediately changing the tone of the auction. I looked at all of this with shock. The two pills sold immediately, and I counted. I got a total of 110000 spirit coins from this. The thousand that I spent was nothingpared to what I got. I might have lost a little to the house, but all of this was still a huge profit. Being an alchemist was truly a great and profitable profession. "And now, to our final items. This round of items are rare, and almost never sold at auction houses. Here, you will see that we have a rare spatial ring. For those who do not know, a spatial ring can store everything that you do have within it, as long as you provide a little Qi. This spatial ring has the storage of almost a room, and you can fit in a lot of things within it. The starting bid for this is twenty thousand spirit coins." The moment I heard what the item was, I knew that I was supposed to buy this. It was too good to pass. But I couldn''t show my desire to get ti too much. I had to wait. No one in the private rooms bidded. "Thirty thousand!" someone from beneath bid. But still, none from the higher rooms. It seemed that they had their own. That stood to reason. "Thirty One thousand!" I shouted. The man who bid turned around and looked at my room with an angry look. He was obviously not happy with how much I raised the bid. He turned around, and did not bid a higher amount. There was no one else interested in the ring. All of them gave up! "Going once. Going twice! Sold to the guest in room 1" I smiled. This trip was a good one. I got a lot of things, and I got extremely rich. With all of this money, I could not try a few pills of my own. I could also try the numerous recipes that were in the book that I got. I would probably not make as much as this time around, but I would still make a lot nheless. "We are now onto our final item! This item is probably what everyone has been waiting for. This is the heaven ranked skill, Trampling Mountains, Tumbling Seas!" "Pfft! These people need to learn how to name their skills. What the hell is wrong with their naming methods? Trampling Mountains? Tumbling Seas? What stupid idea is that?" Iughed out quietly, lest someone hear me. "The starting bid is 100000 spirit coins!" the woman said. I immediately stood up in shock. That much for a skill? I finally understood the value of the system that I had. "Two hundred thousand" the woman from the Cai family finally spoke. I recognized her voice. It seemed that she came here just for this, and she was the only one with the authority to bid for this item. "Three hundred thousand." the voice from room 2 came out. "Five hundred thousand." the old man who refuted the young man from the Cai Family joined the fray. "One million. If anyone can top this, then I am afraid I will not get this skill in my hands." an old woman spoke. She also had a room. This was apetition of only those people with a room. It was quite obvious. They were the only ones with the money to buy something like this. "Going once. Going twice. Sold! To the esteemed guest." the woman said. I noticed something weird instantly. This was the first time that the woman said esteemed guest, and the room number was not mentioned. Whoever bid for this item was a very important woman. "With this, the auction has concluded. I am very happy that all of you have participated. Attendants will bring the items to the winners shortly." The moment that the woman said this, someone knocked on my door. "Come in." I said. An attendant wearing slightly revealing clothes walked in with a provocation walk. She had a tray in her hands, and she put the tray down. "The manager said that the cost of the things that you have bid on will be here." the attendant said as she walked away. I looked at the tray. The mysterious rock was as big as a football, while the ring was a perfect fit. I put the ring on, and looked at what else was on the tray. A diamond card, with a symbol of the auction house. I assumed that this was a debit card of sorts. "I guess I have to try the spatial ring anyways." I shrugged as I sent Qi into the ring. Immediately, the card that I was holding was sucked into the ring. I sent in more Qi, and the card came back. I took the stone and held it in my hand. I sent Qi into the spatial ring, but this time, the stone stayed where it was. It did not go into the spatial ring. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 18 Mysterious Egg I looked at the rock closely. It seemed interesting for now. There were inscriptions all over the smooth surface. I just did not understand them. "Why the hell did you make me buy the rock in the first ce? You better give me a good reason system." I said. Ping! "The system has sensed a trace of intelligent life within the stone. It may be an incubator of some sort, and as long as it is fed with the right amount of energy, a powerful creature will emerge from it. The system has confirmed that it will increase Host''s chances ofpleting the world." the system said nonchntly. "An egg? So this is like a dragon''s egg or something?" I asked. "Error! System cannot look up information that is beyond User''s authority. Please level up and update the system to know more and to unlock extra features." the system buzzed. "I need to level up damn it. Fine then. But if I can''t store this in the spatial ring, then where the hell do I put it? The whole city knows that this dude in room 1 bought the rock. I should just put it in the inn." I told myself as I walked out of the room. I put the egg in my sleeve, although it was obvious that I had something hidden there. I just didn''t want it visible to the public eye and draw attention. I left the auction house. The crowd was still present, but I could not see my father here anymore. I heaved a sigh of relief and headed back to the in that I was in a week before. I had paid to stay there for a while, and eventually, I decided that I would rent it for an extended period of time, and maybe have this as a secondary base of operations. I entered the room and looked around. There was not a lot going around. I hesitated for a moment. What I had in my hands cost a thousand spirit coins. That was probably more than the building was worth. Could I trust it somewhere outside my supervision? Especially when it was apparently so important to me and my future, ording to the system? I decided against this. I decided that I would hide it in my room, and if things really did go wrong, then the man in room 1 would be the mysterious master who helped me out. I took off the hat and walked to the Liu Family estate. The guards did not question me, although they looked at the bump in my sleeve with suspicion. I went to my room and silently put the egg right below my pillow. Then, I left the room. I needed to let my father know that I got back, or he would probably freak like everyone did when I went to the training grounds without telling anyone. I went to his room and knocked, but there was no one there. Seeing that there was nothing else that I could actually do, I just went back into my room, and started practising the Heaven Devouring Art. Although it was a very small ce, it was enough for the skill. Except for the Blue Dragon Spear Art, everything else that I knew could be practised within the room itself. I stopped for a moment. "System. How do I use the Qi Condensation pill that I have right now?" I asked as I took out the pill from one of the boxes that I kept around the room. The pill, the muddy way that it was right now, gave me over a hundred thousand spirit coins, so I knew that there was something special about it. "User has to consume the pill andplete a cycle of heaven devouring art. That should be enough to consume the total efficacy of the pill." the system said. I nodded, and popped the pill into my mouth and started a cycle of the heaven devouring art. Within a few moments, a could feel a hot and searing pain through all my veins. It was not as painful as when I was firstpleting the heaven devouring art. All the Qi that seemed toe from the pill coursed through my body, and all of it gathered at the center of my torso, right below my heart. It was a very dangerous ce to hold a source of energy, but there was no way that I could actually control that. I could feel that the size of the ball that the Qi had created was not a lot, maybe the size of a walnut? But it was significant. Ping! "Cultivation increased by 2 years." the system said. "System homepage. I want to see how much I need to get to the next level." Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 6 Strength - 30 Stamina - 20 Agility - 25 Cultivation - 3 years Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Basic Proficiency) Iron Body (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Basic Proficiency) Skill points - 5 Stat Points - 20 "User needs 4000 exp to level up." the system said. "I need that much to level up? It looks like I have a very long week up ahead of me. Maybe by the end of the month, I will start working on actual fights. I should win thepetition with the Liu Family members first though, try my luck and defeat everyone here and then maybe think about winning the martial gathering." I said as I got up. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 19 Basics Of Cultivation I returned to the city. The card that I had could be used anywhere in any of the reputable stores, apparently, and they would automatically store how much money was used. I knew all the recipes, and knew which herbs I needed to make certain pills. For now, I had money taken care of, and I needed to grow stronger myself. After using the Qi Condensation pills, I felt stronger than ever, and I knew that this was the right time to grow using more pills. I did not know what cultivation meant in this world versus what the system showed me, but I was thrice as powerful as I was before, and all of that happened in just one day. I made more Qi Condensation Pills, and this time, I bought a few jade containers to store them in. Then, I returned back home, where my father was waiting for me. "Where have you been all this time?" he asked me. "I was going into the city, seeing how much has changed." I lied immediately. "You were gone just three months. Not much changed. Now, it is time for you to put that gift that that master gave you. I will give you a skill that you can use to start cultivating. You will know at which point you are. After you are ready, I will also tell you where you are going wrong. I want you to be able to get to the seventhyer of Qi Condensation, at least. That way, the family will still support you." he said. I nodded, and took the book that he gave me. "Remember. No one is allowed to see that book except for you. It is a core secret of the family, and no one except those of the pure lineage are allowed to use this special cultivation method." he said as he left the room. I sat on my bed and tried to clear my head a little. My father just gave me some random book and told me to start cultivating, or whatever. This was all weird beyond anything else. I opened the book. The first few pages were the basics of cultivation, and I couldn''t thank him more for giving this to me. With this, I understood how this world worked, and how the cultivation standards were. At first, there was the Qi Condensation Realm. Then the Foundation Establishment Realm, the Core Formation realm, Nascent Soul, and the Soul Formation Realms. The Nascent Soul Realm was called the Houtian Realm, and the soul formation realm was also called the Xiantian Realm, which was probably what the elder in the hall was saying when I first arrived here. Each realm was divided into nineyers. I was in the fifthyer when my father checked, and I was sure that after taking the Qi Condensation Pill, I was almost at the peak of the whole realm. I flipped the pages, and looked at the art itself. It outlined a few ways to circte the Qi within the body, and a way to gather more from the outside world. It was a way to increase the cultivation through meditating. So, it was a much easier way to cultivate than whatever the Heaven Devouring Art was. Ping! "System strongly urges Host not to learn any other cultivation art. The Heaven Devouring Art is the best cultivation art in the cultivation world, and learning any other will hamper its development. It is strongly suggested that the User says a story about how you are using the cultivation method that the master taught you, but you do not know how to exin it to anyone else." the system suddenly said. "I see. I will do that. I knew that there was a reason that I grew so fastpared to everyone else here. Turns out that I have the best art. Thank you for the cheat, system. Now what though? How will I be able to know which realm I am inpared to everyone else? I mean, the whole years method of cultivation is pretty useless now." I asked. "The system can offer to change the method of measurement. But, if it does, then it will not be able to revert back until three months have passed." the system said. "You are saying that there was a choice like that? Then why didn''t you say that before? Just do that now. Change the whole thing so that I will be able to see what I ampared to the rest of the world." I hastily said. Ping! Updating System... 10%...40%....90%....pleted! "User will now be able to ess his cultivation through the new method of measurement." the system pinged. "System Homepage" I called out. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 6 Strength - 30 Stamina - 20 Agility - 25 Cultivation - Qi Condensation - 8thyer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Basic Proficiency) Iron Body (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Basic Proficiency) Skill points - 5 Stat Points - 20 "Wait a minute! The cultivation increased from one year to three years right? Then how was the increase only threeyers? This is not right. It is supposed to be at least the peak of the Qi Condensation realm right? This is just unfair. Now I need to make a few more Qi Condensation pills and increase my cultivation." I sighed. "System urges Host not to do that. Using pills excessively will cause the strength of the user to be significantly lower than peers. User has to participate in fights, and increase fighting capability to stay strong and be stronger than everyone else." the system said. "Yeah, I guessed that this was the case. Well then. I think that all that I have to do is focus on learning the two arts that I got in the shop so that I can actually do something in actual fights." I said, sighing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p Chapter 20 Touring The City The next day, I was walking along the city. Today, I had Uncle Du next to me. He was the only person I spoke to till now who truly sympathized with what I went through. After I started a ruse about how I lost my memory, and how I wanted to know the city properly, he caved and agreed to take me on this tour. It was much needed. I needed to know everything about this city and how it worked. We were at the entrance of the city, and walking through the main bazaar. "Remember, Liu Feng. There are four major yers in the city. The Bai, Cai and Liu Familes, and the city lord. Now, the Cai family is just mysterious. They are the ones who have been in the city for the most time, but everyone knows that they do not belong here. They are a branch of the Cai family from the royal capital. But, we just do not talk about that. All of the families had a Xiantian expert at the helm at one point, and this was the reason that the families are at such an advantagepared to the rest of the city." Uncle Du said. "At a time? Does that mean that the other families do not have any Xiantian members now, Uncle? Isnt that a good thing? All the families are on equal ground?" I asked. "It is not that simple. It ismon knowledge that the Liu family is the weakest. All the city is just waiting for us to copse, and then tear apart at our remains. But we know better than that. That is why the family is investing heavily to grow an expert within the family to the Xiantian stage. But that is not easy. That is where the Martial Gatheringes into y. The winner gets a grand prize. And the prize is a full five days in the spirit jade pool. Number two gets three, and number three gets one. Everyone in the city will be fighting for those positions, because whoever goes into the pool is probably going to be a top expert, and maybe even reach the Xiantian realm!" he said. "I see. But there must be other yers. We cannot be the only ones. What about the city lord? Does his family have a lot of powerful experts?" I asked. "You really hit your head hard didn''t you? The city lord is appointed by the King. So his power is the power of the kingdom. That is why no one messes with them. The Bai family is looking to tie up with the city lord''s son in marriage, but for that to happen, they need to annul the agreement they have with you. Your father went into a fit of rage when you left because it cause so much shame." Uncle Du shook his head. "But Uncle, they must know that I was forced right? I was forced into the cave and trapped. I don''t remember who was the perpetrator, but whoever it was, the Liu Family must seek him out and punish him for what he has done." I said with anger. "Yes, but we do not know who it is, and we do not know where he is from. So we cannot do anything for now. Okay. Let us look at the secondary and uing powers." Uncle Du said, walking to the right now. "One more question, Uncle. What is the realm of the most powerful younger generation expert? In the Liu Family, to take an example." I asked. "In the Liu family? Probably Liu Xin. He is the older brother of that Liu Kun that you alwaysin about. And he is in the ninth realm of the Qi Condensation stage. He will soon enter the Foundation Establishment stage, if I had to guess. And so will almost everyone else. I heard that you gave that Liu Kun a beating a few days ago? But do not expect to even qualify for the martial gathering. You are out of your league here. I am advising you as a caring well wishes." Uncle Du said. I nodded. It was obvious that there was nothing else I could say that could convince anyone that I was ready. "Where do I go if I want to increase my strength? I don''t know how to fight, and I really want to learn." I asked. "If you want to just fight, then the colosseum is the best ce. Many people fight there, but you will not see anyone from the higher ns go there because they have their own fighting partners, and going somece like the colosseum is a shame for them. But in my opinion, you should go there sometime, and put on a mask. Then, you can fight to your heart''s content." Uncle Du said. "The colosseum? I guess that I should go there then? Doesn''t fighting people give me exp? This will expedite the whole process considerably. I should just do that. Tomorrow, I will go to the colosseum and start practising realbat." I told myself. We continued our journey through the city. We stopped in front of a Dojo. "This is the Martial Tiger Dojo. Let me just tell you this. Every one inside is just crazy. If you get into a fight with them, then you are bound to lose. They fight every battle to the death, and it is just unnerving. I hate it when I have to fight with them. It is like they know that I do not want to kill them, so they push me to an edge. Just, don''t mess with them." he said. "What are the other second rate forces in the city, Uncle?" I asked. "There is the Du Family, which is allied to the Liu Family. Then, there is the Steel Fist Dojo, which is separate from everyone else. A few families that are allied to the Bai and Cai family, and then there is the Feng family. The Feng family just appeared a few years ago, and now they are one of the strongest second rate families in the city. There are rumors that the Bai and Feng families areing together to go against the Liu Family, but that is all that they are. Rumors." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 21 Going To The Colosseum I went to the colosseum immediately after Uncle Du left me alone. I bought a mask for myself on the way, as per his suggestion, and also took my spear with me. Every since I had the spatial ring, it got extremely convenient to bring everything that I owned along with me wherever I went. I had food, money, and clothes stored in there just in case something went wrong. I went to the desk for the registration. "Name?" the man behind the desk asked me. "Gray." I said. "Interesting name. I am guessing that you are not around here? Afraid of showing your face are you? Dont worry, many are. As long as you do not piss of the wrong people, you will be fine. You will go through a few fights before you are assigned a rank. What is your cultivation?" he asked. "8thyer of the Qi Condensation Realm." I said. "Alright. Put your hands on the wheel you see there. We will confirm your cultivation and age." he said, gesturing at the round wheel that was sitting over there. I nodded, and put my hand over the device. "16 years old? You must be talented, to enter the 8thyer in such a young age. You should go to one of the families and try your luck at bing a retainer. That way, you can get some resources. Pity, you were not born into them. But what can we do about that?" heughed as he threw a wooden token towards me. "You will wait in ring five. Eventually, they will call your number which is on the token. You have to stay in the ring as long as you can." the man said. "Can I use a weapon?" I asked. "What do you think this is? A noblemen fight? You just need to win. As for how, that is up to you." the man smiled. I could see that one of his teeth was broken, and another shined with a golden tint. The man was definitely sketchy, but I did not have the liberty to choose right now. I nodded and headed into the colosseum. It was a huge ground and segregated into multiple fighting arenas. Just a ce for fights to take ce. That was all this was. I poured Qi into the spatial ring, and my spear appeared in my hands. I made sure that no one saw me do this because if they did, I would be in trouble. I did not want to get mugged now when there were god knows how many fighting maniacs out there. I headed to the ring number five, and stood there motionless. This was going to be my first actual fight, and I would probably see blood. Whether it was mine, or my opponent''s, it was going to be a terrifying experience. I calmed myself. That part was easy. Three months in solitary confinement can do wonders. My head was cool, and my heart beat stabilized. For thest week, I trained in the Iron Body art, and the blue dragon art. I knew that I was powerful enough to go against a few people. Especially because I had the system teach me how the proper way to use the spear was. "Number 250 to number 259, enter the ring." a monotone voice called out. I was number 256, so I was also called on. I gripped the spear hard and jumped onto the ring. "System. Put one stat point into agility, strength and stamina." I said. "Error. Stamina cannot be increased using stat points. Only strength and agility can be increased. Increasing strength and agility by one point." the system said. "I can''t even increase my stamina? What bull is that? Well, not the time toin." I muttered as I looked at everyone else who got onto the ring. There were people of all shapes and sizes, but none of them were below the age of twenty. All of them had scars on their bodies, and they were clearly veterans at this. I was the only noob. "Thest one standing will win the pot. Fight." someone shouted, and immediately, everyone moved. I could see every movement clearly. Every single one of them pounced at me. Seeing how young I looked, and that I did not have a single scar on my skin, it was clear that I was the easiest target. I jumped. I jumped over them all andnded on the other edge of the ring, now facing all nine others. They were together, and looked at each other with apprehension. They started fighting amongst themselves, not holding back. Blood flew in the air, and the smell was horrible. But Iposed myself. I pointed the spear towards the man who was charging at me. He was an old man, and he did not even have a shirt. His upper body was riddled with scars, and his appearance frightened me. I took the support of my back leg and drew the spear back. My eyes closed for a moment. I needed all the concentration that I could get. Then, they reopened with a glow. Qi coursed through my veins and to the spear''s tip. He pounced, and I thrust my spear. Grrrrr The spear growled. It was like there was a real dragon slumbering behind the spear. The old man''s expression changed, and he turned his body, trying to avoid the spear. I did not move the spear though. My intention was not to kill. It was to subdue. I moved to the side, and right in front of his side, which was unguarded. All I had to do was punch. And punch I did. Since I was at the edge of the ring, just this little nudge was enough to throw him out of bounds. "Number 252 is eliminated." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 22 Tough Fight Please support by voting with powerstones. Immediately, the eight others on the ring looked at me with shock. They clearly did not expect me to defeat whoever that was in such a short time. Or rather, for me to defeat that old man at all. "It looks like I underestimated you, boy." a middle aged man with a scar that ran along his face said with a grin. "It looks like you also forget that this is a free for all. The people next to you are not your friends. They will not sit quietly while you talk." I said. I was hoping that this would move the others, and attack the middle aged man before he could react. But, it looked like they were all in cahoots. They just stood there, not moving. "You will be the first to go boy. We will make sure of it. You are the only one that we do not know that well, and we cannot afford to have someone like that who is so unpredictable staying in the ring. You should understand the need for what we are about to do." heughed. "The need? All I can see is that a few men are bullying a poor young boy who cannot even defend himself. Is this all that the colosseum amounts to? A few men who are incapable of fighting on their own?" I taunted the man. "I have lived twice the life that you have. I know a taunt when I see one, and I know that I should not react to it. There are times when we can react to such silly mistakes, and there are times when we can do nothing of the sort. We are veterans. We know that this is thetter." he smiled. "Damn it. This is a set up. That is what this is. The only time that I actually dide out to fight, the whole gang ising to beat me up. How is this fair in any way?" I cursed as I pointed the spear at them. The middle aged man smiled. "The spear is a hard weapon to master. And it is clear that you have not done so. You can just drop the pretense and give up. That will save you from getting hurt. I know that you do not want to see a few limbs missing. You should know that the colosseum is not responsible if anything happens to you, short of you losing your life." he said as he started walking towards me. I took a step back, and I could feel the edge of the ring rub on me. A single mistake and I could lose any moment now. The man quickened his pace, and everyone behind him also started moving. They charged at me. They had weapons of their own, and it was no time for me to start the Blue Dragon Spear Art. I needed to react immediately. I shed with the weapons. My spear held off a sword here and an axe there. Sparks flew in the air. My arms pained whenever some thing hard hit the spear. I had to face the brunt of the attack, and my muscles were not having it. The middle aged man jumped at me with his fists mped together. He was ready to hit me on my head, and if that hit, I would probably be knocked out. I moved to the side immediately, and that was a mistake that cost me dearly. m! A hammer hit me in the side almost the second I moved to the side. It was like they were anticipating my movement. I flew to the side, almost falling off the ring. But the Iron Body Art was showing its greatness now. There was pain, but my skin was like metal. It took the attack and stayed whole. I was not knocked out, or half dead. I stood up on my shaking knees. The fight was getting to me. This was the first time that there was so many people just running towards me, ready to kill me. I could not face them all on my own. I needed to separate them like I did the old man. I needed to finish them one by one if I wanted to win. I knew that Qi would be instrumental in my win. I circted it ording to the Blue Dragon art. They left me for a few seconds, and these seconds were precious. I started getting ready for the second stroke of the art. One of the men, this one thin and limber, was in the air, falling towards me. By the time that he was near me, I jumped up as well,ing to the same height as him. But unlike him, I had a spear. He couldn''t reach me, but I could. I thrust the spear, and this time it connected. Splurt! Blood fell out of where the spear connected. It was just a graze at the side, but it was enough to make my stomach turn. This was the first time that I had injured someone like this. I forced my stomach to settle down. I could not take a revolt of my own senses right now. The thin man fell onto the ground, and I kicked him. I kicked him hard. The strength stat must have also applied to my legs. The thin man fell out of the ring as he flew out. I looked at the others. "Looks like you are right about one thing. All of you need to gang up to have a chance to win. You were right to be cautious of me. But I am not going to be merciful." I said as I spat out a little blood from my mouth. It must havee after that hammer struck me. I raised my hand. Seven fingers, with my spear tucked under my arm. "Two gone. Seven of you remain." I smiled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 23 Victory Or Defeat? Please vote with power stones to support the novel. If you like the novels so far, leave ament, and a review. Your opinion is important, and if there is anything that you want to fix, then go ahead and give a review. "You damned brat. I really underestimated you. But do you think that taking care of two people would finish the fight like that? You are right. Seven of us remain. And that means that we will be more cautious than ever, and we will work together to try and defeat you. You should stop letting your mouth run so wild, lest it offend the wrong people." the middle aged man grinned. Around him, the other men also nodded. They looked at me with frightening faces, and brandished their weapon. All of them formed a line and started closing in on me. By the time they got to me, I jumped and quicklynded on the other side. But there was someone anticipating that and he already got to where Inded. I quickly used my spear to block his de. I took a few steps back to stabilize myself. Then, I thrust the spear forward, and then let it glide to the side, following wherever the man was running off to. He blocked the spear with his de, and I took this as an opportunity to move forward. "You forget that there are seven of us." a voice came from behind my back. As I was taking care of this one man, I forgot about the rest. I was too concentrated on what had happened in front of me. I ducked, feeling that there was something that was going to hit me on the head. I was right. Above me, I could hear a gigantic whoosh. If that had hit me, then I would probablynd in aa. Each and every one of the attacks that these men made also had Qiced within them, and that made these attacks painful and stronger than they were supposed to be. I nted the spear''s tail on the ground and used it as a pole to turn around quickly. I was surrounded. And this time, I had nowhere to just jump. I had to fight against all of them at once. I had to split my mind and pay equal attention to all of them. I had no choice. If they were not going to show any mercy, I was not going to show any either. Any hesitation that might have been there in me disappeared. I gripped my spear, and the intuitive motion of the Heaven Devouring art came into y. All the attacks of the enemy could be evaded as long as I knew where they wereing from. My mind no longer did the work. My body knew what to do to avoid any harm. I moved to the side, gracefully blocking and redirecting attacks. The Blue Dragon spear art was not that intuitive, but I knew what I had to do. I used the spear and started the third form of the art. This was the best that I could do without the shadow. I only learnt till the third form, and any other would need more practise. Luckily, the third attack was a sweep. It was a crowd attack. As the men all lunged for me, I directed immense amounts of Qi to the spear, and just led it glide in the air. I could smell fresh blood in the air, and then something hit me. It must have been the hammer that hit me the first time, because it felt so simr to me. I gnashed my teeth. I could bear the pain, but before I could turn around and see what had happened, someone kicked me again. I tumbled forward. I could not stabilize my footing, and I fell. "Number 256 is eliminated." a cold voice said out loud. I looked at them all with shock. This was not the oue that I had expected. "You are still a kid. You need more experience to match us. It was a good fight, but you need to battle more if you want to match all of us. I admit that you are more talented, and probably have a better cultivation than we do. You have the better skills, but you have never used them in battle. That is what you did wrong. You never battled before." the middle aged man said as he turned around, facing everyone that he was in cahoots with before. I looked down with shame. I could not believe that I lost. I thought that with the system, and the overpowered skills that I got, I would win every battle that I faced in this life. I was wrong. I grewcent and arrogant. I needed to go back and practice some more. It was time for me to set things right again. I needed to be the strongest, and I needed to put more work into this. I needed to clear this world, and I needed to do it right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 24 Two Months Later Day after day, two months passed. The two months were much easier to go through than the three that I had to go through in istion. I was in my room, looking at the mirror. My shirt was out, and I was looking at my upper body. Scars riddled my upper chest. I was no longer the same naive boy that I was a few months ago. I was not the same anymore. Fighting changed me. I may not have killed, but taking blood changed something within me. I started caressing the ring on my finger. Over thest few weeks, I spent a lot of time cultivating, as well as fighting. Taking the advice of the system, I fought a lot, trying to consolidate my cultivation. I reached the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm within a month, and after that, I only fought. The system said that the only way for me to increase my cultivation into the foundation establishment stage was to make a Foundation Establishment Pill. I looked at the prices. Even the shoddiest quality pills cost more than a million spirit coins. I did not know what to do. The materials to make the pill myself cost about five million spirit coins, if I wanted good quality pills. I saved up. Painstakingly making batches of pills, and selling them, I finally gathered enough for two sets of materials. "System homepage." I said. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 8 Strength - 35 Stamina - 22 Agility - 30 Cultivation - Qi Condensation - 9thyer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Medium Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Alchemy(Advanced Proficiency - Qi Condensation level) ,m Skill points - 5 Stat Points - 25 The change in the alchemy window happened after I made a batch of pills. The system just refused to exin what it meant, and I did not care enough. I headed out of the room. I needed to make the pills, and this was not the right ce to do that. I wanted to get to the foundation establishment stage before the Liu Family gathering took ce in a week. I needed toe first, and show everyone that I was not a piece of trash like everyone treated me. I wanted to shut everyone up. I put my head down and left the estate. I went to the inn with a hat over me and locked the door behind me. Then, my hand twitched and a pill furnace appeared in front of me. This was another trick I learnt over the weeks. A simple button that I could designate to everyday things would deliver amand to the system. The fire appeared immediately, and the room started getting a little hot. I knew what I needed to do now. I needed to purify the materials and start condensing the pills. It was a veryplicated processpared to the other pills that I made in the past. There seemed to be a general difference between pills made for the Qi Condensation Realm and the Foundation Establishment Realm. The herbs that I threw into the furnace vanished immediately after they crossed the threshold. They turned into viscous liquid instead. I carefully moderated the amount of Qi that I sent into the fire. I needed the fire to be a little low, but not too low. I had to make sure that the herbs did not get burnt. One by one, thirteen different ingredients went into the pot. They were all separated within the furnace itself though. They had not yet merged together. For that, I learnt another technique special to the skill book that I got from the system. I started performing a few hand signs. One by one, runes appeared on top of the furnace. The runes on the furnace also started glowing. I could feel a lot of my Qi just getting spent so quickly. I had little time left before I ran outpletely. Making a pill that was beyond my cultivation level was really a tough task. But this was a risk that I just had to take. I had no choice. The runes descended into the furnace. The separate essences of the herbs started merging together. The green and blue liquids became gold, an uncanny change. But I knew that this was good. It starteding together, and split into five parts. The furnace started heating up as I sent in more Qi into it. More runes started lighting up, and all of the five parts merged into five different pills. I cut off the Qi supply and the furnace was immediately shut by a lid. I fell back with exhaustion and took a heavy breath. "Finally, this is done. It better work." I said to myself. Ding! A sound came from the furnace and a sweet smell came from inside. My mouth twitched. It grew wide. It was a smile. I was smiling. I knew that I did it. I did it on my first try, which I certainly did not expect. I had five foundation establishment pills, and I could try and break through. I also knew that my pills were of much better quality than the million coin pill. Each one would probably fetch about five or six million, but I did not want to sell them now. I wanted to sell them after the martial gathering was over. I was not an idiot, and I did not want to face stronger opponents by giving them a chance to break through. I opened the pills, and with that, a golden hue came upon my face. I turned my hands and a jade box appeared in the palm of my hand from my spatial ring. I took the five pills within and put them in the box. I quickly closed the box lest the efficacy disappear. The furnace disappeared, and I was all alone in the room, with just the pills in my hand. I started thinking. "Should I take one now, or should I wait for a moment?" I was thinking. "Ah screw this. What could possibly happen?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 25 Foundation Establishment Stage I took one of the pills and popped it into my mouth. I decided that waiting was not what I wanted right now. I needed to do things now, and fast. I had three days left. The pill melted in my mouth and went through my throat like water. It met no intrusion. The moment that it entered my stomach, I started a cycle of the heaven devouring art. Vast amounts of Qi suddenly started assualting my body. I severely underestimated the amount of Qi that one of these pills had. Even though I had depleted most of the Qi that I had in my body, my body still knew that there was too much within itself. My body started heating up, and I knew that there was something wrong. My veins started bulging. They looked like they were about to burst. My eyes were bloodshot. I knew that because I faced a mirror. Just looking at myself, I thought I saw a dead man. There were far too many bad signs. I needed to resolve the amount of Qi within my body, and fast. But there was only one ce for the Qi to go. That was the dantian that was at the center of my body. But this dantian that had formed a few weeks before was nothing more than the size of a walnut now. All this Qi could not possibly fit there. Ding! "System can offer a piece of advice. Although the dantian is small, there is a huge amount of Qi that can be stored within there as long as the host knows how to." the system suddenly said. I looked up with astonishment. Now, I had no choice but to try it out. I started pouring Qi into my dantian, but as more Qi went in, more Qi flowed out. It did not stay within. I started trying to suppress the Qi from flowing out. I tried topress the Qi so that it stayed inside. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead, and my eyebrows were perpetually frowning. I was full tilt on this, and a single mistake could very well cost me my life. Drop! My eyes shed open with surprise. I looked within. My dantian was different, somehow. There was a change that I identally made, and it was the right one. I looked closely, and saw that at the bottom of the dantian, there as a little drop of Qi. That was the difference. The Qi was liquid. It had a faint golden hint, and that single drop had far more Qi within it than what formerly filled the whole dantian. I understood why people said that the difference between the foundation establishment stage and the Qi Condensation Stage was immense. I started doing the same throughout. I startedpressing the mana, trying to make the gaseous Qi into a more condensed form. As the Qi collided with each other, my fists clenched even more. This was a painful process, because all of this was happening within my body. My internal organs started shaking with each collision. Drop! One more drop of Qi fell into the dantian. This time, the process became much smoother. I took a deep breath. With a lot of the Qi being condensed into the drops within the Dantian, my body was not a raging mess anymore. I could start working more calmly with the Qi within, and try topletely change the Qi into the new form. With every passing moment, more and more Qi was stuffed into my Dantian. Mypletion grew, and I looked healthier than ever, that was for sure. Soon, my whole body was parched for Qi. All of it was within the Dantian, which was not evenpletely full. I was surprised that the single walnut sized container could hold such an immense amount of energy within itself. But I knew that I was not done yet. I had not yet entered the Foundation Establishent stagepletely. There was the second, and more important segment remaining. I needed to cleanse my body now. I needed to wash my body with Qi so that it would be suitable for cultivation. This was the part that I was most skeptical about. I already did something like this. When I firstpleted the cycle of Heaven Devouringw, I had to restructure my whole body. I hoped that this was different though. I really hoped that this was an entirely different method as well. Last time, I was just knocked out for a whole day. I did not want that to repeat, and in the middle of the city above that without any protection. I started releasing the Qi that I had within my dantian and let it flow into my body, making full cycles. I had to let every part of my body get strengthened with Qi. It was afortable process, unlike the Heaven Devouring art. That was a good difference. I could feel my body getting a little sturdier by the minute. I could feel the organs within my body stabilizing from all the shaking that happened earlier. Hell, even my skin felt tougher than before. Ping! "Congrattions! Host has entered the Foundation Establishment stage!" the system said. This confirmed things. I had entered the foundation establishment stage, and that meant that I was officially inpetition for the title. I had to win now. I had no one else to me if I lost. The system gave me all the pieces that I needed. All I had to do was y them right. "System homepage." I muttered. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 8 Strength - 45 Stamina - 32 Agility - 40 Cultivation - Foundation Establishment - 1styer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Medium Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Alchemy(Basic Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Skill points - 5 Stat Points - 25 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 26 Just In Time Liu Family training grounds, Hundreds of people were standing around a makeshift arena that was created. There were two in the arena, fighting. ngs of their swords shing could be heard throughout the ground. Everyone looked at the arena with a bated breath. They were awaiting the result. A man and a woman, fighting it out. The man made one wrong move, and he faced defeat. "Liu Yan wins. She shall proceed to the next round. Next, number three, Liu Zhang, and number four, Liu Kun shall enter the ring." an old man said. It was quite obvious that this was thepetition of the Liu Family, to select who was going to the martial gathering. Not everyone could attend this, and only three from the Liu Family would have the opportunity. Liu Kun got onto the arena and looked at Liu Zhang, a thin man who looked at Liu Kun with apprehension and fear. "You should just give up right now. It will save everyone some time." Liu Kun smiled. "I am sorry, But I practiced so much for this. I took a lot of time, and my parents invested in a lot of resources. I have to try, young master. I am forced to try." the poor man said with tears in his eyes. He brandished his sword and pointed it towards Liu Zun. "I see that you chose wrong. This is a martial fight, and swords do not have eyes. I am afraid that if something does happen to you, it is the fault of your own uselessness." Liu Kun smiled wickedly and dashed forward. "Heaven Returning Strike!" he cried out and a blue glow covered his sword. "He is in the peak of the Qi Condensation Stage!" someone gasped from the audience. "Congrattions, second elder. You are truly lucky, to have two talented sons. You are truly the future of the Liu family. We will have to rely upon you in the future." a few people in the front rows started praising the father. Meanwhile, on the stage, it was simply carnage. Blood flew everywhere. The strike was too much for the poor kid to handle. The boy could barely escape with his life, but his left hand was not so lucky. His eyes were open with shock, and he looked at Liu Kun with a trembling face. "You did not expect me to show mercy just because you helped me out a little during thest few years, did you? I have no reason to keep a useless piece of shit like you around when you cannot even follow orders." Liu Kun sneered. He then looked at the judge, who was standing at the side. "Liu Kun wins. Liu Zhang loses out of capacitance. He has forfeited his right to continue. Take him to the infirmary. Next, Number five, Liu Xin and number six, Liu Dongmei, enter the stage." the judge said. Immediately, the crowd went silent. A handsome looking man and a shaking girl entered the stage. The girl immediately bowed to Liu Xin. "Brother Xin. I know the immensity of the heavens, and I know that me fighting will just waste everyone''s time. I do not want to waste your time, or the time of the esteemed elders who await the result of the match. I forfeit." she said with clenched fists. Liu Xin looked at this and smiled. "Junior Sister. You are not wrong, and you have thought well. I hope that your path in the future is a well paved one." Liu Xin smiled as he got off the stage. Liu Dongmei also got off the stage with tears in her eyes. She did not like what she just did even one bit. All around her, people looked with pity. She was just unlucky to get paired with the most powerful opponent possible. "Liu Xin wins this round. Next, we have Liu....." Fights went on, and people won and lost. There were sobs everywhere, and cheers elsewhere. Wins brought pride and happiness, and their opponents left the grounds without any face to show themselves to. This was the heartless circumstance. There were many from the young generation, but only those from the main family were allowed to continue. They were the only ones who were allowed to represent the Liu Family in such a prestigious gathering of the entire city. Everyone knew who would win though. Everyone was sure that who would even be in the top three. "Isn''t it obvious? Liu Xin, Liu Kun, and the daughter of the first elder, Liu Heng. No one else stands a chance. I heard that Liu Xin and Liu Heng had even broken through to the foundation establishment stage. With these two helming the Liu Family, we have a big chance of winning this martial gathering." one person said, beaming as he spoke about them. "Are you an idiot? Don''t just say that out loud. Who knows how many people from the Foundation Establishment stage are in other families. If you say this, and for some reason or the other, they lose, they will direct their anger on you." his friend chided him. The judge looked around. The seventh fight had just ended. "Number fifteen, Liu Yin, and number sixteen, Liu Feng." he said calmly. The people looked around. They knew about the idiot son. Everyone did. They were surprised that he was even called out at all. Liu Yin, a petite girl with a sword in her hands, walked up to the stage. But Liu Feng did not. He was nowhere to be seen. "Liu Feng? Where is he? Does he intend to waste out time?" the judge said coldly, clearly irritated. "He is an idiot, esteemed senior. He is clearly wasting all our time." Liu Kun shouted from where he stood. "This is the final call for Liu Feng! If he does note, then it is an automatic disqualification, and he shall be punished for wasting out time!" the judge shotued. "Why all the fuss? I am here. Forgive me for myte appearance. I was just caught up with something." a sound came from the edge. Who else was it, but me? A smile crept up in my face. The perfect entrance. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 27 Destroying The Opponent I waste. When I woke up, I realized that not one, not two, but three whole days had passed. It was the day of the Liu Family gathering, and I had to make haste or I would lose my opportunity to participate in the martial gatheringpletely. ,m Luckily, by the time I had arrived, they were just calling my name. After I announced myself, everyone looked at me with gazes of derision. They did not like me one bit. Liu Kun took this moment to put me in deeper trouble. He got up and started shouting. "Liu Feng! Do you have no respect for the elders? You have wasted their time! You should apologize and forfeit immediately!" he shouted. I smiled in response. "Forgive me elders. I was held back because of my breakthrough. Or else, I would certainly be here on time." I said. "Breakthrough? Stop lying. All of us know that you are not capable of cultivating. Inculding you in the participant role was just a formality. Wasting our time is one matter, but lying to us is another. You should be taken to the punishment hall for the offenses that you aremitting." the judge looked at me with cold eyes. I scanned the crowd. I found my father, who looked at me. He nodded at me, and I nodded back. With this, I had the permission of my father as well. I jumped from where I stood. Immediately, Inded on the arena, which was a full three hundred meters away from where I stood. This was the change that the foundation establishment stage had. The crowd shut up immediately. They were shocked still. They looked at me with eyes of confusion. Even the judge could not believe his eyes. This was not something any ordinary cultivator in the Qi Cultivation realm could do. "I think we should start the match. We should not waste any more time." I smiled. "Ye-yes. We should start the match." the judge said, stuttering. The moment he said that, my figure flickered. A sword appeared in my hands, and I appeared behind Liu Yin. The sword touched her neck before she could even move. "You lost. Any more movement and you will lose your life. Just yield." I said coldly. The sword was because I did not want to show all of my trump cards in the first round. These were left for dealing with Liu Xin. He probably entered the foundation establishment stage much before me, so he had more Qi than me. I needed to deal with him more than anyone else. "I yi-yield." Liu Yin said, shaking. She did not expect me to move at such fast speeds and take care of her in an instant. "The battle is over. Liu Feng wins. He shall proceed to the next round." the judge announced, but he was not convinced. He looked at the scene with unblinking eyes, trying to find something wrong with it. I let go of the sword, catching it below with my other hand. I let her go, and walked away. "It was a good fight, Junior sister. But you will need more practice." I smiled as I got off the ring. I headed over to where my father and mother were sitting. They were probably worried sick about where I was thest three days. Even I did not expect to just fall asleep like that. It took longer than even the restructuring that happened in the cave five months ago! My father took one look at me, and his eyes lit up. "You are a real genius! I cannot believe it. I can sense that your body has a foundation within it. You have reached the foundation establishment stage! I just left you for two months and you reached the foundation establishment stage. This is a speed that even the royal capital has never seen before. You really are the son of- I mean, my son. Your father and mother are proud." he said smiling. I knew something was wrong. The way that he slipped up, he said something truly wrong. I heard rumors of this elsewhere in the city, and in the elder council when I first arrived, but hearing it from father confirmed it. I was probably not my father''s son. I was probably adopted. The feelings that I had for the two of them stemmed from the memories that I got from this body. The true Liu Feng died thinking his parents were his real parents. I shook my head. I needed to deal with thister. I had more important things on hand right now. "Father. I need to try and win the martial gathering. With the guidance of the great master who saved me thest time, and the arts that he gave me, I think that I have a chance. What realm is Liu Xin in? He is probably going to be my toughest opponent." I asked. "Once again, you underestimate everyone else. You may have gotten to the foundation establishment stage through sheer speed, but your cultivation is probably not stabilized enough. You should have told me that you got here so I would have helped you built a proper and solid foundation. But never mind that. We cannot change anything. Just try your best. No one expects you to win the Liu Family gathering, let along the martial gathering. It is going to be tough. You should just try your best not to lose against Liu Kun and the others. Opponents in the foundation establishment stage are beyond you." Liu Qian shook his head. I could not believe it. My own father did not believe in me, and did not want to support me in my conquest. This was outrageous. Little did he know the amount of practise that I had in the colosseum. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 28 Cruising Through There was nothing that I could do though. I had no choice but to show everyone that I was truly capable. I sat down in one of the seats and looked at the arena calmly. Everyone''s eyes were on me though. They looked at me fervently, not able to understand what just happened a few minutes before. The fight that happened was the fastest, except for the surrenders that had urred against Liu Xin and Liu Heng. But even then, the fight happened too fast! Little did they all know how much effort I put into my training. Whether it be the fighting or the cultivation, I put in as much effort in these two months as some put over two years. "The second round will be starting now. Liu Kun and Liu Yan, enter the stage." the judge called out. The woman who won the first round, as well as Liu Kun, entered the ring. They looked at each other. "I hope that senior brother will go easy on me." the woman smiled as she took out her sword from her sleeve, pointing it at Liu Kun. Liu Kun smiled. "You jest, Junior sister, but you are much stronger than me." He also took out a sword and pointed it at Liu Yan. "Start!" the judge called out, and immediately, the two of them started moving at each other. The movements that Liu Yan made looked immensely profound. Her feet looked like they were on clouds. ? "The hidden cloud step! She managed to achieve mastery of the hidden cloud step! A genius!" amentator shouted with shock and awe. Liu Kun matched the same with ease. He jumped up and evaded her pincer jab. "Heaven Returning Strike!" Liu Kun shouted as he fell forward towards where Liu Yan was standing. She looked at theing strike with a solemn look, and raised her sword to defend. ng! Liu Yan fell to one knee, blood dripping from her mouth. The attack may not have directly hit her, but the waves of Qi that it caused, as well as the vibration caused her internal organs to shake. She coughed out blood as she retreated quickly. But I could not make sense of this fight at all. "Why the hell is this idiot shouting out his attack for everyone to hear, and why did that woman not move to the side when the attack came from up there? They are all fools. This is a fool''s gathering, this. It is just too funny." I shook my head as Iughed at what was going on. "You should quit while you are ahead, Junior sister. There is no shame in knowing when we are not strong enough. Swords and fists have no eyes. I am afraid that if you do not quit now, the same fate that fell on my previous opponent will fall on you." Liu Kun said with a hint of condesension. He looked at her, taunting her. She bit her lip. I wondered what happened to the other opponent, but I guessed that it was something serious, because it clearly shook Liu Yan. "I forfeit." she said with a soft voice. The crowd cheered as Liu Kun smiled. He got off the ring, smiling at his older brother. He then looked at me with an angry look. I shrugged in return. The rest of the matches went as nned. Liu Xin and Liu Heng, the two clear front runners for the title, went to the next round without any hitches. Their opponents gave up. I felt it a pity, since I did not even know what their signature moves and skills were. "Liu Feng, Liu Qiu, enter the arena." the judge called out. The crowd looked at me with silence. They were waiting to see what was going to happen. I was a surprise to them. I was a surprise to everyone. No one expected me to go to the next round. I got up and walked to the stage. A man, about my age, but with eyes that seemed like they were a rat''s, entered the ring with me. "I did not expect you toe to the second round. It is truly a surprise. But this surprise ends here. You must have used some trick against sister Yin, but that will not work on me. I know what your tricks are. You cannot sneak attack me like you did before." Liu Qiu said as he pointed his sword at me. "Why does everyone use swords? There is no change, no disruption to his monotony." I shook my head as I looked at the judge. "Start." he called out. The moment he said that, a de appeared in my hands. Liu Qiu had pounced at me, aiming at my head. "What are you after? My life? Isn''t this wrong? You should aim elsewhere, Senior brother." I said smiling. I moved to the side, avoiding his strike. He fumbled forward, but I did not attack him. It was time to y with him a little. He regained bnce and looked at me. "You coward. Face me head on! Be a man." he spat out. "Coward? Be a man? Don''t wake the slumbering dragon you idiot." I said coldly. He touched a few sensitive topics that would anger anyone. Seeing me enraged, he ran towards me. His sword pointed straight at me, he roared. Qi flew into my sword, and I raised my hand. I let the hand go, and the sword stroke down. Snap! The sword that Liu Qiu was holding snapped into two. But my sword did not stop there. I turned my wrist, and the sword rose sharply, stopping just an inch beneath his chin. "Yield now, or you will have a scar on your pitiful face." I said coldly. "I-I yield." he stammered. I took my sword back, and he fell on his back, looking at me with shock. He did not believe what he had just seen. "Liu Feng wins." the judge said after a long pause. The crowd went silent. They were obviously not on my side. They did not want to cheer for me. They just looked at what happened with stupor. I ignored them and walked back to my seat. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 29 Fighting With Liu Heng Liu Xin looked at me with shock. He was talking to Liu Kun about something, and he raised his eyebrows when Liu Kun pointed at me. I frowned, but Iid back regardless. He was just another obstacle in my way. "The third round shall start now. Liu Kun and Liu Xin, enter the stage." the judge called out. I looked at this with amusement. Brother pitted against brother. I knew what would happen, but it was still a little interesting to watch. Now, one of them would be forced to battle for thrid ce, and it sure as hell was not Liu Xin. The two brothers got onto the ring. "I forfeit." Liu Kun said. The judge nodded, and called that out. The two brothers went back down and sat next to each other. Then, they continued talking to each other about something. I shook my head and sent some Qi to my spatial ring. A spear appeared in my hands which was beneath my chair. No one saw me use the spatial ring, so that secret was still safe. "Liu Heng and Liu Feng, enter the stage." the judge said. I got up with the spear in my hand. I slowly went up the stage. My father looked at me with confusion. He did not understand where the spear came from. The others might think that he brought it here, but he was not in the know. Opposite to me, a beautiful girl stood tall and strong. She looked at me with a cold nce. "Junior brother. I am truly surprised that you got so far. But this is where your journey ends. I am in the foundation building stage, while you started cultivating for a mere few months. Just quit so that I can try and beat Liu Xin with my full power." she said coldly. "While you do think that you need your full power to beat him, I am in the opinion that I also should have the chance to teach him a lesson. I am afraid that I cannot concede to you." I shook my head. "Why do you want to waste everyone''s time? You are even using a spear. You have basically given up! What you are doing is just a waste of the elders'' time." she said. "Enough talking. We should start the match." I said as I pointed my spear towards her. The judge sighed. "Start." Immediately, a sword appeared in her hands. "You have a spatial ring!" I cried out in shock. "I am the daughter of the first elder. Of course, I have a spatial ring." she sneered. She ran towards me with the sword. Immediately, my instincts kicked in. I used my spear to block her moves. She was fast and nimble, but I got an incredible increase in my stats every since I increased my cultivation to the Foundation Establishment stage. "You are just trying to stall!" she shouted as a giant Qi wave approached me. I looked at the uing attack calmly and swept it with my spear. The spear cut through the attack, giving me a sort of a shield from the wave. Qi passed over me and to my side, but it did not affect me. She looked at this with shock. "Heaven Returning Strike!" she cried out. "Isn''t that the same attack that Liu Kun used? It seems that everyone in the Liu Family has a limited number of skills to choose from, especially for the weapons. If that is the case, then I am going to be in luck." I smiled. All of the attacks that I have seen in the matches before would repeat themselves now. They would just be of higher power levels. Now that I knew what to expect, I moved ordingly. The sword was approaching me at a terrifying speed, but my spear was not lying around. The first attack of the Blue Dragon spear art! The spear pierced towards the sword, and both of them met each other. ng! The sound of the two weapons colliding was loud and deafening. But the oue was clear. Liu Heng took three steps back, looking at me with shock. "You are in the Foundation Establishment stage as well!" she cried with shock. Everyone looked at me with shock now. "He is in the foundation establishment stage? But I thought that he could not even cultivate. It seems that Liu Qian has brought up a hidden tiger. To think that he would hide someone like this for so long!" one personmented. "The Liu Family has three members of the younger generation in the foundation establishment stage! This is truly a surprise!" another eximed. I looked at them and shook my head. "So I am no longer wasting your time?" I asked, smiling. "You jest, Junior brother. If I had known this before, I would never have said this. But the battle is far from over." she said, changing her expression from shock to seriousness. She moved fast. Bizzaringly fast. I could no longer see her clearly, and could only sense her general position. Whiz! I moved to the side on instinct. A sword sliced past me. The sword was fast. Far too fast. I could not sense anything at all. I did not know where she was. I calmed myself. For this, I had the perfect attack. Third attack of the Blue Dragon Spear art! As she was moving around the ring, my spear swept apart through the nine feet around me. It was bound to hit her once. And it did. ng! Liu Heng used her sword to block the spear, but now I knew where she stood. I gripped the spear tight and pierced at where the spear had stopped. She could no longer dodge this move. "I yield!" she cried out. The moment she said that, I yanked the spear back. I looked at her. She looked weak. The speed that she just showed was probably at the expense of immense amounts of Qi. She would probably have not been able to keep up for long. "It was a good fight." I put my fists together. "Liu Feng wins!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 30 In Danger My father rose up and looked at me with shock. His mouth was agape. I smiled at him, and then looked at Liu Xin, who was sitting on the other edge of the ring. Liu Kun next to him was furious. With my victory, the people who would be sent to the martial gathering were all but confirmed. There was no way that Liu Kun would win against Liu Heng, so he would be sitting this onepletely out. The second elder, their father, had an ugly face. He looked at me with anger, and confusion. If both his children went to the martial gathering, then he would be the face of the Liu Family. But now, he was no longer that. "We shall take a short break for the participants to recover themselves." the judge said, and he got off the ring. With that, my ce got swarmed. People from all over rushed to me, trying to take a look at this sudden reversal of the idiot young master. "Young master, you must surely remember me! I helped you in my, ahem, shop the other year. You must surely remember our friendship." one person shouted. I looked at that man with a weird nce. "I thought that this was the Liu Family gathering. Why are there people from all over the city?" I mused. "It is because this is also a show of strength. To show the city that the Liu Family is not weak. To show the city that there are people in the younger generation to take the city forward. I thought that you knew that when you just went and shocked everyone witless." my father took me by my arm and dragged me away from the crowd. Once we were in the corner, he looked at me coldly. "Since the time you disappeared, you were different. I knew the moment since you were able to cultivate, the old Liu Feng was dead. But to think that you have changed so much! I was shocked enough to see that you were in the foundation establishment stage. But to think that you had such killer instincts. Are you the same Liu Feng that I know?" he asked me seriously. "Father. I-" "Cut the act. I saw the spatial ring on your hand a long time ago. Do you really think that you can trick me? You do not remember much about your father, do you? I did not spend all my life in this small city. I traveled the city, I was part of the army, and I sure as hell know when a kid is lying to me. Now tell me. Who is this master that gave you all these gifts? And what happened to you for you to change so much?" he asked. I took a step back. "Father. There are many things that I cannot exin. But one thing is true. I am no longer the same Liu Feng of the past. I am different. I have changed. And not just because of the master who gave me this new life. This change would have happened regardless. I am a new person. As for the rest, I am honor bound not to reveal anything to anyone. I am sorry, but this is an oath that I took." I said, baking half truths into my words. "You do not understand, do you? By doing all of this, you just put a damn target on your back!" he shouted at me. His eyes filled with anger. "A target on my back? What are you talking about father?" I asked, confused. "It means, there are people all over the city, all over the kingdom who were waiting for you to do something like this. They were all ready to kill you, and you just gave them a reason to. I hoped that you would stay the same idiot way that you were. Just a fool living his life. But you just had to make something of yourself. Now, the enemies of your father will start hunting for you." he shook his head. "But you are my father." I protested. "Do you really believe that?! You knew the moment that you heard it in the council. I brought you here, and protected you. But I cannot do that forever. Clearly not. You have to grow stronger. Get to the Xiantian Realm at least. You have five years to get to the Xiantian Realm. After that, you are a dead man if you do not get there. I will let you participate in the martial gathering. After this, you need to go to the Sky Heavens Sect. I will give you a letter. Once you enter the sect, the person who this letter is for, he will know that you have arrived. Just go there, and get stronger. That is the only thing that you can do now. A pity. I have failed him." Liu Qian shook his head as he turned away. I looked at this scene with dumbfounded eyes. I could not believe my ears. I was clearly adopted, and my background was far more terrifying than I had intended. I also had a target behind my back? I slumped to the wall that I was near. I looked at the stage, and the crowd that was talking about me and Liu Xin. They were making assumptions. I just looked at this and shook my head. "What are you doing here, young one? You have a match in a few minutes, do you not?" I heard an old voice behind me. I turned around, to see the elder who guarded the building with the weapons that I had entered a few months ago. "Elder!" I stood up straight and greeted him. "I am no elder. I am just a guard. And you are just a young one. What are you so sad about? Gosh, that Liu Qian. He never knew when to talk about what. Never mind all of that, boy. You should just focus on the match ahead. If you win, that is even better. Just focus on what is imminent." the old man said. I looked down, thinking about it. Then, I turned back to thank him. "Wait. Where did he go?" In just a few seconds, he disappeared. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 31 Against Liu Xin I quickly ran back to the crowd. The fight was going to start any minute now, and I had no time to look for a mysterious person. That was going to be forter. Now, I had to concentrate on the match itself. I took this opportunity to pop a pill into my mouth. It was a Qi Supplement pill that allowed me to recover any Qi that I used before. With this, I could go back to my peak state before the match started. Liu Xin was lucky. His opponents forfeited every single match, and he had yet to fight at all! It was just so unfair that he had such privilege. If I had shown off my cultivation so proudly, then maybe I would also have the same treatment. "Liu Feng and Liu Xin. The fight for the winner, and the representative of the Liu Family in the martial gathering shallmence now. Enter the stage." the judge said. With this, the crowd went silent for a few moments. I got onto the stage, and opposite to me, Liu Xin stood, smiling at me. He had long hair, which I always thought weird for a man. It made him look so feminine. He gave me a weird vibe, like he was this witch in disguise. The moment that he smiled and looked at the crowd, the crowd cheered. "Liu Xin! Beat this imposter! Beat him!" one person shouted. I looked at this and frowned. His fan following was far more than mine. That much was apparent. But to think that they would call me an imposter? Wasn''t this too much? "Junior brother. I appreciate that you havee this far. But it is time that your journey shall end. Although you have entered the Foundation Establishment stage, it is very much apparent that you have not stabilized your cultivation. There are many parts of your style that seem to coarse, too rough and unrefined. You are forcing yourself in many of the attacks. You are no match for me. I suggest that you end the fight here, or you shall be the one to suffer." Liu Xin said as he smiled. "Nothing can be set in concrete. After all, there are many moves of mine that you have yet to see truly. And those moves are much, much more powerful than thest." I smiled back. "Let the fight start." the judge said as he retreated. With that, I quickly moved. I sensed danger immediately, so I took a few steps back. And I was right. Liu Xin reappeared just a few inches from where I stood with a sword in his hands. "Look like you are also a sword person." I chuckled. I gripped my spear and jumped to the other side of the ring. I wanted to put as much distance between me and him as possible. That was the most advantageous position for me. I readied myself, and my spear started moving. Liu Xin was fast. He covered the gap between me and him within seconds, but this time, I was prepared for him. My spear flew towards his neck. He twisted his wrist, barely defending. He then stepped back and unleashed a barrage of attacks. I started twirling my spear to defend against them. "Heaven Returning Strike!" he shouted. I felt a tingling sensation at the back. Something dangerous wasing. I skid to the side, and then I saw what had happened. Liu Xin was not equal to me in power. He was much, much more powerful than me. His sword, the attack, was strong enough to put a dent on the ground. I looked at this with shock. To think that after so much hard work, I was still not strong enough! But the fight was not over yet. I had to move fast, and try to win. I could not give up now. I had to give myself a chance. Qi flew through my hand into the spear. Blue Dragon Spear Art, first strike! All of a sudden, a blue halo appeared around me. Everyone could hear the growl of a dragone from the spear, and a faint image of the majestic beast appeared above me. Even Liu Xin looked at this with a stunned face. This was the strike that I was most proficient with, and the one strike that I could unleash the maximum potential from. "He has achieved mastery of this art! Where did he learn it?" an old man at the front rows of the stage shouted with shock. I recognized him. He was one of the elders. But that was not my concern. I thrust my spear forward, straight at Liu Xin. But Liu Xin did not dodge. Instead, he unleashed his own attack. "Swan Feather Sword!" he shouted. I felt a gust of wind all of a sudden. I could see that he also achieved a mastery of his own attack, and this one was a more gentle sword. My spear felt soft, and it slowly halted right before Liu Xin. It refused to go any further. "How did you do that?" I was confused. I quickly took back the spear and took a defensive stance. "Like I told you, Junior brother. I am not someone you can handle. Although you have shown that you are capable of so much, you are not capable of defeating me right now. It is just not possible as of yet." he smiled as he approached me. Blue Dragon Spear Art, second strike! The spear glided and it was about to strike his neck. But then, his sword flew up, and it started circling the spear, barely touching it at the shaft head. The spear slowed once more. It was just uncanny. The spear ground to a halt once more. Liu Xin disappeared from where he stood, and his sword reappeared right in front of my eyes. I quickly let go of the spear and ducked, barely escaping the sword. But the sword still turned and scraped my shoulder. The pain was manageable, and no blood came out. This was the result of the Iron Body art. I took the spear back into my hands and rolled to the other side of the ring. I looked at him apprehensively. "He''s strong!" I whispered. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 32 Blue Dragon Sails Through The Heavens I coughed a little. It had been a few minutes since I was backed into corner and Liu Xin unleashed a barrage of attacks. It was just impossible to defendpletely. A few slipped past my defense, and my skin started to tear. I had a strong suspicion that his weapon was somehow much better than mine, because my spear was also getting chipped away at. If it got any more blunt, I could very well throw the game away right now. I shook my head and steeled myself. Blue Dragon Spear Art, Fourth Strike! The third strike was not efficient. It was only for crowd control. Right now, I needed to take care of him with the strongest attack that I knew. I needed to use the fourth strike. After weeks of painstaking practice, and following the shadow of the system, I was able to master the fourth strike of the Blue Dragon Spear Art. It was different. Unlike other attacks prior, the fourth strike bordered on the impossible and the mystical. While it was a cultivation world, the fact that I could use my spear as a dragon was beyond me. I pulled back my spear and looked at him. He did not even have a scratch on his face. He smiled as he looked at me with those eyes of contempt. Like he had already won the match. That pompous attitude gave me all the motivation I needed. A huge wave of Qi left my dantian and raced through to the spear. I raised the spear high and did the most stupid thing possible if there was no context. "Blue Dragon Spear Art, Fourth form! Divinity Reborn! Blue Dragon sails through the heavens!" I shouted out loud. The shouting part was very clearly engraved in my memories of the skill. I did not understand it, but I had to follow it. The spear growled. I let go of the spear, and it was like the spear had a mind of its own. Around the spear, my Qi formed a protectiveyer around it, giving it the shape of a Blue Dragon. The dragon roared, and even I suddenly knelt at the immense pressure that my own attack gave me. I looked in the other direction, and Liu Xin was also kneeling. He could not handle the pressure that the spear gave him. The dragon roared at him as it flew towards his head. Liu Xin could not even raise his sword. He was incapacitated. He looked up with a different face now. One of fear. If this attack connected, then he would probably lose his life. At that exact moment, I felt that the spear connected. Liu Xin was no longer visible. Neither was the spear. At the point of contact, all I could see was a dust cloud. But it did not hit Liu Xin. I knew that. The spear hit something hard. I could feel it, even though I no longer held it. I looked there with curiosity, flying towards the spear. The dust settled, and I saw what happened. Liu Xin was still on the ground, stupefied, and the judge was holding the spear in his hands. But the judge was not unscathed. Drops of blood fell from his hands to the ground. He looked at me with anger, and shock. "You fool! How dare you release such a killing strike against a peer?! You must be punished for this insolence!" the judge shouted. I smiled. Raising my voice so that everyone could hear it, I said, "But senior, Liu Xin had told me from the beginning that he was much more powerful than me. Even during the match, he said that I could not hold a candle against him. I had no choice but to use my strongest attack, and when I used that, he could not even defend. How was I to know that he was all talk and no action?" The judge''s mouth twitched. He was about to say something, when I saw a cloak. A cloak flying through the wind as someonended on the ring. The judge immediately knelt down. I looked up to see who it was. It was my grandfather, Liu Hong! I knelt down immediately. "n master!" the elders, and the rest of the Liu family watching from the sidelines knelt down. p "I was just casually looking at what the future of the n was, and it looks like there is so much happening here. To think that my two grandchildren were so talented! Liu Feng, your spear is just wonderful. I must truly have a conversation with you about the spear art that you have used that stunned us all. It is quite apparent that he is the winner of the Liu Family gathering. That is without question. It has been a good show that you have put for all of us. Now, Liu Feng, Liu Qian, follow me." he said as he disappeared immediately. I just stood there, stunned. I had to exin to him how I came across this art now? This wasn''t something that I was prepared for! Now, I had to unravel another story! "What are you doing, Feng''er? Come on. We have to go! Father will kill me if I bring you anyter." I heard my father shout at me from the sidelines. I turned around and nodded to my father. As I walked towards him, I looked back. Liu Xin was still on the ground, with his eyes paralyzed with fear. I looked at Liu Kun, who had gotten to the side of Liu Xin, trying to nudge him awake. Liu Kun saw me looking at him and scowled. I smiled back. This time, I was the one with the smile of contempt. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 33 Talk With Liu Hong My father dragged me to the same family pavilion that I went to when I first arrived. We went up the stairs, and I could see that the hall inside waspletely empty. Whatever this was, it was supposed to be private. We entered the hall and saw that my grandfather was on the highest seat. My father looked at him and nodded. "Oh my, we can finally talk. When was it that you were going to tell me that this boy was able to cultivate? Did you not think it appropriate, considering that our survival would very well be dependent on it?" Liu Hong asked. "Forgive me, father, but the truth is that even I did not know that he could cultivate until two months ago. The master who was passing by gave him a body that was capable of cultivating, and now he reached the Foundation Establishment Stage in just five months. He could be capable of reaching the Xiantian realm. It is not impossible." Liu Qian said. "It took him a whole five months to cross a grand stage. Do you not think that it will take him more than five years to cross the four between? It will take him a long, long time to reach the Xiantian realm, that is if he even will. You have signed his death sentence, for all intents and purposes." Liu Hong shook his head. I looked at this scene with confusion. Did they both forget that I was here? I didn''t like the proceedings one bit. All of this reveal should have happened after the martial gathering was over. That way, I would be focused only on that, and not some freak trying to kill me for no reason at all. I shuddered just thinking about how my life would end. "If he wins the martial gathering, then he will get the opportunity to enter the Spirit Jade Pool. If he is able to use that energy properly, then he will be able to get to the mid ranks of the Foundation Establishment stage. He will be allowed to go to the Sky Heavens Sect. They will protect him until he grows strong enough." Liu Qian protested. "The sect is waning. They will copse in a few years. It is a pity. The royal capital has only enemies, and the rest of the world is falling prey to the throne. The world is truly an unfair one. But I did not call you here only to berate you. I have more important things to do. Liu Feng will leave the city after the martial gathering, if I am not wrong. He has to. After the martial gathering is over, everyone will know that he is able to cultivate. I will send him to the Sky Heavens Sect myself, and after that he will be the owner of his own destiny. But until then, he will be the face of the Liu Family. And that means that he needs to get to the top. He needs to be in the top three." Liu Hong said. I nodded. "I will do my best to win, grandfather." I said. "Because we have three young ones in the Foundation Establishment, for the first time in the history of the family, our foundation is stronger than everyone else''s. We are actually capable of getting more than one of the top eight spots. Hopefully, we get three of them. But when I saw Liu Feng today, I agreed with Liu Xin. Your techniques are coarse, and forced. You are notpletely in tune with the attacks that you use. And your spear. You are using the spear that all the disciples get once theye to the training grounds, aren''t you?" he asked me. "Yes, grandfather." I nodded. "You idiot. If I hadn''t seen that, then you would go to your doom in a week. Go to the training grounds building and ask the elder there for a Earth ranked weapon. You goddamn idiot. You are in the foundation establishment stage. A mortal rank weapon will not be able to handle your Qi and power." he said. I nodded. That made sense. I knew that my spear was getting blunt, but I attributed that to Liu Xin''s attacks. But if my own attacks were doing that to the spear, then that means that there was a chance that I could have finished that match even before the fourth strike of the Blue Dragon Spear Art. I nodded and turned around. "Wait. I am not done yet. You young ones are so impatient. Wait a minute. I wanted to talk to you about the martial gathering as well. Do you not want to know who your opponents are, and what you can expect from them?" he stopped me. I turned around and beamed. "That will be more precious than the weapon, grandfather." I nodded. "Good. You at least have your priorities. Sit down, I''ll show you how much trouble you are in." he said as he gestured. "Liu Qian. You can leave now. He can do this without you." Liu Hong said, dismissing my father. Or rather, the person that I thought was my father. Liu Qian nodded and left the hall. I was all alone with Liu Hong. Heughed at me. "Sit down. There is much to say. I will not talk about the small fry. Only the major ns are important. The Bai and Cai families. I will tell you their main abilities. They are most frightening." he said. ,m I sat on the ground, looking intently at Liu Hong. "So, the Bai family. They are most proficient in the....." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 34 Choosing A Weapon I walked back to the training grounds. It waspletely empty now. Everyone had left by the time I came. I went to the building at the very end. The ce where I could get a weapon. There was no guard though. The mysterious guard who gave me advice an hour ago was nowhere to be seen. It was quite a pity. I stopped at the entrance. I had no permission to go inside, and I did not want to be called an intruder. For such an important part of the family, there must be someone to guard it even in secret. "What are you here for child?" My suspicions were confirmed when someone arrived from within the building. It was another old man, but this one was refined, and looked his part more than the former. He looked experienced, and powerful, and.... exactly the same as the previous guard! "You are the guard who spoke to me during the fight! Even when I came herest time! Old Tian right? I recognize your face. How did you change so much? What game are you ying with me?" I jumped back. "You are a very funny boy. No one cares about the guard. Why would they care about someone who just guards their manuals and their weapons? But you remember how he looks? I wonder why. Anyways, that fellow told me that you wereing. You want an Earth Grade weapon right? A spear? We have very few of those. You are going to have to manage that. I am sure you will." Old Tian smiled as he walked inside. "That fellow? He just called the n leader of the family that he worked for ''that fellow''? Just what were his guts? No one could disrespect the leader like that! Not even the elders, and the grand elders who were always in seclusion. This just made no sense. Who was this Old Tian, and what was his ce in the family?" these thoughts just flew through my head as I stood there motionless. "The weapon is not going to pick itself. Come on now!" Old Tian''s voice reverberated. I shook awake and ran inside. I went past the same weapons that I went through when I was choosing my first spear. But my selection was not out of these. I had to go upstairs, to the second floor. This building had four floors, which was quite rare in this city. The second floor was only for those in the Foundation Establishment and the Core Formation Stages. They were considered royalty everywhere in the city. Uncle Du was in the Core formation stage. I found outter, and I understood why everyone respected him more than me. That was all to change now, of course. "Now he told you that you were getting an Earth ranked weapon, but he mispoke. You don''t just get any Earth Ranked weapon. You can only get a Earth Ranked Low grade weapon. We cannot afford to just give High grade stuff to mere Foundation Establishment stage children." Old Tian said. "Anything is an improvement from what I have right now." I smiled as I entered the room that he guided me to. This was different than the one below. It was... sparser. Fewer options, fewer weapons, it must have been because of the increased quality. I went to the spears section. Few was an overstatement. I saw exactly three spears here, and all of them were of different lengthspared to the one I used until now. "This is just bullshit. I have four foundation establishment pills. They can''t harm me that much. If I release one to the public, then I will be able to afford any weapon that I like. This selection is horrendous." I shook my head. Ping! "System suggests that Host select the spear in the middle." the system suddenly buzzed. I turned around to see what spear the system was suggesting. The spear was not as long as the one I was using. It was thicker, and felt more stable. I held it in my hands. There was more weight to it as well. I tried pushing Qi into the spear. Then, I understood the difference between a Human ranked weapon and an Earth ranked weapon. The spear in my hands drank the Qi. It felt so much easier to flow my Qi through it, and the spear itself felt so much more powerful when there was Qi within it. It was sharper, stronger, and a much better spear. "Damn it, I had the money! Why didn''t I buy a spear before? I am so stupid!" I shouted inside. Not outside, of course. I did not want anyone to know that I was an alchemist. Better keep that identity secret and mysterious for my security and to keep the profits higher. "System, why the hell do you want me to buy this spear though? I can buy a better spear outside right?" I asked the system. "When the host was asked to select the spear, it was because it was the best choice out of the options to practice the Blue Dragon Spear Art. Now, Host hase across a better alternative. The spear in the middle is morepatible with the Blue Dragon Spear Art. It has 90%patibility, and User will be able to sessfully perform even the fifth strike without problems." the system said. My eyes shone. The fifth strike, which I could never properly practice because the spear would always bend during training. If I couldplete that one strike, then the martial gathering would be in my pocket. I nodded vigorously and grabbed the spear. I had chosen. I ran to the outside with the spear in my hands. Old Tian looked at it once and he smiled. "Looks like you are lucky. The spear that you have chosen is Low grade. Go ahead now. Practice with the spear. All of us want to see what you will do in the martial gathering. All of us want to see how far you will go. You are the dark horse after all. Haha! Things are finally getting a little interesting after all this time. You know the way out." Old Tianughed as he started walking away. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 35 Back To The City I nodded and left the building. With a new spear in hand, I needed to get used to it. I needed to follow the system''s skill assist for this new spear and maybe master the fifth strike as well. But all of this was forter. I needed to go back into the city. After the martial gathering finishes, I will probably be going to some sect immediately. And I know that the sect will not be like a market ce. I needed to convert all of my pills into money right now so that I could buy something that I could use. Maybe a few herbs that I could use to increase my cultivation as well. I walked towards the exit. People all over the estate looked at me. They looked at me withplicated expressions. Why wouldn''t they? I was now the representative of the Liu Family. From the idiot young master to the strongest young master, it was quite a jump in status. I shook my head, chuckling. The guards at the entrance bowed to me as I left. I could hear them talk about me. "Did you hear? Liu Feng won the Liu Family gathering! No one can believe it! Who would have thought that the things he did were just an act to disguise that he was preparing for something like this? Who would have though? I just cannot believe that I treated him like this. What is going to happen if he wants retribution?" the guard was talking to the other. None of them seemed to understand that I could hear them. ,m I walked through the streets, and when no one could immediately recognize me, I took a hat and cloak from my spatial ring and put it on. Then, I went to the Shianxi Auction House. It was better to go somewhere that would know how to treat you. I was stopped by the same attendant who greeted me the first time I came to the auction house. After that, I was a frequent visitor here, buying and selling ingredients and pills. The attendant bowed as she saw me. She let me in the waiting room and hurried inside to call the manager. For an alchemist like me, only the manager was high ranked enough to deal with me. The manager returned with the attendant, and he looked at me. "Master! It is always a pleasure to see you. Are you here to buy, or to sell?" he asked me, rubbing his hands together. I knew that he could smell a profit. "When is the next auction going to happen? A grand auction?" I asked. "That, I am afraid, will take some time. Thest time that you were here, you got lucky master. You just came in time for the grand auction. But the normal auctions happen once a month. The next auction is just tomorrow. We put it tomorrow because there are many who want to prepare for the martial gathering and tomorrow is the best time to get thest resources." the manager said. "Then spread word. By the end of the day, every one in the city should know that you have four foundation establishment pills that you are ready to sell. And these are not those stupid low ranked Foundation establishment pills. These are the real deal. I think that they will help increase chance of breakthrough my 60%? Maybe more?" I said as I took out the jade box with the four pills within. "Four foundation establishment pills!" the manager''s smile widened and his eyes widened. The joy in his face was apparent. "How much do you think they will go for?" I asked. "Each one would go anywhere in between five and ten million spirit coins!" the manager nodded vigorously. "Is there anything interesting tomorrow? I am inclined to join myself." I smiled. "Well, please do not tell anyone else this, master, but there are a few interesting items that will arouse even the top ns to join. Aside from the not one, not two, but three whole skills that we are selling this time around, there is also the main item of the show, a mythical sword that has been discovered in an expedition by an adventure team. It is beyond the rank of a Heaven ranked weapon, and no one knows how powerful it can be in an actual match. No one can gain it''s authority and permission." the manager said. "Authority? These high ranked weapons have their own will, do they? I see. This is also interesting. I think that I will be very inclined to get one of the items for myself." I smiled as I headed outside. Just at that moment, the system pinged. Ping! "Host must urgently take two steps forward and five steps to the right to go to the shop with an incredible item within!" the system buzzed. I nodded and I went to the shop that the system was so keen about. "System suggests that Host buy the jade trinket dangling on the side. With the carving of a dragon within it. The trinket has a vague draconic aura that can trigger the egg in Host''s possession. It will probably even catalyse the awaken and hatching of the life form within." the system said. My eyes sparkled. I waited for a long time, but nothing seemed to happen to the egg that the system made me buy. It seemed like a useless buy. Now that something seemed to happen, I was incensed. "How much for this trinket?" I asked the shopkeeper. "You have a good eye, sir! It is just three bronze coins." the shop keeper said. I did not bargain. I had no reason to. I gave him the money and snatched the trinket. Putting it inside my spatial ring, I ran back to the estate. I needed to try this immediately. It was just something too big to resist waiting. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 36 Awakening The Egg I took off my cloak and hat and ran towards the estate. The guards let me pass without any problems. I ran to my courtyard. No one was there. I went into my room and took the egg from where I hid it near my bed. The cold surface of the egg chilled my hands. Over the days, I tried everything with the egg, trying to awaken it. I tried to put it in hot water, I tried to heat it directly over me, and nothing worked. Nothing, except for Qi. Just to test fate, I sent Qi to the egg. And boy did whatever inside like the taste of that. It drank my Qi like it was water. And I couldn''t even stop it. I sent in a tiny stream of Qi, and the beast inside sucked almost my entire dantian! Even that did not change the state of the egg though. It stayed the exact same. I tried doing the same thing again and again, but the same thing happened again and again. The egg took in all the Qi, but there was no tangible difference to see. So, I just stopped doing it and focused on the more pressing matters. Now, I took the pendant out and took it near the egg. "What do I do now, system?" I asked. "System suggest pouring Qi into the jade pendant. That always works for most items." the system said. I poured a little of my Qi into the jade pendant. Immediately, it glowed. But unlike normal house hold items that could not withstand the pressure and power, this pendant did not break. Instead, it glowed, and I could see that the inscription of the dragon moved a little. The coiled up dragon moved ever so slightly. I took a deep breath. Something was about to happen. The dragon moved even more, and it looked life like. Roar! I felt a sudden pressure from the pendant. I let go of it and fell to the ground with shock and fear. The roar was like someone from high up, someone majestic was looking down at me. Looking down at me like I was an ant. I felt powerless like I was just a small fry. It was a feeling that I never felt before. Whoever emanated it was powerful enough to kill me with a blink of an eye. I knew that much. The pressure still did not decrease. The pendant was in the air, floating. The egg also reacted a little. It started floating as well. I looked at this with wonder and shock. The system was right, as always. Runes on the egg started glowing. It was anguage that I did not understand. Perhaps, when I grow stronger, or when I go ces, I woulde across thenguage. I could feel the pressure growing weaker, second by second. I just did not understand what was going on though. The pressure was like killing intent. It felt like it was ready to murder. It was not a rousing presence. Rather than trying to awaken whatever was in the egg, it felt like it was trying to kill what was in it. It sure as hell was not a friendly presence. The egg suddenly dropped onto the ground. Then, the pendant cracked. It became dust and fell onto the ground. I felt the pressure on me release, and I got up. I rushed to the bed to see what had happened to the egg. There was a change now, that was for sure. The runes that glowed became permanent. More deeply inscribed, and the egg was no longerpletely smooth. Also, the color of the egg changed from a dull grey to a more vibrant silver. The egg was alive now. No one would mistake it as a rock. The egg also got a little smaller, and I could swear that it felt morefortable to hold. I touched the egg, and I felt a zap. A cry resounded through my ears. It felt like a cry of hunger. My hands felt cold, and I had a bad feeling that something was about to happen. Ouch!! I felt Qi flow from my dantian into the egg. It just swallowed Qi like it was nothing. After reaching the Foundation establishment stage, I could say that I had more than thrice, maybe even four or five times the Qi that I had when I was at the peak of the Qi Condensation stage. And yet, all of this Qi was drained within instants. The cry that I heard died down, and the egg that was in my hand started glowing. The silver glow felt even more prominent. Something was about to happen. Ping! "Host is still at a low level to understand the information delivered to you. System shall act as the receiver. The entity within the egg wants you to pour a drop of your blood onto the egg." the system suddenly said. p "The egg was speaking?" I asked, shocked. "Yes, but the host is not powerful enough to receive the form of speech. Host has to enter the Soul Formation Stage to truly use Divine Sense properly." the system said. I used whatever little Qi that remained in my body to take out a knife from my spatial ring. I used it to cut myself. It took a little effort, because my skin was tougher than it was before. But eventually, was able to make a small cut. I poured a drop of blood on the egg. And then another. And then another. Nothing happened. Then, I heard noises from outside. "What is happening over here? Where did I get the pressure from?" someone shouted from the courtyard. "Go to the room. Is Feng''er inside? Is he safe?" I heard Liu Qian speak. Someone was going to enter the room! I turned around to hide the egg. But then, I looked at my hand. The egg was no longer there! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 37 Where Did It Go? I looked around with shock, not understanding where the egg had gone to. It just disappeared into thin air! Where did it go? "Feng''er! What happened here? Are you okay?" I heard Liu Qian''s voice behind me. I turned around and looked at him. They were clearly worried. "What happened father?" I asked, trying to keep the most innocent and naive face that I could withoutughing. "Something happened here. All the elders felt a powerful presence here. A monster presence. There might be a monster king here, and that monster king certainly is powerful. An existence of that level shouldn''t exist in the city. I don''t understand what happened. Are you okay though?" he asked, clearly worried about me. "Nothing happened to me, father. You might have sensed something else because I was just resting. I am very tired from the match that I had earlier today, so I am resting for the entire day." I cooked up a story. "That is okay. You should rest. You have done well. Very well." he nodded as he turned around to leave the room. "It shouldn''t be from here. I could sense no residual presence of the pressure from here. It might be from another source. Check every corner of the house. I need to know if my family is in danger, and I need to know before I go to sleep at night!" Liu Qian barked outside. I looked at this and shook my head. I did all of this, and I had no idea where the egg even was. Was this all worth it? Maybe I would know if I had the goddamn egg! Ping! "System suggests Host to run a check inside the body. The egg is probably incubating next to the dantian. It is a safe ce for the egg to gain Qi to supplement itself. The egg has already epted Host as a safe ally and is trusting enough to enter your [Error]. Information is above User authority. Please level up to learn more." With a hurry, I ran Qi throughout my body. Nothing felt wrong, until all the Qi started being sucked in like a ck hole right next to my dantian. I could sense it. It was the egg. There was something inside of me! I took a few deep breaths. If I freaked out now, then everyone outside who was looking for the mess that I created woulde back here and I would be in more trouble. I needed to calm myself and figure out what my next steps are going to be. Iid on the bed, looking at the ceiling. "Just what am I going to do now? I did not need thisplication now of all times? Is this going to screw me over for the martial gathering now? Am I going to lose? With this egg taking all of my Qi right now, will I be able to hold any Qi at all? This is too much for me to handle. I need to go somewhere to rx or something. I need to clear my head. I should go to some sauna or something to clear my head for now." I told myself as I headed out. I looked outside my room. There were men at every corner, going through every single part of the courtyard. In such a ce, even if I wanted to rx, I would not be able to. I headed out. "Where are you going, Feng''er? It is dangerous. No one knows who caused this. You should not go out at such an important and delicate time." Liu Qian stopped me. "But father, if this person wanted to harm me, then I would probably already be dead. You said that you got this pressure at the house. But I was in the house and there was no one here. This person had the best opportunity to cause me harm, and didn''t. I am going to be fine. All I am going to do is go for a little stress release." I said. "What did you just say? You are going for a stress release? Just when I thought that you were going to change, you are going to do the same stupid things again. I will break your legs and drag you home if you say such stupid things again. Come back!" Liu Qian barked at me. I looked at him with confusion. "What is wrong with going to a sauna, father? I am just going to rx a little. Things have been a little difficult for me." I said, stating the obvious. "You are going to the sauna? That is what you meant?" Liu Qianughed sheepishly. "You can go then. You can go. I must have misunderstood you." he said, turning around immediately. I looked around, and the men were also looking away from me. It was suspicious. "Where did you think I was even going?" I asked. "Well, you know. The same ce that you used to go before, you know, the whole missing fiasco." Liu Qian said, stuttering. "Wait a minute! He thought that I was going to the brothel? What the hell is wrong with the body that the system gave me? Only giving me troubles. This is so irritating!" I shouted inside. I could no longer show my face here anymore. I quickened my pace and left the courtyard, heading over to the city. I stopped at the guards. "Where is the city''s sauna?" I asked. "Young master, the family has its own bath, if that is what you are asking for." the guards said. "I do not want to be here. Every single person looking at me with weird eyes. I would rather go elsewhere, and be morefortable when everyone is not looking at me." I said, shaking my head. "It is next to the..." the guard gave me the directions, and also said that there was no need for me to stay with the peasants. Apparently, there was a room reserved for the elite, and that was where I should go. I also agreed with him. I also wanted to meet others who came from simr backgrounds. I wanted to see how they behaved, and what the normals were for them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 38 Mysterious Girl I walked slowly and leisurely. This time, I had no need to hide my face and my identity. In fact, I needed it. I was no longer the idiot young master, but the dark horse of the Liu Family. I could unt all that I had now. I smiled as I walked around. This really was therapeutic. I could do whatever I wanted, and until the martial gathering which was in a few days, rest and a little training were all that I needed. I stopped at a store. Something caught my eye. It was a pot, a big pot, but there was something about that smell that threw me off. It felt like this was an alchemist furnace, and it was probably better than even the one that the system provided me. I stepped in. The shop was mostly empty, except for the shopkeeper, and a girl who as looking around. She was not dressed luxuriously, but had a veil on her head. Like the youngdy from the Cai Family. I could tell that it was not her. But this girl had a more mysterious aura surrounding her. Well, she was not my business, and it was rude to stare. I shifted my gaze and crouched in front of the pot. I caressed my hands on the surface of the pot and looked surprised. There were slight bumps were the runes usually showed, but the bumps were not visible to the naked eye. This was something that I could only sense through the little roughness at the points of the markings. I raised my eyebrows and called upon the shopkeeper. "Yes, young master? Is there anything that you require?" he asked. "Where do you get all your things? There must be somece that you get your stock. Where did this pote from?" I asked. "We usually buy in bulk from expeditions, Young master. Not the good stuff. The good stuff goes to all the major shops and auctions. We cannot afford to go against them. But for all those who want to try their luck, this is a ce where you can do so. There are a few hidden gems that you can find, and I am sure that there is at least one here. Who knows? Maybe this pot is one." the shopkeeper smiled. "What expedition did thise from? Where did they go?" I asked. "They went to the ins around which the ancient Medicine Spirit Sect used to sit. It had copsed a long time ago. There were many pill furnaces that were found, but this was thought to be a normal pot. Just one that some one used for their herbs to contain. Anyways, it was judged that this was not a pill furnace. It did not react to any of the usual tests." the shop keeper said. "Alright. I will keep looking. Thank you." I smiled, looking at him. "Ah, of course." he nodded and left, giving me some privacy. I looked closer at the pot. I was sure about my intuition. No ordinary pot would be used by actual alchemists to make pills. This was definitely an alchemy furnace. But then why did it not react to any of the tests? Maybe it was something to do with it being too high ranked, and having its own will? I was not sure. "Looks like you are also an alchemist. I did not think that there would be a young alchemist in this city. I thought that I was the only one." A sweet voice came from behind me. I rose with shock and turned around. "And it also looks like you are a skilled martial artist, because I am sure that I would have heard youing behind me otherwise," I said, smiling. "That is just a side effect of an art that I am practicing. My footsteps are lighter and hard to hear. It looks like the furnace interests you. Do you wish to purchase it?" the girl asked. "Yes. I think I will. Now that I can see there ispetition, I will not push fate. I will take this furnace, no matter the price." I said with a loud voice so that the shop keeper could listen. "There is no need to worry. This furnace is not fated to me. I already have one for me at home, and it is bound tost a long time." she smiled. I could see that she smiled through the veil. "I wonder which monster would force such a young and beautiful girl to go to alchemy? It is too brute a task for such a noble person. I can see from your bearings that you are of a high n. Why alchemy?" I asked, curious. "Alchemy is only for those who are destined. I am destined. Hence, I took up the task. It seems that you are also destined, so you also took up the task. It seems that I recognize you as well. Aren''t you Liu Feng? The infamous young master of the Liu Family?" she asked as she took a step back. "Oh, I know that I have a notorious reputation here. I don''t think that I can get rid of it anytime soon. But do not worry, I am not the same person, and I am sure that you do not need to be defensive against me. I am not so much an idiot to try and molest a girl who is more powerful than me." I chuckled. "And you know that how?" she asked. "Because I could not hear youing behind me. I dare not say that I am the strongest in my realm, but I sure as hell have good senses. If you were at my level, then I would have sensed you. But you are far above my level. The only question that remains. Are you participating in the martial gathering? Because if you are, then I might as well quit while I am ahead. I know that I have no chance if everyone is at your level." I said, shaking my head. "Do not worry, Young Lord of the Liu Family. How about this? If you meet me at the martial gathering, then I shall do you the favor of quitting. But I want something in exchange." the girl asked. "You want something in exchange? What is it?" I asked. "I have heard that you have a marriage contract with the youngdy of the Bai Family. I am indebted to the family, and it is their wish that you dissolve this contract." she said. "Oh well. That was bound to happen anyways. The mistakes that I have made in the past cannot be wiped away. I do not want to force a girl who does not want to marry me into doing so. I would have done that either way, so it looks like I got a good deal. Good day to you." I said, as I touched the alchemy furnace. I sucked it into the spatial ring and flicked a few gold coins at the shop keeper. "This should cover it." I said as I headed over to leave. "You are very different from what I have heard about you, Liu Feng. I look forward to meeting you in the martial gathering." she said. "You know who I am. Is it not fair that I know who you are?" I asked at the departing youngdy. "Bai Zhiqui" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 39 Blue Feather Robe "Bai Zhiqui. Why does that name sound familiar? Wait a minute! Isn''t that the girl who I was engaged to?! That is her? Oh my god, you have got to be kidding me." I shook my head. By now, she was already gone. "No wonder she wanted to break off the engagement. She can do so much better than whatever I was before. No wonder. Well, a pity." I muttered as I walked towards the bath houses. I was in a need for a rxing ce. "Where are you going? The baths are closed. There is a VIP inside. No one is allowed to go inside now." the guard stopped me. "There is someone inside? This is getting outrageous. Who is it? I am the young master of the Liu Family. I think that if you are stopping me, then I deserve an answer." I said, holding my ground. "Who is it? You don''t need to know. All that you need to know is that even the city lord will move aside for this man. So why don''t you just go something else, and maybe at the end of the day the bath will be free for you." the guard said. "Someone that even the city lord will move aside for? That sounds ominous. Why would someone so powerfule to the city here? This ain''t some great city." I wondered. I continued walking until I reached a part of the city that I had never gone to before. This was the luxury part of themercial district. Everything here was at least a few thousand gold coins, and some even reached that price in spirit coins. I looked around. The names of the shops made me snicker. "Medicine Hall" "Armament Hall" They might sound funny, but I was genuinely interested in them. I stepped it up and went into the Armament Hall. I wanted to find an armor for myself, one that was light and not visible. This seemed like the best ce to get one without the Liu family knowing. The shop was full. There were people at every corner. The moment that I entered, I heard a voice beside me. "How may I help you, Sir?" a young woman attendant was standing next to me. "I want an armor? Earth rank. How much will that set me back by?" I asked. "An earth ranked armor will be about 100,000 spirit coins, sir." the attendant said, and her expression changed. Any business that was that much would certainly give her a hugemission. "Show me the earth ranked armor. I want to get one that is light and is not visible beneath the clothes." I said. "Of course, Sir. It is right this way." The attendant led me deep into the shop, where the number of customers decreased considerably. She showed me five options for the armors, of which only one was what I wanted. "So then, what is this called?" I asked, looking at the thin robe that looked nothing like an armor. It was just a robe! But apparently, it was made with monster feathers, and was extremely powerful. "This is the Blue Feather Robe. It is one of our expensive offerings, at 250,000 spirit coins. It is an Earth Ranked Medium Grade armor." the attendant said. "Fine. I''ll take it. Better this than nothing." I said as I gave her my Shanxia card. She took the card and went inside. I frowned. I would rather that the money transactions happened in front of me, but I could notin. At such a big shop, I did not want to look like the petty guy. I waited. Soon enough, she returned. "The transaction has gone through, Young Master. The robe is yours. Do you wish to pack it, or do you wish to wear it right now?" the attendant asked. "Well, it is always good to have some extra protection. Do you have a room where I can just put this on?" I asked. "There is one, Sir. I can take you there." The attendant nodded and she took the robe gently off the case that it was resting on. She then went further into the shop, and handed me the robe. "Are you going to stand there? I think a little privacy is better suited when I take off my clothes." I said with a harsh tone. She was just standing there! Like it was nothing. I didn''t like that. "Yes sir, of course. Forgive me for this offense." the attendant bowed and left the room. I put the robe underneath my clothes and started moving around to test it. There was a mirror, and indeed, it didn''t look like I was wearing an armor beneath my clothes. But there was one question that haunted me. Was it going to work? I took a sword and tried to cut the fabric of the robe. Nothing happened. I tried piercing it. Still, nothing happened. My worries were unfounded. These feathers were stronger and tougher than even my own skin. "What kind of beast is able to have feathers so strong? And who the hell is able to kill such a beast? Everything that I do just reminds me how weak I am." I shook my head. I headed over to leave. The shop was still as bustling as ever. I headed over to the street and looked at both sides. There was nothing that interesting, except an over ambitious resteraunt. One that called itself the best in the world. I shook my head. Although I got somethings done, I was just unlucky today. I did not get to do what I wanted. "Look who it is! The dark horse of the Liu Family. I wonder how much you actually paid Liu Xin, for him to actually lose against you? He has his priorities set, of course. With the admission into the martial gathering confirmed, he could just throw the match for some money. Or is it that the Liu Family is so weak that two foundation establishment stages could not even beat a cripple" I heard a voice behind me. It felt familiar, and for some reason, an intense rage came up. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 40 Cai Yanlin I turned around and looked at who it was that was so provocative. I recognized the voice for some reason. The man who said this looked at me provocatively. "I wonder, how did you survive so long in the cave? That too, when you were injured. I thought that you would die in there. But it looks like cockroaches will always find a way to survive, somehow." heughed. The moment he said this, memories rushed into my head. I could see that I was talking with this man, and he took me to the forest for fun. Then, he stabbed me in the back and he threw me in the cave that I was trapped in. He blocked the cave with a boulder and left me there to die! "Cai Yanlin, you bastard," I growled. "How could you call me that? I am the person who was supposed to ease your suffering. Now look, you have to keep living in this horrible world." he said, shaking his head. There were a few goons next to him, looking at me with eyes of contempt. "What are you going to do now? Fight? Come on. I know that you want to fight me." Cai Yanlin smiled. He raised his hand and gestured at me toe at him. I shook my head. "The Cai family might be powerful, and you might be the young master of the Cai family, but you are far from the actual representative. I met your sister, the actual youngdy of the Cai family. She really is a great person. I think that the Cai family is bound to grow leaps and bounds in her discretion. But where does that leave you? Just a stupid henchman for the family. Looks like you are just a goon of the family." I said, shaking my head. Cai Yanlin''s face turned ugly immediately. He looked at me with anger. I clearly struck a chord. He turned away with anger and started walking away. "Look at that! The young master Cai Yanlin is nothing more than a coward. The moment that he knows that he is going to lose, even in a match of words, he runs away!" I shouted, and everyone around looked at me and him. Some even snickered. "You dare?! Last time, we might not have seeded, but this time it will not be so simple." his henchman growled at me. "The Cai family will protect your young master. But seeing that you have threatened me, do you think that the Cai family will protect you? Will it be worth it? Think about it. He is just a young master, but his father is powerful to warrant protection. You two are worthless to the Cai family. Bark one more time and I will make sure that you are put down." I said as I turned around as well. "You will also go to the martial gathering. There, we shall see what will happen to you. I really want to see how you will fare. The whole city will chew you and spit you out." Cai Yanlin shouted at me, but I disregarded that. The martial gathering wasn''t going to be that hard as long as I was prepared. I took a deep breath. Nothing was going as I had hoped. I came here for a nice and rxing time, and all that I got was some fool who had seeded in killing this body once before. It only helped worsen the problem. "Oh well. Let us just go home and practice a little. I think that I should practice the fifth strike a little more." I thought to myself as I walked back home. I nced at the bathhouse, which was on the way back. There was a huge path formed by two lines of men. Bodyguards, I assumed. I stopped for a minute. Maybe, the man who was so important woulde out now. I really wanted to see who it was. A small crowd was already beginning to form, and everyone was interested to see who would warrant such fanfare. I could hear that someone wasing out. There was an old man, and the moment that he came out, I saw his eyes. They glinted for a moment, and immediately, I felt a sharp pain in my forehead. Aaagrh! I shouted with pain. I staggered back, trying to regain bnce. "Who is it that disturbs the great master?" one of the bodyguards shouted, looking at the crowd that I was a part of. The crowd had no intention of protecting me. They split apart, and I remained in the center, visible to all. I could see the old man, walking towards me slowly. He had a faint smile on his face. He walked up to me and tapped me on my shoulder. "You have Zhiqui''s scent on you. It seems that you are a lucky man," he said, smiling. "You are her master? Are you an alchemist as well? Is that why they are treating you with such honor?" I asked. "Who do you think you are, asking the great master questions?" the bodyguard who spoke before stepped up once again. "Calm down. This boy interests me quite a bit." the old man smiled. "Yes. I am an alchemist. Looking at your hands, I think that you are also one of them. I heard that a few Qi Condensation Pills and a few others have appeared in this city. I was curious, but to think that a child would be the one responsible. Truly marvelous. Do you also wish to be my disciple? I guarantee, no one will be able to touch you if you be my disciple." the old man smiled. Everyone around looked at me with envy. The bodyguard was shocked, his mouth agape. Getting an offer like this was once in a lifetime. But it was not meant for me. "The path of alchemy is not the one that I wish to walk in this lifetime. I want to be a martial artist. Alchemy is just a side profession to help me out. I am sorry, but I will have to decline your offer. Maybe our paths will cross in the future once more." I shook my head and I tried to leave. "You are Liu Qian''s son, are you not? I am a little acquainted with your little situation... I may be able to help you out of it." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 41 Break The Engagement? Thank you everyone! For all those who are worried, there is no need. I will not be dropping the novel. I will continue it as long as you guys are interested. Anyways, enjoy the chapter! Also, if you like the novel so far, drop a review,ment your favorite part, and donate a few powerstones to help support the novel. Well, if you don''t like the novel, then your opinion is important to make the novel better. I froze. He knew who I was, and he knew the situation that I was in. That meant that he could help me. Thoughts raced through my mind. "He can also help me get powerful right? I will be able to grow a little stronger, and will have a better standing among everyone else." I thought. "Are you stupid? The goal is toplete the world. That means that you have to be the strongest, kick everyone''s ass, and then get back. That is the goal. If you start alchemy as a profession, then all that you are going to be is ackey to someone else and helping someone else be the strongest. That is pointless. Come on. Just step it up and say no. It doesn''t matter what the situation is. What doesn''t kill you makes you stronger." Another voice inside of me rose. Two voices started fighting, and outside, my face lookedplicated. I looked at the old man with hesitation. "It looks like you are still not convinced. Well then. It just means that you are not fated to be my disciple. That is too bad. I wish you the best of luck in your martial journey." the old man shook his head as he turned away to leave. I nodded. As I turned away as well, the old man stopped. "There was something else that I wanted to ask you. If you please. Tell everyone else to leave. This is a private talk, and it is not going to be alright with all these people listening on." the old man looked at the bodyguards. "Everyone! Move right now. You do not want to offend the master. Just scatter!" the bodyguard in the front stepped up and cleared the area. Soon, the ce was empty, and there was only me and the old man left, with all of his bodyguards of course. "What is it that was so private that everyone had to leave? They already saw me say no to you for the disciple proposal, and that was a little, humiliating on its own, no? So then why is this that private?" I asked. "Well, I did not want to humiliate you when I wanted to ask you to break your engagement with Zhiqui. It is a little embarrassing to ask, but that is the one thing that is tying her to this city, to this ce. She has greatness ahead of her, and I am afraid that you are the reason that she is at a bottleneck. She is bound by the promise that her father made, and that saddens me. I willpensate you if you wish for that." the old man said. "You really love her, don''t you. As a master, I mean. She is lucky to have a master like you. But you do not need to worry. I already agreed to Bai Zhiqui when she asked me earlier today. However, that proposal that you gave me, that you would give me something in return. May I be so bold as to ask for just a little bit of information?" I asked. "If your father has not told you who he is, and why you have people after you, then I cannot disrespect his decision. You should as him." the old man shook his head. "You read right through me, didn''t you? But if you cannot tell me that, then can you at least tell me how you know?" I asked. "That? Everyone knows. Every big powerhouse in the royal capital and the kingdom knows who you are and that you are his- I have spoken too much. But many know. You never cared enough. Who would have thought that you would change overnight? Truly a pity." the old man shook his head and sighed. "Wait, what? Everyone knows?" I asked, staggering back. "I have said too much. Anything else, you should ask your father. He will have all the answers that you want. Maybe, if you survive the next few years, then you will find out the truth for yourself. But it is not my truth to tell." the old man said as he started walking away. "But-" I stepped forward, but I was stopped by the bodyguard. "What do your think you are doing? How dare you try and approach the master without permission? I will not punish you because you are young and impulsive. Do not let this happen again." the bodyguard said with a harsh tone. By then, the old man was already quite a distance away, and the bodyguards were swiftly closing him in a protective shell. "What the hell is happening? How could he just drop these bombs and leave like that? This is unfair. And the whole capital knows? Father is not going to say anything. I know that much. Why is everything happening now, at this time? Everything is concentrated around the few days that actually mean something to me." I shook my head. I left for the house. I did not get the rxing bath I wanted, and only got stress added to me. My shoulders slumped as I walked towards the Liu Family manor. Luckily, there were no more incidents that would keep my adrenaline pumping even more. I entered the manor and into the courtyard. By now, the courtyard was empty. Everyone had left, and father was sitting outside, just gazing at the sky. He looked at me and smiled. "Were you able to get some rest? Like you wanted?" he asked. "Looks like today was not my lucky day. I did not get to do anything at all. There was an old man, who seemed to know you. I think that he was an alchemist. I could not enter the bath house because he was in it, and he was too important a guest to be disturbed." I said, shaking my head. "An alchemist? I know a lot of alchemists. Well, better luck next time. But don''t you dare say that today was not a lucky day. You are lucky. For you to win the match today, was only because your opponent underestimated you. Do not expect the same to happen at the martial gathering. If this was yesterday, I would say that you should not keep your hopes high, but now that I see you at this stage, I will be honest. If you overestimate yourself like you are right now, then you are going to get crushed." Liu Qian said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 42 Assigning The Stat Points I nodded and went back in. I looked around the room. in as it was when I left it, there was no change at all. I sat on the bed and recollected my thoughts. Over one day, way too many things happened at once, and I needed a breather. For one thing, the whole city would stop calling me the idiot young master because I beat Liu Xin in the match up. That was a huge win. And then, for some reason, the egg that I had went inside of me, and started using my Qi to grow, I guess? Well, whatever it was, the egg was alive. I know that, because it triedmunicating with me, and I was just not powerful enough to understand what it was saying. Besides that, two people asked me to break the marriage contract. Although the girl herself was stunning, I knew that she was not meant for me. I was not nning on staying in this city for long. I did not even think that the royal capital was going to be the final stage. Maybe it would be the first big stage, but I knew that there were many other hurdles that I was going toe across. There was also that alchemist that asked me to be my disciple. This was the only thing that I was confident about. I did not need a master. I had a cheat system that was going to help me better than any master. If I wanted to learn any technique, or learn how to refine any pill at all, the system was going to be there for me even when a master would be busy. I had no reason for a master to get stronger. I stretched my arms. "System Homepage." I said, quietly. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 8 Strength - 45 Stamina - 32 Agility - 40 Cultivation - Foundation Establishment - 1styer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Medium Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Alchemy(Basic Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Skill points - 5 Stat Points - 25 All of a sudden, a light bulb in my mind went off. I still had 25 stat points that I could assign. With that, I could actually be so much more powerful than before! With every major increase in cultivation, my stats increased only by small increments. I had to try it out. "System, other than Strength and agility, are there any other stats that I can increase?" I asked. "Host has to level up to avail stat points on other stats." the system said. "So that means that if I level up enough, I can use stat points for cultivation, luck and stamina?" I asked. The system did not respond. It stayed quiet, not even giving its go to error message. I shook my head and looked at the panel in front of me. I could give each stat 12 points each, and one of them would get one more. Or, I could make them both equal at 55, and I could be well all round. Thinking back,pared to the others in the family, and everywhere else, I was the only one without an agility skill. I was slower than everyone else. This agility stat was the only reason that I was stillpeting. I could not let itg behind. "Put 10 in strength and 15 in agility." I said. "Adding 10 stat points to strength and 15 points to agility. Please confirm." the system said. "Yes." I nodded. The stats blurred, and the new numbers showed. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 8 Strength - 55 Stamina - 32 Agility - 55 Cultivation - Foundation Establishment - 1styer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Medium Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Alchemy(Basic Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Skill points - 5 Stat Points - 0 Seeing the stat points that I worked so hard to umte just vanish in an instant pained me. But I had to confirm if it helped. I stretched my arms and headed over to the training ground to try out my new found gains. No one stopped me, so I went to one of those training dummies that were usually hogged by one of theckeys of Liu Kun. I looked at it. It was not exactly excellent craftsmanship in the features, but it was sturdy enough to try my new stats on. I clenched my right hand into a fist and punched forward. The moment that I hit the dummy, it caved in, and bounced right back out. I staggered back a little, but when I looked back at the dummy, I could see that I left a little mark where I had hit it. "What did I do wrong? Isn''t the dummy supposed to go back? Why did the stomach cave in? The punch is supposed to send it sting off. Even those Qi Condensation idiots could st it off. Why did the dummy cave in for me?" I wondered out loud as I looked at the dummy with confusion. "Your fundamentals are deeply wed, child. I have no idea how you even won the gathering. To think that the representative of the Liu Family is someone who does not even know how to punch. Truly ridiculous." I heard a sound behind me. I jumped forward with fright. Immediately, a spear appeared in my hands from the spatial ring and I pointed it to the man who was behind me. How did someone sneak up on me all of a sudden? This was happening too many times. But when I saw who it was, my grip on the spear loosened a little. "Old Tian? You again? You scared me." I heaved a sigh of relief. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 43 Fundamentals "Look at yourself. I don''t know how you got so powerful when you do not understand even the fundamentals of a punch. You do not understand anything at all. You are just lucky, that is all. Some master felt pity and he gave you an art to learn. How many times is he going to do that? If you do not know how to actually understand how the art works, if you do not understand what you are supposed to do, then you are going to be worthless in the future. You might have cked off thest ten years, but you still have not passed your golden agepletely. If you try and salvage what you can, then maybe you will have hope." Old Tian said, shaking his head. "My fundamentals are wed? That makes sense to me. I was only following the skills that were handed to me until now. I never was in an actual fight, and I even took that huge boost in where I started cultivating. It looks like getting the fundamentals right will go a long way in helping me in the future." I made a mental note. Old Tian nodded at me and looked at the dummy. "But you are stronger than you were today morning. Trying out gains of a new found strength, are we? I wonder how you get so powerful in such a small time frame." heughed. I looked at him with a tense face. How did he find out that I grew stronger just by looking at the dummy? It made no sense. "Well, I was just cultivating, and I felt a little break through. I must be really lucky today. I wanted to test what it meant for me, and I rushed to the training ground to do that." I said hastily, trying to take his mind off of what he was thinking. "Ah, we have a genius in our midst. The Liu Family is lucky. I will leave you to testing your limits then. But do not forget. Your fundamentals are important. Rather than a person who has low proficiency in Human Ranked Sword art, sects, and any skilled person will know that whoever has perfect mastery in the Basic Sword Skills will go farther in the martial way." Old Tian said. "The Basic Sword Skills? Where can I find the Basic Skills for Spears?" I asked with a rush. "I wonder what is wrong with you. The building that you came to this afternoon, where you took your weapon. That is the building where the skills of the family are also stored. Is there something wrong with your memory? Everyone in the family knows this." he looked at me curiously. "It slipped my mind. Well, I think that I will go there and take those for now. I have no need to learn high skilled arts. I need to get my fundamentals right, like you said." I agreed. "Well then. There is no need to go all the way back there. I am not in the mood to go through all the procedures of giving you a few skill books that everyone in the kingdom has ess to. Here, just take these and scram. Everyone has a copy anyways, and I have no need for mine." Old Tian took out a set of books and handed them to me. He seemed to have a spatial ring of his own, and I looked at this with interest. Since when did a mere guard have a spatial ring? I knew that he was more powerful than he showed, and every time I encountered him, my suspicions were further confirmed. "Thank you so much for this gift." I bowed down to ept the books. "Don''t sweat it. They are not that valuable a gift. Especially to someone who carried around a spatial ring like yours. I don''t seem to recall anyone giving you this ring." Old Tian said, scratching his chin. I quickly jumped with fright and started running out of the training grounds. I did not want to get into more trouble. This old man had an intuition that was going to put me in huge trouble. Once I put a little gap between him and me, I opened the books that he had given me. There were a lot of diagrams, especially of bodies. Merdian points, postures, and the like covered the books. They were just like the skills that I learned, except that they focused on the more basic versions. The skills that I learned were a moreplicated and profound version of this. But for anyone who was starting without the system, mastering the basics would be the best way to go. Ping! "Host has discovered iplete Heaven grade skill. Does Host wish to use 5 skill points toplete the skill?" the system buzzed. I froze and checked the message again. A heaven grade skill? I was holding the goddamn fundamentals that everyone apparently held. Did that mean that everyone in the kingdom had ess to an iplete heaven grade skill? I struck gold because of the system this time! "5 skill points? That is everything that I have isn''t it? But I can always learn more. Even the skills that I learn right now are not at the Heaven Grade, if I am not wrong. They are at most Earth grade high ranked skills. Wait a minute though. Aren''t the fundamentals of different weapons? What the hell is the heaven grade skill? Which skill will be made the heaven grade system?" I asked. "The skill that will be made willbine the iplete aspects of the skill books that the Host is holding. The skill made will be the Ethereal Weapon Art. It shall be abination of all the weapons. Host will be able to use all weapons if he achieves mastery of this skill." the system said. "I hit a gold mine!" I grinned. Every weapon? This was the biggest cheat that the system could give me so far! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 44 Ethereal Weapon Art "Completing merger... 10%.....30%...50%...70%...90%...Ping! Merger ispleted. Host has acquired new skill, Etherial Weapon Art. Suitable weapon for the skill is avable in the shop." Ping! "Congrattions on first use of the system ability,pletion of iplete skills. Host will be given reward." I looked at the screen that popped up in front of me with excitement. A roullete wheel appeared in front of me, and there was a giant red button that I had to click, as always. I put aside all inhibition and tapped the button with my index finger. The wheel started moving. I looked at the rewards. There were quite a few choices. The one that I wanted least right now was a skill. I did not want to learn too many skills and dilute the proficiency that I did have. If possible, I wanted a weapon, or a pill that would help me increase my ability. Plop. Plop. Plop. The wheelnded on an item. Ping! "Congrattions! Host has gained new skill: Mind Eye!" the system said. "Another skill? Damn it. And I thought that my luck was good. Fine then. What does the skill even do?" I asked. "Mind Eye: Skill allows Host ess to information about the people and items around him." the system said. "It is basically an appraisal skill? I can use that? I can actually be rich with something like this." I nodded. The skill wasn''t that bad. It was an auxiliary skill and not another fighting skill that I had to spend so much time practicing. I was okay with this. "System Homepage" Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 8 Strength - 55 Stamina - 32 Agility - 55 Cultivation - Foundation Establishment - 1styer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Medium Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Alchemy(Basic Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Mind Eye(Active) Skill points - 5 Stat Points - 0 "Active? What does that mean?" I wondered out loud. "It means that the skill shall always remain active. Whenever host looks at anything, the skill shall activate." the system said. "That is... irritating, isn''t it? What will I possibly do with that?" I thought as I continued walking. There were a few people approaching me. They were youngsters, like me. Probably part of the branches, because I did not recognize them from the gathering. But when they got closer to me, something weird happened. Numbers appeared above each of their heads. A level, their name, and their cultivation. "Lvl 5 Name - ... Cultivation - Qi Condensation 5thyer" I was blown away. This was better than I expected. With this, I could estimate how much more powerful an opponent was. I could choose my battles. They walked up to me and their faces were filled with wonder and a sense of devotion. "Senior brother Liu Feng! It is an honor to meet you! The whole family is still wondering how you managed to put your power under wraps. It would be out honor to learn a few tips under you." One of the kids asked me. "Tips? Well, nothing much. Just practice hard, and you will get where you want to eventually. Don''t forget that. You need to practice hard. The future of the Liu Family is not dependent on me, but on people like you." I just said some random words to please him and tried to escape the entrapment that the group created. p "Thank you so much for your kind words, Senior Brother. There is another thing that we wanted to ask you. The martial art that you performed. We could not find it anywhere in the n''s inventory. Where can we find it?" he asked. "The martial art that I used? You cannot find it in the n. It was given to me by a benevolent senior, and I cannot share it without his permission. But one thing is for sure. You do not need to use the art to be powerful. If you practice hard enough, then you will get there eventually. Listen to your elders. That is the right way." I said. They kept asking questions, but the only answers that I gave were vague quotes and morals. They were only wasting their time with me, because I had no intention of divulging any of my secrets. I was not so giving. I was selfish for myself. I lived another life already and I knew that to survive, I had to take care of myself and those around me first. I did not need to care about the ones that I had no rtion to. Finally, they let me go after a while. The sky was already getting a little dark. I giggled as I ran to the house. I had nothing else to do, except for practising the ethereal weapon art. That was the only thing I had to do until the martial gathering wouldmence, so that I could have a few weapons up my sleeve. The spear was a difficult weapon to use, and I could not rely on it for all matches. I also had to learn the Blue Dragon Spear Art''s moves with my new spear, but I was confident that I could adapt quite quickly. I went to the courtyard, and took out my spear in the opening. There was no one in the house. Everyone must have left, though I did not know why. I held my spear and swung it for a practise swing. The spear was bnced, and I could feel it was a better fit for me, just like the system said. "Activate skill assist." I said. "Activating Skill assist. Which skill does the Host which to use skill assist for?" the system asked. "Blue Dragon Spear Art, the fifth strike." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 45 Day Of The Martial Gathering City Lord Manor, Day of the martial gathering Everyone was there. The stage was set high, and the seating could amodate thousands of people. Only those who were strong, or had a strong background, could actually sit here. The rest had to stand, watching from the back lines. The contenders were not gathered yet. They were with their own parties, all looking towards the stage with a nervous nce, not know what to expect. The city lord had the best view, looking out directly from his own balcony high up. But he did not arrive yet, so the martial gathering still had some time tomence. This time though, I was notte. I came on time. There was no sudden or unexpected breakthrough or gestation period, and I did not want to push fate either. I sat down in the area designated for the Liu Family. The three families were set apart from each other, and I could understand why. Who would want the rivalries of the families to pop up now of all times? I scanned the crowd with my mind eye. I was trying to look at the participants, to see who is at what stage. But my mind eye could not work at the distance at which the other ns were sitting. So I had to wait till we were on the stage to see how strong my opponent would be. That was disappointing. With the mind eye, everything was not smooth. I could only see the levels and the cultivations of the people who were near my own. That meant that I could not see the level and the cultivation of my own father, even though I knew that he was in the Nascent Soul Realm. And his level was also not shown. In their ce, question marks appeared. I stood up. I needed to get ayout of my opponents, and sitting down clearly wouldn''t help. I needed to go to where the others were sitting. I looked at my father, who was sitting calmly. But this was not the exterior that he had shown just a few hours ago. I had brought up the fact that I was going away, so the marriage agreement could be annulled. Father was furious. He fought long and hard, but at the end, he just threw the marriage contract at me and told me that I could do whatever I wanted, and that the consequences would be my fault. I believe his exact words were, ''You are going to die alone, mark my words.'' Those were pretty harsh words, and I was sure that he was joking. Nevertheless, I had an excuse to go towards the Bai family now. I slowly walked towards there. I could see many second rate families as well, but their best candidates were at the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm. Not exactly a threat anymore. I got to the Bai Family''s space now, and I was immediately stopped by a face that I seemed to recognize. But I did not need to dig into my memories to know who it was. "Lvl 10 Name - Bai Zhen Cultivation - Foundation Establishment Stage - 2nd Layer" The words popped up over him. He was stronger than me on paper. "What the hell is trash like you doing here? I thought that thest time I met you, I told you to scram and never to appear in front of us again? It looks like the moment that you learnt how to cultivate, you grew a pair and now you are trying to go against me, eh?" he said, coldly. "That is not my intention, senior brother. Not one bit. Actually, I have something to give to sister Bai Zhiqui. It was already agreed upon. She will know what I am talking about." I said,ughing sheepishly. "Look at you! Shameless. Just to talk with her for a little more time, you are willing to go through any length. Spouting lies and daring to disobey me?! You deserve to be beaten. You are really asking for it." he said, his voice raised and his hands clenched into fists. "Calm down, big brother. Why are you always so hyper active? Sometimes, you must be calm and understand the truth. I trust that you have been well in this short time since west met, Brother Liu Feng?" a sweet and melodious voice startled me from behind. I recognized the voice. It was Bai Zhiqui. I turned around to look at her face to face. But it seemed that she was approaching me as well, because when I turned around, her face was just an inch from mine. I could see through her translucent veil, that her cheeks were a little red from this sudden confrontation. And so were mine. But beyond that, I could see her face. And my god did my heart start pounding. How did god craft such a perfect woman and be so heartless to send her here? Bai Zhiqui took a step back and looked at me. "It has been some time indeed. I am here because of what you asked before." I said, trying my best not to think about what just happened a few moments ago. "Thank you so much, brother Feng. This shall be something that I will always thank you for, and I shall be in your debt." Bai Zhiqui bowed slightly. "There is no need to bow. This is just something that I needed to do as well. I cannot be so heartless as to weigh a genius like you and tie you down to this ce." I said hastily as I took out a piece of paper from my spatial ring. She stretched her jade like hands and took the paper from me. Her eyes nced at the contents, and the paper disappeared, probably into her own spatial ring. "This is indeed, the marriage contract. I shall show it to my master, and we will annul it by tearing it off. Maybe we can still be friends after this has passed. My master has high hopes for you. He said that a tiger''s son will be a tiger, and a tiger will never be confined in a cage for long." she said as she walked past me towards the Bai Family area. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 46 Day Of The Martial Gathering (Part 2) Her words echoed in my mind. Her master expected me to leave the city. All of this just made me more curious about who exactly this body''s real father was, and how powerful he was. I nced above her head, trying to see what her level was. But what the mind eye showed me shocked me. "Lvl - ??? Name - Bai Zhiqui Cultivation - ???" This meant that she was at the least a whole realm above me! How did someone get so powerful at such a young age? That meant that her talent was much stronger than whatever cheat I used to get this far. I looked at Bai Zhen. His face did not look pretty. After all that he said, he waspletely wrong about the reason that I came here. But he did say a few hurtful things, and I was not the most forgiving person. "You said something about how I came here just to talk to her? That these were lies? Sometimes, I wonder, these big families are full of idiots. They just cannot understand the whole truth, and they try to make their own version of it. Isnt that right? You seem to do it so often." I said,ughing at Bai Zhen. "Don''t act like you did something great. At the end of the day, all that you did was give up the one thing in the world that made you worth something. And now, you lost that too. Get out of my sight before I trash you up." he growled at me. "Do you really think that you can beat me? I am the strongest in the Liu Family. What about you? I am pretty sure that you are not even close. We will probably meet in the ring. Let us see what will happen to someone like you there." I said as I turned around and headed to the Cai family area. I needed to know how powerful their participants were. I did not get close likest time. I nced at the youngdy of the Cai family. Using my mind eye, I could see her level, and the level of the arrogant young man next to her. "Lvl - 13 Name - Cai Lien Cultivation - Foundation Establishment 5thyer" "Lvl - 11 Name - Cai Yun Cultivation - Foundation Establishment 2ndyer" "Why are the women of each n so much more powerful than the men? This takes away the cliches quite a bit. Well, it looks like all of the ns have a person at the foundation establishment realm, and another that is so far ahead. This fight will not be easy. Damn this mission. Now, I need to win, or I will lose the story quest. Who knows what will happen if I lose the story quest?" I thought to myself. I slowly headed over to my own side to sit down. I looked at Liu Xin, who had just arrived. He scowled at me. "Lvl - 12 Name - Liu Xin Cultivation - Foundation Establishment Stage 3rdyer" "He was in the thirdyer? That means that I can practically take care of everyone but the two girls on either ends. Well, they were the biggest problem after all. I just hope that Bai Zhiqui stays true to her word. That way, I won''t lose immediately." I made a mental note as I sat next to my father. I could feel the gazes of Liu Xin and his brother on my back. It was understandable why they were furious. Losing to a person that they bullied their whole life would be a humiliating affair. Losing in front of the whole n, and that too for such an important reason? That was a life scarring experience for sure. I nced back at them and gave them a wink and a smile. Gloating was the least I could do for the real Liu Feng. I had to take revenge for all that he suffered. All of a sudden, the crowd stopped talking. Everything was still and everyone was silent. I looked up at the balcony instinctively. It was a little wider than a normal balcony, enough to seat ten. A middle aged man appeared at the center, looking down upon everyone. "Wee to the martial gathering of the Kaishi City. It is my honor to wee you all. This is an especially important affair, as you all know what the rewards are. The first three ces will be allowed to spend time in the pool, and they will be given additional rewards. The first five will be given a Foundation Tempering Pill, and the first ten will be given an opportunity to select a martial art from the treasury of the city manor. I do not want to dy this any longer, as I am alreadyte. Let the martial gathering, begin!" at the end, his voice became many times louder, and it washed against all of us. I looked at him with respect and wonder. "By when will I be able to be as strong as him?" I thought subconsciously. A judge entered the ring and looked at the crowd. "There are twenty participants chosen by the families in the city. We do not have much time for this, so I am afraid that for this gathering, we shall not proceed as usual. We shall use a more time saving method. All thirty of thebatants shall enter the stage, and only thest four will remain, fighting for the top spot." the judge said. "A free for all? That is interesting." I thought out loud as I got up. One by one, young ones around the same age as me entered the stage. These were the ones from various second and third rate factions across the city. While the three big families had three participants each, the others had only one. Of course they were disgruntled. Come looked at me with hate and fury. I shrugged as a spear appeared in my hands. I jumped onto the ring. I took a quick sweep above their heads, registering their numbers. "Ah well, looks like they are not that strong after all." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 47 The Martial Gathering Begins Sorry for thete update guys. It was exam season, and I could not publish any chapters. But, we won 3rd ce in the WPC! That is cause to celebrate. Enjoy the chapter, and if you like it, don''t forget to donate a few powerstones. One by one, the participants from the three biggest ns jumped on to the stage. The stage was full, and the judge resurfaced. "Now that everyone has appeared, it is time to tell everyone the rules. As you heard right now, this will be quick. All of you on the arena will fight against each other until there are only four remaining. There are no other rules, except that you are not allowed to kill, or seriously injure. I will make sure that nothing too horrible will go on, but swords are swift and unpredictable. If something does happen, then I am not responsible for the after math." the judge said. "Anyways, regarding thepetition itself. All of you will be spaced apart, and the members of the same family will be on opposite ends to ensure a more fair medium. But that does not mean that they will not be able to cooperate with each other. All of that is dependent on their own power. I will not waste any more time. The audience has been waiting for too long already. Let the fight begin!" the judge shouted as he jumped to the air. I looked at him go up, but he did not descend. He stayed up in the air, in a calm lotus pose, looking down. "I be strong enough and I can even fly? That''s good to know." I made a mental note as I looked around. I did not know how, but all the people around me were ones that I did not recognize. Even though no one gave us any time to shuffle around, there were no two from the same n together. Everyone was a stranger. Whether this was a coincidence or a nned thing was not up to debate. Almost everyone within three feet from me lunged towards me. Seeing that I was the main representative from the Liu Family, it was clear that I was the biggest fish here. If I was taken care of, then they would be able to fight with each other with relief. But they certainly picked the wrong person. Crowd control was a personal favorite of mine. Blue Dragon Spear Art, third form! The spear in my hands swept horizontally within seconds. It collided with weapons, and some people directly. Some of them fell off the ring, while others were pushed to the very edge, just waiting to be disqualified. Dealing with these small fried did not require much of my concentration. I could get by with just my instincts. I looked ahead, across the ring. Bai Zhiqui and thedy from the Cai family were in the same vicinity, but they did not attack each other. They seemed to have an understanding among each other. "I swear to god, if I had a year of time, I could practically sweep all of these idiots so easily. Everyone has an advantagepared to me." I shouted inside. The Liu Family was being targeted. That much was apparent. Liu Xin and Liu Heng were not having a good time. The Bai and Cai families were just sitting there, not even acting like there was a fight going on, but all the small ns and factions were targeting us! I gripped my spear further, and swing the spear hard across. "Aargh!" someone shouted. I could smell the blood that he coughed out, but I was not in the mood for mercy. "Yui Ching is eliminated." a monotone voice came from above and he immediately disappeared from where he stood. The crowd was thinning at an rming pace. I knew that there were nine from the main ns and these were the nine that I had to be most alert about. I looked around. Everyone was no longer rushing towards me like mindless idiots. The previous show of strength was enough to deter them momentarily. I took this time to catch a few breaths and get ay of thend. "Qi condensation stage, Qi condensation stage, everyone seems to be in the Qi condensation stage? Oh wait. There is one in the Foundation Building stage. But he does not seem to be a part of any n? His name starts with Du? What the hell?" I looked at a very unassuming young man who was standing at the corner. He did not have anyone attacking him, but I could see that he was getting ready to attack someone himself. His eyes were shifting across. I could feel that he was a dangerous person. "You should not focus on someone else when there is an opponent right in front of you." I heard a voice from the side. I could feel a strong strikeing towards me. ng! Something hit my side, but it was not painful. Not one bit. "How is this possible? No damage at all? Wait, is my sword dented?" the same voice was shocked. "Well, looks like the armor works. Now I know that. Now, what were you saying? Something about focusing on my opponent in front of me? Do you really think that you can handle a full blown attack from a Foundation Establishment expert?" I looked coldly at the man who was attacking me. "I-I surrender!" he shouted. "Yu Bo eliminated." the judge''s voice rang. Yu Bo disappeared from where he stood, and the ring had one less standing. People were moving away from me, and I could see that the young man that had caught my eyes was the only one remaining. He looked at me. "You are Liu Feng? The ck horse of the Liu Family gathering? I have been looking forward to a fight with you. I think that we should fight. Please." He said politely. I looked at him carefully. "Lvl 15 Name - Du Xiangling Cultivation - Foundation Establishment 2ndyer" "And where are you from?" I asked. "Not many have a young prodigy in the foundation establishment stage. Especially when you are not a part of any of the three families." I asked. "I am Du Xiangling. I am from the Martial Tiger Dojo!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 48 Du Xiangling p "The martial tiger dojo! The one that uncle Du was talking about. Didn''t he say that the dojo was filled with maniacs who did nothing but fight?" I recollected what Uncle Du had said. Du* Xiangling started approaching me. He had a sword in his hands, so that much was apparent. My spear went back to the resting state and I looked at him warily. He was a new opponent, and this time, it was an actual serious opponent. I could not afford to be very negligent. "Kirin shes through the mountains!" Du Xiangling shouted as his sword disappeared from his hands. His whole arm blurred. ng! My spear moved to the right, deflecting his strike. I took a few steps back to put some distance between us. At this point, I could not allow him to close on me. That would put me in a huge disadvantage. Blue Dragon spear art first form! A huge growl sounded, and a blue dragon appeared. The spear cut pierced forward, undeterred. Du Xiangling was not like the others in the Liu Family. Instead of facing it head on, like an idiot, he frantically moved aside, trying to dodge. Atleast he had some battlesense. The spear lost too much power by the time that it reached him, and he could strike it away with his sword. I took the spear back and took another deep breath. "This guy knows how to fight alright. But I really do not want to use my trump cards on a fight like this. I really want to beat him with just the first three forms." I told myself as I jumped up in the air. Where I was previously, Du Xiangling reappeared. He looked up and nodded with respect. "The rumors were not wrong. You really are a dark house. To think that you would hide your ability for so long. I am truly impressed that you were able to do this." he said. "I don''t care about the rumors. Let us just fight." I snorted. "Good!" he smiled. Inded a few feet away from him, and he rushed towards me. Blue Dragon Spear Art, Second Form. The spear rose up and headed towards his head. I had no intention for mercy at this point. If I had to believe what my Uncle had said, then this man would not quit until he was at death''s foot steps. I had to push him off the arena to win. Du Xiangling looked at the iing spear and he crouched forward. I frowned as I brought the spear crashing down on him. But his figure flickered, and he appeared a few feet away. "He has a movement technique as well. They are so goddamn annoying. I need to learn one for myself, goddamn it. I think I will get a suitable one in the sect and see what I can do about this one part." I made a mental note. "The flickering ghost step! He mastered the flickering ghost step!!" someone in the audience shouted with astonishment. "Thanks for the heads-up. At least I know what kind of step I will be up against." I nodded at the person who shouted it out. ng! I fell forward and staggered to find my bnce. I looked back to see who was the one who had striked me down. "You bastard. How much of a coward do you have to be to strike someone like me, someone who you have disregarded for the past years, in the back?" I shouted with anger. The one who had struck me was none other than Cai Yanlin! "Idiots like you belong in the dust. Not on the ring." Cai Yanlinughed. I took a few steps back, standing right in between Du Xiangling and Cai Yanlin. Du Xiangling was not moving. He had no intention of striking me down even though I was at a disadvantage. "I am not so dishonorable to im a victory by using another hand. Pleaseplete that fight and then I shall continue to humor you." he said righteously. "It is good to know that there are at least some people in the city that are honorable like you are. You have my respect. Now just give me a few moments so that I can show this donkey some respect!" I shouted with fury. I looked at Cai Yanlin. I wanted to kill him. Qi escaped me. It was just ready to hammer down upon him. He was not in the foundation establishment stage. He was merely in the Qi Condensation stage! My spear flew forward. No technique, nothing. It just went towards his stomach, where his dantian was supposed to be. "Cai Yanlin eliminated. Liu Feng, this is your first andst warning. If you attempt to kill anyone, you will be disqualified." the judge looked at me from up above, and Cai Yanlin disappeared from where he stood. He reappeared outside the stage. "I am disqualified? How does this make sense? I did not even take his attack. I could easily neutralize it. This is not fair!" he shouted. "Cai Yanlin is disqualified. Cai family, please take care of your young ones and teach them some disrespect. This old one does not wish to use a heavy hand on this joyous day." the judge said. I had no time to look at what was going on with Cai Yanlin. I looked at Du Xiangling. He was back to looking at me with fighting intent. He rushed towards me, pouncing like a tiger. Pouncing exactly like a tiger, infact! I could hear the growl of a tiger. "He achieved mastery of a tiger art, clearly. I need to be careful. I do not want to have an unnecessary variable like the fight against Liu Xin." I thought as I raised my spear into a defensive stance. *different Du from Uncle Du -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 49 The Final Four ng! The spear hit his sword. I could feel my arm being pushed back, but I put in more strength. I couldn''t afford to be seen losing an exchange like this. It would boost his morale, and it would simply mean that he was more powerful than I was. He fell back and regained his footing. Then, he circled me, like a predator, waiting for his prey. Pity him though. I was no prey. No I was not. Blue Dragon Spear Art! First Form! The spear shot forward towards him. His eyes widened with shock, and he hastily put his sword between him and the spear. This was just a desperation move. With this one move, he fell to the side, a few meters away. Hended on his feet, and used his arms to hoist himself up. "You are very strong. But do not mistake that for me being weak. There is much that you still have not seen yet. I am not done yet." he said. "I never understood this. Why do you feel the need to talk during a fight? Let us just fight. It is only getting fun now." I shouted back at him. "You are right!" Du Xiangling grinned as he ran towards me. Blue Dragon Spear Art! Second form! The spear thrust forward again. A blue haze covering it. It struck the sword that Du Xiangling was using. I could see that there were a few cracks forming. He was about to be defeated. Right now, it was only a matter of time. "It seems that my weapon is not good enough for this fight. It is already tearing apart. I am afraid that I will have to change weapons. Please forgive me for doing this." Du Xiangling took a step back and took out another sword from his spatial ring. "I jinxed myself, goddamn it!" I shouted at myself. The third form was practically useless against him, and the first two forms of the Blue Dragon Spear Art were worthless. I had nothing else to do, except use the fourth form, which I hoped to save for theter matches. "Better now than never. I have to finish this off now." I said to myself as I prepared myself for the fourth form. "Blue Dragon Spear Art-" "The martial gathering first round has concluded. There are only four people remaining on the field. We shall now move towards the traditional tournament format." the judge above said. I stopped myself and went back into a resting pose. "That was close. I was about to reveal one of my own trump cards. This came in clutch. But who are the other two who remained?" I looked behind me at the other side of the ring. Bai Zhiqui, and the youngdy from the Cai family were standing just a few steps from each other. They did not look like they were in the middle of a fight, but rather that they were talking to each other. "So goddamn unfair. They know each other, clearly." I grumbled. "The participants who remain may rest for an hour, and after this, the second round shall start. The four contestants shall pick lots, and whoever picks the same ones will be battling each other." the judge said. I nodded as I headed back to the Liu Family space to recuperate. I wanted to be in the best position possible when I headed back into battle against two people that I never met before. I needed to recover all the Qi that I wasted dealing with all the small fries that swarmed me at the beginning. "You did well, Feng''er. You brought pride to the Liu Family. Luckily, at least one of us stayed in the top four." Liu Hong came in front of me. "How did Liu Xin get eliminated? He is pretty strong." I asked. "He is unlucky. He had to match against thatss from the Bai family. He got destroyed in mere moments. I wonder how this will affect him." Liu Hong shook his head as he walked back to where he came from. Inside, I was snickering. "Good riddance. He finally got what he was fated for. Destroyed in mere moments? By a girl? He is bound to go into depression." I thought to myself. "You gave a good show, young man." I heard another familiar voice. But this voice was not one that was close to me. I recognized it from a few days ago. "You are Bai Zhiqui''s master." I realized as I turned around to face the man. "Calling me the master of Bai Zhiqui sounds wrong. You can call me Master Mu. I prefer it that way. You have shown me a very good show. I understand now why you wish to stay on the martial path. It is truly a miracle how you got here in such little time. Maybe even the demons of the Royal capital cannot match up to you in speed. You have impressed me today." Master Miu said,ughing. "What the hell are you here for, Old man?" another old voice came. This was also from behind me. I turned around, getting a little tired of it as well. "Old Tian?" I was surprised. "What? I cannot enjoy a little entertainment? No one can possibly tie me to the building there. I wille and go whenever I please." he said, puffing up his chest. "Brother Tian? What are you doing here? I thought that you were in the-" "Shut up you idiot. Just tell me why you came here. You are an esteemed guest, are you not? They why the hell are you with the Liu Family, and not the Bai family of thatss that you love so dearly?" Old Tian snorted. "I came here to thank this young man here. He has given Bai Zhiqui a debt of gratitude that she cannot possibly pay off." Master Mu smiled at me. "What I did was also necessary for me. I have no intention of marrying a woman that I do not know." I said. "Nevertheless, you have done a wonderful thing. I will give you a little help for this next round. That girl from the Cai family? She is dangerous alright. The five element sword has a big disadvantage though. Hehe." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 50 Matched Against Bai Zhiqui The judge put a box in front of us. "All of you will pick one of the lots, and whoever has the same symbol will fight each other. The stick with the symbol of a tiger will fight first, while the one with the symbol of a dragon will fight second." the judge said. All of us nodded. I nced at the woman from the Cai family. She was pretty rxed. She was going to be another powerful opponent, and I had to be careful of her. "Bai Zhiqui,e up first to pick your lot." the judge said. She gracefully hovered to the ring and took a stick. I could see that it had the symbol of a tiger on it. She showed it to the judge, who nodded. "Cai Lien. Pleasee up to pick your lot." the judge said. The young woman with a veil, clearly Cai Lien, jumped onto the stage and took one of the sticks. "Interesting. I thought that I would be facing you today, but it looks like my luck has not run out just yet." Cai Lien smiled as she showed everyone the lot that she picked. The dragon symbol was apparent through it. "Damn it. I am either going to face Bai Zhiqui, or Cai Lien now. I have no idea how the battle will go." I realized. "Liu Feng. Come up to pick your lot." the judge said. I jumped onto the stage and took a stick. My hand hesitated for a second. This was important. I had to win this martial gathering. This was an important mission, and I just couldn''t afford to push fate by losing a mission. I turned the stick to look at the symbol on it. "A tiger?" I murmured. "You got the tiger. Liu Feng will be facing Bai Zhiqui on the first round, while Cai Lien will be facing Du Xiangling. Liu Feng and Bai Zhiqui, on the stage please." the judge said. He snapped his fingers, and the box in front of him disappeared. So did the stick that I was holding. It was mysterious. This was what true power entailed. I could smell the subtle scent of Bai Zhiqui as she flew above me to stand opposite to me in the huge ring. I looked at her with apprehension. The question marks next to her cultivation meant that she was so much more powerful than me. I had a very little chance to win this round. "Young master Liu Feng. I am truly grateful for the huge favor that you have given me. In turn, I shall return this debt." she nodded at me and looked at the judge. "I give up." she said with a soft and gentle voice. "What?!!!" the whole crowd went into an uproar. "The fairy of the Bai family gave up? What is happening? I thought that the Bai family was not in good rtions with the Liu Family. Why is she helping this Liu Feng of all people? The idiot young master? What is going on?" people started talking to each other. "Bai Zhiqui loses. Liu Feng shall proceed to the finals. Cai Lien and Du Xiangling. Your battle willmence after ten minutes. " the judge said as he turned to look at the balcony of the city lord. The city lord smiled at the judge and nodded. With that, the judge nodded back and he looked at Bai Zhiqui. "We were looking forward to seeing you fight, but it looks like your master has already talked to the city lord. Your condition is ounted for. Liu Feng and Bai Zhiqui, you may leave the ring for now." the judge said. "Thank you for taking this into consideration. I hope that you can ry my gratitude to the city lord as well." Bai Zhiqui said as she left the ring. I had nothing else to do here, so I also left. Ping! "Congrattions host. Host has defeated a level 38 master. Because the host has defeated an opponent who is more than 30 levels higher than you, Host has received 5000 exp." the system said. Ping! "Host has levelled up to level 9" "Level 9? Awesome! Now I have a few more stat points that I can assign." I was over joyed. "System Homepage." Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 8 Strength - 55 Stamina - 32 Agility - 55 Cultivation - Foundation Establishment - 1styer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Medium Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Alchemy(Basic Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Mind Eye(Active) Skill points - 5 Stat Points - 5 "Put everything in agility. I have a few trump cards to increase my speed, but nothing to increase my agility. I need to get faster. I have no time to learn a new skill so I can only put all the stat points in agility for now." I said. "5 stat points in agility confirmed. Agility stat increased to 60." the system said. Almost immediately, I felt my whole body be a little lighter. I felt faster. "This should help me a bit." I nodded as I looked at the ring. I needed to look at this fight. Cai Lien was in the fifthyer of the Foundation Establishment stage. Whatever was going to follow, it would be a blood bath. Du Xiangling was going to get eliminated in mere moments. I nced at Cai Lien, who was talking to an elder of her own n. She kept ncing at the Bai family''s area, probably talking about Bai Zhiqui. Bai Zhiqui herself was not present here. She disappeared somewhere. I had a few minutes, and took a quick nce of the surroundings. I needed to look for Old Tian. There was a mystery surrounding him that I had to uncover. But he was also nowhere to be seen. "Why do all the powerful people have to be so goddamn mysterious. Damn my luck." I cursed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 51 Destroyed "Cai Lien and Du Xiangling, enter the ring." the judge said. The two jumped onto the stage to face each other. Their mouths moved, but I could not hear what they were saying. I guess I was just not powerful enough to understand words at such a great distance. "Let the battle begin." the judge said, and the crowd behind me cheered. I did not understand the crowd. They felt like a mere ce holder. I didn''t know what they saw, and how they found such enjoyment in seeing others beat others up. The two immediately disappeared from where they stood. Du Xiangling was fast. He felt faster than when he was battling me. This was a battle of sheer speed. I could not even see Cai Lien from where I stood. She was faster than even Du Xiangling. I nced at the crowd to look for the answers, but even they were dumbfounded. "The mysterious Cai family clearly knows how to keep its secrets. No one knows what art Cai Lien is using." I realized. Cai Lien had the upper hand. I could see sparks. Du Xiangling was being pushed back. He had no chance to retaliate. He may have been able to match every attack, but he lost every exchange. Cai Lien was stronger than him at every turn. After a few seconds, both of them paused for a bit. They were at opposite ends. Cai Lien looked exactly the way that she was when she entered. Her veil was not even the slightest bit disturbed. Meanwhile, Du Xiangling was getting quite a thorough beating. His whole body was covered in wounds. I could not even see Cai Lien''s signature moves. Du Xiangling was not strong enough to force those out. "You are strong! I do not know how the Cai and Bai families made monsters like you, but it seems that even if I wanted to y a little more, I am going to lose either way. I really want to stay conscious so that I can see the show that will y out next. I give up." Du Xiangling said with a raised voice so that everyone could hear him. I was a little surprised and disappointed. Uncle Du said that everyone from the Martial Tiger Dojo would fight fiercely, and never give up. It seemed that that was not the case here. "Du Xiangling is eliminated. Cai Lien will proceed to the finals. Bai Zhiqui has already given up the fight for third ce. Du Xiangling will be awarded third ce. After ten minutes, Liu Feng and Cai Lien shall fight for the title of the strongest of the young generation of the city." the judge said. "She gave up even for third ce? It must be regarding whatever arrangement the judge talked to her about." I thought to myself. Du Xiangling looked dejected, even though he was supposed to be happy that he won third ce. He walked back to the ce that was reserved for the Martial Tiger Dojo. He nced at me, and then talked to the elder that greeted him. The elder was overjoyed. It was not everyday that someone other than from the three main families would get a top three position in the city. This was a big moment for them. I looked at the Cai family area. Cai Lien was looking straight at me. I could not see through her veil, but I had a suspicion that she wasughing at me. She was supposed to be more powerful than me, so I wouldn''t be surprised if she was not even trying to recover the qi that she used. But she was going to be in for a pretty big surprise if she underestimated me. "Liu Feng, Cai Lien, enter the stage." the judge said. I jumped onto the stage, and so did Cai Lien. She looked at me with interest. "So you are the man that Sister Zhiqui is engaged to. You are interesting. I think I recognize you from somewhere." she said. "I am no longer engaged to Bai Zhiqui. I think that everyone in the city will be happy about that. Why are we talking about that though? We are opponents. Let us fight." I said as I took out a spear from my spatial ring. "Good. I thought that you would be boring like all the other boys, but it looks like you want to give me a fight? I want to see how many rounds you will actuallyst against me." she said, giggling. "Let the fight begin!" the judge said. Almost immediately, Cai Lien''s figure disappeared. But I was prepared for this. I also moved forward, and I could feel a chill behind my back. Cai Lien appeared where I was standing previously. Blue Dragon Spear Art! First form! The spear shot forward towards Cai Lien, but before it could even reach her, it felt like something was obstructing it. It did not move any more, and I had to take back the spear before she attacked me. "Normal attacks will not work against a person who is a whole five minor realms above you. Keke." I could hear herugh as she started circling me. "Well, I guess that I will have to start using my trump cards now." I took a deep breath. Turning around to face her, I gripped my spear. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fourth Form! Blue Dragon Sails through the Heavens!" I shouted. The spear in my hands started to glow, and a huge blue dragon appeared in front of me. The moving Cai Lien was frozen in ce in mere instants. The dragon shot forward, and so did the spear. She was faced with the same situation as Liu Xin. But she was much stronger. She froze for a second, and not a second more. Her sword shed with the dragon. I could hear the cry of a bird that was trying its best to escape the ws of the dragon that I summoned. The Qi that I sent into the spear was depleting. I took back the spear and retreated. "You are stronger than I expected. To effortlessly take care of this attack? I am honestly shocked still." I said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 52 Fierce Battle [I got a contract! This is cause for celebration. I will undergo the contract procedures soon. I hope that all of you will support me by gifting and by voting with golden tickets, as well as powerstones. They help support the book more than you think. Thanks for reading. I hope that you like this chapter.] "You are surprised? I am shocked that someone like you was able to injure me. I am really intrigued. For someone who is just in the firstyer of the Foundation Establishment stage, you are breaking the boundaries by being able to injure me. It took me a lot of effort to take care of this attack. But that is where your journey ends. I know that this is your trump card, and you have no way to deal with mine. You should just give up." Cai Lien said as she smiled at me. "Your trump card? Well, that is good. You should just try that out as well. One thing that you said that really brightens me up is that it took you a lot of effort to take care of this attack. That means that you will need more effort to take care of it again." I smiled. "Take care of it again? Do you think that I am an idiot? Do you really think that I will just allow you to attack me again like this?" She smiled. I could feel the wind blowing on my face. Momentarily, her veil was blown away. I could see her eyes, her face, beautiful like a lotus. "This is not the time to think about stuff like that." I chided myself as I gripped my spear and pointed it towards her. "Trampling Mountains, Tumbling Seas! Mountain Strike!" Cai Lien shouted. "Trampling Mountains, Tumbling Seas? Isn''t that the skill that the mysterious olddy bought at the auction? I remember that Cai Lien was bidding against her. What is going on here? Did they dupe everyone into getting this cheaply? But never mind all that. This is a heaven ranked strike. I need to be careful. She is stronger than me, and I need to make sure that I survive this attack." I noted to myself as I put the spear in front of me. Her sword suddenly appeared in front of me. "That was quick!!" I eximed. What was in front of me no longer seemed like a sword, but a whole mountain! It was like a mountain was about to fall on top of me. It felt terrifying. I put my spear up to defend that. ng! It was like a thousand tons of force was trying to force me into the earth. I gasped for air as I tried pushing back. "So this is the difference between fiveyers of cultivation. Who would have thought that this would be so terrifying." I thought to myself as I tried to run. "You cannot run from a mountain. You cannot hide from sheer power." Cai Lien cackled. "Damn this." I cursed. I could feel that the mountain that was trying to crush me was getting stronger, not weaker. She was putting in more Qi into the attack. I injected Qi into my spatial ring and took out a shield. "Ethereal Weapon Art! Spear First Form! Iron Wall!" I cried out as I put the shield in front of me. The pressure that was weighing down upon me halved almost instantly. I could finally get some breathing space. "Impossible! How are you able to defend against this attack? This is what I get if I try to use a skill that I only learnt a few months ago. Looks like I have to step things up now." She said. I could feel her sword slipping away. She was going to attack me with another attack. "Don''t think that I would give you that much time. Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fifth Form! Blue Dragon Breaks through Hell!" Roar! The moment I poured in Qi into the spear, I could feel that the spear came alive. This was even worse that the fourth form. The spear left my hand and it shot through towards Cai Lien. I fell back on my back. That took out the majority of my Qi. If this did not work, I was going to lose. The spear transformed into an Azure Dragon. It flew up first like it was going to try and break through the heavens itself. It left the ring and left me defenseless. "So this is your trump card? Looks like I was expecting too much when I heard that roar. I thought that it actually meant something. Your spear slipped your hand?" Cai Lienughed. "You know, I really hate it when people assume things. But in this case, I think it works out for the better. You should look up now." I chuckled. Cai Lien frowned as she looked up at the sky. The in sky had nothing unusual within it. "So this is what you wanted me to do? Get distracted? Well, you do not even have your weapon, so I know that you are not even going to be able to do anything. Get ready to lose. Five Elemental Sword- Wait. What is that?" I looked up at the sky. The portion above us was dyed in a darker blue than normal. Roar! Cai Lien, who was hovering in the sky until now, fell to the ground immediately. She looked at the spear that was hurling down with fear. The dragon looked like it was ready to tear the world apart. I nced at the judge, who finally changed his monotone expression. He was looking at the spear that was about toe down, and back at Cai Lien. He was clearly conflicted. As the dragon approached her and me, I could feel the pressure of the dragon myself. It was out of control. I could no longer call myself the owner of the attack. Cai Lien raised her sword against the attack, but I could see that she was afraid. She used a significant amount of her Qi on the attack before, and she was ill equipped to deal with this. ng! Before it even reached Cai Lien, the spear hit something. I frowned as I looked up at the judge. He had intercepted the spear. Boom! The judge who was in the sky until now mmed onto the ring. Dust and rubble filled the ring. Nothing could be seen. I looked in front to see what happened. "Cai Lien loses. Liu Feng wins. Liu Feng is the victor of the Martial Gathering." I could hear from up above. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 53 The Victor I looked up at the person who dered the victory. It was none other than the city lord himself. "I won. Finally. Thank god for that." I took a huge breath. ? "Wait, what?" The crowd was deafening. They could not take it anymore. Who would have thought that I would be the one to win? The Cai and the Bai family''s were just too powerful. Even my own family wanted me to get the third ce and nothing more. I looked at my father. He did not know whether to cry or tough. On one side, I won the martial gathering. But on another, this was going to get dangerous for me. Everyone in the city would know that I was a force that existed, and that would make my life that much harder. The dust settled. I looked at the judge who had fallen into a crater. This was the first time that I used this attack with full throttle, and this was a result that I certainly did not expect. Cough! Cough! "Kid! You are really powerful. I did not expect to be taken down by an attack by a mere Foundation Establishment stage brat. It looks like you are more than what I expected to be. I am truly impressed. Without a doubt, if I had not taken than attack, then thisdy here would have gone straight to the yellow river." the judge said as he got off the crater of his own creation. Cai Lien was right next to him, and she looked at this with a nk face. She probably could notprehend what was going on right now. After Bai Zhiqui quit, she probably thought that she was guaranteed the victory. She did not expect another result, especially from the one that was supposed to be the weakest of all. "What happened? I lost? How is this possible?" she muttered. I had no intention of caring about her. I was overjoyed as I looked at the blue box that disyed itself in front of me. "Story Quest Missionplete. Won the martial gathering. Reward will be distributed." the system said. I could see a roulette wheel in front of me. It started spinning on its own this time. I could see the rewards. I was psyched. Every single one of them was just stuff out of the legends. I did not even dream of getting this stuff. Ding! "Host has acquired weapon - Ethereal Weapon. Properties - Strength + 5, Stamina + 3, Agility +5. Description - The ethereal weapon is the most suitable weapon for the Ethereal Weapon Arts, and it will be able to transform itself into any weapon of choice on circumstance. It is an Epic Ranked weapon, and it equal to ??? rank in cultivation standards." "This is probably higher ranked than even the heaven ranked weapons. I should just put this inside and use it just when I need to. Treasures like this will attract even more trouble than the gains that I get." I said to myself. "The Ethereal Weapon is in the spatial ring." the system said. "How convenient." I smiled. I got down and ring and walked towards the space reserved for the Liu Family. Except for my father, Liu Kun, and Liu Xin, everyone else was beaming. "You won, Feng''er! This is good. You did a good job. You really improved at an extraordinary pace. You brought pride to the Liu Family. We must celebrate today!" Liu Hong lifted me up and embraced me. I tried to resist, but his grip was just too strong. I had to let myself be harassed for a few moments. After he put me down, I looked at my father. He looked at me with aplicated face. "You won. I did not expect you to win. I thought that you would lose. Who would have thought that you would turn things around like this. You really are special, aren''t you?" he chuckled. I nodded as I turned around to see what was going on at the stage. "When am I going to get my rewards? The five days in the Spirit Jade Pool are very tempting. I need to get there fast. I also need to go to the sectter right?" I asked out loud. "You are very impatient. You need to wait for the city lord to tell you that. It will probably be after this crowd settles down. Every one is eager to see the ending and you being crowned the winner." my father said. "What are they going to do? Give me a medal?" I chuckled. "They are going to give you a jade token signifying your win. This is a representative of the stature that you have won. Now, just wait for a while. Yourst move made quite the mess. I have to ask, how the hell did you have such a trump card like that? Who gave it to you? I am asking you this with utter seriousness." he asked. "I keep telling you. A mysterious master gave it to me." I bit my tongue as I said this. He shook his head as he looked away. I looked at the ring again. There were people on it, trying to fill up the huge whole that was made. I nced at the space of the Martial Tiger Dojo. They were the true winners of today. The Liu Family needed the win, and they got it. But no one expected the Martial Tiger Dojo to get a ce in the final three. Du Xiangling locked eyes with me. His eyes were gleaming. "Knowing someone like him, he probably wants to fight me once he gets stronger," I muttered. "Well then. Isn''t it time to show off my victory to the people who hate me so much. I have to do at least this much for Liu Feng." I smiled as I headed over to the Cai Family''s area. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 54 Hired... By Cai Lien? I strolled over to the Cai Family area. The moment they saw me, they turned hostile. "What are you here for? To gloat?" One of them asked. "What do you think I am for. Of course I am going to gloat. Why don''t you call that Cai Yanlin out and tell him to show his face now. Is he so shy all of a sudden? He used to bully me so much, right? Tell him to show his face now. Let me see how he will react when his dear friend won the martial gathering." I snickered. Step. Step. Cai Lien walked up to me. "It was a good fight. I am just here for Cai Yanlin. I hope that you do not take any offense." I said. I did not want to get into any unnecessary problems right now. A person in the fifthyer at this age? She was bound to get to great ces, considering her talent. "I was wondering where I heard your voice. Now I understood where I found it so familiar. To think that I woulde across the guest from the auction house after this long. It seems that this really is a small world after all." Cai Lien smiled. "The who? I think that you have me confused for someone else." I took a step back defensively. This woman had a mad memory! To think that she would remember a voice from back then! I needed to stay away from her. "No. I knew that I recognized it then. I recognize it now. You are the fifth VIP member of the Shianxi Auction house. They only give that to respected guests. You must be the alchemist who is behind the pills that have been popping up so frequently." she said. "This woman has a mad intuition. I shouldn''t stay here any longer. It will only get me in trouble." I realized. "I came here for Cai Yanlin. It seems that he is too much of a coward to show up. I think I will go now." I tried to leave. "Wait. I am not here to cause trouble. I need your help with something. I can pay handsomely. That is what you are mostly after, isn''t it? Money? Let us talk in private." She suddenly said,ing forward and holding my hand. I turned around. I could feel the res of everyone trying to tear me apart. She was one of the beauties of the city. Of course they would hate it when she held a man''s hand. "Let us talk in private. I don''t want to lose the life that I am just building for myself." I quickly said, dragging her to a corner of an alley. After confirming that no one was there, I looked at Cai Lien. "Are you mad? Do you want to kill me? I already got into so much trouble by being engaged to Bai Zhiqui. Do you want your family to kill me as well? Now tell me, what is that you want? And it better be good." I shouted at her. "You might now know, but during the marital gathering, I talked to Bai Zhiqui. I asked her help to refine a pill. It is very important, and there are not many alchemists in the Kaishi city, much less one that can refine a pill of the Foundation Establishment stage. All the pills in the citye from outside, except for the ones thate from the Bai Family. Bai Zhiqui refused my request. But she told me that I could ask you instead. I was confused at first, but when I heard your voice, I connected the dots. Are you willing to help me?" she asked. "First of all, this is too big an ask. I am not even sure I will be able to refine your pill. And second, why the hell should I?" I asked. "I said that I would pay a price, didn''t I? The Liu Family is in a precarious position. As long as you refine this pill, then the Cai family will not touch the Liu Family." Cai Lien dered. "Are you powerful enough to say this for your n?'' I raised my eyebrows. "Trust me. If this pill is refined, then the Cai family is willing to do everything it can to repay its debt." Cai Lien said. "I do not know what the pill is, and I do not have the ingredients. Nor do I have the recipe. You do know that I need a pill recipe for something like this." I said. Cai Lien flicked something at me. I caught it and took a look. It was a spatial ring! "Everything that you need is in there. If you need anything more, you can ask me. I need this done by the end of the month. If not, then it is toote. You can forget I even asked you anything. Come on then. It is getting a littlete. The prizes will be distributed." Cai Lien said as she walked out of the alley and back into the huge crowd. I stood there in shock. "She is so rich that she gave me everything in a spatial ring? What the hell is this, and why is it so goddamn important?" I shook myself and ran back to the arena. The rewards were far too important. There was also the foundation tempering pill, and the martial art that I could pick. These were too important to pass upon. I needed a good movement skill and this wasing in clutch. I looked at the ring. Things were just beginning to start. The judge was standing with a list in his hands. He was reading out names, while the city lord was sitting on a chair at the center of the ring. Right next to him was Master Mu, and to the other side was a woman, presumably his wife. "Number ten, Liu Heng,e onto the stage." the judge called out. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 55 Rewards "Number one, Liu Feng. It looks like you are the true winner of today." the city lordughed as he looked at me. The others all got their rewards, except for the skill. The city lord looked at me. "The Liu Family is lucky. I saw your final attack. It was truly marvelous. Your future is truly bright. You can select what skill you want within the city lord mansion after this. Now then, here is your Foundation Tempering Pill. I think that it will benefit you the most, given that you are in the firstyer." the city lord said. He handed me a ck box with a dragon engraving on it. Just looking at it, anyone could understand that it was something expensive, and that something precious was inside. It was also heavy. I surmised that there was possibly a jadeyer within to preserve the efficacy of the pill. With this, the city lord went back and looked at the crowd. "Finally, the martial gathering has concluded!" he said with a thundering voice. We were right next to him, but his voice did not deafen me like I expected it to. Instead, it felt normal. Like someone was talking to me normally. The crowd started to thin. Within a few minutes, only the families and the other participants remained. The city lord shook his head as he looked at me and the ones beside me. "Now, it is time for you three to get the reward that is most important. You need to go to the Spirit Jade pool, do you not? Let us take you there." the city lord smiled. I felt a suction force trying to pull me away. I gave way, and immediately, the force took me up. I had no sense of direction, and could not tell where I was. Thump! Inded on the ground, and I was not on my feet. I felt a little dizzy. Looking around, there were three others. The city lord, Du Xiangling and Cai Lien were standing tall and strong, looking at me with confusion. "They must be used to something like this. I guess that I am not. But where the hell am I?" I wondered as I got up and looked around. The ce was calm and serene. There were trees everywhere. This did not seem like it was anywhere near the city. I could not hear a thing. There was a giant pool in front of me. The center of the pool was raging. The color of the water was a jade green, which I think gave it its name. "For three days, you shall enter the spirit jade pool. The others, you know your time limits. Once you are done with your time, you will be taken out immediately. Not a second longer. The Spirit Jade pool takes too much time to recover, and I would not want you to get more than you can bite off." the city lord looked at me. "What the hell is he looking at me for? Do I have that bad a reputation around here?" I thought. The other two nodded and looked at the pool eagerly. Meanwhile, I was not as enthusiastic as they were. This was a good opportunity, yes. But my biggest cheat was not temporary. I did not need to be so desperate for something like this. "What are you waiting for? Do you want to waste more time? Go inside." the city lord nudged. Immediately, Du Xiangling and Cai Lien jumped into the pool. They did not even hesitate for a second. I shrugged and went in as well. I took a deep breath and jumped into the pool. Ssh! The water was cold, but that did not bother me much. I could feel my pores open up immediately. There was this power that was rushing in. I did not need to breathe anymore. There was no need for air. All my energy wasing from the water around me. This was too mysterious. I looked around first. The pool was deep. I could not even see the bottom, but for some reason, it felt like there was something within. There was a force that stopped me from rushing in. It just seemed to stop me from going further. "Fine then. I should just use the Heaven Devouring art and try to absorb as much energy as I possibly can." I told myself. With experience, the best way to absorb energy of any kind, whether from a pill, or just the energy around me, was through the Heaven Devouring art. It was the strongest art possible for this. The water offered little resistance to my strong body. I could effortlessly perform the Heaven Devouring art, but it was just that it was slower than normal. Qi coursed through my veins. More and more of it just rushed in. I could feel my body heat up, like the time when I broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage. "What if something like that happens? I will get screwed over." a thought suddenly dawned over me. ? Ping! "Host has broken through to Foundation Establishment stage Secondyer." the system buzzed. Ping! "Story Quest Mission alert! Host must travel down the pool and find the source of the Spirit Jade Pool. Time limit - three days. Penalty - Loss of One level." "What the hell? I need to go down to see what is the source of the pool? Why is the system so goddamn irritating at times? So ironic. Just when I started praising you. Well, I have three days. In just a few minutes, I already broke through oneyer. This is like a cheat way to break through. I think that I should try and break through another time and take as much as energy as I can before I go down." I thought to myself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 56 Spirit Jade Pool No matter how much I absorbed the energy within the Spirit Jade Pool, I did not feel like I would break through once more. Maybe I was already at the tipping point, and I just did not realize. But all this energy was strengthening my body somehow. I could feel my mind grow a little clearer with every passing second. It was like this energy was notpletely Qi. It was another energy. It just felt weird. Maybe it had something to do with the Xiantian realm was well, but I did not want to think that far ahead right now. Too much time had passed already. In taking in all of the energy, I lost track of time. Not more than a day remained for my time here. Around me, there was no one. Cai Lien and Du Xiangling were long gone. I was the only one in the pool. The pool still tried to resist me a little, stopping me from going further down. But, I tried to force myself. Pushing towards this invisible barrier by strengthening my body with Qi, I slowly started descending down the Pool. It was dark around. I could not open my mouth. Surviving without breathing was already a big deal. Unfortunately, I could not voice my thoughts out loud in the pool. The Qi within my body escaped a little, forming ayer of glowing light around me. It helped me see what was around me to a meter at most. But that was enough for me. It was more than enough, in fact. The bottom was still not visible. Even after half an hour of descending, the bottom was not within sight. "Just how deep is the water? It can''t be that deep. It feels like it is almost a thousand feet in depth. That is a terrifying amount. Even my body cannot handle the pressure at this depth. It is starting to crack." I thought to myself. There must have been a reason that no one within the city lord mansion knew the secret of the spirit jade pool. The pressure deep down was too much for me to handle. I could feel my lungs cave in slightly. Even though I did not need to breathe now, I needed to breath once I left the pool. Ping! "System suggests Host to start using the Heaven Devouring Art now." the system suddenly said. I nodded, and started performing the Heaven Devouring Art. Pfft! I almost coughed out. The influx of some mysterious energy was too much for me to handle. I did not expect so much energy to just rush in! The density of energy at this depth was more than ten times what it was at the surface. That was a terrifying difference. All of a sudden, I heard a sound. Something broke inside of me. Something that was extremely close to my ears. It was deafening. It felt like the raging sea was just inside my own head! I put my hands cupped over my ears, but it made exactly no difference. Mrgh! I struggled in the water, shaking. "What happened? Something happened inside my body. What the hell is that sound? Waves crashing? It isn''t from around me. It ising from inside me!" I thought to myself. "Mmmmrgh!" I heard a sound. This wasn''t from me. I knew that much. But it was from inside me as well. This was too terrifying. "You awoke a spirit sea at the age of seventeen. You are a very talented human." a voice said. "Who- grrh" water drowned my mouth the moment I opened it. "You are an idiot though. I talked with you within your own mind. Why did you want to actually talk to me physically? You should talk to me mentally, should you not?" the same voice said. "Who are you? What is going on here?" I frantically said, in my mind this time. "I am the one that you saved all this time ago. Saving is an overstatement. After almost killing me, you helped incubate me. I must thank you for this favor. It is one that I will pay you back. Defly." the voice said. "You are the being within the egg? The system said that you were trying to talk to me, but I was not strong enough to understand you. What was that all about?" I asked. "You can understand me because you have the spirit sea now. I want to talk with you, as there is much to ask. But you are in a very precarious position. You broke through in this Spirit Jade Pool that I overheard you thinking about. This is too much energy. You need to calm your mind and your spirit sea. Quickly, chant the verses that I am giving you. You will need them to survive." the voice said. "I will trust you for now. Well, you literally are within me, so there isn''t much that I can do, is there?" I said. "Fine then. Repeat after me. Leniret animum..." It was anguage that I did not understand. But that was not the issue right now. Without changing a single syble, I copied his words. Immediately, the sound of the raging sea quieted down. I took my hands off my ears. I could finally rx a little, although I could not take any breaths. "You are not out of trouble yet. You still need to take in the energy around you and heal your body. That is the reason that you were doing this were you not. To heal your body to withstand the pressure. Go further down. You are almost there. Most will stop at this point, but there is only a little more to go. You just need to go a few meters further, and you will be able to find what you seek." the voice said. "Thank you, but why are you helping me this much? You do not know me at all." I asked. "Because our lives are intertwined. For me to survive now, I need you to survive. I need you to grow stronger. Now, go further down." the voice said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 57 Coming Out Of The Spirit Jade Pool [This is a bonus chapter dedicated to Ingris. Thank you for the gift. Words cannot begin to describe how happy I am.] I listened. I had nothing else to do but to follow the voice. I drifted down slowly. The little light that I gave out no longer helped me that much. I could not see anything that was more than a few centimeters from me. I had no vision. All I had was the little trust that I did in the words of the mysterious voice that came from inside of me. Thud. I feltnd. Rather thannd, it was more like a jelly. Like a protective barrier. This was no ground. This was probably another barrier. "Let us just hope that this is thest goddamn barrier. If there are more, then I will run out of time either way, and I do not want to die out here or get into trouble out there. One level will not matter that much. I do not want to do this, but I have no other choice." I resolved in my mind as I tried to pierce the barrier. Nothing would budge. It was harder than the first barrier that I pierced. It felt like this was one that was stronger and had something backing it up. "Maybe I could try and use the spear and break the barrier. But what the hell is in the barrier for it to be so well protected?" I wondered. I poured in a little Qi into my spatial ring. I took out the spear and pointed it towards the barrier. I could not move freely, but I used all the power that I could muster and pound the spear towards the barrier. Nothing happened. Barely a ripple, from what I could surmise. Myck of vision in the area was also making things very difficult. "You should go back now. There is something inside the barrier, and you might make it unhappy. It is very clear that you are not able to break the barrier. The spear that you are holding is almost close to breaking under this pressure. You should just leave." the mysterious voice suddenly said. "Well, that was sudden. Why did you change your opinion? I thought that you wanted me to get stronger." I asked. "That was before I understood what was behind the barrier and underneath his pool." the voice replied. "What is below?" I asked. "The-" Before the voice could finish what he was saying, I felt a strong repulsive force. I grabbed the spear, but that was all that I could do before I was immediately pushed upward towards the surface of the pool. It took close to half a day to get to the bottom of the pool, but not more than a few moments to get pushed to the top. I could see the light shining through the surface that I was closely approaching. I put my spear back into the spatial ring and braced myself for impact. Ssh! I broke through the surface and was out of the pool in no time. I fell onto ground, for some reason. Looking frantically around me, I found that the city lord, Du Xiangling and Cai Lien were sitting with their eyes closed, meditating. The city lord''s eyes were open, and he looked at me with a smiling face. "It looks like you did not heed my advice. Well, there are kids like you everywhere. You can no longer enter the pool. The pool will always repel you. It seems that your destiny with the pool is over now. Let us hope that you have gotten enough gains here. These two are cultivating their gains, while it seems that you have gotten a few yourself. Now, I shall let you go to the city lord''s mansion and see what you can get for yourself before you can go home." the city lord said. But for some reason, his mouth did not move. I could hear him, but he was not speaking. "Oh, and I forgot to say this. Be quiet. You do not want to disturb these two. Else, they might experience Qi Deviation and that is not what any of us want." the city lord said with this strange method. The city lord moved his hand towards me. The surroundings changed, and I saw myself within another ce altogether! This was the same way that he brought me to the Spirit Jade pool. The city lord was powerful alright. I looked at where he brought me. There was a huge door, and two guards at the side. "Your excellence." the guards bowed immediately once they saw the City lord. "Take us in. This young man here is here to collect his reward for the martial gathering. Now, I did not tell you this, but I need to tell you now. The gift that you will receive, the marital art, is not permanent. You shall get three hours to select a martial art, and another three in a separate room to memorize it. That is all. And under no circumstance are you allowed to leak the martial art that you learn. Or else, you will be executed for high treason." the city lord said with a smile. "How the hell is he able to say all of this with a smile on his face? This man is a true psychopath. Everything that I saw before was just a facade." I thought to myself as I listened to him speak. The guards opened the doors to the room that all the marital arts were in. ? "You will not be allowed to go to the second floor. Stay in this one. That is all." the city lord said. I turned around to nod at him, but he was nowhere to be seen. It looked like he left. "Well, I certainly did get a few gains from the Spirit Jade Pool. But first, the one thing that is bugging my goddamn mind, is who the hell is the mysterious voice? Was that a figment of my imagination, or was it actually real?" I thought to myself. "Rest assured. I am real." the voice popped up. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 58 The Mysterious Voice [This is a bonus chapter dedicated to Ingris. Thank you for the gift. Words cannot begin to describe how happy I am.] ? "Who the hell are you? Now don''t give me the same answer asst time. I need a proper answer. I bought you even though I did not know what you truly are. Are you like a mythical beast? A phoenix, qilin, or something?" I asked. "It looks like you know a lot about the mythical beasts. But I am not sure what I am myself. I am but a child that has just been born. When I first came into consciousness, all that I know is that you were the one that had some feeling of protecting me, so I formed a contract with you." the voice said. "You do not know what you are? What kind of answer is that? You are talking like an old man and you call yourself a child that has just been born? Is there any logic to that?" I asked. "These are the instincts that I was born with. In a few months, I will be able to break free of this shell and grow into my true form. Maybe then, I will know what I am. I have fragments of memories, but they don''t seem like they are mine. They let me understand the world. That is how I knew about the spirit sea that you had released." the voice said. "Yes. The spirit sea. What is that?" I asked. "I am not so sure myself. All I know is that it is very important forter. Atter stages of cultivation, it bes very important. That is what I have learnt." he said. "Alright. This is all fine. But this has gone for too long. What should I even call you?" I asked. Thinking of him as a mysterious voice and not tying him to a name felt weird, especially when he gave me advice that was very, very useful. "I am but a new born. You have brought me into this world. Why don''t I take up your surname? I will be Liu Man." the voice said. "Liu Man. That seems like a good name. Then why the hell not. Liu Man. You are going to be one of my closest confidants, that much is clear. You can literally hear everything that I can think." I shook my head. "Not everything that you think. Only those that you wish for someone to be known. Your closest thoughts are private. But I can piggy back on your senses, and see what you see, hear what you hear." Liu Man said. "Well, this is a good talk, but I need to do something now. I only have like three hours and I already spent a few minutes here. I need to find a good agility skill for myself." I said as I walked around the library. The names of the books made me chuckle. All of a sudden, Trampling Mountains and Tumbling Seas became amon name. Literally, every single one of the names on these skill books had some weird twist. "Ah well. I did get reincarnated with a system in a cultivation world. I can''t reallyin." I chuckled. [Alright guys, this was a good one. You have to appreciate this one line. I mean, I am here bursting outughing at this. Well then, I won''t disturb you any longer. Keep reading, and I hope that you enjoy it!] "Hmmm. All of these are attacking books. Some of them are defensive. I have all this covered up. I need to take care of only the agility part. Where the hell is the agility section?" I wandered to the other side of the room. "System. Can you help me weed out the bad ones and bring the good ones for me?" I asked. "[Error] System has not yet unlocked that functionality. System can only give suggestions and friendly boosts to the Host. Upgrade system to unlock more features." the system said. "That will take forever. Looks like that will take some time to unlock. But I should learn how to do some things on my own, and not rely on the system." I realized. "What is this system. This is a weird and very powerful being to me. I can sense a very powerful presence from it." I suddenly heard Liu Man say. "Oh right! You are here. You are listening to everything that I say. Well, the system is the one part of my life that I cannot exin at all. Let us just say that I was lucky as heck to get it, but unlucky as well, for me to get forced all the way here. But it ain''t so bad here. I am just drifting off. I need to focus on getting that agility skill first." I put all the other thoughts aside and started looking at the agility skill section caregfully. All the books seemed normal to me. They were clearly very popr, since they were worn out. But at the corner of the book shelves, the books were barely untouched. All of them except for one book. And this book just had to have the ck color to make it seem the slightest bit more ominous. "All the cliches in the world." I shook my head as I picked up the book. "Kun Peng Myriad Transformations? Seems like a pretty big name for some book that is sitting in a random corner of a small city. This doesn''t make sense. But it does look a little interesting. I should trust my gut a little." I thought as I flipped through the book. There were multiple ways that a Kun Peng, a mysterious creature, could move around. The training method for this was also very different from what I was used to. This required a special contraption that was very clearly defined. "System, is there any way to appriase this?" I asked. "Host has not acquired appraisal feature. But Host has unlocked the memory feature. System suggests host to use memory feature to store the skill." the system said. My eyes lit up. "What feature did you just say?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 59 Penalty "The memory feature. Host will be allowed to memorize a single skill and it will transformed into a skill within the memory of the system. The cool down for this feature is ten days." the system said. "Ten days? That is a long time. But with this, I can memorize this and look at other skills as well. It will always be helpful to have a good attack skill that I can use anywhere and I do not need to tell anyone where the hell I got it from." I thought to myself. "Use the memory skill on this skill book, Kun Peng Myriad Transformations." I asked. "Initiating sequence. Memorizing skill.... 50%...60%....90%... Complete. Transferring assets into system storage... plete. Skill acquired. Information of the skill will be transferred to your memory." the system said. "Wait! Not yet-" Before I could stop the system, images shed by my mind. I could see the training methods, and the skill itself. I could see a majestic beast flying through the air, and moving at the speed of sound itself. I could see a man within the huge beast. This man was moving like a Kun Peng, and he achieved a perfect mastery of this skill that he actually was able to look like a Kun Peng flying. "This is the art? How can a human actually move like this? No wonder they felt so fast. I spent a lot of stat points on agility, but I still could not keep up with them because I all I had was raw speed and no way to use all of this." I realized. Ping! "Three days havepleted. Host has notpleted mission. Host shall receive penalty. Host will lose one level, and five stat points. System encourages Host toplete all missions on time, or Host will face bigger penalties. This is the first story quest that Host has failed. Host shall not receive any story quests for the next three months as penalty due to the Host''s ipetence." the system suddenly said. "Wait, what? I lost a level? Damn it. System home page." I asked. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 8 Strength - 55 Stamina - 32 Agility - 55 Cultivation - Foundation Establishment - 2ndyer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Medium Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency0 Alchemy(Basic Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Mind Eye(Active) Skill points - 5 Stat Points - 5 "Hmm this seems the same as before. What happened? I thought I lost a level?" I asked. "Host has leveled up three days ago but it was not shown. This is the corrected system homepage. Please continue to level up andplete the missions to avoid penalties." the system said. I nodded. This was indeed trouble. But there was nothing that I could do. I had no way to go within the barrier. Whatever was within pushed me out. It did not want me approaching it, and I was not strong enough to actually go inside it. But whatever was inside it, it was a really important person or thing. For it to be a story quest, it had to have some meaning. I was sure that the story quest was going to be something big, and was going to be a catastrophical event. "Your time is up. Have you selected a book? It looks like you have. You will have three more hours to learn the book and then you will have to leave the city lord''s mansion." I heard the city lord''s voice. "My time is already up? No way! How did the time pass by so fast? This makes no sense at all. I did not see where the time went! I must have spent more time in those memories than I realized. Atleast I did note out of here empty handed. That would just suck." I thought. I looked around. It seemed that I needed to walk out of the library. The city lord was not going to transport me out this time. I should have guessed that much. Why would he want to be my chauffeur? I needed to go out immediately though. The city lord was not an existence that I could afford to offend. I had to listen to everything that he said. I walked to the entrance through which I came. I saw that there were two other guards on this side of the room. "Have you chosen your book? We shall take you to another room for you to memorize it." the guard on the left said. "There is no need. I already memorized this one. I guess that I do not need to spend any more time here. I will just leave the city lord''s mansion now. I am sure that my family must be awaiting now." I said. "Very well then. This is your choice. The city lord gave you time, but you have refused it. You cannot go out andin about it anymore." the guard said as he opened the door. "You must go straight. The guards in every corridor will guide you out." he said. I walked out of the room and followed his instructions. There were indeed guards on every corridor. I used my mind eye. These were not any ordinary guards! They were all in the Core Formation Stage. For someone to hire these many guards in the Core Formation stage, it must have cost a fortune. Anywhere in the city, any expert at this level would be treated as royalty. For them to put their head down and work like this, I really had to fear the background of this city lord. The royal family must be a very powerful family. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 60 Returning A Hero I left the city lord''s mansion. There was no one outside. Well, what did I expect? It had been three whole days since Ist entered this ce. Everyone probably left to their own manors. I did not know why Du Xiangling and Cai Lien were meditating for that long. I never had cultivation sittings like that. My method of cultivation, the Heaven Devouring Art, was hands on, and I had to move to cultivate. "I guess I just have to go to the Liu Family Manor. What else is there to do?" I said to myself as I walked towards home. This was probably going to be thest time that I was going to go there in a long time. After this, I was going to another sect and who knew when I would return? I quickened my pace and arrived at the Liu Manor. The guards at front looked at me and their eyes opened wide. "Yo-Young master Liu Feng! It is an honor! I shall inform the elders of your arrival. I shall do that immediately." the guard stammered as he ran into the path. I looked at this with a smile. Finally, I was no longer the idiot young master. Everyone who looked at me had to look at me with some degree of respect. This felt good. I strolled in and went back home. My father was outside, practising some tai chi. "You are back, Feng''er. It looks like you had a few gains from the Spirit Jade Pool. Of course, I hope that the gains that you had were more than just a simple increase in cultivation, but I can''t say anything until you go to Sky Heaven''s sect. They shall see if you have any future at all." he said. I nodded. "Where is mother. I drowned myself in practice for thest few days and I do not want to leave without spending a little time with her." I asked. "Good, you at least have somemon sense and are not leaving the parents who raised you. She is inside. But hold that thought for a moment. Why are you here so early? I thought that you were going to stay in the Spirit Jade pool for three days and then get another six hours for the skill selection? Why are you a whole six hours early?" he asked. "Well.... I might have made a little mistake in the Spirit Jade pool, in that I tried to find out what was beneath the pool. Something happened, and I was expelled out of the pool." I said. "You did what?! You wasted a heaven given opportunity. Now, he is never going to let you enter the pool again because you offended him, you idiot." my father snarled. "He? This confirms that there is indeed someone powerful inside the pool. I wonder who he is." I thought to myself. "I will go inside and talk to mother, then." I said as I quickly escaped the meeting with my father. The rest of the day was to be expected. All I did was get praises from everyone in the n, except for Liu Xin''s side. I did not even get to see them at all. Something must have happened to him, because no one even mentioned them. After a huge banquet, I sat down in my room, heaving a sigh of relief. With this, the beginning of my journey wasing to an end. Now, I had a little resting period before I had to start running again. "Wait a minute! There is still that pill that Cai Lien wanted me to refine. God, I need to check what it is. If I can get on the good books of the Cai family, then it will help me when I get to a bigger stage in the future. It should help me in the royal family as well, considering that the Cai family is from there." I realized. I took out the spatial ring that Cai Lien gave me and took a quick look at what was inside. There were a few jade boxes with medicinal herbs within them. There was also a piece of parchment within it with a recipe. On top of the pill recipe were the words ''Cloud Suppressing Pill''. "The Cloud Suppressing Pill? Isn''t that a pill that acts as an anti toxin? Is someone poisoned in the Cai family? Must be pretty high up, for Cai Lien to say that whoever makes this pill would have the Cai family''s gratitude. Thank god that the Alchemy Basic skill book also has this recipe and I know how to make the pill." I thought to myself. But, this was not the right time to make the pill. It was alreadyte in the day. I could not make any huge sound, or everyone would wake up and would find out that I was an alchemist. Too many people already knew and I could not increase that number. I decided that I would go to the inn that I always went to and do this there. I put everything aside and fell on the bed. Looking at the ceiling, I fell into deep thought. "The Sky Heavens Sect... This is going to be the next chapter of my life. I have to get to the Xiantian realm within the next few years. This is going to be a very difficult ride. Not a single person in the Kaishi city is Xiantian realm. If I have to get there in so little time, then I need to have very fruitious encounters. Looks like I have to use my luck stat to the max." Ping! New Quest "System has decided that Host''s journey is in dire need of a story quest. New story quest activated. Previous penalty cancelled. Host must travel to the Sky Heavens Sect and get epted to the sect. Time limit - 2 months. System urges host not to fail this quest." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 61 The Cai Family The gates loomed at me. High up in the sky towering over me like Mount Tai. I didn''t know why I felt that way. I never saw Mount Tai, but I felt it as the closest point to the heavens itself. I had a mask and a cloak over me. I did not want to show my presence as Liu Feng to everyone. With the martial gathering, everyone in the city knew who I was. I nced at the guards. They looked at me with suspicion, which was to be expected. Who wouldn''t be suspicious of a man with a mask and a cloak? I stepped up to them. "I am here at the request of Young Lady Cai Lien. She requested a pill from me." I said. "You wish. Do you really think that we wouldn''t know the alchemists of the city. Just go back home and stop trying to meet our youngdy." the guard scoffed while the otherughed at me. "She did tell me that she needed the pill by the end of the month. What would happen if the one person who brought the pill was denied entry? I wonder what would happen to whoever stopped that person from entering. And besides, not everyone has one of these cards." I shed the VIP card of the Shianxi Auction house. "You are a VIP member of the Shianxi Auction House? I will inform the youngdy of your arrival. But if it turns out that you were deceiving me, then I can sense your cultivation level. I will murder you." he snarled at me. "There is no need for that. He is with me. There is no need to hide your identity, Liu Feng. I am sure that no one here will attack you when you are my guest." I heard Cai Lien''s voice behind me. "How do these people alwayse behind me all the time? It is kind of creepy." I grumbled as I turned around. Cai Lien and her body guard, the arrogant young man at the auction house were standing side by side. "That is not guaranteed enough, but it looks like everyone already knows my identity now, so there is no need to cover my face." I sighed as I took out my mask and cloak. "Do you have the pill ready?" she asked. I threw a jade box towards her. I then nced at the young man next to her. His stats were unclear, but his name was as clear as day. "Looks like he is not from the Cai family. Bu Kong? No wonder he did not participate in the martial gathering. But, he is in the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, which is respectable." I noted. "This is indeed, the Cloud Suppressing Pill. I am astonished. How were you able toplete this pill within just a week? Who did you study under?" she asked me. "While some things like my identity are known to some, others are destined to remain a mystery. Now, will I being in and epting your family''s hospitality, or will I be turned away at the gate, forced to stand here?" I asked. "Forgive us, Young master. Please,e in." Cai Lien nodded at the guards. They opened the gates and bowed to her. We entered the estate. This ce was different from the Liu Family''s manor. There were fewer trees, but all the trees that did exist were at the borders. They seemed to be trying to block out the view from the outside. "They are called the mysterious Cai family. No one really understands how the family works, and who is the leader. Well, the top leaders of the city know, but the general populous doesn''t." I shrugged as I told myself. "At this point, I must tell you that you are not allowed to tell anyone about what you have seen inside. If you do, then you and your family will be eternal enemies of the Cai family." Cai Lien said. "That is certainly threatening to think about. But what am I going to see here that is supposed to be kept a secret. And one thing that has been bugging me since the beginning was how the hell were you able to use the skill that you lost the bidding for in the auction? Some olddy bought it right? How did you get your hands on it?" I asked. "Don''t you dare call my grandmother some olddy! And she is the reason that you are here." Cai Lien snapped at me. "I wonder who she fought, for her to require an antidote to a very specific snake poison," I asked. "At least you are more experienced than the dozens of alchemists that we brought to get their help. The best that we got was that this pill had to be consumed by the end of the month. The main family is busy and cannot afford to get an alchemist for a branch family. We are forced to look for one on our own." Cai Lien gnashed her teeth. "Now why would I want to know the workings of another family? Just get this pill to her, and she should be okay. I think that after that, I would like a word with her and confirmation that no one is attacking the Liu family any time soon." I said. "As long as whatever you gave her works, then you will be our esteemed guest." Cai Lien said. "I just refined a pill. You gave me the ingredients and the recipe. There is nothing wrong with the pill, but if there is something wrong with the diagnosis, then it is your fault. Not mine. Just remember that when you give her the pill, alright?" I said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 62 Old Lady Of The Cai Family "I understand. You are a talented alchemist for you to be able to synthesize this pill in this little time. We could use another opinion from you. None of the people that we have called have seemed to do much help." Cai Lien looked at me with eager eyes. "I am sorry, but I don''t think that I can help you here. I am not that experienced. I was just lucky that I have worked with this pill before. That is all. There is no other reason for me to finish this pill on time. Now, I just want to make sure that the Liu Family shall not face any problems at all from the Cai family. That is the only reason that I came all the way inside." I refused immediately. I had no intention of getting into a little more drama. "I am sorry, young master Liu Feng, but you have to understand that all of this deal that I have talked with you, it is only applicable if my grandmother survives. You have to help me if you want what you came here for." Cai Lien said. "So this is how the Cai family works? By going back on its words? I should keep this in mind the next time I try doing business with you." I said, ring at her with irritation. "Mind your words when you talk to the youngdy." Bu Kong snarled at me as he clenched his hands into a fist. "I might be weaker than you, but my societal standing is so much higher. Why don''t you back off and let the adults talk." I retorted. "Calm down. All that I am asking for is just a small look. That is it. It cannot hurt, and will not take that much of your time." Cai Lien pleaded. After some time going back and forth, I finally waved the white g. We went inside to a separate room, which had even more guards. Every single one of those guards had a cultivation that I couldn''t see. They were very powerful, just like the guards in the city lord''s mansion. This olddy was probably the matriarch of the family. When I entered the room, I could feel the atmosphere was grim. There were many people surrounding a bed. The old woman on the bed was obviously the one that I was supposed to take a look at. "Lady Cai, I am sorry to say, but you cannot heal without a Cloud Suppression Pill. I am afraid that there is no other way through this. I keep telling you, my dearest friend is willing to give you the pill as long as you betrothe your grand daughter to his son. I cannot get you a better deal than this." a middle aged man was saying just as I entered the room. The moment I heard this, my eyes darted to Cai Lien, who was clenching her fists. The grand daughter in question was definitely her. No wonder she wanted help in this no matter what. No one would want to get betrothed to someone they didn''t know. "Yian. Why did you get him here again? I told you that I would never give up our best hope just for a few more years. Just leave me alone, the lot of you. You disgust me. Cough! Cough!" a weak voice came from the poor woman. "Grandmother!" Cai Lien cried out with fear as she rushed to her side. "Lien''er. You are here. Don''t worry. I will not let you go. Don''t listen to this lot of pack rats. I still have some life in me. Another year. You can go to the Sky Heaven''s sect and be something for yourself." the olddy said. "Don''t talk like that, grand mother. I brought a friend to take a look at you. He even brought the cloud suppression pill that you need." Cai Lien said. "What!? Someone already made the Cloud Suppression pill? That is impossible!" the middle aged man who just spoke shouted with shock. "What is so surprising about that? Do you think that there is no alchemist in this city who is capable of making such a pill? I may not be a part of this family, but even ayman could see what you are trying to do here." I just could not take it anymore and stepped up. "Who is this numb nut? Who let him here?" another man behind shouted. "Wait, Uncle Yian! This is the friend that I am talking about. He is the one that made the Cloud Suppression pill. It is the real pill. Please take a look." Cai Lien stopped him and handed the pill to him. Cai Yian took one look at what was in the pill, and I could see the look of surprise on his face for just a second. He changed his face immediately though. "This is clearly a fake. This man is tricking you. You should stop being so gullible. Now, we should let the Matriarch rest. Get him out of here!" Cai Yian said as he crushed the jade box in his hands. The fragrance of the pill spread across the room, and everyone could smell it. "What is this insolence, Cai Yian? This is clearly the real pill. Why did you crush it after taking just a look at it? How dare you?!" Another man behind the olddy shouted. "And this was the reason that I vehemently refused toe here. I did not want to get into all this family drama. All of you are pack rats, the lot of you. Now that it is pretty clear that what I gave you guys was the real Cloud Suppression Pill, isn''t it clear that this Cai Yian doesn''t want the olddy to survive? But isn''t he forgetting that every pot almost always has more than one pill in the pot?" I said out loud. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 63 Drama In The Cai Family "What did you just say? You have another one?" I felt a sudden pressure raining down on me. I could feel the intent to killing from Cai Yian. He was just waiting to pounce. "You better say that you don''t, you twerp. Or, I willpletely annihte you." I heard his voice in my head, but couldn''t see his lips move. I shook my head and sighed. "I came all the way here to help, and it seems like I am not wanted here. This Cai Yian is threatening to kill me like I am some guy that he can push over. Maybe he is forgetting the fact that I am still the young master of the Liu Family. Do you really think that your family would survive an all out war with the Liu Family when your matriarch is down under? And to think that I came all the way here to help out." I said as I nced at the man who was angry at Cai Yian. He seemed to be the one who wanted to really help the matriarch out. He also locked eyes with me, and understood what I was talking about. "If you give us the Cloud Suppression pill, then I can guarantee that you will leave with your life. Once mother recovers, no one will be able to say anything at all. Just help us out, and I will give you what Lien''er promised." he said. "I don''t know who you are, but I am not going to do anything until Cai Yian and this other dude who came with this proposal are out of this room. I do not trust them at all. Especially after one of them is clearly showing his killing intent in front of everyone." I said out loud. "You are an interesting boy. When I heard about the idiot young master who that boy in the Liu Family took in, I thought that it was just a pity. It turns out that a tiger''s son is a tiger, who just took too much time to grow up. Yian. Get out of the room. I may be weak right now, but I am still the strongest here. Do not dare make a move on this boy. You will not be able to handle the consequences." the olddy said with a weak voice. "But mother!" Cai Yian looked surprised. "Get out! Do you think that I don''t know what is happening here? Mark my words. If this goes on, then I will make sure that Cai Yanlin will never have a chance to be the patriarch!" she barked. The blood drained from Cai Yian''s face. I could understand what was happening right now. This was another family fight, and they were dragging me in. "This guy is Cai Yanlin''s father? No wonder. Both of them are rotten to the core. I think I understand where he got it from." I realized as I locked eyes with Cai Yian just as he was leaving. He red at me with fury. If looks could kill, I would be dead already. The middle aged man behind also left behind Cai Yian, with a simr expression. I wondered why he was so disappointed though. Well, Cai Lien was a beauty, so he must have wanted his friend''s son to get betrothed to her, but Cai Yian was the one who was supposed to win here. "Now that both of them are out of here, please tell me that you have the cloud suppression pill. Atleast tell me that you can make another one, or know the person who can make another one." the other man in the room looked at me with pleading eyes. I nced at him with my mind eye. "Cai Duan. Must be Cai Lien''s father. He is the only one who stood up for her side of the argument." I thought as I smiled. "Did you not hear what I said before. Almost every pot that is synthesizedes with more than one pill. And obviously, I have another one. But the deal that I talked about with Cai Lien meant that I only had to give one to you. Cai Yian crushed that and trampled on my face. You better have a good exnation for this. I came here because I was requested to. I do not care about your stupid family feud. All I want is my guarantee, plus a little more information." I said. "Cai Lien promised that the Cai Family would not go against the Liu Family in a power struggle, was it not? I have the authority to say yes to that. I shall approve it." the matriarch said. p "Forgive me for saying this, but a simple word will not be enough. I want a written document so that you have your own face to think about twice when you even have a thought about reneging on your word." I said. "You are cautious. You are nothing like what Lien''er said. All she had to say about you were horrible things, but I find none of them to be true. Very well. If this cloud suppression pill works, then I will indeed do whatever you want me to. But what is the other thing that you wanted? What information do you want?" she asked. "The Cai family has roots in the capital, does it not? I heard that the Cai family is a branch of another Cai family that is within the royal capital. That means that you are privy to some information there as well." I asked. "Yes. We are from the imperial capital. What information is it that you want from there? We can probably get it for you." she said. "Tell me about me. Who is my real father, and why is my life in danger?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 64 The Mystery The matriarch held the side of the bed and sat upright, struggling to find bnce. "Grandmother!" Cai Lien cried out. "Don''t worry. I am just fine. So you want to know about your own background? The fact that Liu Qian hasn''t told you yet surprises me. If you are so curious, you must have already asked a few others, and all of them have probably given the same answer. It is not my secret to tell. Let me just give you one hint though. The reason that I cannot tell you is that the information is tabboo. By none other than the royal family itself. It is not an existence that you can afford to mess with yet. You should just calm down and go your own way." she said. "It is dered taboo by the royal family? This goes all the way to the top?" I was shocked. ? "I gave you more than you were supposed to know. This is already too much. You should leave now. I will have Lien''er deliver this letter of alliance to your family, and I will be sure to exin how much you helped me. But if you will, I need the Cloud Suppression pill." she nced at my hand. I already took out the jade box and threw it at her. "Such impudence! How dare you throw something at the matriarch?!" one of the guards at the side of the room pounced at me. "Calm down! Just sit down, the lot of you. It is because of stupid rules like these that the families of yore eventually copse. Now, let us see if this Cloud Suppression pill really works." she looked at me. "The pill will work if you were bitten by the Hidden Cloud Snake. But if I am not wrong, that snake is only found in the-" "I think that your analysis is enough. I think that this is enough. I appreciate your help, and certainly think that this is a fair trade." she nced at Cai Lien, and then at me. "You want me to go? Sure. I just don''t want to get attacked by Cai Yianter. He does resent me a lot. I hope that the pill works." I said. "Do not worry about him. No one will dare go against my words in this household. You shall not have any problems from the Cai family from now on." the matriarch said. I nodded and headed over to leave the room. "You are very curious about your origin, which I find confusing." I heard Liu Man say suddenly. "What the hell is wrong with you? Can you not have like a way to warn me when you are going to startle me like this? If this happens during a life threatening situation, then I will go down so fast." I halted. "That is beyond me. But one thing I don''t understand is why you are so hung up on your origin?" Liu Man asked. "What are you talking about? Are you not curious about who your parents are? Who you are as a person? Why do you ask me such weird questions?" I asked. "Why would I want to know who my parents are? They are no longer a part of my life. My life is now defined by what happens around me, and the new experiences that I make. They will not be influenced by who my father or mother is." Liu Man said. All of a sudden, my mind became that much clearer. I was thinking for Liu Feng till now, but I was also Gray. The person that I was before I reincarnated. I did not need to stay here in this ce for Liu Feng. I needed to live. I could go and live my life to the fullest, and redefine who Liu Feng was. "But arent you a little young to be giving advice like this. You are just a new born. How are you able to think like this?" I asked. "I think what you humans say is that the innocent are the best at the truth. Or something like that. Sometimes, the truth is already known, but your perception of the world changes and distorts it." Liu Man said. "This level of conversation is way to high. Right now, I just want to get a rest from all that happened. After this is over, I need to go to the sky heaven''s sect. Now that I think about it, I think that it came up during the time that I was here." I suddenly realized. "Yes. It dide up. How did you forget about it so easily? The girl called Cai Lien will be going to the Sky Heaven''s sect, and under the matriarch''s word, she should be stronger so that she can get away from the Cai family." Liu Man said. "Wait, what? I am sure that this is not what happened there. I would have heard all of this happen." I said. "That is because you are not reading the subtext. Considering what had happened previously and what was happening at that time, it was clear that this was what the matriarch meant." Liu Man said. "So I am probably going to be meeting up with Cai Lien more than I expected. Now that is an unexpected coincidence. But for the Cai family to send their best talent to the Sky Heaven''s sect, it must be a very good ce to cultivate. Must be like a really good college or something. I just hope that I can get a lot of good opportunities there. Now then. You have to tell me how you are going to help me out, Liu Man. You are free loading within me. You better bring me some good value." I said. "The way you said it makes me sound like I am just an opportunity for you. But that must be the very reason that you bought me at the auction. You do not need to worry though. Although I might not be able to show off my usefulness right now, I certainly can help you in the future. Once Ipletely incubate and get enough Qi to gestate, I will be able to grow into my proper body." Liu Man said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 65 The Sky Heavens Sect "A proper body? I wonder how you will grow up. Being a mythical beast of some kind, you will probably be much stronger than normal humans from the get go. But I guess that is just life." I sighed. "You are also very interesting. You have a perilous journey ahead and you are not doing anything to prepare. Don''t you want to know what you require to get into this Sky Heaven''s sect? You should know how you should prepare so that you won''t fail this task that the system gave you." Liu man said. My eyes widened. "You are actually proving your usefulness already. I need to know what the trials of the sky heaven''s sect are so that I can confirm my going there. I do not want to get into another problem by failing another story quest. The system might not be as merciful. I should ask my father about this." I decided. By now, I was already out of the Cai family. I took a deep breath and smiled. This day, I aplished something of significance. Although I was not actually a part of the Liu family, I owed them a lot because they gave me a roof and food to eat, not to mention how luxuriously I lived here. I needed to pay them back. With this, I had no more residual feelings. I gave them what I owed, and much more. The only ones that I cared about in the Kaishi city now were my father and mother, who actually showed me love. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "You want to know what the trials you will face are for the Sky Heaven''s sect? You are quite impatient, aren''t you? I thought that you would ask this the day you were going to leave for the sect. It seems that you are already thinking ahead." Liu Qianughed heartily as I asked him. "But father. It will always be good for me if I start preparing from now on. I just want to make sure that I will get into the Sky Heaven''s sect." I said. "Did you know, if you were just a normal person, then you would have to wait till you actually get there and the elders there would tell you what the tests you will face are? You are getting spoilt." he shook his head. I looked down in disappointment. It seemed that today was not my lucky day. "Haha! Don''t worry. I am just messing with you. I said that you would not privy to this information if you were any normal person. But you are not, are you? You are my, Liu Qian''s son. It doesn''t matter what the truth is. You will always be my son, the one that I raised with my own hands. I will never send you somewhere foreign without preparing you." Liu Qian suddenlyughed. I looked up with surprise. His words hit where it needed to the most. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I could not even control them. "Now now. Don''t cry yet. I did not even start with the trials, much less get to the difficult ones." Liu Qian smiled. He started telling me about the trials of the Sky Heaven''s sect, many of which I already expected. Firstly, there was the trial of strength. This was to weed out most of the people who would be participating in the trials to get into the sect. Everyone had to try and disy their strongest move, and the damage done would decide whether they would go on to the next trial or not. Of course, those who came first would get the best rewards. I was conflicted on whether I should try for the extra rewards or not. Next, there were the aptitude tests. Father did not tell me much about them. He said that no matter what I did, I could not change the results of these aptitude trials, and that I could only try and change the strength and thest trials. The best was for thest. It was obviously thebat trials. This was the trial that was most important, because the Sky Heaven''s sect was a very renowned sect, and only a few would be selected to join the sect. If one was lucky, then the elders looking at the trials would choose one or two disciples to take under their wing. I was not so interested in that, because it would tie me down to that person, but I wouldn''t decline it immediately if I was given the opportunity. After all this, if I performed properly, then I would be allowed to enter the Sky Heaven''s sect. I was pretty pumped to go there. I would meet new people, and I had to make the right connections so that I would have an easier time when I entered the Royal Capital. Considering that whatever this body''s background was, was rted to the Royal family, I needed to go there eventually. "Did you understand what to do? Given that you won the martial gathering, you shouldn''t have that much difficulty getting into the Sky Heaven''s sect. In fact, if you didn''t get in, then I would be surprised." Liu Qian said. "When will I be leaving for the sect then?" I asked. "You? You will leave at the end of the week. You are really lucky. All the things came at the right time. The Sky Heaven''s sect gets in new disciples every three years, and the next trial is next week. It is in the Shai''ah province. It takes about three days to get there on a horse. I am not going to help you get there though. You got a spatial ring on your own. You should be able to get there easily." he said. "Of course, it had to be another challenge." I shook my head. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 66 Ecstatic Liu Hong "Do you think that this is the challenge? It is also part of the trials. I am not allowed to take you to the Sky Heaven''s sect so easily. You will need to find your own way after you enter the Shai''ah province. You will enter the ck Swamp forest, and you will need to get to the sect on your own. That is the real first trial. Just get a horse to the entrance to the ck Swamp forest, but don''t take it inside. It will lose its life." Liu Qian said. "There is another trial now? Why is it that the Sky Heaven''s sect is so selective? I am already at the secondyer of the Foundation Building stage, arent I? Can''t I just be admitted directly into the sect?" I grumbled. "For you to get in like that, then you need to be at the peak of the Core Formation stage, at the minimum. You overestimate yourself once more." he shook his head. "Where is my grandson!" at that moment, I heard a thundering sound. But from here, I felt no anger. There was only joy. This was the sound of Liu Hong. He probably just got the information from the Cai family. What I did was no small feat. I looked at where the sound wasing from. I saw my grandfather rushing towards me, with his arms wide open to embrace me and his mouth grinning from teeth to teeth. "Even though I did something that great, the response shouldn''t be this high. What the hell made him so overjoyed?" I wondered. "You are such a capable grandson. I was sure that the Liu Family was going to be embroiled in a power tustle, but to think that you went to the Cai family and solved it all in one go. I was confused when the Bai family contract was dissolved, but who would have thought that you went ahead and bagged the Cai family''s golden daughter?" heughed again. "Wait. What are you talking about? What bagging? I don''t understand." I took a step back in confusion. "You didn''t know what happened? The Cai family set forward a proposition to ally the two families in marriage. You shall wed Cai Lien. That is what you did today, is it not? I am so proud of you. Now, no one will dare look down upon the Liu family. We sure as hell raised a tiger of a son." he said. "They proposed a marriage contract?! Between me and Cai Lien?!" My mind went nk as I tried to register what was going on. This was not even close to what I expected. I just went there toplete the simple task of giving her a pill. I just wanted to let go of all my attachments in the Kaishi city. But why did they just have to marry me off to Cai Lien now? "Does Cai Lien know about this?" I asked. "She is the one who brought this contract over. Why wouldn''t she know about it? Why don''t you tell your mother the good news while I talk over the details with your father here." he beckoned me to go inside. "How did this happen? What possibly went wrong in my intentions?" this thought raced through my head. "It is pretty simple, isn''t it? You impressed the olddy of the Cai family so much that she wanted her grand daughter to marry someone like you. It is not every day that youe across someone who is talented and also an alchemist. At least, that is my analysis." Liu Man pitched in. "Alright. I get it. But why did this have to happen. I did not want to get into any of this now." I said. "I do not understand what you are saying. You find Cai Lien incredibly attractive. You are now engaged to her. Why are you hesistating to take another step? You might want to get away from this city, but Cai Lien will also being with you to the Sky Heaven''s sect, is she not? She will be helpful, as she is also very talented. Who knows? Your feelings for her might mature then." Liu Man said. "I do not understand why you talk like this. From where do you get advice like this?" I asked. "All of these are memories that I seem to have since my birth. I can talk normally, and I can understand how the world works. I guess that this is the inheritance that my parents gave me for me to survive." Liu Man said. "Oh well. I guess that you are right. I mean, who wouldn''t love thepany of a beauty through the arduous journeys that I am supposed to go through. But why would she be okay with it? She already did not want to get into a marriage contract with someone else. That is why she even asked me even though she clearly did not like me and my reputation. Why would she even deliver this news herself?" I wondered. "I am afraid that I cannot help you there. I do not understand how women think. That is one thing that the memories that I have do not tell me anything about." Liu Man said. I shook my head as I looked around with confusion. Liu Hong was talking to my father about something. Now, I had to tell my mother what just happened, and I had to exin that I was going to get married to a new person now. This world confused me. How did things like this bemon? I just wanted to escape for one day and just rx for one day before I left. I tried doing that before, but I met Bai Zhiqui and her master that day, so it did not help me at all. It seemed that this world did not want to leave me for even a moment. I could not catch a breath! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 67 Leaving For The Sky Heavens Sect One week passed. Things settled down, and it was time for me to leave for the Sky Heaven''s sect. It was going to be an interesting journey. I started my own preparations for the trials that I was supposed to face. I had a few weeks'' worths of food packed in my spatial ring, as well as a lot of spare clothes. I just didn''t want to risk anything at all. I also had a lot of healing pills that I made on my own. I bought a lot of spirit herbs and refined a lot of pills. I was surprised that my skill level did not increase after all of this. I needed these in case I had to recover quickly after a fight. I understood how impractical it was to recover naturally during fights. Along with all this, I had to rece my spear. I realized that the spear that I had cracked under the immense pressure that I was under during the stint at the Spirit Jade Pool. It almost screwed me over. If I did not have a good spear, then I would not have a weapon to use. I did not want to reveal the Ethereal Weapon just yet. The spear that I chose was obviously the one that was most suitable for the Blue Dragon Spear Art. I did not select just any weapon. It had to be at least at the level of the spear that I used during the martial gathering. I needed to be able to use the fifth form of the Blue Dragon Spear art. It was going to be my biggest trump card. Over the week, with all the free time that I did have, I tried learning the movement skill that I had. But, I wasn''t sure about it. It did not feel like I was going anywhere with the way that I was practicing. For this, I needed to use the permanent setup that was carefully shown in the skill book. But for that, I needed a few days to set up, and I was leaving here anyways. I decided that I would put it off and learn it in the sect itself. "I just hope that they have something simr to this method of practice, or at least a way for me to emte it. I really need to learn a good art, and I do not want a good movement skill to go to waste. This seems like a very powerful skill to learn." I thought to myself. "Feng''er. Are you ready? You seem like you are just talking to yourself." I heard my father call me out. I shook myself from all my musings let the room. I looked back for onest time. I wasn''ting here any time soon. I looked at my father and mother, who looked at me with proud looks on their face. There were hints of fear as well. They were afraid of what would happen to me in this journey. But if I couldn''t even do this much, then what good was it to work this hard? "Yes, father. I am ready. I think that I should take my leave." I nodded. "I am very proud of you. Just remember. Once you get there, I want you to give this letter to the gatekeeper of the Heavenly Music Pavillion. Just make sure that his name is Li Tian. You should not be able to look at the contents of the letters, so I suggest that you don''t even try it. This is a very private and important letter, and I do not want you to tamper it or anything." he said as he gave me a letter. There was a red seal on it, and the moment that I held it, I could feel the letter itself trying to repulse me. "That is the inscription that the letter has. It lets only the person who this letter is intended for open it. Now then. I wish you good luck. I will not apany you all the way till the end of the city. I know that you should know your way till there. You probably even nned out the way by now." Liu Qian said. "I did ask a few friends to help me out and I know how to get to the ck Swamp forest. After that, however, there seems to be something wrong. Not a single person knows how to get to the Sky Heaven''s sect from the edge. Apparently, only those that the forest allows will get in, while the rest are not allowed. I don''t know what that means, but it might be something rted to luck. I just hope that I will be able to find my way through." I said. "It means that if you are fated for the Sky Heaven''s sect, then you will find the way. But if you are not, then it means that you are not going to be a disciple there. I certainly hope that you are going to seed, but no one knows what the heavens has in store for you." Liu Qian said. I nodded. In front of me was the horse that was going to take me all the way to the Shai''ah province. It was going to be a long journey, and I had to take a reliable steed. Or else, I wouldn''t get there in time. This beauty of a horse set me back a spirit coin! Apparently, this had a trace of a bloodline of a magical beast, and that it was more powerful than normal steeds. A spirit coin was nothing for me, but it was an astronomical amount for the general popce. I stepped up to the horse and stroked its mane. "You are quite the expensive stud. You better prove you''re worth it." I said as I hopped onto the back of the horse. I looked onest time at my parents and nodded at them. Then, I looked away at the destination that I was supposed to go to. Taking the reins in my hands, I shook them, up, and the horse started running. A new journey awaited me. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 68 Bandits! I left the city soon enough. I had no more attachments towards it, and I would eventuallye back anyways. The horse rode forward at a frightening speed, and I covered a lot of ground in very little time. I passed by a lot of emptynd, and a few viges here and there, but did not want to make a stop until I got to a proper inn. I wanted some good food and a bed to rest in before I continued. With nothing to do other than to just ride along, it was pretty boring. The sound of the horse was monotonous. If only I could just teleport to the ck Swamp Forest, then I would get rid of all these extra steps. I stopped in some inn and slept after having a good meal. I made sure that the horse was well tended to in the stables. The fact that every inn that I came across had a stable surprised me, but it was to be expected given that the primary way of transport here was by horse. "Urghhh. There is nothing for me to do. I don''t know what to do right now." I grumbled. "You could cultivate for now. I understand that you wish to get stronger in a small period of time, do you not. Not wasting any time at all, and cultivating helps. You can use the inferior cultivation method that your father taught you. The one where you actually have to mediate and sit down." Liu Man suggested. "I am not meditating. If I suddenly have some breakthrough like during my Foundation Establishment stage breakthrough, then I will get stuck here for a few days, and I will not reach the sect on time. I am not in a hurry to get to the Core Formation Stage any time soon. Actually, I need to use the Foundation Tempering Pill that I got in the martial gathering. I remember someone saying that I would be the one with the most benefit because I was at a lower cultivation level. I need to use it after I get to the sect." I shook my head. "If you are not cultivating, and you are not going to practise anything, then of course you are going to get bored. Why not do something else. Why not learn a new skill that is not abat skill. Why not read. Knowledge is power. There are books everywhere, and you can get a few somewhere. This may not be a city, but a town still has a good book selection. You can learn about the ce that you are in. It is my understanding that you are still very clueless about the world that we live in." Liu Man said. "Not really. I understand the more important parts. But I could actually use the extra information. And this ce is getting stuffy, and I am not so sleepy. Every since I grew stronger, I find sleep less and less necessary. If the horse could continue to run all day long, then I would actually do that." I shook my head. After I left the inn, I looked around. When I first went to the Kaishi city, I thought that it was much smaller than the normal city. Butparing this town to even the Kaishi city, it was pitifully small. There were still a few people standing here or there. I looked around. It was a calm ce. It was getting a little dark, and all of a sudden, I had a very bad feeling. I looked around. I could see nothing in the surroundings. The area behind the bushes was dark, but I could feel someone staring at me. I activated my mind eye, looking at the darkness. My eyes widened immediately. "Level-10 Name - Hongse One Cultivation - Foundation Establishment stage 2ndyer" "Level - 8 Name - Hongse Five Cultivation - Qi Condensation Stage Peak" "What kind of names are there? Are they part of some cult or something?" One by one, names popped up behind the bushes. These people obviously did not want their presence to be known. Whoever they were, they did not have any good intentions. They were not too powerful, but numbers could do so much damage. I took a step back. "Bandits!" someone near the bushes suddenly shouted. Aargh! Almost immediately, the same person screamed out in fear. The smell of blood was in the air. "Bandits are here! Tell everyone. Let the expertse out. All the civilians, go in!" someone shouted from behind me. This person was probably on higher ground. Bandits seemed to be amon urrence. Although there was fear in everyone''s eyes, shock was missing. They were expecting an attack. "It is so sad, living a life like this." I shook my head. "What are you doing? Scared out of your wits? Is this the first time that you are encountering bandits? Seeing how luxurious your hair and skin are, you probablye from a family of wealth. I suggest that you run inside, or you will be hounded by the bandits, and they will take you for ransom." a person told me as he ran inside. "They are all either in the firstyer of the Foundation Building stage, or in the Qi Condensation stage. I already defeated someone much above this cultivation. I don''t need to worry much about them. If I do want to fight them though, I will have to make sure that the normal people don''t get hurt." I realized. One by one, the bandits came out of the dark. I could see their faces properly now. Their viciousness was clear in their crooked smile and their hideous faces. "Come on now. Why are you running away so quickly? One of you has to entertain us now." one of the banditsughed as he looked at the women who were running inside. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 69 Bandits! (Part 2) My palm clenched into a fist. I looked at this scene in front of me with anger. I was not the most honorable man, but who could allow such a scene to y out in front of them. One of the bandits took notice of me, and grinned as he approached me. "Hey boss! Looks like we have a big one today as well. I think this one came from a noble family from the west. Looking at how neat his hands and face looks, he will fetch quite the reward." the bandit said. "Looks like there are a lot of peopleing over here because of the Sky Heaven''s sect''s selection trials. This is really good for business. I really must thank them for this god given opportunity." another man stepped up in front of me. This was the person that I saw first, Hongse One. "So the strongest of the bandits is just at the secondyer of the Foundation Building stage? I think that I can handle them all." I noted. "What are you doing? Do you think that you can face us? We went against a lot of you spoilt ones. You actually thought that you could face us. But even if you are at a high level of cultivation, one thing that the families that raise you forget, is that in an actual life and death battle, you will always try to run away because of your fear of death." Hongse Oneughed. "It is true. There are far too many spoilt brats who fear death. They won''t stand a chance against you. But I had my own brushes with the concept, and I think that I can hold my ground pretty well." I said as a ck spear appeared in my hands. This was the new spear that I bought a few days ago. "Boss! He has a spatial ring! That thing goes for so much! We won''t have to worry about anything at all for the next few years as long as we get our hands on that!" the eyes of the first bandit lit up. So did the eyes of the boss. "Everyone! Leave the small prey. The town is not going to go anywhere. Let us take care of this one first. All of you, band against him!" he shouted. "All of these bandits are going to be troublesome. I should just take care of the most pressing matter at hand. Maybe I should just take care of the boss first, and the others will scatter like fleas." I thought as I rushed towards Hongse One. "I knew that you would think like this. Everyone thinks that they will survive as long as they kill me first. But do you think that you stand a chance against me? At best, you are at the foundation establishment stage. Have you ever fought against three people in the foundation establishment stage at once?" he said. "Not really. But I did fight against one in the fifthyer. You won''t be able topare to that." I shook my head. Blue Dragon Spear Art! First form The spear shot forward, aimed directly towards the throat of the boss of the bandits. I was going for the kill, without any mercy. At times like this, I had to make a choice between morality and humanity. This man did not deserve to die, and I could not let my own thoughts influence that. I had to rid this world of this filth. ng! The bandit''s sword made contact with the spear, and it deflected the attack away. "Two and three, attack him! I want this guy half dead. If he has a spatial ring, then his life is worth far more than just a few thousand spirit coins. This one brat will be enough to feed us all for a lifetime!" Hongse One shouted. I looked back with caution. There were dozens of bandits rushing towards me. Two of them were in the Foundation Establishment stage. This was going to get troublesome very soon. The boss was stronger than I expected. I thought that I could vanquish him in one move. After the others got to me, it would get much harder to get to anyone. "You should use the fourth form of the Blue Dragon Spear art right now. It is a sure fire move, and it will destroy the wills of the other bandits." Liu Man said. I nodded, and readied my spear. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fourth Form! Blue Dragon Sails through the Heavens!" I shouted as the spear glowed in a blue hue. A manifestation of a dragon formed around it, and the spear shot towards Hongse One. "How is this possible? This is way too powerful for a mere first or secondyer brat in the Foundation Establishment stage!" the boss cried out. st! The spear reached him as soon as he said that, and the fragile defense that he put up copsed almost instantly. I could not hear anything from him anymore, but it was probably the end of that. I nced at the bandits behind me, who all froze in their spots. Fear was apparent in their eyes. "I-I know you! I''ve heard of you! You are the young master of the Liu Family from the Kaishi City! You were the dark horse in the martial gathering of the city!" one of the bandits suddenly said. "It looks like you know who I am as well. So then, you will know that I am more than powerful enough to deal with all of you. But the thing is, I did note here to fight with you. I have some things to deal with, so I will go now. I just hope that you will note here to this town again. Or else, I might happen to pass by here, and all of you will meet the same fate as your boss." I said coldly as I took the spear that returned back to me. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 70 Black Swamp Forest With the incident that ured, I had enough adrenaline for the day. I went to rest, and was not able to follow through on Liu Man''s suggestion. After a day, I reached the ck Swamp Forest. This was going to be the first trial of the Sky Heaven''s sect. It also seemed like a lot of others also seemed to be interested in the same trial. There were thousands of people gathered outside, talking to each other. Some were just preparing to go in, while others were just waiting for something. "Hello brother. You just came here, didn''t you? I am sure that you are clueless about the ck Swamp Forest. There is little to no information present about it anywhere. Here, I have a map of the entire forest, and it even has a route to show how to get to the Sky Heaven''s sect. This can be yours for the price of only ten spirit coins." All of a sudden, this man came up to me and showed me a map. "You are saying that I can just finish the first trial by just spending ten spirit coins? Do you really think that I am that stupid? I think that I will stick to my father''s words, thank you." I shook my head. "Your father''s words? And what might those wise words be? For you to give up such an incredible opportunity?" the man asked. "If I am fated to go to the Sky Heaven''s sect, then I shall. If I am not, then I will find my path another way. Either way, you can try your scam elsewhere. I think that I will just go on in." I said. "Interesting. That is a rare thing to say when you send your son to the selection of one of the greatest sects in the kingdom. Your father is a very interesting man. I think that I would love to meet him." the man smiled. "Go ahead. I don''t want to be a part of that. I am just going into the ck Swamp Forest now. I have very little time left, and I want to get to the sect on time for the selections." I said. "I will give you one piece of advice, friend, since we seem to have some fate together. I suggest that you do not go anywhere near the Ash Trees. If you see one, then you should run away." the man said. "The Ash trees? Why is that?" I asked, turning back to look at him. But he was no longer standing there. "What a weird man. I should have used the mind eye to see his name. Oh well, I guess a little caution wouldn''t hurt. But why the Ash trees? I guess I should have read about the sect and workings of the world like Liu Man said." I sighed. I took another look at whoever was around. There were people talking to each other, and I could hear bits and pieces of conversation. From what I could understand, they were coborating with each other to go through the ck Swamp Forest on their own. "I wonder what the dangers in there are? I mean, how hard is it for everyone to be so tensed about it?" I muttered. "It is a pretty difficult forest to go through. Most of the thousands of eager participants actually get eliminated in this one trial and are not able to get to the Sky Heaven''s sect for this very reason. I wonder who you are though. Not every day that someone justes to the trials without knowing how difficult they are." a voice came up behind me. I nced at the person who had just spoken. "No wonder I recognized the voice. To think that it was Du Xiangling! Why did youe to the Sky Heaven''s sect though? I thought that you were already a part of a dojo." I asked. "To get stronger, I need to face stronger trials. I guess that is why you came here as well. I heard that you got out of the Spirit Jade Pool earlier than you were supposed to. Well, I guess that you had so many opportunities." Du Xiangling shook his head. "Just tell me what the whole problem with the ck Swamp Forest is. You caninter." I said. "The ck Swamp forest is one of the most mysterious zones in the kingdom. No one understands why it behaves as it does. The Sky Heaven''s sect is at the center of the ck Swamp Forest. But the interesting thing is, the Sect itself stays at the center, but the Forest moves around. No one knows how it does. Only once every three years, the entrance of the ck Swamp Forest in our kingdom opens up. The remaining time, the forest is too dangerous. That is why the selection process happens once every three years." Du Xiangling said. "But if the entrance moves every three years, then at each point, the entrance has to be somewhere right? There has to be some way to exit the Sky Heaven''s sect after we go in." I asked. "It does. But the entrance changes spots. After every year, the entrance is in a different kingdom. So leaving can only be possible if you are extremely strong, or if you have a flying steed." he said. "So the ck Swamp Forest is a very dangerous ce. What level are the magic beasts going to be? How dangerous are they? Can we fight against them?" I asked. "If we stick to the straight line that we are supposed to go through, then we should not have a problem. But if we stray away from the center, then even a Nascent Soul Cultivator will face a life threatening danger. That is what my father said." Du Xiangling said. ? "Why couldn''t my father warn me about the important stuff? Instead, he had to talk about fate and what not nonsense." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 71 Black Swamp Forest (Part 2) "So then. Are you going in on your own?" I asked Du Xiangling. "You might be powerful, but I have no intention of partnering up with anyone at the moment. I want to get to the center on my own. I just do not want to rely on anyone in my martial way. That is something that I cannotpromise on." Du Xiangling shook his head. "I am not asking you to partner up with you. Why the hell would I need your help? I already defeated the girl who crushed you in the martial gathering. Do you really think that I would need your help to do anything here? I just wanted to ask you if you knew any path that someone had to follow. You said that if I strayed too far from the center of the path, then I was dead meat. But what exactly is the center of the path? How do you know that you are in the right path. I mean, there must be a reason that this is a trial at all." I asked. "The reason that this is a trial is that even when the safe path is opened every three years, the magical beasts within are so powerful that only people in the Core Formation Stage can go through calmly. Some beasts are so powerful that they are no longer called Magical Beasts. They are called Spirit Beasts. They have their own spirituality. They are so strong that they are on the level of Xiantian warriors of legend. The Sky Heaven''s sect has an understanding with the Spirit Beasts, and during this time, they do not mess with us as long as we do not mess with them. With the information that I gave you, you owe me a lot now." Du Xiangling said. "No kidding. I would have walked straight to my doom if it weren''t for your help here. What do you want? I can pay in spirit coins." I said. "I don''t want any of that. I want another fight. Not now. When I get stronger. In one month, I will show you that you just got lucky thest time." Du Xiangling said as he rushed into the forest. "On second thoughts, I actually want to follow him. But what is the fun in that? I think that I should see if I can fare any well against the magical beasts in the forest. But why is it called the ck Swamp Forest though? I see a lot of trees, but no swamps. The trees are not even ck. I just don''t get it." I shook my head as I headed into the forest. -------------------------------------------------- A few hundred meters away, Du Xiangling was rushing into the forest, when he stopped. He looked back for a second. "I forgot to tell him the most dangerous part about the forest! But oh well. He must surely know about this. He came all the way to the ck Swamp Forest. Who woulde to one of the five forbidden zones of the kingdom without knowing what was the biggest danger of them all. Even the kids know about this." Thinking this, he turned back and continued on his journey. ----------------------------------------------------- "Why do I have a bad feeling all of a sudden? It feels like I am missing something." I thought to myself as I sneezed. I was deep into the forest by now. The Sun was beginning to descend from its peak, and I looked ahead. "Staying here for the night is certainly too dangerous. I should make sure that I know what the biggest dangers are, and I should find some high ground so that I can be safe here." I said to myself as I continued further. There were cries and sounds of twigs and branches breaking, but all of this seemed to be happening in the distance. Every now and then, I could hear the sudden cry or shriek of someone my age. They probably came across a strong magical beast and met a horrible fate. "Why the hell am I not seeing anything here though? I cannot see a single moving thing here, except for these rotten flies and bugs. Am I in the wrong forest? Where are the frightening magical beasts?" I wondered. "I think that you are in trouble, Liu Feng." Liu Man suddenly weighed in. "And why is that?" I asked. "Because you are not encountering a single beast in a forest. That is almost impossible. Unless, of course, you are in the territory of a very powerful spirit beast. My memories detail a lot of spirit beasts, and the process of bing one is not pretty. Beasts also have to cultivate, but our cultivation is by killing and devouring monster cores of the beasts that are killed. And only upon killing hundreds and thousands of beasts will a beast be a spirit beast. They are not going to be benevolent. I do not know what the deal the spirit beasts have with the Sky Heaven''s sect is, but I do not trust it enough to stay here any longer. You have to go back where you came from." Liu Man said with a tense tone. "Oh shit. I royally screwed up again. I should have known that something was going wrong. Where did Ie from? I was not walkingpletely straight, but I made sure to not stray that much from the path that we are supposed to take. Where should I run to?" I mumbled as I looked around. I was so deep in the forest that no matter where I locked my gaze, all I could see were trees. A single path could not present itself. Grrrrrr I heard a loud growl near me. There was a beast approaching me, and I had no way of knowing whether it was a spirit beast, or even a magical beast that I could afford to fight. I turned around to see what wasing towards me. My eyes widened and I quickly panicked. In front of me was a fifty foot brown grizzly almost a hundred times as heavy I was, overshadowing me, and it certainly did not look happy. "Oh shit. I have to run!" I dashed forward. "System Homepage!" I shouted. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 8 Strength - 55 Stamina - 32 Agility - 55 Cultivation - Foundation Establishment - 2ndyer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Medium Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency0 Alchemy(Basic Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Mind Eye(Active) Skill points - 5 Stat Points - 5 The system showed me all my stats normally. "Put everything in speed. Now!" I shouted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 72 Dark Tyrant Bear The bear looked terrifying. Just looking at it, I knew that it had no intention of leaving me alive. I could feel this pressure mounting over me, trying to crush me. The cultivation of this bear was much, much more than mine. p "What is wrong with my luck? Why did I have to encounter such a powerful beast just as I entered the forest?" I cursed. "I recognize this Spirit Beast. It is a beast of a rare lineage. Some spirit beasts pass down their spirituality through their bloodline, and their offspring are guaranteed to be powerful beasts. This is the Dark Tyrant Bear. It is not that big, I think that it is just a child. It should be able to kill Core Formation Stage cultivators with a single blow." Liu Man said. "I don''t need the lesson now. I just need a way to get out of this ce fast!" I shouted. "I do not sense any powerful beast to the west. I think that you should move towards there. Dark Tyrant Bears are heavily territorial. Unless you do something incredibly wrong, they shouldn''t leave their territory and chase after you." Liu Man said. I nodded, and quickly started running to the left. It was now that I noticed the color of the trees. They were the color of Ash! "I should have seen this before! Why didn''t I heed his advice. I have to make sure that I am not anywhere near the Ash Colored trees." I realized as I continued running to the left. The trees stayed the same, and I was sure that I was losing my way, when I heard the sound of someone talking. I looked back once more. The Dark Tyrant Bear was nowhere to be found. I guessed that it went back to its territory. I ran to the direction of this sound. It was probably a group, and they could already hear meing. "Who is it? Who is behind the bushes?" Someone asked loudly. "I am just a normal human. Ie in peace. I was escaping from a beast when I came across you guys." I raised my hands up in the air as I crossed the bushes and came into view. It was a group of five people. All of them were probably people who were here for the selection process. I quickly used mind eye on all of them. "They are all in the foundation establishment stage! It seems that getting here is nothing special at all. The Kaishi city is such a small cepared to even the selection process. No wonder the Cai family wanted to send their best disciple to the Sky Heaven''s sect." I thought as I looked at them with apprehension. Because of the limited spots avable, everyone was apetitor. I was not sure how they would react when someone appeared before them. "It seems like brother is not aware of the workings of the ck Swamp Forest. You are supposed to stay to the center. You strayed too far right, and I think that you encountered a magical beast that you could not handle. Next time, I am sure that you will not make this mistake." the man in the center, who seemed to be the leader, smiled. "If you do not mind me asking, how is it that you are able to stay in the center of the path that we are supposed to take? I cannot seem to understand how to do that. I strayed the moment I entered the forest." I asked. "What are you talking about? Do you not have the spirtpass?" the leader looked at me with confusion. "Spirit Compass? What are you talking about?" "The spiritpass. The Sky Heaven''s sect hands them out to those that it selects for the selection process. Did you not know that you had to have one?" he asked. "You had to be selected to enter the selection process? I thought that the selection process was the trials that I had to go through. What is this new step?" I asked, confused about what was happening. All of a sudden, the expressions of the group of five changed. They looked at me with disgust. "To think that we were talking with those stupidmoners who think that they could actually go through the ck Swamp forest without a spiritpass. They actually think that they can survive here on their own?" the girl who was next to the leader said with disgust. "It seems that I have overstayed my wee then. What you have said was very helpful. I thank you for that. I think that I can try and find my own way then." I said as I continued forward. Thoughts filled my head. There was only one possible exnation to what just happened. First, only those who were selected especially for these trials had a spiritpass that they could use to go to the sect safely. Then, there were others who were not selected, and had to find their own way to the testing site, or die in the process. "The martial way is cruel for sure. To think that they would just leave us to the wolves like that. But why the hell did father leave all of this out? He wanted me to go to the Sky Heaven''s sect. I came here on his order. But he told me nothing about this. Did he send me here to die or something?" I cursed again. ----------------------------------------------- Kaishi City, Liu Manor Liu Qian was sitting on a chair, quietly sipping tea. Achoo! "That bastard must be cursing me right now. I should have told him all that stuff. But he should learn how to handle things on his own. Shouldn''t he, Ling Tian?" "Yes. He should." the man in front of Liu Qian nodded. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 73 The Most Frightening Danger In The Black Swamp Forest The sun was setting, and the sky darker by the minute. I passed by the rude group a long time ago, but now that there was no more light anymore, I knew that it was time to stop for now. I needed to make sure that I was not near any ash colored trees. I looked at the tall trees beside me. They seemed taller than normal, but nothing that out of ce. There was not a single person around me, and I could not see any beasts as well. This time though, I was sure that I was not in the territory of any spirit beast. "I should take this time to rest then. It is always good to have some energy within." I shrugged as I took some food and popped it in my mouth. I had to fill my stomach with something after all. "I feel danger from beneath. It feels wrong. I think that you should get to some higher ground." Liu Man suddenly said. "From beneath? What could possibly be beneath me?" Iughed. "You should never be too overconfident. There are many things that cannot be exined bymon sense in this world. I just think that you should get some higher ground and just make sure that nothing happens to you. I am confident that my intuition cannot be wrong." "Fine. Fine. Just for you." I shook my head as I went beneath a tree. I wanted to jump onto the nearest branch so that I could rest there. I burrowed my feet and bent my knees slightly. With my strength increasing drastically, I knew that I would be able to make that jump. I released all that energy and tried to catapult forward. Nothing happened. The ground felt spongy, soaking up all the energy that I built up. My legs were stuck! "Oh shit! The ground turned into a swamp! That''s why they call it the ck swamp forest! I should have known, goddamn it. Now my legs are stuck here." I shouted. Immediately, I took out the ethereal weapon from my spatial ring. I aimed it at the branch above me, and the weapon changed into a cross bow of sorts. I shot an arrow up above, and a rope flew along with it. I held the rope strong, and tried toe out of the swamp. But the rope was not strong enough. The mud beneath me felt alive. It was holding on to me, and it looked like the only way that I could leave was to cut off my legs! "You can use the Blue Dragon Spear art and propel yourself upwards. The fourth form can carry you upwards as long as you keep holding onto the spear and aim it upwards." Liu Man suggested. I nodded and changed the Ethereal Weapon to the Ethereal Spear. I could not afford to waste any more time. By now, the swamp already got to my ankles and was going for my knees. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fourth Form! Blue Dragon Sails through the Heavens!" I shouted. With this, a blue manifestation of a dragon appeared, and my spear tried to shoot forward. But with me holding on to it, it could not move forward. The dragon that manifested looked back at me with confused eyes, like it was alive. Then it looked behind me and looked at the swamp. Roaring fiercely, the spear used more force. I could feel the mud beneath me letting my ankles go, and then my feet. After a few more seconds, I was finally free from the ck swamp. The spear shot forward to the nearest tree, and Inded on the branch. The dragon disappeared, and what remained was the snow white ethereal spear. "What happened there? It was like the dragon was alive. That never happened before. It must be rted to the fact that I used the ethereal weapon with the Blue Dragon Spear art for the first time. The ethereal weapon is certainly mysterious." I sighed. I looked down at the ground. It was certainly alive, moving around. I could hear shouts all around me now. Even roaring. A lot of the participants of the trials must have fallen prey to the ck swamp that was created. I would have been one of them as well, if not for Liu Man''s quick thinking. The forest devoured everything on the ground at night. But if that were the case, didn''t that mean that all the others would be on the trees? ,m I quickly turned around and did a quick scan of my surroundings. All the trees were empty. There was not a single man or beast in sight. This was especially suspicious. "So this must be the reason that they call this forest the ck Swamp Forest. No wonder it is such a dangerous ce that no one wants to visit. I thought that the spirit beasts were reason enough, but the forest itself does not wee any visitors at all. How do the beasts that live inside even survive such a harsh environment? That must be the reason that they be so strong. I should just wait it out till morning and quickly get to the sect. I should not waste any more time dilly dallying." I decided. I popped a few Qi Supplement pills so that I could recover the Qi that I used to get out of the swamp. I needed to be in top shape in this foreign environment. After digesting all that energy, I took a deep breath. I had no intention of sleeping, because that would just be stupid. Anyone would be able to attack me during that vulnerable stage. I just kept my eyes open for anything that happened around me. That was the only thing that I could do for now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 74 Betrayal The night was long. Long enough to leave me exhausted. With the light returning to the world, the ground also settled down. It became still, as if it never moved before. I looked at this with interest. The world was a very interesting ce, and if I had the chance, then I decided that I would explore how this happened. I nced at the tree that I was nesting on. It was pitch ck, and it was not the ash that I had to avoid. So far, that had been working out for me. I kept walking forward, and staying within the path that I was supposed to take. "What the hell are you doing, Hu Jin? How could you betray us like this? I will fight you to the death!" I heard a sound from ahead. Someone was clearly in danger. I quickly ran forward, trying to see what was happening. The trees gave part, and there was a clearing ahead. At the middle of the clearing was a small tree, smaller than every other around it. But what was most obvious were the five fruits, shining like gems on the tree. "The Hidden Qi Peach!" I eximed. As an alchemist, I obviously knew the medicinal ingredients that were around me. And this one was one that was especially popr, and expensive. It was for Core Formation Stage cultivators, though, so I couldn''t use them now. I turned my attention to the group that was in front of the tree. It was a surprising scene. There was a huge serpent lying in front of the tree, immobile. And beside that, four others were facing one. But it looked like the four were at the disadvantage. I recognized this group. They were the rude ones who had the spiritpasses. Seeing them fall into argument, it was clear that the spirit fruits were the problem. "Who''s there?" Hu Jin, the leader, and the one who was going against the four others, looked straight at me. "It is you, you pitiful bastard. But now that you also saw this, I am afraid that you have to die. Come and meet your fate!" Hu Jin grinned wide like a psychopath and leaped towards me. I shook my head, and a spear appeared in my hands. "You are just at the fourthyer of the Foundation Establishment stage. Do you think that you can actually match me? I defeated someone like you back when I was in the firstyer, much less the secondyer. Now that I am so much more powerful, why would I need to care about some stupid brat who thinks that he can just kill me on some whim?" I chuckled as I thrust the spear forward. Blue Dragon Spear art! First form. ng! My spear hit his sword, and he fell back a few steps almost immediately. "Impossible! Hu Jin was pushed back!" the girl who was so rude thest time said with shock. Hu Jin was also surprised by this oue. His look towards me changed from contempt to respect. He then took back his sword and brought it to its side. "I do not know your name yet, brother." he smiled kindly. "I am Liu Feng. From the Liu Family in the Kaishi City." I replied. "You are from the Liu Family? I had eyes but could not see. Please forgive me, brother Feng. I made a huge mistake. Here, you can see that there is such an enormous gift that you can take for yourself. Why must we fight amongst ourselves? Let us just take two each, and split the third. These four do not need to survive." Hu Jin said. "What you are saying is indeed, very interesting. I think that I should take up this offer. But time and time again, I think back to the time that I was humiliated by the gazes of you and your little group here. Why do you think that I should help you out now? Why not just let you fight it out, and I will reap the benefits?" I smiled. "Brother Feng! Please help us out. I promise that you will have better benefits. My family knows the third elder. I can help you out. Please do not help this man. He is just a mad one. Anyone who dares try to kill me is doomed by the third elder." a shrewd looking man who was right behind the girl said, looking straight at me. "You have a nice background as well? It looks like it is not a big debate anymore. I know which side that I will help now, Brother Jin, and I am afraid that it will disappoint you." I said, shaking my head. "That is a good choice, brother Feng. I will make sure that you will be rewarded for this help. I will also ensure that you will get one of the peaches." the shrewd man said. I looked at him and chuckled. "You just want to give me one peach?" I muttered in my breath. "What are you going to do? Are you going to side with those fools? Do you really think that they will help you the way that you think that they will? I will give you three spirit fruits then. As long as you kill them, and the both of us keep our mouth shut, no one will know the real reason that they died. Everyone will think that the serpent killed them all." Hu Jin said. "It is not that I want to side with them, Brother Jin. The Hidden Qi Peaches are just too valuable to pass by. I might not be that blood thirsty, so you will not lose your life, but the spirit fruits are mine." I smiled. Immediately, my figure flickered, and I was no longer to be seen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 75 Reversal Of Position "Where is he?" Hu Jin turned around to see what was happening? Before he could even react, I was already at the tree, and taking the first fruit from the tree. "Brother Feng! I thought that we were on the same side. To think that you would betray me like this." the shrewd man said. I nced at him. "You are Yu Yutian, aren''t you? You clearly have a big background. I am not going to attack any of you, but that doesn''t mean that I will leave any of these fruits for you people." I chuckled. The person named Yu Yutian looked surprised. "You know who I am and you still want to offend me? You are not a clever man, are you?" he said. "That is the general opinion. A lot of people are saying this. (Looking at you, disgruntled readers. This is for you.) But, I am trying to change. Now, why don''t all of you stay where you are so that all of you can leave with your life intact?" Iughed as I appeared next to the second fruit. I took it out carefully and stored it inside my spatial ring. ,m "You are pushing it, Liu Feng. I said that I didn''t want to fight you, but that was just a formality. I did not want to go through all the hassle. It seems like I will have to fight you to the death now!" Hu Jin roared. He shot forward from where he stood, and rushed towards me. "Don''t fight near the tree, you idiot. You might damage the tree, and the fruits. I can''t have my possessions damaged, can I?" I chuckled as I retaliated with an attack of my own. Boom! Hu Jin went crashing aside, while I was unmoving. I went to the next fruit, and plucked that was well. With this, the eyes of the other four who were watching on just reddened. They could not bear to see the treasure that they found taken away from them for a second time. "How about this. I am not a bad man. I will give you guys two of the fruits, as long as you won''t tell anyone that I took the other three." I looked at them. "You want to suck up to us now? You should have understood the problem that you have gotten into before you stabbed us in the back." Yu Yutian said smugly. "Stabbed you in the back? I met you yesterday for the first time. When did you trust me for me to stab you in the back? Anyways, instead of leaving with nothing, you will have two Hidden Qi Peaches. Along with that, I will give you something much more valuable. I will give you your dear friend back to you, alive." I nced at Hu Jin, who was getting out of the crater of his own creation. "You will give us that asshole? Done. I am fine with this arrangement." another man suddenly nodded. With that, the other three also nodded slowly, and I nodded back at them. "Brother Jin, it appears that you have pissed off the wrong people. Now, I am afraid that I am no longer in control of your fate. Pleasee here or I will have to drag you back." I shouted towards him, who was a few meters away. He looked at me with confusion. It appeared as if he could not hear what just happened. "Let me tell you what that means." I smiled, and appeared in front of him at an astonishing speed. With that increase in speed, I felt so much faster, as if I broke through some barrier. Within a few minutes, Hu Jin was lying unconscious on the ground. But I was not done yet. I crouched to see his hands. There it was, his spatial ring. I knew that there was something special within it. The one that I wanted the most was the Compass that they told me about yesterday. I did not want anything to do with the ash trees. I just wanted to get to the sect fast, and this was clearly the best way to go. "What are you doing, Brother Feng? This spatial ring does not belong to you. I think that we must split the profits." Yu Yutian rushed towards me. I frowned. I did all the work, and he wanted to leech off me? I was irritated already. I wanted to punch him in the face, but I was also no idiot. I was just entering another sect, and this man had connections with an elder. I did not want to go looking for trouble. I had enough trouble dealing with the problems that came looking for me. "What are you talking about, brother Yu Yutian? What spatial ring are you talking about? I was looking at his hands, but I could not find one at all. There seemed to be nothing on his hands. No spatial ring here." I said, smiling. I slipped the spatial ring in my robes a few seconds ago, and no one would be so rude as to try to check someone''s clothes for a spatial ring, especially after that person saved their lives, and was much stronger than him. "There is no spatial ring? Please do not joke, brother Feng. I remember him using a spatial ring. It is very important. He has the Spirit Compass that all of us had gotten. We cannot go forward without the Spirit Compass." Yu Yutian said seriously. "Good thing that he actually buys that." I sighed with relief inside. "He might have dropped it somewhere near here. But that is not my problem. It was just yesterday that you looked down upon someone for not having apass. Now that you are also in the same position, you can have a taste of your own medicine." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 76 Getting To The Selection "I am going now. This is your problem. This has been good, working together. Now then, I gave you Hu Jin. I have to go now. Best of luck." I said, before trying to leave. I had to get to the main gathering area. Time was running out, and I wasted the entire night up on the trees, doing nothing. "Wait there one second!" Yu Yutian called out. "I helped you. I saved your life. Be grateful. Don''t dare think that you can actuallymand me though." I looked back and said coldly. Without giving him another nce, I ran to the thicket. I continued forward for a while, trying to get a lot of distance between them and me. I jumped onto a tree, and hid myself between the branches. "Well now, let us see what this guy has in his spatial ring. He is in the fourthyer of the foundation realm, and he was also selected for these trials, so he must have some good stuff with him, right?" I wondered as I took out his spatial ring. I injected Qi into it, and I could see all of the contents of the ring. There were pills on one side, a few cards, as well as a few books. The spiritpass that I needed was also lying alone on another side. I took it out, and looked at it. There was nothing special about it. It just had a needle in a wooden construction. But the needle did not point to the north. Instead, it kept pointing towards the south west, for some reason. Thankfully, I was clearly going in the right direction. "Devices like these amaze me. I really have to find a way to get my own contraptions to help me out in desperate times." I made a mental note as I started moving. I followed the spiritpass to the point now. It was much better than going a few miles and then trying to figure out where the ash trees were located. After an hour, right when the sun hit its peak, I could see the trees giving way again. But this time, it was not for a small gathering. It was for good. My mouth went agape as I stopped right at the threshold between the forest, and whatever was there in front of me. The Sky Heaven''s sect truly lived up to its name. I did not know how the hell there were so many mountain peaks in the middle of a forest, and why none of them were visible from the entrance of the forest, but they were majestic. I could see people filling the area that was right in front of the gates of the sect. Inside, it looked like the heavens themselves. Mysterious bridges that seemed to float on the air, and then there were the people flying through the air. Even though it was the middle of the day, all of a sudden, I could feel a little refreshed. I saw the people in the air, flying on their swords, just like in the stories. It felt surreal. "So this is the Sky Heaven''s sect. Father did a good thing, sending me here. This ce looks awesome!" I eximed as I walked forward. Even though it was so difficult to get through the forest, it looked like there were still so many people who got to the selection area. There were alteast a thousand people gathered here. I walked forward. I knew no one here, so all of this felt foreign to me. Du Xiangling clearly wanted to be the lone wolf, and that meant that I had to make new friends. I needed a few connections so that I wouldn''t be going in blind. I looked around, trying to find a friendly face. Soon enough, I found a guy smiling all the time, talking to multiple people. I walked towards him, and he came face to face with me. "Do I know you, friend?" He asked with a polite face. "No, actually. I ampletely new here. I have no idea what to do. The only thing that my father told me was that there were a few trials. I know about the trials, but I could use the help of someone like you." I smiled back. "You are new here? But what do you mean, your father told you that there were a few trials? Did youe here from a family? That is interesting. All of us are from the Sky Blue Sect, a subsidiary of the Sky Heaven''s sect, and we are all here to try our luck into getting in this sect. You must be one of those people who the Sky Heaven''s sect allows toe through the forest every time they open the disciple selections. But I am afraid that I cannot help you here. Maybe if you get in, then I will help you as a senior brother, but until then, the secrets of my sect cannot be divulged to an outsider." the man shook his head. "So all these people are from subsidiary sects of the Sky Heaven''s sect? Doesn''t that mean that everyone would be closed off together and that there are going to be so many groups fighting against each other. Why do I have to go through this alone? This is so irritating." I sighed as I looked at a corner to sit down at. "It looks like this friend was lucky toe to the selection area. I hope that my advice helped you." a friendly voice came from the side. I looked to see the person who I met at the entrance of the ck Swamp Forest. "Your advice saved my life. I am grateful to you. Is there something that you want? I am sure that I can pay off my debt." I bowed slightly to him to show my respect. Respect that he deserved. Without the spiritpass, his words were the only thing that kept me on the right path. "You are indebted to me, are you? Why is it that you have a spiritpass though? I thought that you didn''t have one." he asked, surprised. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 77 The Trial Of Strength "How do you know that I have a Spirit Compass? I never told anyone, and my Spirit Compass is in my spatial ring." I stepped back defensively. "Don''t worry. I am not here to hurt you. You are one of those people who intrigue me. Well then, let us see how you will do in the trials, shall we?" the man said. I immediately activated my mind eye. "Lvl - ??? Name - ???? Cultivation - ???" "Who is this person? This is the first time that the name of the person has also been covered." I gasped with shock. This man was a powerful person. I knew it. [Danger! Danger! System urges Host to escape. Host hase into contact with an existence above the Xiantian realm, and Host cannot handle even a breath from this person!] the system red all of a sudden. The irritating voice in my head almost nked me out. "This man is so powerful? What the hell is he doing here, in the grounds, looking at the selection process? Either he is a part of the Sky Heaven''s sect, or the Sky Heaven''s sect is not as powerful as it looks, for them to allow such a powerful man roam around unfettered." I thought to myself. ,m "So then, it seems that the festitivties are about to start. You came here just in time. Best of luck then. I am looking forward to seeing more of you." the man smiled, and the he disappeared the next second. I looked around with confusion. I never met someone this fast before. He just disappeared right in front of me. I guess that is what a strong cultivation gave someone. Bong! Momentster, I heard the sound of a gong being rung. The crowded and loud za that we were on turned quiet instantly. Every single person looked at the direction of the gong that was rung. The high tower and the person right next to the gong looked down upon the crowd like they were all ants. "Today, we will select a hundred of you to enter the Sky Heaven''s sect. That means that a lot of you will have to return, and try to find your own way through the ck Swamp Forest. All those who are not sure if you can pass the trials that you fave before you, I suggest that you leave now. The ck Swamp Forest will move any day now, and I cannot guarantee that you will be able to leave with your lives intact." a loud voice of a young man pierced the crowd. "He wants us to leave? After we risked our lives toe in? What, is he stupid?" I chuckled to myself. "Remember. The Spirit Compass might have helped youe in, but it will not be able to help you return back. This is your chance to return with your lives." the young man said once more. I frowned. These words clearly disgruntled a lot of people, but others were shifting ufortably. They were actually considering this. Well, I didn''t care though. The more people that left, the lesspetition for me. "Well then. It seems that no one is willing to quit. That is good. Now, we shall start with the trial of strength!" the young man shouted, as he jumped forward towards us from the high tower. I looked at where hended. The young man was right next to a huge rock that was standing there from the beginning. What was a little curious, was that there were multiple scratches on the rock, as if someone repeatedly tried to attack it. "It must be the trial of strength. Everyone should probably attack the rock. But what is the rock made of, for it to be so resistant to so many attacks? How the hell is it standing after so many attacks? I can clearly see that it has been through this trial thousands of times." I thought. "Everyone wille one by one and attack this rock. Only those who can leave behind a scratch on it, or any visible mark, will be able to move on to the next trial. This is the simplest trial, one of sheer and brute force." the young man said. The crowd quickly moved, creating a line behind the rock. I moved away, trying to distance myself. I had no hurry. I wanted to wait and see what was going to happen when someone attacked the rock. It was interesting that the only thing that they expected from me was that I needed to make a scratch on the rock. How strong would one need to be topletely break it then? "Haha! This is the trial that is made for me. I will show all of you that the Sky Earth sect is the greatest of the four subsidiaries." a bald man stepped up in front of the rock. He was certainly a huge man. His muscles were bigger than I was! He was clearly a strength focused cultivator. He had metal knuckle dusters on his hands. Aaargh! He cried out as he raised his arm. Above his fists, I could see a manifestation of a giant bear forming, trying to crash down upon the rock. Boom! The fist collided with the rock, and then stopped at the surface. The rock did not move, but the bald man was moved back a few inches. He took back his fist, and beamed. "You have made a scratch on the rock. You can proceed to the next round." the young man nodded. "What? That attack only made a scratch? I know that if I faced that attack on my own, then I would certainly be injured to the point of coughing out blood! And that entire attack only scratched it? I actually need to pull out the top guns for this!" I realized. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 78 Flying Colors The bald man was surprisingly the outlier. After him, one by one, people unleashed their strongest attacks, and not even a small scratch was made on the rock. It was truly astonishing. The trial of strength really did take away too many of the participants. Another person stepped up. "It is senior brother Riyal!" someone shouted. Immediately, everyone looked at the person who just raised his sword at the rock. It was just a normal sword. There was nothing special about the sword. In fact, it seemed that there was no Qi used here as well. He was attempting to make an attack without using any Qi! Common sense would dictate that he was a mad man. But the only thing I felt from this man was a terrifying oppression. He was strong! This attack that he was about to unleash was powerful enough to kill me if I took it head on. "Stop. You pass. We want to keep using this rock forter. You do not need to go through any of the trials. You can directly enter the sect. The first elder will be waiting for you." the young man held this Senior brother''s hand and stopped him from attacking. "That''s a shame. I always wanted to see Senior Brother Riyal''s sword strikes. He is a master of the sword dao. He is definitely the strongest of the participants here, that is for sure." one of the participants chuckled. "The sword dao? It must be a mysterious force that I haven''t touched yet. I need to understand what all of this is. But all of that ister. How the hell is no one surprised that this man was just epted into the sect without any further trials? Well, that is better for me. I do not want topete with a monster like that." I thought to myself. Unfortunately, this man was too far away for me to check his status. I really wanted to see how powerful he was, but it seemed that I was just unlucky. Maybe, after I got in, I could see who he was, and what made him so strong. I stretched my arms and headed on to the line. Seeing that they started the trial a whole three days ahead of schedule, it was clearly going to take a while for everyone toplete their turn. I wanted to finish mine early so that I could go take a rest. One night in the ck Swamp Forest was enough to exhaust the hell out of me. Some of the people gave extraordinary performances, while most of them could do nothing at all. I did not see Du Xiangling anywhere, so he might not have arrived yet. "I hope he didn''t die. He seems like a goodd. He shouldn''t be dead with just a forest. I hope I''ll be seeing more of himter." I thought to myself as I stepped forward again. The line was moving forward at an astonishing pace. One by one, the ones that passed the test moved forward, while those that failed went back. The young man was toozy to care if those who failed were reattempting the trial. It was as if he was taunting them to try this again. "Next" the young man said. It was my turn. I took a deep breath, and my spear appeared in my hands. I could not afford to go back and try this all over again. I needed to finish this in one try. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fourth Form! Blue Dragon Sails through the Heavens!" I shouted as I raised my spear and shot it towards the rock. The spear cried out like a dragon, and it went towards it, as if it was going to pierce it. Boom! The spear collided with the rock, and it stopped immediately. I took back the spear, and looked at where it struck with a little nervousness. Many people who were ahead of me failed, and this was not even my strongest attack. "Don''t worry. You pass. That was a pretty good attack there. What is your name, Junior Brother? You interest me." the young man said. "I am Liu Feng, senior brother. Thank you for your praise." I nodded and bowed slightly. "Yeah, you can call me Senior brother Yurin. I think that you should be able to go through all of the trials with ease. The Liu surname, huh? How many years has it been since a Liu has entered the sect. Go inside then. It will be interesting. I see a lot of promising kids this year." Senior brother Yurin said. "He is strong. Even his cultivation is not shown to me. Damn it, how are these levels so high?" I cursed inside. All the participants looked at me with jealousy. This man rarely spoke, and for him to give this praise, it meant that I could have an easier time inside. I walked through the bridge so that I could go through to the next stage. There were other people here, and they were talking to each other calmly. Every single one of these people were probably from the subsidiary sects. The only reason that I was able toe this fast was that I had a Spirit Compass, which I stole from Hu Jin. It was a little depressing to be the only one alone here, but I had to pay the price for being a young master from a city far away. I kept walking, and walking, but one thing that this bridge seemed to excel at was to not show where I was going. The sides were as clear as ss, but for some reason, the front waspletely foggy. I could not see where I was, and it was a little scary. This could be another of the trials, and they just didn''t tell me about it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 79 Talent, Do I Have Any? "Thank god I was wrong. I am not in the mood to get into another one of these trials already." I sighed with relief as I looked forward at the huge space that was sparsely popted. There were many people meditating, while others while talking to each other quietly. I had to walk quite a while to get here, but it looked like it was going to be worth it. Without talking to anyone, I directly found a ce to sit and closed my eyes. I needed this rest. After thest few days, I had to sleep not just for energy, but to rest my mind. I was getting exhausted mentally, and I knew that I had to be in top shape for thest trial. Although I was a little worried about the talent testing, I could not do anything to change it, so I just closed my eyes and went into a half sleep mode. I could hear more and more peopleing into the huge ground, but since I was at a corner, no one came to me to disturb me. I could feel the number of people slowly increasing. Ten Hours Later I opened my eyes to look at what was happening. Even though it was ten hours after the middle of the day, the sun was still shining bright, which confused me. Why was it still day? And in front of me, there were a few hundred people, all talking to each other. None of them were part of the hundreds who were eliminated before me. "The strong ones must have waited for the weak ones to just leave. I wanted to wait as well, but I need the sleep. I have to have my priorities." I thought to myself as I sat upright. There were a few who nced at me here and there. I must have gotten some attention after that praise from the Senior Brother Yurin. But that one thing that he said tensed my heart. Thest time that someone named Liu came to the sect? Thing was, I was sure that my real father was not surnamed Liu. That meant that someone from the Liu Family was the reason why he was interested in me. That did not sit well with me. But I couldn''t change that. I had to get ready for the Trial of Talent, and it looked like it was going to start anytime soon. "But do I have any talent? Technically, this body is not supposed to be able to cultivate, is it? And I am pretty sure that no one is able to change the talent of a body. I wonder what they will even test." I muttered in my breath. "Do you want to know what they will test in your talent? I have some of that in my memories, but I am not sure if they are going to test these." Liu Man suddenly interjected. "Oh my god! How the hell do you know all of these when you are quite literally a new born? Having these inherited memories must be a real cheat!" I eximed. "In exchange for having powerful offspring, the heavens made sure that the mythical beasts would have few children. That is why we are so rare. The heavens makes sure that there is bnce, and it certainly favors the humans more than any other race." Liu Man disagreed. "Well then, what is it about the talent? How the hell are they going to measure my talent?" I asked. "ording to my memories, the talent of someone can be measure in three ways. They can measure your Spiritual Root, your spirit blood and the Spirit Bone. The Spirit Blood and Spirit Bone are all based on your lineage, so I am not sure about how your talent is based on that. But your Spiritual Root is supposed to be very strong. You even opened your Spirit Sea at such a young age. That means that you have a strong Spiritual Root. As for why you were unable to cultivate before, I think that it is because your Spiriual Root was dormant till now, and the Spirit Jade Pool awakened it. That is what I think anyways." Liu Man said. I nodded, thanking him for this information. I looked at the golden bridge. There was nobodying through the bridge, so I guessed that the trial of strength was probably done. The trials were going pretty fast, and I was sure that they were ahead of schedule. But I knew that Senior Brother Yurin did not pass through the bridge. He was nowhere to be seen. "Well then, I think that it is time to test your talent. All of you will have to follow me ande to the Pavillion of Dreams. Let me just warn you now, if you are not able to handle anything , then you should stop resisting, and let the all pervasive force take you away." a voice came from ahead. It was not the voice of Senior brother Yurin. In fact, it was not the voice of a man at all. A pretty, young woman red at all of us with her cold eyes,manding us to follow her. No one dared to argue with her. All of us started moving forward, following the woman to the Pavillion of Dreams that she was talking about. I wondered why something rted to dreams would tell anyone something about talent, but I guessed that it was none of my concern. I just needed to pass this test. We kept walking until we reached an area with a lot of buildings. But one among them seemed to be the one that we were supposed to go into. The words, ''Pavillion of Dreams'' were written quite boldly on the entrance. "Go in and sit silently. Just close your eyes, and once you open them, you will know if you have passed or failed." the young woman said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 80 Why Are They Torturing Me? I entered the pavilion with hesitation. This was too suspicious. But with everyone sitting down as well, I had no other choice but to follow suit. I sat down in the lotus position, and closed my eyes. Nothing seemed to happen. "You are an interesting boy. Let us see how much you can withstand now." a girl whispered in my ears. "What? Who is this?" I opened my eyes to look around. For some reason, I was standing, and this entire ce felt so unreal. And, the ce that I was at was not the pavilion that I just entered. It was a dark room, and I could not see anyone around me. I had changed locations. "You don''t need to know who I am. I am just here to test you. Let us see what talent you have." the same voice whispered in my ears. Even though she was not next to me. I knew that she was not next to me. It just didn''t make any sense to me. "I am going to dial it a little now. Let us see how much you can tolerate pain." mist appeared in front of me, and started swirling into a vortex. It materialized into a young girl, looking at me and giggling. "What are you going to do?" I asked, trying to move forward. But there was something chaining me down to where I was standing. It was not visible, but there was some force around me, trying to take me somewhere as well. The girl smiled at me. "Can you withstand this pain now?" she smiled. Zap! As if someone was coursing electricity through me, I felt a huge shock throughout my body. Ouch! I winced for a moment. That pain surprised me. I looked at the girl with confusion next. "What are you trying to do? Pain? Is this is a test of my endurance? This is painful, I admit, but I have been through worse. Why the hell are you doing this though? I have no idea who you are, and why I am in this mysterious space. What are you trying to do?" I asked, tilting my head to the right with confusion. "What is happening? This is interesting? To think that you are not screaming. How different. It looks like you are more than you seem. I thought that you were just some random idiot. Well then, I think that you deserve an answer. You are in a dream space. That is where you are." the girl said. "Who are you?" I asked again. "For that answer, you have to go through something else now." Aaaargh! All of a sudden, the pain intensified. It was trying to gnaw at me, trying to eat away at my flesh. I clenched my fists and bit my lip. I forced my head to turn back to look at the girl. Coughing, I grinned. "Now then, the answer. Who are you?" The girl looked surprised. "You are very interesting. It has been a while since I got someone like you to y with. I am the consciousness of this dream space. I AM the Pavillion of Dreams." the girl said. "Why are you testing me like this? How is this a test of talent? This is just torture." I asked. "One question at a time. Now that I answered you once, it is time to dial it up a little more." the girl said as she snapped her fingers. Aaaaargh! I clenched my fists harder. My eyes turned bloodshot. This was almost as painful as the time when I went through that metamorphosis with the Heaven Devouring art. And I remembered that the pain was so much that I cked out then. But I was not the same as I was back then. I changed. I steeled my gaze and let go of my hands. I clenched my fists so hard that they were supposed to bleed. But they weren''t. They did not even pain. But that pain was probably being drowned by the magnitude of pain that this girl was forcing to me. "Aaaargh!" I shouted once more as I looked at her. Forcing my mouth wide, I showed her my teeth. "Now then, how is this a test of talent?" I asked, barely able to talk. This was getting too painful by the moment. "You actually can go through with this? Surprising. Well then, in the Sky Heaven''s sect, we don''t care about how talented you are. We care about how crazy you are. There are geniuses all over the world, but how many of them actually be great people? Too many geniuses die every day. But only the crazy people make an impact in this world. We want to find the crazy people. And now I know that I found one here." the girl beamed. I looked at her with my mind nk. This was too much to process, especially with the pain. But one thing was sure. What she said might have been crazy at first, but it made total sense. "What an ingenious idea. But can you stop this torture now please?" I asked. "Not yet. I want to see how much you can keep going. It is not every day that I can get a toy, I mean a disciple that I can push so much." the girl said. "How much you can push me? What kind of question is that? You are bordering on insane now. Crazy might be good in your dictionary, but insane is bad everywhere." I shouted at her. Snap! The girl snapped her fingers once more, and my expression changed. The next thing I said didn''te out of my mouth. It just disappeared. No sound came out of my mouth. It was just too painful. My body felt like it was going to burst open at any instant now. Snap! "Too bad. It looks like he doesn''t want to break you anymore. Just when I was having some fun, he just had to ruin it." the girl pouted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 81 [Bonus Chapter]Did I Pass? [Mass Release is here! I worked so hard to get this together, and I really hope that you guys enjoy this. Consider gifting to show your support, and encourage me to do this again in the future.] The moment she said this, I felt a strong suctioning force. It was trying to take me away from this ce. And I was no idiot. Why would I want to be stuck here with this psycho any longer? I let go of all my resistance almost immediately. The world turned ck. It was like I was not looking at anything. And maybe that was the problem. My eyes were still closed. This world that I entered, I entered it through my dreams. My eyes fluttered open and I looked around. Many others were sitting around me. Their faces were prettyical as well. They had these weird expressions on their face. But I knew what they were going through. And that troubled me. How was it that I was released so early, but they were still in this daze? Didn''t that mean that all of them kept going and that I was the only one who got out this fast? "Looks like you are up already." I heard the voice of the Senior sister who brought us all here. I looked up to her, and nodded. "That was disappointing. I thought that this generation was actually full of strong people. To think that all of you have no will power. What can I say? You are pampered too much." the senior sister shook her head. I had no way to refute her. I thought that I fared pretty good, but what was the benchmark that I had to beat? Did I really fare that well? "He passes. He gained the recognition of the Pavilion. Let him go to the resting room. He will go to the next trial." an elderly voice rang in my ears. It was clear that the same voice rang in the Senior Sister''s ears as well. She changed her expression and looked at me like she was looking at a monster. "You gained the recognition of that psycho? What kind of monster are you?" she asked me with a trembling voice. "She said something about finding the crazy people and that I was one of them. I guess that this was what she meant?" I mumbled. Just go in. Who would have thought that I would meet one of the monsters of this batch." the woman shuddered as she pointed to the door on the other end of the pavilion. I shrugged as I walked past all the people who were sitting beside me. I was careful not to disturb them. I did not want to cause any trouble, especially with the kind of trial that they were going through. That amount of pain was enough to cause anyone to go crazy, and not the good kind that the mysterious girl was looking for. I headed on to the opening and looked at whaty ahead. There were a few couches, and good lighting. But the number of seats were far less than the number of people who were outside. There were exactly a hundred. That meant that only a hundred people would pass this test. "So out of the people who pass, the trial ofbat will probably be used to rank them all." I realized. "Hmmm, but what about that other Senior brother? The Senior Brother Riyal. He was directly taken as a disciple, was he not? Won''t he be ranked? I really hope not. He seems too powerful for me to take on. I should get stronger." I thought to myself as I took a seat on the couchesid out in front of me and nced at the door. Ouch! All of a sudden, I could feel a piercing pain in my head. All that torture that the girl caused me actually messed with my head a little. I was getting a piercing headache and it was notfortable at all. "I should just sleep." I murmured as I took the whole couch for myself and closed my eyes. Within mere seconds, I drifted off to sleep. ---------------------------------------------- "Who the hell are you? How dare you hog all of this ce? Are you looking for a fight? And you dare sleep like this? Who do you think you are? The king?" a loud voice woke me up. I squinted my eyes as they adjusted to the light. I looked up to see who the person trying to wake me up was. Coincidentally, it was the bald man who was the first to pass the first trial. I got up and yawned. "What is the problem here?" I asked. "The problem? The problem is that you are sitting in my space." the bald man shouted at me. "Your ce? Aren''t there more couches for you to-" I looked around and swallowed my words immediately. Every other couch was full. They were all looking at me, trying to see what themotion was. "I slept for this long? Who would have thought I needed this much sleep even after getting that rest after the first trial. It seems that the torture session did a number on me." I murmured. "What the hell are you doing? Get up now. I need to sit." he shouted. I nodded and moved to the edge of the couch, giving him the other side. "Sorry about that. I did not expect to sleep for this long. Why don''t you have a seat?" I asked. "Have a seat? Why don''t you get up so that I can sit down? You slept for long enough. Now you can sure as hell stand." the bald man shouted again. "Now, you are the person who is causing a fight. Don''t you think that the consequences that you will face are your fault?" I shook my head. It was blockheads like this that irritated me. "Do you really want to take a go now? I will crush you in seconds." the man looked at me haughtily. "You are just in the secondyer of the Foundation Establishment Stage, like I am. Do you really think that you stand a chance against me?" I chuckled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 82 Fight Later [Mass Release is here! I worked so hard to get this together, and I really hope that you guys enjoy this. Consider gifting to show your support, and encourage me to do this again in the future.] "What is going on here?" a cold voice stopped both of us in our tracks. The simple weight beneath the voice let us know that we were dealing with someone powerful now. I had to be careful. I stepped back, and so did the baldie, Sima Xin. We turned to look at who the person who just spoke was. My eyes shook a little once we saw the old man walking towards us with a cane. Now, I knew why I recognized the voice a little. This man was the same one who told the Senior sister that I had passed the test before. This man was someone of significant power. "Liu Feng greets Elder. Forgive me for my impudence, but this man was trying to cause a fight and I had no other choice but to try and show him his ce." I bowed down hastily. "Hehe, it is always the same. Some fight always happens here. I don''t understand you young ones. Why can''t you just shut it and sit down? The next trial is already the trial ofbat, is it not? All of you will know who is the powerful one, and who is the weak one. So then, why don''t you all follow me. You have had your rest, and now it is time for us to have some fun. This next trial will not only tell everyone who is the stronger disciple, but it very well might confirm your future. Whoever performs splendidly will have a chance to be a disciple of an elder, and that is a gift that not everyone will receive." the old man chuckled. All the men and women in the room looked at each other with heated eyes. Now, there were no sects, and no factions. Every man or woman for himself or herself. This was going to be chaotic. "Follow me. We know who everyone here is. The lots have already been drawn, so we don''t want to waste our time here. You will battle based on when you came out of this ce. That means that the two people who just fought right now, the one who came out first, and the pitiful one who came outst are going to be the ones fighting in front of everyone for glory." the elder said. I nced at Sima Xin and smiled. He dared to be rude to me, and now it was my turn to show him who was the boss. I looked around the room that we were in. The waiting room clearly had only one entrance. How were we going to the next trial? But it seemed that everyone was walking somewhere else. These entrances and exits just keeped popping up out of nowhere, and it frustrated me. Nevertheless, I kept walking. I had to fight first, so I took a deep breath. I had the advantage of seeing one of his attacks. He was a strength user. His fists were something that I absolutely had to block, and that was without question. I also had the advantage that Sima Xin had not seen my attack. I could use the spear attacks on him, but after I used them once, they would bemon knowledge. So, I already decided that the fifth form of the Blue Dragon Spear Art was going to remain a secret and I would only use it when absolutely necessary. "That reminds me. I have to buy another skill from the shop. I just hope that I have enough money to do that. I am not using the system muchtely. I have to use it to the best of my ability. I need to get another cheat skill out of it." I decided. The room opened to a vast and open space. And this time, we had an audience. I could see multiple old and middle aged people sitting around this open arena, and one giant ring for us to clearly fight in. This was just a ce for us to showcase our abilities. I looked around to see who the elders were. My mind eye was practically useless here. I could only see the names, and not the levels or cultivations of these people. They were clearly much more powerful than me. But no one was able to hide their name from me, except for one person. "Oh my god. You have got to be messing with me. Why is that guy sitting over there? And that too, at the head of the ring?" I cursed. In front of us all, there were five people standing tall, looking down at us. And in the middle, stood the man who promised to give me a map, and then gave me advice about the ask trees. "No wonder everyone bought the idea that some master found me in the woods and gave me all these techniques. These masters clearly love this stuff. Just going around and messing with the young ones." I smiled bitterly. The other party also noticed me. He gave me an all knowing smile, and nodded at me. He then looked at the entire group as a whole. "You are all here to enter the Sky Heaven''s sect. Since you got here, you are practically a disciple here. That means that you are my disciples. And I would hate it if one of you hits the ground before he or she could enter the sect. So I will take it very seriously if there is any killing intent in your strikes. And now, the first elder will talk about the rewards for this trial." the man sat back down. "So that is the Sect Leader? The legendary Li Tian? I can''t believe I saw him in person!" I could hear someone squeak. That was another story that I had to dig out. The old man to the right of Li Tian stood up and coughed. "Now, I will announce the rewards to those who will get to the top 10." the first elder said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 83 Give Up [Mass Release is here! I worked so hard to get this together, and I really hope that you guys enjoy this. Consider gifting to show your support, and encourage me to do this again in the future.] "Thest five will get a Blood Spirit Lotus Pill to increase their cultivation my one minor realm. The top five will also get this reward, along with a weapon of their choice. The winner and the number one newer will be made an Inner Disciple of the sect immediately." the elder said. "An inner disciple? Now that is something that I certainly want to get to be. It would be awesome if I am able to be an inner disciple. I should try my best to win." I thought to myself. "Liu Feng, Sima Xin will be the first to fight. Both of you, enter the stage now. Remember, while attacks may wound you, do not aim to kill. If anything bad happens, then no matter who is in the wrong, there will be severe punishment." the old man who brought us here said. I nodded and walked onto the stage. I nced at Sima Xin and held up my index finger, provoking him toe onto the stage. His hands clenched into fists and he looked at me with a boiling rage. He was one of those short tempted types. He charged at the arena, and jumped onto to it. "I will make you regret every trying to offend me. I will show you who the real boss is." he shouted at me. "Let the match begin." a cool voice said, and the moment the old man said that, Sima Xin lunged at me. I darted to the side, avoiding his attack. Although he was someone that I could definitely beat, he was still a very strong person. I did not know what medicine the sect he was a part of gave him, but his attacks were definitely much stronger than a normal secondyer Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator could unleash. I took out my spear and pointed it towards him. For someone like this, the most obvious move would be to create some distance between me and him. But the problem remained that I still did not master the Kun Peng Myriard Transformations. I still did not have a movement art, and chances were that he had a good one. I had to be careful and mindful of his footwork. Sima Xin halted and looked to the side. He changed his position, running towards me like a bull. It reminded me too much about the bull fights of Spain. I jumped right over him, and pointed my spear right at his open back. I put in a little Qi into it, and threw the spear towards him. Swish! The spear went jolting down, aimed right at his spine. Sima Xin seemed to have noticed that. All of a sudden, his speed increased considerably, and he disappeared from where he stood, reappearing only a meter away. But that much was enough for him to escape the spear. Inded right next to where he previously stood and took the spear out. "I knew it. He has a movement art. It seems to give him some explosive speed burst? I guess that I should end this in a straight out confrontation. He will obviously be overconfident about his strength." I thought as I readied my spear. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fourth Form! Blue Dragon Sails through the Heavens!" At the exact same time as I was unleashing my attack, so was Sima Xin. "Descent of Taurus! Crushing Mountains!" he shouted as his fist approached me. For some reason, his fist seemed like it was almost ten times bigger than it was supposed to be. But my spear was also ready. A dragon the same size went forward to receive the attack, and it was not going to back down. Pfft! Sima Xin coughed out blood as his fist was pierced through by the spear. He was forced back, but the spear kept following him. It had no intention of stopping. "Give up, and the spear will stop as well. If you do not, then I am afraid that you will lose at least an arm!" I shouted at him, but Sima Xin was not even listening to me. He had a grave look on his face, but no intention of surrendering. I shook my head. This was something that he brought onto himself. I might not want to kill him, but this attack was going to cost him something. "Liu Feng wins." the old man interjected, and the moment I heard that, I used all of my Qi to yank the spear back with my connection to it. The spear barely stopped, just inches away from Sima Xin''s paltry defense. "I did not give up yet! I would have been able to catch him off guard!" Sima Xin howled with frustration. "And the fact that you were not able to do so immediately means that you are not going to win this match. Both of you shall sit down. Sima Xin shall not have another match, and his ranking shall be decided upon by the Deacons. Now then, it is time for the next battle." the old man said. Sima Xin was unresigned, but that was not my problem. I won, and that was all that I cared about. I nced at the top where Li Tian was sitting, and I smiled at him. I didn''t know why he came up to me that day, but he was the person that I clearly had to impress. Li Tian was not looking at me though. He was looking at Sima Xin for some reason. I felt a little offended, but who cared? With his mentality, he wasn''t going to get far. I jumped off the arena and found a ce where I could see the rest of the fights while resting. I needed to see the next few fights especially, because the order by which we came out of the Pavilion of Dreams was clearly the order of our talents. I did not know how that worked, but whoever was next, I had to pay significant attention to. "Cai Lien and Yu Yutian, enter the arena." "Oh?" my eyes squinted. "This is going to be an interesting one." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 84 Queen Among The Newcomers [Mass Release is here! I worked so hard to get this together, and I really hope that you guys enjoy this. Consider gifting to show your support, and encourage me to do this again in the future.] I looked at this match with interest. Although I did not see her till now, I knew that she was going to be a part of the selection process. The two entered the arena, facing each other. This time, Cai Lien did not have a veil on, and this incensed the entire crowd. Every single man fell into disarray. Why wouldn''t they be when they were looking at one of the most beautiful women ever. "And you are betrothed to her. Your life is getting shorter by the moment." a voice inside me said. I chuckled as I looked at what was happening. Yu Yutian was someone who could not hold a candle to even Hu Jin. All Cai Lien needed to do was sneeze and Yu Yutian would lose this match. But what I was looking at was not the match itself. My interest was towards the rtions of everyone when they see that Cai Lien was in the Fifthyer of the Foundation Establishment stage. If they think that they cannot beat her, then they surely will not be able to beat me. "Let the battle begin." Swish! Almost immediately, Cai Lien''s figure disappeared. Yu Yutian looked around with confusion, raising his sword and trying to defend against what wasing. But he was not fast enough. I could see the sparkle of Cai Lien''s sword as it struck Yu Yutian''s chest. It was not enough to kill him, but he was going to be severely injured. Blood flew out from where her sword struck him, and Yu Yutian fell on the ground. All the other disciples looked at Cai Lien with shock. "She is in the fifthyer of the Foundation Establishment Stage? I can sense it!" one of the disciples eximed. "How do they do that? I have the mind eye, but no one else is supposed to have that skill, are they?" I wondered as I looked at everyone. They were looking at Cai Lien with fear. And even I was surprised. Thest time that I fought with her, I did not face this attack. Either she did not use her full power, or she grew so much more powerful in just a week! My money was on the former. "Cai Lien wins." the old man said as he looked at her and nodded. The elders up there started talking to each other as well. This fight clearly turned more heads than mine did. She was a true genius, and the cultivation realm meant a lot. So of course they would be interested in a disciple like her. "Next..." Cai Lien got off the arena and looked at me. I looked at her and nodded. She smiled, and took that as an invitation to approach me. She disappeared for an instant and reappeared in front of me. "I trust that you have been well, Young master Feng," she said. "What are you doing here? Look at all those killing gazes that those people are giving me. It is like you are trying to put a target on me. But you have already done that, didn''t you. I asked you for something, but your Cai family has done somethingpletely different. What the hell is that contract that you sent us? I got you out of the marriage that you didn''t want to go to, and now you enter another one, with me? What goes on in your head?" I snarled at her. But without even reacting, she sat next to me. "This was something that my grandmother decided was best for me. And I trust her judgement. She sees something in you, and so do I. I have no idea when you changed so much, but this Liu Feng that I see before me is a different one. And I think that Bai Zhiqui was a fool to dissolve her own engagement. The battles went on, but I got bored very easily. They were from different sects, but they had the exact same techniques. It was like they had to choose from the same handouts that the Sky Heaven''s sect gave them. And some of these fights were so tragic. I did not know what being in a sect entailed, but some of these people had never been in a proper fight before. They had these rules while fighting and it was quite clear that they would not be able to survive any actual fight. They had the same reservations that Liu Xin had that day when we fought. He expected me to face all of his attacks, and so did everyone here. I had no idea why they would hold onto these stupid, useless rules, but I guessed that was what made a sect a sect. There were a total of fifty battles, and my eyes got drowsy looking at all of them. But now it was going to be my turn next. And I knew exactly who I was supposed to face. It was the person from thest battle. That was what made the most sense. "Liu Feng, Cai Lien, enter the stage." the old man said. "What? You want me to face her in the second round? What logic is this? How is this even remotely fair?" I was outraged. Why would they want the number one and two of the trial of talent to face each other in the second round? "Wait. I want to see this at the end. Reverse the order, Seventh Elder. I want to see how things will go." Li Tian interjected. His voice was calm, but reached all of us from up there. He looked at me and winked. "That guy, he creeps me out. On second thoughts, I would rather fight her now and reveal my trump cards than be in his debt." I changed my mind, but it was toote. "Liu Feng and Jiang Ru, enter the stage." the Seventh Elder, the old man who was presiding over the matches, said. Shaking my head, I got up from where I was seated and stretched my arms. I yawned and headed on over to the arena. My opponent was not that strong. One of the few girls of the group, she was already very popr. She was but a secondyer foundation establishment cultivator. It wasn''t going to be hard at all. ,m -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 85 The Top Ten [Mass Release is here! I worked so hard to get this together, and I really hope that you guys enjoy this. Consider gifting to show your support, and encourage me to do this again in the future.] Two hourster, The second and third round came to a finish. Surprisingly, I was given a free pass through the third round, and now there were only thirteen of us who remained. This problem obliviously arose because they wanted to choose a hundred disciples, and not a multiple of two. I was a little interested on how they would continue the battles and choose the top ten. "We shall now choose the top ten. Those who are selected shall remain here, while the rest shall leave and go to the sect. The top ten will continue the battles and go to the sect at ater time." the seventh elder said. "What? They want to select the top ten? How will they select us? Based on what we showed here? But how is that fair? I didn''t show off my full power, and neither did a lof of people here. This is so unfair." I shook my head. But why would the elders care about what I was thinking? They started with their announcement. "Liu Feng, Cai Lien, Chen Xiu, Chen Zhixian, Yang Haotian, Hao Shu, Zhao Ritian, Li Huan, Wang Luan, Mu Meilin. You are the top ten who are selected. The rest of you can leave now. No matter how much you want to argue, it is simple that these ten are more powerful than you." the seventh elder said. "Elder! I can understand how the nine are selected. But this man, Liu Feng. He is just in the secondyer of the Foundation Establishment stage. How is he allowed into the top ten? Anyone here above his cultivation can defeat him!" one of the men stepped forward. "If I remember right, Sima Xin is in the fourthyer, is he not? Defeat him first, and then I shall listen to what you have to say." the elder said. With this, the face of the man who spoke froze. He stepped back as if he didn''t say anything at all, and became quiet. "Gu Yurin! Take then into the sect and exin the sect rules to them. Make sure that they know how to behave." the seventh elder shouted. "Yes master!" from seemingly nowhere, Gu Yurin appeared before the whole crowd. He nced at me and smiled. "It looks like my hunch was right. You are in the top ten. I think that you can do even better though, as long as you do not meet that girl from the Cai family. I think that you are from the same city, so you should know that she is much stronger than you are." he said. "It looks like the story of me winning the martial gathering is not important enough for people here to know about it. But, oh well. I already defeated her once, so I think that I can do it again." I thought to myself. "All the newers,e with me. From now on, you are not only the newers, but also the new generation of the Outer Disciples. You are officially members of the Sky Heaven''s sect. That is important to take into consideration. You will be representing the sect when you go out, and if you tarnish the name of the sect, it will be the people next to you who will be dispatched to take off your head and bring it back." Gu Yurin pointed to the crowd. "What a grim way to start weing people. Why do none of these people talk about the good things? Why do they have to start with the bad stuff, like no killing, instead of saying good luck? These people are really crazy." The crowd of people slowly left, and it left the top ten here. I looked at Chen Xiu and Chen Zhixian, the twins. They were lucky. If they faced each other, then one of them would be guaranteed a spot in the top five. But that was not who I cared about. Everyone here knew that the strongest here, by sheer strength alone was Cai Lien. Senior brother Riyal wasn''t here, so it was basically going to be apetition with her. "Well then, it looks like we are already at the top ten. And it looks like this time, we have a good bunch, don''t we?" Li Tian slowly descended from where he stood gracefully. At this moment, two things struck my mind. Li Huan had the same surname as Li Tian, and Du Xiangling was nowhere to be seen. It was set in stone that he was not in the selection process. The only thing that I could hope for was that he did not die in the forest. Li Tian looked at Li Huan. He winked at her, and Li Huan looked away immediately. This all but confirmed that they were rted somehow, and it was just a matter of how they were rted. I looked at Li Tian with a little fear and apprehension. He was a little cuckoo, that was for sure. "As much as I want to see these battles go on here, I really want to finish this as fast as possible. So the selection of the top ten will be a little different. Whoever willst the longest will be the one to enter the inner sect. And the rankings will be set that way." Li Tian said. "The longest tost? Last what-" Chen Xiu''s voice was cut off when this incredible and powerful force descended down upon us, trying to suffocate us. I felt no killing intent. This was trying to knock us out. But this was probably the force that he was talking about. I bit my lip and forced myself to stand up. "So I need to withstand this pressure for the longest time? Lucky that I have the Iron Body art." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 86 Immense Pressure [Mass Release is here! I worked so hard to get this together, and I really hope that you guys enjoy this. Consider gifting to show your support, and encourage me to do this again in the future.] After a minute, sweat beads formed on every one of our eyes. I knew that only a minute passed by, but it felt like a whole hour. It was like a tonne of force weighing down upon me, and I could nothing about it. I nced at the others, and they were in the same position. That relieved me. Atleast, I was not the worst off. I circted more and more Qi, but then found the biggest problem of all. My Qi was getting drained rapidly for trying to resist this pressure. Very soon, if I couldn''t do anything, I would lose all of my Qi reserves. As the only one in the second stage in the Foundation Establishment stage here, I was at the disadvantage in this one regard. And I had to make sure to change something to ensure that I had enough Qi. "I can use the Heaven Devouring Art! I can try to resist this with the Heaven Devouring art! At its mostmon form, it can even be used as a defensive art! I can actually try that!" I realized. Although moving in this pressure was hard, and took more energy than normal, I had to make this simple investment. I started performing the first cycle of the Heaven Devouring Art, and slowly, I could feel that the pressure was getting a little easier to bear. Some of the Qi also entered my dantian. I was finally getting in more Qi than I was consuming. "Interesting." I heard Li Tian say, and his mouth curl up to a smile. With this, I knew that something bad was going to happen. I immediately stopped the cycle I was in, and looked at him with apprehension. Boom! Like a piano fell on me, I felt the pressure on me almost double. Aaargh! One of the girls beside me suddenly cried out. I could tell that she was eliminated, but I did not even have enough power to turn aside to see who it was. The pressure froze me in ce, and if I was going to make even a little movement, then I felt that I would be crushed beneath this enormous pressure. "I give up!" one of the men shouted out as well. This was the point of time where there would be a few disqualifications. This was going to be an important period. Although I had no need for this new weapon, I could always sell it and use the money for something else. One by one, a total of six people gave up! It was surprising. I was already in the top four. I just had to wait it out, and I would be dolling it out for thest two. I could only see Li Tian right now, but I knew that he was up to something. He was oddly focusing on me. It was like he had something he wanted to test out. He snapped his fingers again, and a I felt another pressure mount on top of me. I coughed out blood because of the sudden increase in pressure. I was down to my knees right now, and they were already creating an imprint on the floor. I was being forced onto the ground. "I give up!" the secondst girl said. I knew that voice. It had to be Li Huan. Now, only Cai Lien, me and someone else remained. I had no idea who it was, but he sure was strong. By my estimations looking at the different matches, I had to guess that it was Hao Shu. He had a very interesting fighting style, and it was a little different from the others who were all a part of the same sect. "This is taking even more time. I thought that all of you would be done by now. It looks like you are trying to give me apetition. Looks like I have to increase the pressure." Li Tian said. My face changed. He was about to increase the pressure. It was my final chance to do this, and the next moment, I would be destroyed. I raised my arms crossed with each other, shaped like a spear. "Ethereal Weapon Arts! Shield!" I muttered. At the exact time that another round of pressure mounted on me, I could feel a small barrier appear in front of me. I could even see it. And so could the others looking from outside. "What is happening here? Do you really think that you can hold this paltry defence against me?" Li Tian looked like he was going to attack me. The defense that I put up was by no means a permanent one. There were so many problems with it. First of all, I was using my hands instead of a shield. They started aching, and I could feel that they were almost about to give away. My dantian was also almost depleted. The defense was spread thin, and I could see cracks forming. It was only a matter of time before I would be crushed underneath the pressure. "I give up!" another finally threw the towel. Li Tian hesitated for a second, and snapped his fingers again. This time, the pressure was withdrawn. I fell on the ground, panting. The pressure was too much for me to handle. All of my Qi was almost depleted. I barely hung on, and I would have lost if it extended for even a little more time. But Cai Lien was still in the battle. So why did the sect master stop the test? I looked at Cai Lien. She was also panting, but she was clearly not as beaten up as I got. I looked at Li Tian with confusion. "The results are clearly obvious. The two of you are waiting to see who is going to the Inner Sect. Well, the answer is quite clear, isn''t it? It is going to be Cai Lien who will enter the Inner Sect as an Inner disciple." Li Tian said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 87 I.... Lost? [Mass Release is here! I worked so hard to get this together, and I really hope that you guys enjoy this. Consider gifting to show your support, and encourage me to do this again in the future.] "So she was the one who won? How anticlimactic. I thought that I actually had a chance. Now, I am going to have to jump through the hoops and get to the Inner Sect the hard way." I sighed. "Liu Feng and Li Huan, stay here. I have something to say to them. Seventh Elder, you can take the disciples and introduce them to the rules. As for Cai Lien, please take her to the Inner Sect and get her settled in. They can collect their rewardster." Li Tian said. "Yes, Sect Leader." the seventh elder stepped forward. "Also, make sure that all of you recover fast. I think that Cai Lien especially will find that she will need her Qi." Li Tian gave a meaningful nce at them all. I looked at him with suspicion. What did he want me here for? The seventh elder nodded, and he took all the disciples away. The elders and men who were watching from above also left, leaving me and Li Huan alone with Li Tian. "Now, it seems that you are getting rebellious. I told you to quit when you cannot handle it. Now see! You faced some damage to your foundation! This will take a fortune to fix! What is wrong with you!" Li Tian turned to look at Li Huan, shouting at her. "What is wrong with me? What is wrong with you? You could have just let us fight each other. I would have beaten all these people. Now, I have to be stuck at fourth ce! Because you have no patience. Why did you have to do that pressure test again? Now, I have to wait a whole three months before I can get into the Inner Sect." Li Huan shouted back. I looked at what was happening with little interest. I confirmed long ago that they were rted, but this meant that they were probably father and daughter. The two bickered like children for the next few minutes, and I was trying my best to hold back myughter. This was just tooical. How was this person the sect leader of this huge sect? I could not believe it. As if reading my mind, Li Tian turned to me. "You must be wondering why I asked you to stay here." he said. "Yes. I have no idea who you are, but you have been basically stalking me, and it begs to question, why?" I asked. "Because I was interested in seeing the infamous Liu Feng. The son of the person who shook the capital, and almost - well I should not speak of it, can I? But it is still interesting to see an old friend''s son here. Of course, I had to take a look at how you were doing. Liu Qian specifically asked me to." Li Tian said. "You spoke to my father? When?" I asked, bewildered. "What do you mean, when? You brought me the letter yourself, did you not?" he smiled. Immediately, I went through my spatial ring with shock. But the letter that father had given me was no longer to be seen. It was gone! "Well then, there is another reason that I called you here. You blew me away. I did not know that Liu Qian raised a genius like you. Not only is your Spiritual Root the best quality that I have ever seen, but it is known to the rest of the world that your Spirit Bone and your Spirit Blood are also of the highest quality. You are a genius in every way, especially in the definition of the Sky Heaven''s sect. It has been some time since the Pavilion of Dreams recognized someone. I expect great things from you." he smiled. "If you did, then you would have allowed me to fight Cai Lien. I already won against her once, and I can do it again." I snarled. "What are you talking about? Do you think that your winning against her was an actual victory? She looked down upon you, and let her defense fall. If she was serious, you wouldn''t have had a chance to attack her." Li Tian shook his head. "And, even if you go to the Inner Sect now, it is not where you will prosper. I have seen the way that you fight, and the strength of your foundation. You may be strong, but you have only one attack. Your Qi already has the attribute of the Blue Dragon based attack that you have used till now. That is far too soon to have an attribute. You need to branch out as fast as possible, or your growth will be stunted." Li Tian said. "Qi attribute? What is that?" "Too much information now is bad for you. But this is the reason that I asked you to stay. It is rare that I see a clean te to draw in. With only one attack, no movement art, and only one defensive art. You are truly a rare marvel in the cultivation world. With a talent like yours, I am surprised that Liu Qian forced you to not cultivate. I disagreed with him on that regard." Li Tian shook his head. "Wait a minute! I was told to give the letter to the gate keeper of the Heavenly Music Pavilion! Why do you have it?!" I suddenly realised. "It has been sixteen years since Ist saw Liu Qian. Did he really think that I stayed a gatekeeper? What, did he seclude himself from the world, or was he doing this to spite me?" Li Tian chuckled. I looked at Li Tian with confusion. But then it made sense. Everyone knew who Li Tian was. Why wouldn''t father know? He should have known the name of the person he was sending a letter to. "But all of this brings me back to my main question," Li Tian continued. "Do you want to be my disciple?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 88 Master And Disciple [Mass Release is here! I worked so hard to get this together, and I really hope that you guys enjoy this. Consider gifting to show your support, and encourage me to do this again in the future.] My mind went nk. Bing a disciple of an elder was already a great feat, and was one of the best things that could happen to a new disciple. But bing the disciple of a sect leader? That was new. I did not even expect that this opportunity would present itself in front of me, so I was obviously not ready with the answer. "I understand. You are hesitating. But I am not going to sell myself. If you want to be my disciple, then you can be my disciple. I always wanted to mold a young one, but I never found a nk canvas like you. I really want to do this, but of course, it will only be under one condition." Li Tian said. "What is that condition?" I asked. "No one can know that you are my disciple!" He said. I paused. This was a very big condition. I would be getting a lot of benefits, but I would not be able to tell anyone that I was his disciple. On the other side though, I would not be held back by the sect because no one would know that I was his disciple. I needed to grow stronger. My father said that I had to get to the Xiantian Realm to have a chance to survive. That means that I will face strong opponents. "I know that my life is in danger because of my real parents. Will you-" "Your father was a friend. I will protect you regardless of whether you want to be my disciple or not. Forget that. As long as you are a disciple of the Sky Heaven''s sect, if you didn''t do anything wrong, the sect will stand beside you!" Li Tian said earnestly. I raised my eyebrow. This was a righteous statement, but could I actually believe in him to hold onto it? The world was a cruel one, especially where killing was allowed and verymon. I thought about it. I needed to think for myself, and this was an opportunity that I probably would never get. And the deadline that my father gave loomed over me. This was the best chance that I could actually get. I bent down on the ground. "Liu Feng greets his master," I said. "Don''t give me all this crap. You could have just said that you were going to be my disciple. What is with you and all these traditions? Well then, just get up, and you cane with me." Li Tian said. I was a little surprised, but I got up and nced at Li Huan. She looked at me with disgust, as if I was doing something bad. But I probably understood her feeling. Having a father that powerful, she wouldn''t understand my need for power. I wanted to survive, and every time someone reminded me that I had a big background that gets me in trouble, I got more and more tense. "What are you going? Huan''er. Go to the Outer Sect. You know what to do. Just make sure that no one knows about this. And, I want to make sure that you have that clear. If anyone finds out that he is my disciple, I will make sure that you will not get any allowance. I will also tell the first elder specifically that you should not be allowed to ride on Bai Yi anymore." Li Tian said. "What is wrong with you? I won''t tell anyone, okay? Don''t be so harsh about it. I don''t care about you or him enough to tell anyone." Li Huan stuck her tongue out. "What will you tell them then?" Li Tian looked at her meaningfully. "I don''t know. You tell me." She shrugged. "So then why were you so confident that you were going to be able to hide this fact?" Li Tian countered. "You..." The bickering went on for longer, and I could not take it. It felt so childish, like they were making up for all the time that Li Tian probably did not spend with her. I just shut myself out of this conversation. "Okay then. It is settled. You will tell everyone that his father has given me a gift, and for this reason, he will be allowed to enter the Thunder Valley for nine days." Li Tian nodded. "Thunder Valley?" I asked. "You will understand what that ister. But first, I have something that I want to do with you. I need to cleanse you of all the thunder Qi that you have within your body. It is making your Qi too rampant, and it will stop you from learning other attribute arts easily. Like that wind attributed art that you are trying to learn." Li Tian said. "Wait, that is the reason that I was not able to have any progress with the Kun Peng Myriad Transformations?" I was shocked. I thought that it was because I did not have the right training apparatus, but it turned out that it was because of this attribute problem. "Having an attribute is only helpful in the future, once you are in the Nascent Soul Stage, But in the foundation establishment stage, it will only hamper your progress. Just follow me, and I will just get you in the best state possible for you to grow faster. I am sure that you know that you have to get to the Xiantian Realm in three years, right?" Li Tian said. "Three years. Why three years? What is going to happen then?" I asked. "What? Did your father not tell you?" Li Tian looked shocked. "He didn''t. But that isn''t the reason why you should make this a secret. Please tell me what is going to happen three years from now." I asked. "The royal family shall gather to select the new king. Everyone knows this. Not a secret. Looks like that Liu Qian has some exining to do." Li Tian chuckled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 89 Re-Establishment [Mass Release is here! I worked so hard to get this together, and I really hope that you guys enjoy this. Consider gifting to show your support, and encourage me to do this again in the future.] "The royal family will select the new king? How is this even rted to me?" I asked. "You will know then. But let us get back to the important part. I need to get you in proper shape forter. That will take quite some work to do. Now then, why don''t youe with me. Don''t resist." Li Tian said, and I felt a suction force. This was very simr to the time when I was in the city lord''s manor, except it was smoother. My new master was definitely much stronger than the city lord. A few momentster, I reappeared in a dark room. Since I knew what to expect, I did not fall to the ground this time. I stood still, and looked around. There was not much going around here, except for a few arrays and inscriptions on the floor. I wondered what they signified, but my focus had to be kept elsewhere. "What is that smell? It smells like medicinal herbs in here." I asked. "I use this ce for the storage of a few herbs here and there. You must be smelling that residue. But I am impressed. How did you notice that smell? It is so faint, only if you know what you are looking for, you would find it." Li Tian looked surprised. I hesitated. This was my master now, but it had not been long since I knew him. Was he trustworthy enough to actually reveal any of my secrets at all? "Don''t worry about it. If you don''t want to tell me, then I am too bored to care about it. Your life isn''t as interesting as you think it is, for you to try and hold in so many secrets. The biggest thing that is going for you is your talent, and your background." Li Tian sighed. I would have begged to differ, but I wanted toplete this conversation here. I nodded and continued to look around the room. There was a small mat in the middle, and an incense right in front. It was probably a ce for meditation. What I didn''t understand was why my master would bring me here. He wanted to change the attribute of my Qi. I did not know how he nned to achieve that. "Sit on the mat, and we will get started. It will take some time, and I need you to haveplete trust in me." Li Tian said. "You are the strongest person that I have ever met. If you wanted to kill me, then I am sure that you already would have. You can do what you want. Just leave me alive at the end." I smiled bitterly. "Watch your words. You are talking to you master here." Li Tian said yfully as he put his hands on my back. I was on my thighs, sitting in the Vajra pose, looking straight. I bit my lip, not knowing what to expect. "Just release your Qi. I need you to give me all the Qi that you have. Just take it away." Li Tian said gently. I nodded, and started circting my Qi. I poured it away, letting it leave my body through his hands. Boy was it surprising! It was like his hands were a ckhole. Once they got a taste of my Qi, they started sucking away all the Qi that was in my body. I was frightened. Thest time that this happened was when Liu Man went into my body. Wait a minute! Liu Man! "Are you okay, Liu Man? All the Qi within my body is getting taken away. Will you be okay with this? Will there be any problem for you?" I asked within my mind hastily. "Do not worry. I have been following every step that you have taken, and I know that you are in a very important part of your journey. This will not hurt me. Although I love feeding on your Qi, I have my own reserves. I will not be so stupid as to give away my Qi to him as well." Liu Man said. "Thank god you are okay." I heaved a sigh of relief. "Oh! Who is this interesting person?" All of a sudden, I heard Li Tian''s voice in my mind. I shook, frightened by this sudden change. "Don''t move. You do not want to change this equilibrium. Your body might burst from the pressure. Anyways, who is this interesting person? His presence is different. I can see that he is a spirit that is not of the human race." Li Tian continued. "This is..." I had no idea what to say. How would I exin how I came by Liu Man? "I am Liu Man. I will be apanying Liu Feng till the end of my life, as is clear by my bond with him. What is it you want with me? Just an introduction, I suppose?" Liu Man butted in. "Just an introduction indeed. I take back every single thing that I have said before. Your life is very interesting, Liu Feng. To think that you have a mythical beast within you! You are lucky that you are my disciple. Or else, I would actually covet him for myself. Ah! I am just kidding. But this is a very serious discovery!" Li Tian said. "I hope that we can have this discussion at another time. As all of us are aware, we are at a very delicate position. What you are doing is a risk for you, me and Liu Feng. Let us put all our focus on this, and then we can talk about meter." Liu Man said. "For a young one, you sure talk like a wise ass." Li Tian chuckled heartily. "How do you know that Liu Man is young? And more importantly, how are you speaking inside my own head? How are you able to sense Liu Man?" I was done with this. This was freaking me out too much. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 90 Changing The Qi [Mass Release is here! I worked so hard to get this together, and I really hope that you guys enjoy this. Consider gifting to show your support, and encourage me to do this again in the future.] "When you are as strong as I am, anything is possible, my disciple." Li Tian chuckled. "But I think that your friend is right. I should start changing your Qipletely." "Wait, what were we doing till now then?" "We were depleting your Qi. That does not count for anything. Nowes the painful part. But I am sure that you can sit through this." Li Tian said. He removed his hands from my back, and snapped his fingers. Aaargh! Qi flew into my body. My veins started bulging, and I could feel that my dantian felt overloaded. The foundation that I built was crumbling away. It was like he was destroying my cultivation! The Qi felt more like poison than anything else. The little Qi that I had in my body tried to fight back like it had a mind of its own, but it did nothing. I started panting, not able to get enough air. This was painful, but that was not the biggest problem. I had a feeling that any moment now, one of my veins would burst, and I would never be able to cultivate again. I looked within. The meridians, which allowed for the Qi to flow within me, were all overflowing and bulging. One of them looked like it was about to tear. I felt my heart stop beating. "Don''t worry. I am not trying to destroy your chances for the future. I am trying to help you out. You are resisting. Let the Qi flow and dispel whatever you have inside. Let your foundation rebuild itself. I nodded, and tried to soften my muscles. I took a few deep breaths and calm myself, even though it was almost impossible in all of this pain. The Qi that wasing from my master was flowing straight to the dantian now, and the Qi that was already there was getting reced. A blue colored stream of light was getting expelled by me. I was a little surprised. This was the exact cyan blue that the Blue Dragon Spear Art''s dragon looked like. And this Qi came into contact with the Qi around it, and it started sizzling away like it was trying to eat at it. "It does not allow any other attribute to live alongside it. That is the problem with the lightning attribute Qi. It might seem powerful at first, but it will halt your cultivation eventually because you will be stuck with only lightning based attacks, which are the rarest of all the attributes." Li Tian said. "Although he might be true, all of this was truly unnecessary. I can always just get a few skills from the system store. Why do I have to do this?" I thought to myself. "Because you have to decrease your reliance on the system. Who knows when the person who made this whole charade thinks that this is all getting boring and takes away the system? I need to be able to rely on myself in this world." another voice deep inside my name out. Meanwhile, the Qi that wasing from Li Tian had almostpletely reced the Qi within my body. It feltpletely different. I felt, so out of character. Like I was slower than before, and that I was nerfed. Ping! For the first time in a while, the system gave me a message. "Host strength has decreased by one. Host speed has decreased by three." the system said. My pupils dted. I actually got nerfed? How could this happen? I needed to get stronger. Not weaker! "System homepage," I muttered in the quietest voice that I could muster. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 8 Strength - 55 (-1) Stamina - 32 Agility - 60 (-3) Cultivation - Foundation Establishment - 2ndyer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Medium Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Mind Eye(Active) Skill points - 5 Stat Points - 0 I could see a few changes almost immediately. Instead of directly taking away the stat points, there was this red nerf beside. It was like I was in a weakened state, and the system knew. But two other changes raised my eyebrow. My proficiency of the Blue Dragon Spear Art had increased. I thought that the system would give a notification for this, but it didn''t. But this was the change that I think brought the concern within Li Tian. The change to expert proficiency must have been the reason that the Qi within my body took an attribute. But didn''t that meant that every time I excelled in a skill, my attribute would change? How would the attribute change to multiple attributes at once? "Now then, it is time for the final stretch." Li Tian''s voice distributed my line of thought. Final stretch? I thought that this was all over. What else was there to do? "Just try your best to withstand all the Qi that I am about to send to you. And do not worry, it is not life threatening at all. It will just feel like it." Li Tian said. "Wait a minute. Why would I feel that it is going to be life threat-" Immediately, the amount of Qi that was going into my dantian doubled. My body screamed and I could hear it. The muscles started tearing apart, and bones started cracking under the sudden load. But Qi had a property to heal. And this Qi was healing my body as quickly as it was tearing it apart. This was just like the time when I was undergoing the very first cycle of the heaven devouring art. And it was not a feeling that anyone could get used to. I struggle to stay conscious. My dantian felt like it was ballooning as well. And it was not big enough to keep all of this Qi inside. Ping! "Strength increased by 1 point." Ping! "Speed increased by 3 points." Ping! "Host has reached the thirdyer of the Foundation Establishment stage." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 91 Increased Cultivation "What? My cultivation went up? How did this happen? So this must be what he wanted to do." I realized. My dantian had increased in size substantially. The cultivation world was a marvel of threes, and getting to the thirdyer of the foundation establishment was an important step. Li Tian stopped pushing Qi into my dantian now, and slowly, all the Qi within my body started settling. I finally had some time to catch a breath. I took this time to look into my body, and see what the changes were. The influx of Qi wrecked my body, but it also healed it almost immediately. It was as if nothing had happened. The color of the Qi in my dantian was pure white though, and it was like milk in a bottle. Without any attribute, my master had achieved his goal. But this raised a few more questions. "Without my attribute, will I be able to perform the Blue Dragon Spear art?" I asked. "Of course, you will. And because you have also increased in cultivation, the power you will output will be much more than before. Just one more minor realm, and you will be able to qualify for the selection into the inner sect." Li Tian said. "The inner sect. What is the difference between the outer and the inner sect? What benefits will I get?" I asked. "What benefits will you get? Every month, Outer Sect disciples will get one Foundation Nourishing Pill. But the inner sect also has disciples within the Core Formation Realm. The disciples in the Foundation Establishment stage get three Foundation Nourishing Pills, as well as the guidance of an elder for their cultivation. The outer sect can only study under the deacons. But that doesn''t apply to you. You have me after all." Li Tian said. "I also shouldn''t care about the Foundation Nourishing pills. But my most important question. Are spirit coins worth anything in the sect?" I asked. "The only currency allowed in here are Contribution Points. We are not running a charity here. You will have to work to earn what you get. All disciples are sent to missions, and in return they get the rewards and resources that they do. Neers are exempt from missions for the first three months, but after that you have to start going out." Li Tian said, shaking his head. "But is there any way that I can convert my spirit coins into contribution points?" I asked. "Sure. One contribution point costs ten thousand spirit coins, and you can only exchange ten contribution points a month with this rate." Li Tian nodded. "What?! That expensive? But what can I get for that much? What do I get for a single contribution point? Can I buy spirit herbs?" I asked. "You are an alchemist, aren''t you? At the least, you are trying to be one." Li Tian suddenly said. "I gave it away quite clearly, didn''t I?" I chuckled. "You can get quite a few spirit herbs with ten contribution points. But that aside, focusing on the alchemist path and the martial path at once is a death wish. No matter how big a genius, you will not be able to focus on one of them enough." Li Tian said. "I am not focusing on the alchemist path. Just think of it as a hobby that I do in the past time. I spend very little of my time on it." I said. "And, the system tells me what to do, so I don''t need to spend any time learning how to synthesize any pills." I thought inside, chuckling at the cheat that I had. "As an alchemist, you are allowed to make pills and sell them for a profit. There are far too few alchemists in this world, and every sect needs them. That is why there is a separate division in the sect where we send people who are talented in that path." Li Tian said. "I am not interested in going to that branch. I wish to continue in your tutge. I need to grow stronger. Just a day with you and I have crossed a minor realm. I can only imagine how strong I will grow in the next three years." I shook my head. "Do not grow over confident. But now is the time for you to rest. You have overdrafted your body, and you need to allow your body to get used to the foreign Qi within you, and assimte with it. For the next three days, you are not allowed to use any skill, or allowed to take in any Qi from your surroundings. Just sit still and do nothing." Li Tian said. "Sit still and do nothing? That sounds like more torture than what you just put me through." I grumbled, but my master already left by then! He vanished into thin air. I looked around and confirmed that the room was empty. "System homepage." I said. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 8 Strength - 57 Stamina - 32 Agility - 62 Cultivation - Foundation Establishment - 3rdyer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Medium Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Mind Eye(Active) Skill points - 5 Stat Points - 0 "Not much of a change. Just some increase in my strength and speed, as usual." I nodded. Now, with this increase in Qi, Strength and speed, I actually stood a chance against Cai Lien. I might be able to beat her. I looked at the screen with a proud and smug face. Swish! "I just realized, I wanted to say something to that small friend inside of you as well." Li Tian reappeared in front of me and said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 92 A True Legend I stepped back. "What do you want to know?" I asked after calming myself. Until now, the only thing that he did was help me out, and I felt that I could put some trust in him now. "How did you find this mythical beast? That is something that I wish to know. Where did youe across an actual egg of a mythical beast? And how did a weak person like you get to it?" Li Tian asked. "That hurt." I chuckled. "I got it in the Shianxi Auction House. There was a mysterious rock that was just sitting there, and I had enough money to gamble. It turned out that my gamble worked." I said. "A gamble huh? Well, I guess that it worked indeed. Alright. I know that he is listening to me right now. Since you have entered a contract with Liu Feng, I know for a fact that you are going to be the one person that he can trust. So I am just going to tell you that you shouldy off taking his Qi for the next few days. He cannot afford to let this resting period go to waste. Or else, I will have to do this entire process again. And a body can only take it so many times." Li Tian said. I felt a sharp paine from my head at this point. "I understand. It is a good thing that you are in agreement with me. Well, I have a sect to run, so I will count on you to keep this boy in check." Li Tian smiled as his figure flickered. "You spoke with him? Looks like that is what that headache was. But why did my head pain when you were talking to him?" I asked Liu Man. "I was using your spiritual energy without your permission. Obviously you would feel some pain." Liu Man said. "How can you say that so calmly? And what the hell is spiritual energy? Is that what my spirit sea is for? How do I use this energy?" I asked. "You are running before you learned how to walk. That is something that will only be relevant to you in the Nascent Soul Realm. Until then, you should focus on increasing your realm, and your strength." Liu Man said. "You don''t have to keep reminding me how weak I am. What can I do about it now of all times, when I am practically crippled. I cannot leave here. I don''t even know where I am. I cannot do anything at all here." I shook my head. Taking a wall as a back rest, I took out a book from my spatial ring. I had enough stuff in my spatial ring to entertain me a little. It was at least better than nothing. And, I already knew that I had to get to know more about the continent that I was in. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Three dayster, "I can''t belive it! He said three days, and he actually left me alone in this godforsaken ce for three days all on my own!" I was at my wits ends. I went through the books that I had, and had nothing else to do. The time that I was stuck in the cave, I at least had to cultivate. But now, I couldn''t even do that. I was in a prison, for all intents and purposes. "At the least, I was able to understand what is going on around me." I sighed, trying to please myself. What my master said got me thinking. The royal family of the kingdom was going to select a new king. How did that have anything to do with me. So, I tried to do my best and learn more about the kingdom. And this was how I learnt exactly how big the Sky Heaven''s sect was. The kingdom that I was currently in, the Duan Kingdom, had few big yers. The most powerful entities were obviously the royal family, the crown, three families under, and seven sects. The three families and the seven sects were technically subordinate under the royal family. Surprisingly, the Cai family was one of the three families under. Cai Lien was from a branch family, but at the very least, she had a big background. I could not mess with the Cai family that much. The seven sects were what interested me the most. The ranking was pretty clear. The Sky Heaven''s sect was undisputed second, second only to the Tiandu Sect, another branch of the Imperial family. It was like the family was trying its best to hold its power over the kingdom. "Like naming the kingdom after their surname isn''t enough. But this sect is second? Exactly how powerful is the Tiandu sect?" I wondered. Another thing that I found out over thest three days was exactly who Li Tian was. I had almost every book that I needed, but it slipped my mind. Now, with all this time, I realized that I could read through them. And I found out who Li Tian was. ''The genius of the Sky Heaven''s sect, responsible for the meterioric rise from the bottom of the seven sects, almost at the tip of being taken out of the rankings, to the second position.'' the book read out. "He is a true legend! To think that I lucked out this much! He is one of the most powerful people in the entire kingdom! For him to head one of the biggest powers, as well as bring it to such heights, he must be a monster." I thought to myself. I put the book aside. I had enough of this. I could not read the same thing again and again. It had been three days since then, and I felt nothing wrong with my body. There was no difort at all. Everything feltpletely natural. "Where the hell is my master?!" I shouted with frustration. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 93 Getting Out Of The Room "Looks like you are looking for me." Li Tian reappeared next to me. He stepped forward and held my hand, stopping for a moment. "It looks good. You have adapted to the new Qi. This works." Li Tian nodded. I kept my mouth shut. He came right after three days, like he said he would. I could not exactly startining now. "What do I do now? Should I go back to the sect?" I asked. "Why would you go back to the outer sect? All that I did was change your Qi. There is still a lot more that I have yet to teach you. I want to teach you how to use that movement skill of yours. You can finally start using one now, after all." Li Tian said. "The movement skill! Yes! I need to learn that. I still did not learn a movement skill, and the problems of this are showing in my battles. I will be at a significant disadvantage if I am not able to learn the movement skill that I got in the city lord''s mansion." I said, nodding vehemently. "Well then, let us move. We cannot learn how to use the Kun Peng myriad transformations in a small ce like this. The carp that went through the dragon gate is ambitious. It soars through the sky. You cannot learn a skill like that by just attempting to copy the movements. Sometimes, you need to try something different. Sometimes, you need to feel what the Kun Peng is experiencing." Li Tian said. "What the Kun Peng experiences? But the Kun Peng can fly! I can''t fly! How will I be able to feel what the Kun Peng feels?" "Don''t worry about that. That is what I am here for." Li Tian smiled as he put his hand on my shoulder. I felt my whole body shaking, as if it was going to transport again. And that we were. We were going somewhere else. The next moment, the scenepletely changed. Thepletely dark room became blue. I could not understand. Where did the bluee? But changing my view, I understood what was happening. "I am in the sky?!!! And where the hell is master?" I looked around with confusion and panic. It seemed like I was right over the Sky Heaven''s sect, about a few thousand feet in the air. There were bird around me, looking at me with interest. I was falling though, and I did not know what to do. The sect was interesting. There was a circle that epassed the perimeter of the sect, while the ck Swamp Forest made a huge shroud around it. "That''s not what you are supposed to be thinking about right now!" I shook my head. Thougths raced through my mind, but only one thought seemed to matter. "The Carp went through the dragon gate. What the hell is the dragon gate?" I wondered. The same words were going through my head. How was a fish able to fly? This was not a lucky encounter. I knew the story. It did it all by itself. It went through the dragon gate. But where could I find a dragon gate in the sky? Where could I find one at all? "The dragon gate is metaphorical. Think about the Kun Peng closely. The carp gains wings. The movement art is a way to fly like a Kun Peng without actual wings, but with wings made of Qi!" all of a sudden, this thought came into my head. My mind raced at the simple thought of this. I circted my Qi, and all of my Qi rushed to my back, trying to protude out like wings. They took the shape of two wings, trying to take me out of this ce. They tried to move, tried to p. I pushed more and more Qi towards the makeshift wings, and soon enough, they pped. I could feel then fluttering behind my back. They were a part of me. And finally, I also stopped falling down to the ground. I was flying! Ping! [Host has learnt new skill, Kun Peng Movement Skills. Host has discovered new skill. System awards Host with 15 skill points for this achievement.] The system spoke. "Huh? I made a new skill? What the hell? I thought that I was learning a new skill. When did I make one? Something is wrong." I was dumbfounded. Although I was escatic that I got 15 skill points, I did not understand what I did. In this momentarilypse of concentration, my wings of Qi disappeared. I could only keep them because I was putting in way too much Qi into them, trying to do my best to hold them together. With all my Qi dispelled, I started falling again. Now, I could see the sect bingrger. Tiny dots became buildings, and I just minutes away from crashing into them. "Come on wings. Come on. Just save me." I tried to push the Qi within my body to do the same thing that I did just a few moments ago. But my Qi just wouldn''t move. It stayed there, like it had nothing to do with me. Without any Qi, I had nothing to do. I could not understand this. Why did the Qi just stop listening to me. "Huh? It looks like you still have to try and assimte with this new Qi a little more. Oh well. I thought that three days was enough, but I guess that you need more." I heard Li Tian''s voice next to me again. Before I could even turn to see him, the scene changed again. I was transported somewhere else. The blue sky, and the sect that was below me changed to be the dark room that I was in for three days. I did not expect the sudden transportation and fell to the ground on my knees. "What was that for? You could have warned me!" I shouted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 94 Kun Peng Movement Arts "Why would I want to warn you when I am trying to give you a nice teachable moment?" Li Tianughed. I took a deep breath. At least, now I was not falling to my death. I fell on the ground and faced the ceiling. Of course, it was also dark, and I could not see much. "My Qi did not listen to me today. I could tell that it was not mine. That must have been the problem that you were anticipating. But there must be some way to quicken the assimtion or whatever." I said. "Do you think that anyone does this? This was just an experiment. And looked how marvelously it worked? Now, you can finally use a wind attribute skill. Just, I am truly proud of what you have achieve." Li Tian smiled. "But what I did was not the Kun Peng Myriad Transformations. The Myriad transformations focus on the Kun Peng that can transform back into a carp, and move in the water faster than any other carp. But instead, I ended up emting a Kun Peng in the air. It waspletely different." I said. "Wait, what did you just say?" Li Tian froze. "Are you saying that you made a new skill all on your own?" he asked seriously. For the first time, I could tell that he was actually serious about this, and he was not ying around. But neither was I. I nodded. "To think that you made such a skill. A skill that allows a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator to move around in the sky like that." he went back to smiling. "Is that great? At what cultivation are people normally able to fly?" I asked. "Fly? For that, you need to get to the Xiantian Realm! Until then, what you see are cheap imitations that let you float at best. They don''t let you fly." Li Tian shook his head. "Then, I am able to fly! Isn''t that great?" I asked. "Well, if you are able to use it in battle, that is great. But if you want to learn the other skill, then you can go ahead. You understood what I was trying to do with you. Now try to feel the Kun Peng when you move like one. But you can only do that tomorrow. For today, I want to monitor you, and make sure that the Qi within you ispletely epted by your body." Li Tian said. "How are you going to do that? Wait a minute! You said that this was an experiment. Was I the guniea pig? You could have ruined my cultivation!" I suddenly recollected what my master had said a few moments ago. "I could have, but I didn''t, did I? Why dwell on the past? That is the problem with so many folks. They just dwell on the past, and are unable to see the present and the problems they face." Li Tian shook his head. I did not know how to respond to that. If I kept whining, then I would be the petty guy. "Fine then. How are you going to make my body ept this new Qi?" I asked. "First of all, we need to get some more of that Qi into you. You used too much of the Qi trying that art. Far too much. Here, take this pill, and try to get as much as Qi as you can out of it." Li Tian threw a pink colored pill at me. I caught it, and threw it in my mouth. Once it entered my body, I could feel my stomach heating up slightly. There was a lot of Qi that I could absorb from this pill. But I could not recognize what it was. "That is the Blood Spirit Lotus Pill. Contrary to what most think, and what the name itself suggests, it is not a berskek pill. It is one of the gentlest forms of Qi, and willplement a Qi without any attribute. It is also your reward for getting second ce in the trials." Li Tian said. "A gentle form of Qi, huh?" The Qi was indeed, gentle. Unlike most of the pills that I had taken, the Qi was listening to me. I did not even need to use the Heaven Devouring art to extract all the efficacy. It directly gave me all the Qi within. It was truly wondrous. I guided the Qi to my dantian, and slowly filled it to the brim. I recovered to my peak stage after mere moments, and opened my eyes. "I ampletely recovered now. What do you want me to do?" I asked. "What do I want you to do? Nothing. Try doing something on your own. I would hate it for you to lose the effects of your epiphany in the skies. You should digest what you just tried." Li Tian shook his head. I nodded. "System homepage." I whispered, with my lowest voice. I could not let anyone know about this system. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 8 Strength - 57 Stamina - 32 Agility - 62 Cultivation - Foundation Establishment - 3rdyer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Medium Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Kun Peng Movement Arts (Rudimentary Understanding) Mind Eye(Active) Skill points - 20 Stat Points - 0 The new title, rudimentary understanding just made me confirm what I already knew. Me doing what I did was just a fluke. But now that I had a skill registered, it was time to use my cheats. "Use Skill Assist." [Using Skill Assist. Which skill should the skill assist be used on?] the system asked. "Kun Peng Movement Arts." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 95 Li Tian Li Tian, I was shocked. Looking at Liu Feng, seeing him create a movement skill of his own within just a few minutes of dangling in the air, trying to hold on to life, it brought back memories. I looked down upon Liu Feng. He could not see me looking at him. He was not strong enough. The way he muttered weird words every few seconds confused me. He probably thought that I couldn''t hear him, but if I couldn''t even after growing so strong, was spending years of my life really worth it? The way that he was trying to learn this new art was interesting. The pathways that he was sending his Qi through seemed predestined. It was not like he was trying new things out. It was like he knew exactly what he was doing. "Did he actually learn this art somewhere else, and mistake it and thought that he created it on his own? He can''t be that stupid. No one can forget learning an art." I thought as I kept watching. Soon, the Qi started forming a pair of wings on his back. They were translucent, and anyone could mistakenly assume that they were just seeing things. But once they pped, I could feel that they were generating an immense force. These wings seemed frail, but they had some punch in them. He actually struck gold with this art. With this, not just moving up and down, he could move like an actual bird, and he could take a fight to the skies. That was an advantage that could cripple sword users. I shook my head. "I should just leave him here and let him figure out what he should do. I did enough. If I feed him everything in a spoon, then it will be pretty useless. And that man would probably waste me for doing that. ,m A dark and ominous figure appeared in my mind. I shuddered just thinking about him. "Yeah. I should make sure that he turns out properly." I told myself. "Sect Master! You have a message!" Someone was at my quarters. I sighed as I got up. Within seconds, I reappeared in front of the disciple who came here. "The first elder''s disciple? Why did he send you here? I saw that he was trying to get another disciple. Was he able to get to that boy?" I chuckled. "Junior Brother Riyal is still thinking about it. But I am confident that he will realize that bing master''s disciple is the best thing that can happen for him. He will be able to further his sword dao." the disciple said. "Well then. What happened? Why did your master send you here?" "Master wishes to know why you brought that man''s son here. He said that you know who I am talking about. He told me to ask you to meet him." "Of course he does. Tell him that I am a bit busy. Tell him that I am just clearing a years old debt, and that after three years, the sect can just cut all ties with the boy. I am taking care of this, and I will clean up the mess that I made." I said. "But master insisted that you meet him right now. He at least asked that you talk to him." saying this, the disciple handed a jade token to me. I took it, and injected Qi into it. "How serious do you think the problem is, First Elder, for you to waste a perfectly good transmission token on a simple conversation?" I said out loud. The jade token buzzed. "I knew that you would be adamant about this boy, so I had to talk to you. Are you an idiot? After so long, the Sect is finally growing. Do you want to destroy us?" a grainy voice came from the token. "Do I want to destroy the sect? I have been respectful to you for so long. But do not cross a line. I have done more for this sect than all the eldersbines. You should know that. We are ranked fifth of them all! We used to be deadst. And in the next meet, we might even grow one more. I suggest that you mind your words, First Elder." I snarled. "But sheltering the son of that man! That is a crime that cannot be tolerated! There will be retaliation." the old man said. "What will they do until the new king is chosen? They will have to wait. And until then, he will be under my protection. I told your disciple this. I will say this again. I am going to pay back the debt I owe him. For three years, Liu Feng will be under my protection." I said, crushing the jade token immediately after. With this, I looked at the horizon. "What kind of mess did you bring to me, Liu Qian? You should have stayed here. You just had to go get your foundation damaged, and lose your cultivation. Now, I have to fend for this all on my own." I shook my head, muttering. The disciple left, with the message that I gave him. Now, I had a few things to do. As a sect master, there were many, many things that I had to do. Why people actually fought for this role escaped me. If it weren''t for that old fogey forcing me, I would have stepped down ages ago. I stepped out of my quarters. As the sect leader, obviously, I was in the tallest of the twelve peaks that surrounded the sect. And I could see the whole sect just from where I stood. I nced at the inner circle. This was the inner sect, where that interesting girl was going. She was a peculiar one. ording to Liu Qian, she was also going to be marrying Liu Feng. He is a lucky one, that''s for sure. "I shouldn''t have these thoughts now. Let me just go check on Huan''er." I thought to myself. With the snap of my fingers, my face and body started morphing. Instantly, I changed my form to look like Liu Feng. My clothes also changed, and I descended from the Peak. It was time to go have some fun. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 96 Creating Problems I stepped down, and immediately appeared within a crowd of new disciples. The moment I appeared before them, they knew that I had entered. "It is Liu Feng! The person that the sect master had stopped to speak to!" one of the disciples shouted out. I smiled. Now was the time to start my excellent acting. I looked around, trying to feign confusion. "Where am I? I was in the thunder valley till now, and then I suddenly disappeared!" I said. "The sect master is truly all mighty. To think that he transported me out of there the instant that I was in danger of getting struck by lightning!" I said. "You were in the thunder valley? How lucky. Your father is a really good man." one of the disciples looked at me with envy. Most of them did. A chance in one of the three spirit valleys of the sect was not something that money could buy. Only inner and core sect members even had the opportunity to avail this feature. "So then. Why did the Sect master stop you there? Li Huan said something about the thunder valley, but there must be something more, right?" the same disciple asked. "My father also had something to give to the sect master, and after he received it, he allowed me to go into the thunder valley. I don''t know what it is. But why do you care. All of you are the poor ones. I don''t care about you. Get out of my way. I need to go to my quarters." I was barely able to say this with a straight face. "Now this is going to put him in quite the situation once hees out. I want to see how he will handle this." I smiled as I thought about the situation that wouldeter once I did all the damage that I could. The disciple looked at me with anger, obviously. He was about to say something, but he decided against it, and looked away. I smiled at this and started walking forward. This was also a rare moment for me to take a look at what was going around in the sect. And for once, everyone would act like they normally do. I went to the Outer Sect residential area. Without a token, I would not be allowed to enter the sect, and reside here. Since Liu Feng still did not go through the appropriate procedures, I decided that I had to go through them. I stopped in front of the deacon in charge of the outer sect. "I am a new disciple, and I am here to collect my identity token and my sect robes," I said. "A new disciple? I thought that they all came three days ago. Where the hell were you all this time?" the deacon frowned. "I was with the sect leader. He had given me an opportunity, and I needed to do something for him. So if you don''t mind, I want to get the token and the robes." I asked again. "What is with that tone, boy? Did you not learn how to respect your elders. With this, you have angered me. I will not give you the token until you have apologized to me. If I am not wrong, only nine of the top ten have collected their rewards. So you should be more than happy to give me the weapon that you are supposed to collect. You can keep that useless Blood Spirit Lotus Pill. I can''t use that anyway." the deacon said. My eyebrow raised up. It looks like I was witnessing the ssic corruption again. "Do you know that this is against the sect rules? The elders will punish you for this." I said with the most innocent voice that I could muster. "The elders will punish me for it? Yeah, sure. Like that is going to happen. Do you think that the elders are free enough to care about the new disciples? You are just ceholders. People we taken in to make a little more money. Just do your job right." the deacon scoffed. "Why do you think that I was sote here. I have the connections to go to the thunder valley the day that I entered the valley. Do you really think that I wouldn''t have the connections to get you in trouble for trying to cheat me?" I scoffed. "Do you want to make an enemy out of me, boy? Because your father will not be able toe here from wherever hole you came from." the deacon''s face turned serious. "This is the first week since I entered. If you dare do anything to me, then you will get in trouble." I said. Swish! A tokennded in my hand. The words ''Liu Feng'' were etched on the white wooden que. "How did you know that this is mine?" "This is the only one that is left. I don''t care too much even if you aren''t him. Not like I care that much." he scoffed. I nodded. Before I asked him anything, he spoke again. "Do not think for a second that I am going to leave you. As you said, this is the first week of youing here. Wait for another, and I will show you exactly how you should behave with the deacon of the entire Outer sect." the deacon looked at me menacingly. "What is your name, at least," I asked. "You will know. You will see a lot of meter." the deacon growled. "How do I get the robes though?" "Find that out yourself. I gave you what I needed to give to you." the deacon looked away. "Good. One more person for Liu Fen to fight here. This guy''s sect life is going to be so interesting. He is so lucky that he has a very caring master like me, making his life all the better, and less boring." I smiled. Walking forward, I continued to the ce where I needed to pick up my sect clothes. As the sect master, it was obvious that I knew where to go for the clothes. "I am here to get my sect robes. Here is my identity token." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 97 Sealed Memories Liu Feng, I stretched my arms. Thest few days in this ce were not all boring. I could use my Qi freely now, and more importantly, I could use the Kun Peng Movement Arts like they were a part of me. The wings that I formed behind me felt like an extension of myself, and I was sure that I could even actually fly. "With this, I should be able to leave. Why is master taking so long? I want to leave this ce. I have been here a whole nine days! I don''t even know what is happening outside. I might be at a disadvantagepared to them all, because I spent all my time inside here instead of learning with the others." I thought out loud. I continued strolling around, with nothing much to do. Eventually, bored of it all, I decided to take a look at my stats for onest time. "System Homepage." I said. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 8 Strength - 57 Stamina - 32 Agility - 62 Cultivation - Foundation Establishment - 3rdyer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Medium Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Kun Peng Movement Arts (Basic Proficiency) Mind Eye(Active) Skill points - 25 Stat Points - 0 "I have 25 skill points. That is the most skill points that I have ever gotten. This one skill, the Kun Peng Movement arts is really giving me a plethora of benefits." I chuckled. "In fact, I think that I should buy something useful in the system. I mean, I have the movement and defence artsid down, but it always helps if I have more attack moves." "Open store." I said. [Opening store] After a long time, a lot of skill books, pills, items, and weapons appeared before my eyes. And for the first time, I felt like I could afford them. Points in the system were almost impossible to get. They were kind of irritating. "Filter the results to show only the skills that I can afford. I want a good attacking skill." I said. [Filtering Attack Skills below 25 skill points. Retrieving Results.] One by one, dozens of skills appeared before me. This was a far better selection than when I first tried to buy something. The most expensive purchase that I had was after the system heavily discounted it, as if it was trying to make me buy it. But now, I could actually buy something good here. "What should I take now? I have a good spear art, but if I use two different weapons skillfully, I might garner a little hate. People don''t take to geniuses very well." I noted as I kept scrolling through the catalogue. "Filter the spear arts. I want only the skills that can be used by a spear." I said. [Filtering Spear Arts. Retrieving results. There are five spear arts avable at this price.] the system said. "Blue Dragon Spear art. That one, I already have. Why are you still showing it? Take it away." I frowned. This was not the first time that the system made a mistake like this. Last time, when it gave me the penalty, I realized that the system had not added that level to my homepage before. There was a glitch. It felt like there was an actual person was behind the system, doing everything. One other thing also crossed my mind. The system said that I was the first. Were there going to be others like me? The thought scared me. "No. I should just focus on getting stronger so that I do not need to fear anyone." I shook my head and steeled my mind. [Blue Dragon Spear Art. Bone Dragon Tyrant Spear Flowing Cloud Spear Crushing Bone Spear Spear of a thousand men] ,m "No more dragons. They just feel like they will change my attribute again. I think that I will take something that is more gentle and toned down. This Flowing Cloud Spear is very interesting. I think that I should take this one." I decided. [Flowing Cloud Spear. Total wille to nine skill points. Confirm Purchase?] the system asked. "Confirm purchase. It isn''t even that expensive, now that I got rich. I should learn a more passive skill and this looks like it will allow me to irritate the opponent a little before I cannd a crushing blow." I nodded. [Purchasing Flowing Cloud Spear. Purchased.] [Transfering contents of skill to Host Memory.] Immediately, I could see a man performing the flowing cloud spear. What I initially thought was right. A thousand shadows seemed to attack this man, but he used the spear to parry every attack. And not a single onended on him. There were a total of seven forms to this art though, and only thest one seemed to have any offensive power. I seemed to know that there were a total of seven forms, but the memories stopped after the first three were shown. [Error! Host is not strong enough to use the fourth to the seventh form of attack. Memories will be sealed and will be unsealed once the Host reaches suitable power.] the system beeped. "I am not strong enough? Is this a cultivation thing? Maybe I don''t have sufficient cultivation. But even so, why the hell did they seal my memories? I can just be warned of this, can''t I? Why does the system have to dictate what happens?" I grumbled. [The host may attempt to learn the skill if life is in duress, and that might cause more harm than good. That is why, the system has decided to seal the memory until host is strong enough.] the system replied. "At least tell me at what cultivation I need to be in for the memories to be unsealed." [Host has to reach the Core Formation Stage to unseal the next two forms.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 98 Coming Out "It looks like you are speaking to someone. Your little friend?" I heard a voice behind me. Startled, I turned around to face Li Tian. "Yes. I was talking to Liu Man." I stuttered. "You shoulde out of this ce now. You have been cooped up here long enough. I will instruct youter. I am a little busy. I have to go somewhere for a while, so during this time, I suggest that you stay out of trouble." Li Tian said, smiling. He was smiling at something, but I couldn''t tell what it was. Something smelled fishy about it. I shook my head and nodded. "This is your identity token, and these are your sect robes. You will be required to wear these when you are inside the sect, and when you leave outside on sect business. We need to show everyone that we are the Sky Heaven''s sect." Li Tian said. I nced at the token. Made out of wood and with my name engraved on it, it was the cheapest thing that could possibly exist that could tell my identity. But I could feel some weight to it which I didn''t understand. I turned the que to the back and my eyebrows raised up. There were weird inscriptions on it, and they seemed to be doing much more than just be a design. I threw the token into my spatial ring and put on the robes immediately. I then looked at my master. "How will I leave this ce, master?" I asked. "You know how to fly up now, don''t you? Fly up. I can handle a few damage costs." he smiled. "Really?" my eyes brightened. Thest nine days that I spent here made me hate this ce. My spear appeared in my hands, and I threw it at the ceiling with all the force that I could muster. It was just a building after all. Walls and stones couldn''t hold a candle to a cultivator''s strength. Or so I thought. The spear that I threw at the ceiling hit the ceiling and bounced back towards me. I caught it, surprised by this interesting oue. "Do you think that you could break free out of this room with that little help? Come on, now. Use some force." Li Tian smiled. I gripped my spear tighter, and this time, I used a proper attack. Blue Dragon Spear Art! First Form! I jumped toward the ceiling and hit it hard with the spear. At a close distance to the ceiling, I was able to see what was going on. At the moment that my spear hit the ceiling, there was a whiteyer of light that seemed to absorb the damage. It seemed to be generated by all the runes and arrays that were inscribed on the wall, that only appeared when it was attacked. "I am the sect master of one of the most powerful forces in the whole kingdom. Do you really think that a room that I personally use will be broken out of with just that? Even my sneeze can kill you if I am not careful. Come on now. Use all of your power." Li Tian chuckled. "All of my power? Oh well. I will never actually be in a fight with him. I don''t need to hide any of my trump cards from him." I said to myself as I readied myself to use a proper attack. "Blue Dragon Spear art! Fifth Form! Blue Dragon Breaks through hell!" I shouted as poured in Qi into my spear. But for some reason, I needed more Qi. This attack was taking way more Qi than it needed to. "Roar!" I could hear the sound of a blue dragon roaring. The spear in my hands was restless. It flew forward to the ceiling, ready to break it open. But the white barrier kept strong. It stopped the spear from moving further. I could see the manifestation of the azure dragon right behind the spear. It tried to push towards the ceiling as well. With each passing moment though, more and more of my Qi was getting depleted. The ceiling was still not showing any signs of damage. I panted, trying to catch a breath. This attack was more consuming that all the other times that I had used it before. And I was not voluntarily putting in more Qi into this attack. This was something that happened on its own. My Qi was falling got dangerous levels now. The spear was losing its lustre, and the manifestation of the blue dragon had disappeared. The spear fell down, and I caught it. "What happened? I was not able to make even a dent?" I looked at the ceiling with shock. "That is because you are that weak. For someone to break out of this room, he needs to be as strong as me, able to move between two ces like I can, or he needs to be in the Nascent Soul Stage to break through with sheer strength. Maybe Liu Qian can break through the room. But you sure as hell cannot. I wanted you to do this so that I can give you one simple task. In two years and nine months, you need to be able to break through this barrier on your own. And if you can, then I will allow you to leave the sect and go to the royal capital." Li Tian said with a serious voice. "Go to the royal capital? What if I am not able to do this?" I asked. "I will cripple your cultivation in front of the entire sect, and let the news of that spread to the royal capital." Li Tian said coldly. "What?!" I took a step back. "I am just making sure that you live. Now, go out, and go live your sect life. Just remember. There is a looming deadline over you." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 99 Problems On Problems [Please drop a review to show what you want me to change a few parts of the novel. I want to make this novel better for you guys.] After he said that, I felt a suctioning force that was trying to take me away. I gave in to it, and in the next moment, I was transported out of the dark room to somewhere outside. I looked at my surroundings, trying it judge where I was. I saw a few disciples like me who were wearing the sect robes. I tried to approach them, but the moment that they looked at me, I could see the look of anger and disgust. Something about me, they hated. I couldn''t tell what it was, but it was certainly serious. "Hello, fellow disciples. Where am I?" I asked them, trying to ignore the stares that they were giving me. "Where are you? What kind of wall did you hit, for you to forget your own living quarters. Well, that is what the idiot young master is all about. We heard your stories in the Kaishi city. You built quite the reputation there." the taller disciple sneered at me. "For some reason, it feels like you do not like me. May I know why?" "Wait. Is this guy for real? Are you forgetting the time when you dared to shove your rich face in front of me and decided to show off? Well, it looks like you also suffer from amnesia." the one next to him said. "The time when I what? You must have mistaken me for someone else. This is the first time that I have ever met you. You are mistaken!" "Look at this guy! Just till yesterday, he was acting like he was the king of this ce. Now, since the deacon is taking him for a little joy ride, he is finally showing his true colors. I am really looking forward to what is going to happen." the second discipleughed. "The deacon? I was here till yesterday? Just what is going on?" my head hurt just thinking about everything that just came at me all of a sudden. Then, one simple smile of my master suddenly made sense. "Just what did he do during the time that I was away, for me to offend these many people? Oh my god, this is going to be a nightmare!" I realized. And a nightmare it was. I did not understand anything. No matter where I went, there was not a single person who was willing to help me out, or even exin my own situation. I was in a foreign ce, not knowing what I had to do, not knowing where I had to go to cultivate, and not even knowing who I offended, and how I offended them. I aimlessly roamed around this street that seemed to have the most people. But everyone who didn''t give me a face of hate gave me the silent treatment. "I give up. This is just too much." I shook my head and sat in one corner. No one was anywhere near me, and I put my head on the column, sighing. "Who would have thought that even a powerful master would be so yful?" I shook my head. p "What are you talking about? All powerful masters are yful. Isn''t that their idea of fun. In this world, if you are not using your power to get more, then you are using your power to have some fun." I heard someone next to me. It seemed that someone else was resting on one of these columns. I was toozy to even turn my head to look at him. "For the first time today, someone actually talked to me. I wonder, did I do anything to you as well? Are you here to give me the beating I am expecting toe today?" I asked. "What are you talking about? Why would I want to do that? Do not tter yourself. But I understand what you are talking about. These people, all of them are sheep. The moment they heard that I became the disciple of the first elder, they started ttering me. I thought that things would change when I came to a big sect, but people everywhere are the same." "You became the disciple of the first elder? I pity you. These people, every single one of them, they are all crazy. I tell you. Crazy." I said,ughing. "You sound like you have had the experience yourself." the other man said. "Why would I have the experience? But you were there for the trial of talent, right? What kind of psycho designed a trial like that?" "Unfortunately, I was not fortunate to go through the same trials that you did. The first elder made me skip all the trials and be his disciple immediately. "Wait a minute! You are that senior brother Riyal that everyone was worshipping that day. You are from one of the subsidiary sects, aren''t you?" I turned around to look at him. Indeed, this was the same person. "You are not from a subsidiary sect? My respect for you grew. For you to be able to traverse through the forest and survive, that is a feat that can only be achieved by the lucky and the brave. It takes only a man who pursues true strength to do that." he said. I nced at him closely. Using the mind eye, his name appeared. "Level - 1 Name - Ji Riyal Cultivation - None" "No cultivation? But that danger that I felt from him- That must be the sword dao that the disciple was talking about." I thought to myself. "And you must be the Liu Feng that I keep hearing about. I did see you once or twice, but you seem to be a different person now. Apletely different person" Ji Riyal said. "Yup. Definitely a different person. I can guarantee that." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 100 Finally, A Friend "Who would want to impersonate you? You are not a famous person." Ji Riyal asked. "There is clearly one who thought that it would be hrious to do so. And I hate that person. I don''t know what he did, but I seemed to have offended a lot of people." I said. "Well then, I wish you the best of luck. You seem to be in a spot of trouble. I hope that you can ovee it. It is nice to have someone to talk to." Ji Riyal said as he got up. "I have one question for you." I stopped him. "What is it about?" He nced at me. "The sword dao. What is that about? You do not have any cultivation, but my intuition tells me that you are much, much more powerful than I am. How is that possible?" I asked. "Once you get to the Xiantian realm, you will understand one thing about the Heavens. They do not want you to be stronger. No ruler wants to have someone who can threaten his position. The heavens is the same. So it will try to strike down those that get close to it. The same way, there are also those who follow the path that the heavens sends us. Follow the heaven way, and be a part of the heavenly daos. The sword dao is one such path." Ji Riyal said. "The heavenly daos? I remember reading about stuff like this. Understanding the Daos will probably make me so much more powerful. Oh well, I think that I need to learn more about this world. But how did you learn the path of the Sword Dao?" I asked. "The path reveals itself to you. It is up to you to seize upon it. I already sense that you have already touched the Dao of Transformation. I can feel that you tried toprehend something out of nothing, and that is what brought you here. You should do the same thing if you want to learn another Dao." Ji Riyal said. "I touched the dao of transformation? It must be what I learnt from the Kun Peng Movement arts." I realized. "One more thing. Following the path of the sword Dao means that you have be subordinate to the heavens, doesn''t it?" I asked. Rumble! All of a sudden, I heard the sound of thunder high above. The clear sky started clouding up. This was certainly a bad omen. "I have spoken too much. I am afraid that what you have said is considered taboo. You should not say this again. There are things that the Heavens doesn''t want you to speak of, even if you know about it. Luckily, no one was here to hear what you said. Or the karma would have been too much, and the heavens might have stuck down in anger." Ji Riyal sighed with fear. "I understand. I apologize for the inconvenience that I have caused. But what you have just told me helped me a lot. I am grateful for your help." I mped my fists together. "Do not worry about it. We are fellow disciples of the same sect now. There wille a time when I will need to rely on you as well." he nodded at me, and walked away. I nced at the sky. The clouds hadpletely darkened now, but they had no intention of striking down like they looked like earlier. It was too terrifying to look at. I knew that if the lightning struck me, I would be destroyed in an instant. "He said that I would know about this in the Xiantian realm. Does that mean that to cross from there Nascent Soul Realm to the Xiantian realm, there is a tribtion of sorts required? It must be something rted to going against the heavens, like Ji Riyal just said." I contemted. This was probably the reason that there were quite a few people at the Nascent Soul Realm, but no one in the Xiantian realm in the Kaishi city. The city lord might have been in the Xiantian realm, but families did not have an expert in that realm that I knew about. "Master must be much stronger than the Xiantian realm, if he expects me to get there in just three years. Just how much more powerful is he, though?" I wondered. I stopped my line of thought here. The clouds above also parted at the same speed, and the sky became blue again. "What happened? Why did the sky suddenly be dark and then clear out?" one of the fellow disciples shouted with shock. "It must be one of the elders. Or one of the core disciples. They must be undergoing tribtion. I hear that the top core disciples are so strong that even the three families under the crown have tried to recruit them away from the sect!" another chimed in. "All this useful information ising in, and yet I am losing out on all of this because my master wanted to have some fun with me. Now, I am stuck trying to listen to their conversation to understand the situation." I shook my head. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Elder! What just happened here? How is it that there were heavenly punishment clouds above the sect? What happened?" an urgent voice came from a stone that was in the hands of an old man. "Calm down, second elder. The clouds have already parted. But this is indeed a problem. One of the new disciples must have said something that angered the heavens. We must make sure that no one dares make the same mistake. We cannot afford to have the sect crumble because of one bad egg." the old man said. "The direction is indeed that where the new disciples are. I think that even your disciple is over there?" The old man''s expression darkened. "Ji Riyal is not the cause. He is a genius of the sword dao. He knows better than to speak of the taboo topics." the old man retorted. "Whatever it may be, we must pay attention to the new batch. Especially with that man''s son in it." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 101 Story Quest Ping! [Host haspleted story quest. Congrattions on getting into the Sky Heaven''s sect.] the system suddenly startled me. I was inside my quarters. This was the one ce that no one could enter, and I had my own privacy. Thanks to that, no one was here to start cursing at me. "Ipleted the pity quest that I got? Wonderful! Now what is my reward?" [Host''s penalty will be rescinded.] "System Homepage." Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 9 Strength - 57 Stamina - 32 Agility - 62 Cultivation - Foundation Establishment - 3rdyer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Medium Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Kun Peng Movement Arts (Basic Proficiency) Mind Eye(Active) Skill points - 16 Stat Points - 5 "I got 5 stat points back? I should put it all in strength this time. Last time, I put it in agility, but now that I have a good movement art, I don''t need to be that concerned about it." I thought to myself. "Put 5 stat points in strength." [Adding 5 stat points to strength. Strength increased.] The number next to the strength indicator shook a little, and it became 62. I could feel my muscles tighten. This increase was going to help me. But as to how much, only time would tell. "If I keep increasing my cultivation, and increase my stats side by side, then after a point, won''t I be much stronger than others who have the same cultivation as me? Forget that. I will be able to beat those who are almost a realm away!" I realized. I looked away from the box that hovered over me. I needed to go somewhere else now. I had some exploring to do, and clearly, no one from the outer sect was going to help me. At least, not the new disciples. My master clearly managed to offend them all. So, I intended to go start on the one thing that my master told me about. The missions. I needed toplete those missions to get contribution points, and then use those contribution points to then buy resources. I walked out of the residence to walk towards the mission hall. The biggest building of them all would probably be it. Given that the missions are the best way for the sect to earn money, it would be obvious to give it some importance. "Where are you going, junior brother. Do you think that you can just walk around so easily after you offended Deacon Hua? Come, follow me." another disciple, wearing the sect clothes, looked at me smugly. "Someone finally came?" I sighed. I just ignored him and continued to walk away. I had no time to handle this. I did not intend on wasting any time. Especially not after I realized the deadline that was looming over me. "What?! How dare you ignore me?!" the disciple was enraged. I felt a piercing sharp intent on my back. I immediately moved to the side, and an attack wished past by me. "You attacked someone who was defenseless? Is this what you learnt after this much time here? And you actually expect me to wag my tail behind you?" I raised my eyebrow. My spear already appeared in my hands. I was ready to start fighting. This man was asking for it. "Level - 8 Name - Hi Juntan Cultivation - Foundation Establishment Stage Fourth Layer" "He is just oneyer above me? Now this is going to be easy." I shot forward. I did not even need to use my wings. That was for a huge burst in speed. The Kun Peng Movement Arts also had the ability to raise my speed by a little for asions just like this. I did not need to use as much Qi, and it did not take as much concentration to use. My spear was close to connecting to his, when I saw that he was not surprised. In fact, he was expecting this attack. My spear hit his weapon, and it stopped there. I flew back and looked at him with shock. I did not expect him to see the attacking, and defend it so perfectly. "Did you really think that your senior would be so defenseless against someone who is a whole minor realm behind me? What fools entered the sect this year?" Hi Juntan startedughing. "Facing all the spoiled brats who know nothing about fighting, it seems like I overestimated myself. This is not going to be as easy as I thought it would be." I realized. "Now then, why are you resisting so much? Why don''t youe with me. What is the worst that could happen to you? The deacon is not a fool to cripple you or kill you? He will just make sure that you learn your lesson." Hi Juntan said. "Tell your deacon that this is all a misunderstanding. I am not going toe now though. He must be angry at me, and I do not expect him to listen to reason. You should be that voice of reason. Tell him that I was being impersonated." I said. "You were being impersonated? I see. Then why is it that you have the identity token that the deacon handed to the person who offended him? Do you take me to be an idiot?" he snarled at me. "Even if I tell him about how my master did all of this for fun, he is not going to believe it. And, master already told me to keep this all a secret. I should do what the Kun Peng Movement Arts does best. I should run." I nodded. Concentrating all my Qi into my back, translucent wings appeared. Hi Juntan also noticed them. "What are you doing? Do you think that I would let you-" Zoom! I fled in the opposite direction, towards where I suspected the Missions Hall was. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 102 I Have Classes? I already had a glimpse of the entire sect. While the ce that I was in was called the outer sect, it actually was just a corner of the sect that upied the least amount of space. Near the boundary of the outer sect and the inner sect was a chasm. This path, of sorts, was dotted with buildings. But each building was so much more apart than I had thought. I was heading over to thergest one, but there was nothing else in sight. "For a missions hall, this ce seems a bit too barren, doesn''t it?" I thought to myself. I looked back. I could not see Hi Juntan anywhere, but certainly, he was still on my trail. That much was sure. He wouldn''t just quit and let someone like me get away, would he? I approached the building. Calling it a building would be an understatement. It was a pce, that was for sure. "Isn''t master the sect master? Shouldn''t he be in a pce like this? Too bad, all I could see was a dark room. It would have been nice to see what it would be like to be the sect master." I thought. The entrance of the marble pce was huge, and there was no que like for the Pavilion of Dreams. I walked into the pce. "Stop! Who are you?!" a voice froze me in my tracks. "I am Liu Feng. I am a new disciple of the outer sect." I said, trying to figure out where this voice wasing from. "Liu Feng? Interesting. You are the boy that Liu Qian is raising, aren''t you?" the voice chuckled. "You know my father?" I was surprised. "Many here do. But you are not supposed to be here. It looks like your luck is quite bad. On your first day here, you are going to go to the punishment hal- What? Fine. Nothing. Just do note here until you are permitted to do so." the voice stopped all of a sudden, and pushed me back three steps, outside the pce. "What happened there? The voice stopped in the middle and forgave me. This is too suspicious." I wondered. Looking around, this ce was truly too barren. There was not a person in sight. Even Hi Juntan, who I thought would have reached me by now, wasn''t anywhere near me. "I guess I thought wrong. Why would thergest building around be some mysterious pce that has no apparent use?" I changed my direction and headed to the next building that I knew had to be the missions hall. In five minutes, I finally entered civilization again. ? There were people all around me, bustling, and not a single one cared about my existence. There was not a single new disciple here, and all the old ones did not care enough look at me. "Finally. This is how it should be." I smiled as I headed into the missions hall. There was a grand que on the hall with the same words, so I knew that I was right where I wanted to be. While the outside of the building looked small, the missions hall was much, much bigger on the inside. It was certainly a huge hall, that was for certain. The way that it operated reminded me of the wall street broker hall that they showed on TV. It was just too busy. There were people talking everywhere, and people leaving to goplete their missions. I went to one of the counters, with a young girl at the helm. She looked like she was my age. "Identity Token," she asked ndly. "My identity token? Yes!" I took out the token from my spatial ring and handed it to the young girl. She did not seem to have any cultivation at all. I wondered how sects recruited people so young for jobs like these. I was under the impression that the only young people who frequented sects were the ones who wanted to be cultivators. "You are a new disciple. Why are youing to the mission hall?" the girl disrupted my line of thought. "Yes, I am a new disciple. But I thought that if I got enough contribution points, then I would be able to use itter. I have nothing to do here anyway." I said, smiling. "What do you mean, you have nothing to do. You are a new disciple. For the first few months, you will have sses from the elders. Don''t tell me you didn''t know about that? The elder in charge of your batch must have told you." the girl looked at me with a surprised look. "Actually, I was not there are the whole introduction. I was... elsewhere." I said. "And no one told you about these sses? Why did youe here in the first ce? This is when you will learn the most important stuff. You will be able to break through your bottlenecks, and even try toprehend the profound dao. I wonder what is with one or two odd ones in every batch." the girl shook her head. "Where is this happening then? I need to go there right away. I already missed so much!" I asked, trying to keep my rage contained. No one told me. Not my master, not anyone around me, no one. "The Dragon Gate. You can ask around. Next!" the girl called, and a tall man walked up. I moved to the side, confounded. "I was missing way too much. I should have known this much, much before. Now, I need to find out where the dragon gate is." I ran out of the missions hall, and tried asking one of the disciples just standing there. "Senior brother, do you know where the dragon gate is?" I asked. "The dragon gate? Why are you asking for that? You are a new disciple, aren''t you? I have never seen you around." the person I asked looked at me with interest. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 103 The Dragon Gate "Yes, I am a new disciple." I nodded. "Stop messing with the kid. You have to go straight and you will be able to see a huge gate. Dragons inscribed on them. That''s the dragon gate." another senior brother swooped in and gave me a general direction. "Thank you, senior brother." I bowed down slightly and went running in the direction that I was pointed. Five minutester, I could see a gateing up in front of me. With it visible, I knew where I had to go. I quickened my pace, and saw that there were people in front of the dragon gate as well. An old man was in front of many other disciples, and they seemed to be in a ssroom of sorts. "A ss out in the open? A huge sect like this shouldn''t be running out of money. I think that this elder who is teaching this ss just likes the open." I thought to myself as I got to the gate. I looked up at the top. It towered a whole twenty meters above me. It was the biggest structure that I had ever seen in this world. "It looks like we have a guest here." An elderly voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked at the elder, who stopped talking and was looking at me. "Forgive me, elder. I was not aware that there were sses till now, and had to look for the dragon gate." I cupped my hands together and bowed. "You did not know that there were sses? Then how was it that you came here thest three days, and behaved like the most irresponsible brat that I have ever seen?" the elder raised his voice, with a hint of irritation. "But, I-" "Just go and sit down. Preaching about the heavenly daos is a taboo, and I am only doing this here, in the dragon gate, because the proud dragons are the rare ones to attract the ire of the heavens. The heavens will not deign to look at us." the elder waved his hands. I looked around. I also spotted Cai Lien, but she was not looking at me. Her eyes were still locked at the elder. I took a corner to sit at, and started listening to what the elder had to say. This was not the seventh elder, I knew that for sure. But what he said felt truly profound. "The path of pursuing a Dao is different from path of cultivation. But many pursue both of them together. That is because they do not understand that after a point, they will have to make a choice. After a point, they will have to pursue the path of cultivation alone, and go against the heavens, or they will have to pursue the path of the dao, and stay servant to it. One thing is for certain though. No matter which path is taken, there will still be tribtions to ovee. The ones on the path of the Daos will undergo tests ofpetence, while cultivators will undergo heavenly punishment." I raised my hand at this point. "A question, I hope?" the elder looked at me. "Yes, elder. Regarding the path to be taken. If being on the path of the Daos is the one that the heavens wants us to follow, then why does the path of cultivation even exist? Why doesn''t everyone follow the path of the dao?" "You are truly an idiot." the elder shook his head. "Do you think that it is easy to follow the path of the dao? You must understand the true meaning of the path that you are taking. You must understand what it- Oh? It looks like you actually are not as big an idiot as I thought you were. To think that you would have touched a small aspect of the Dao of transformation?" the elder''s eyebrows raised up. "I was just lucky." Iughed sheepishly. Around me, everyone turned around and had jealous looks in their faces. It was clear that having anyprehension of any dao was highly coveted. "But do not let that get into your head. The Dao of transformation is very powerful. Every dao is powerful once you achieve the height of it, but it is a long journey to the end. " the elder sighed as he said. I nodded and sat back down. "Now, we shall take a look at the ssifications once more. Among the 3000 great daos, there are three types. There are the daos of weapons, the daos of nature, and the daos of the elements. Now, many automatically touch the dao of weapons easily, and that is why they are the mostmon to see. However, after a point, they are also the hardest to move forward in. That is why, I warn every single one of the disciples of the sect that you must choose what Dao you will walk upon very carefully." the elder said. "All of this took a different turn from cultivation. I wonder though. If I am able to get to the Xiantian realm and have sufficient mastery of a dao, will I be able to go through the huge catastrophe that is clearlying for me?" I wondered. "The sword dao. Everyone calls it the king of the weapon daos. To all those that say that I say that is bullshit! All weapons have a counter. The sword is only good in closebat. Qi can only do so much. The spear can counter the sword with ease, And the spear is not invincible either. The mace can destroy a spear user. Every weapon has its counter, and calling one the king is stupidity!" the elder said with a passionate voice. "Now, there are also the fools who learn every single weapon and think that they have no counter in this world. They are even bigger idiots. Do you think that you can master all the weapons? How much time do you think that you have in your hands? Masters spend their whole life focusing on one weapon and they still do not reach the pinnacle of the dao of that weapon." the elder spat out. "What does that make me? The ethereal weapon arts teach every weapon. But I have the system, which shows me the easy way for everything." I thought, trying tofort myself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 104 Pursuing The Dao Hourster, all of us were still there looking at the elder in a daze. His words felt too profound. Him preaching on the dao was truly helpful. I could only understand some, but I already had a few thoughts of my own. "Until now, I was blindly following the skill, but is the skill at its most perfect form? It should have the Dao of the weapon, or the element of the skillbined with it. But I was still a little hazy on the concept of sitting down to meditate and try and unlock the secrets of a dao." I noted. The meditation part never suited me. While others meditated for their cultivation, I was using the Heaven Devouring art, and that meant that I was not acquainted with the whole procedure of being patient. This was something that I had to try out though. "I''ll do it when I get home. There is not much I can do anyways." I thought to myself as I nced at the huge Dragon Gate. Now that the ss was over, I could focus my attention on this. The dragon gate from the Kun Peng story was the reason that I could form the Kun Peng Movement arts. I could temporarily transform myself. And this dragon gate was not metaphorical anymore. "What would happen if I passed through it?" I wondered out loud. "You would be crushed underneath the immense pressure." the elder who was preaching till now stood right next to me. "Elder." I bowed down. "No need for all this. But you certainly are a different man now. It makes me wonder, just what were you possessed by, for you to act like a different man before all of this. You seempletely different." the elder asked. "I do not know how to exin it, elder. But you said something about an immense pressure. What is that? I thought that this was just a gate to attract the attention of the heavens." I asked. "Do you think that the heavens would be fooled by just a structure with dragons on it? No, ofcourse not. This is crafted with the bones of numerous true dragons. Or so it is said. We do not know. The sect master brought this to the sect twenty years ago, and it has been a corner stone for the sect ever since." the elder said. "The dragon gate is most known because of how the carp transformed into the Kun Peng. Will that be the same case if someone else goes through this gate?" "You are truly an interesting person. You saw through this instantly. That is the goal of a dragon gate after all. But the ordeal that you will face when you go through the dragon gate is too much for you to bear. You can only go through the gate if you are a core sect member or a disciple who is in the Houtian Realm. For you, that is a long way to go." the elder shook his head. "Thank you, elder. But what will happen if I try to undergo metamorphosis now? What is generating this pressure? It is just a gate made out of bones. It might attract attention, but I see no runes on this that make it special." "A dragon is a proud being. And a powerful one. A single dragon can wreak havoc upon an entire kingdom with ease. And for multiple dragons to be yed to make something like this? This is a legendary item. One that even the imperial family covets. And all those dragons have their residual wills. All those resentful spirits that will attack you the moment that you try and step through. You will be squashed to a pulp before you even react." I nodded, and turned around to leave. "I see that you have an aptitude for the path of the dao. You already touched the dao of transformation, and it is the best dao to have when you pass through the dragon gate. You have a bright future ahead of you." the elder said. I stopped and turned around to thank him. "How about this. I will-" he stopped talking, and looked up for a second. Then, he looked down. "I understand. No wonder. That cheeky brat. Get out of my face now! I don''t want to see you until tomorrow." he snarled at me. I was frightened by this sudden reversal in his mood. I turned tail and ran back. He was talking to someone. He and the person in that mysterious castle. They were both talking to someone. That someone could very well be Li Tian, but it could be someone else. Either way, someone was watching everything that I was doing. "Master might have told me that he was going out for some work but I sure as hell don''t believe it." I followed all the other disciples back to the residences. I crossed my fingers as I kept walking forward. "Please don''t let there be any madmen at my ce. Please don''t let there be any madmen at my ce." I muttered as I went to where I appeared today morning. But, it seemed that fate had another n for me. "Interesting. To think that you went into the Heavenly Music Pavilion without permission and actually came back with your limbs intact? But I thought that I would see you in the Punishment Hall. Why are you free and kicking?" I heard Hi Juntan say. "The heavenly music pavilion? That must be the marble pce that I identally mistook as the missions hall. But wait a minute. Isn''t that where my father told me to go to deliver the letter?" I suddenly realized. "Come on, senior brother. Why are we waiting any longer? He is right here. Let us take him and get going. Deacon Hua is not a patient man." another disciple was standing right next to him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 105 They Are Using It Wrong I looked around. "Five, six, shit. They have ten people here just for me? What did I even do for this deacon to be so angry at me?" The person who spoke second started walking towards me with a menacing look on his face. "No way am I going to fight ten people here. I am going to get beaten up almost instantly." I shook my head. "Don''t even think about escaping this time around. We have you surrounded." Hi Juntan said, dispelling my other thought. I could attempt to fly up, but was it worth it to throw away one of my biggest trump cards? "What does Deacon Hua want with me? I can give him what he wants." I said, trying to find a way out desperately. "You could give him the weapon you won that you refused to give him thest time." Hi Juntan said. "He wants my weapon? I might be trying to get out of this, but I am no longer a push over. If they want a fight, they have one now." I shook my head. "Looks like this guy wants to have a fight." one of the others shouted. Weapons appeared in all of their hands. "They all have spatial rings? Why the hell are they goonies to some deacon then? This is too outrageous." I shook my head. "Brother Liu Feng. It looks like you got yourself in a spot of trouble!" I heard a familiar voice from around me. "Junior Brother Yutian. Do you really want to get into this now? I know that you have connections with the fifth elder, but the fact remains that the elders are too busy to take care of the outer sect. Everything that happens here is managed by Deacon Hua. This is a warning from the your seniors. It is not wise to offend someone who is in charge of distributing the resources." Hi Juntan looked at Yu Yutian, who just came out of the corner. "Yu Yutian? Who would have thought that someone like him would step up? But does he n on going against me, or help me?" I looked at him with apprehension. "Do not worry, Brother Feng. I owe you my life. Why would I betray you? Senior Brothers, is there any way to tell Deacon Hua to leave? There must be some way that he will be appeased? I mean, what will he do with Liu Feng, someone who was able to convince the righteous sect leader to give him a whole three days in the Thunder Valley, an unprecedented move by the sect leader." Yu Yutian looked at Hi Juntan. "The sect leader allowed him to go to the thunder valley? Impossible! Only Inner Disciples are allowed in there." Hi Juntan''s face shriveled. "Could it be, you did not hear of this? All of us here have some or the other connection in the higher circle. I think that we should clean this up together and let go of what has happened." Yu Yutian said. "Wow. This guy has a glib mouth. To think that he could cate things so easily." I was shocked. "You... Fine. I will go. But if you think that this is over, then you are wrong. Deacon Hua will never forgive even a small offense. You should be ready for that." Hi Juntan said as he turned around to leave. Behind him, all the others also left, and the area finally became a little sparse, except for all the onlookers. "Thank you for your help, Brother Yutian. I certainly did not expect you to help me out." I smiled. "There is amon misconception that everyone who is born in a good n is in the habit of backstabbing those who helped them. But the Yu n has been a part of the Sky Heaven''s sect for hundreds of years. We are the corner stone of righteousness. We will never forget the debts that we owe." Yu Yutian stood proudly as he pumped his chest. "Truly, you have been righteous today. I must thank you. For some reason, some one impersonated me, and now everyone here hates me. It is good to know that I have a person like you to depend upon." I nodded at him. With this, I went inside the residence. "Thank god I didn''t have to fight. I am too exhausted. I wanted to meditate but this hugemotion has thrown me off my intentions. What do I do now?" I sighed. "The dragon gate. You must help me go through it." Liu Man suddenly said. "What are you saying, Liu Man? Did you not hear what the elder said? If I go through the dragon gate with my current cultivation, then I will get destroyed." "There must be a way. The elder said that only inner sect disciples at the Houtian Realm, or Core sect disciples are allowed. But he did not mention anything about the Core Sect Disciples. They did not need to be in the Houtian realm. There should be a loop hole." Liu Man said. "If inner sect disciples are at the Houtian realm, then Core Sect Disciples are probably even stronger. You are over thinking this." I shook my head. "What about the people who haveprehended the Dao? They must have a way to go through the dragon gate without any cultivation." "Why are you so desperate? This is the first time that I have seen you like this." I asked. "The sect here is not using the Dragon gate to its full capacity. Think again. What happened? A mere carp became a Kun Peng, a mythical beast that could traverse the mountains and the seas in a blink of an eye. Any creature could go through the dragon gate, and those who do survive would be truly powerful beasts. This is a chance for me to be so much stronger, and for me to get a body of my own. I will be able to go through my own metamorphosis." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 106 What Would Happen If I Were To Cripple You? "You have to wait, Liu Man. You have been the voice of reason till now. You have to understand. I cannot go through the gate now. I will go through it soon enough though. Just wait." I shook my head. "I will trust you to get stronger. I have helped you, and I trust you to do the same." Liu Man said. "What has gotten into him?" I wondered. But it was not time to worry about all that. It was time to rest. I had a long day ahead of me. Boom! "What was that?" I stood up with shock. I looked around with confusion. ,m Boom! The door of my residence caved in. Cracks appeared all over it. "Someone is attacking me!" I realized as my spear appeared in my hands from the spatial ring. I pointed it towards the door. Boom! The door broke open, and I could finally see who it was that was trying toe in. "You dare try to threaten me with your puny background, you fool? Do you think that I don''t know who you are. Your father is just a cripple, like you will be now. How dare you try to ckmail me into letting things go." the man who came in looked at me with rage. His eyes looked like they were burning up, and his fists were covered in an ethereal fire. "Mind Eye!" I whispered. "Level - 15 Name - Hua Bolin Cultivation - Foundation Establishment Stage Peak" "He is at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage? He is too strong for me to face now. I need to escape." I realized. "Where do you think you are going?" Deacon Hua''s voice appeared in front of me. He stood in the direction that I was about to escape off to. "He is too fast as well!" I was in big trouble now. I took a step back. Looking around, I was trapped. There was literally nowhere that I could go. He cut off all my forms of escape, and the ceiling was also blocked, so I couldn''t fly out. "What are you going to do? You want to get into trouble all for a weapon? Don''t you think that is a little outrageous? The elders will not leave you be." I said, trying to scare him. "You said it yourself. The elders would only care if this was in the first week. After that, do you really think that they would give two hoots about some new disciple that came in?" the deaconughed like a maniac. "Great. Now, I am dealing with a psycho." I shook my head. Hua Bolin''s figure disappeared, and he reappeared just inches away from my face. I was biweldered by his speed. Before I could even attack, I could feel his fist connect with my torso. Cough! I coughed out blood, but did not even move from my ce. The impact of the fist went entirely into my chest. I copsed into the ground barely able to breath. "Thank god I am wearing that armor. Or else, I would have died. But his attack is too powerful. The armor cracked. It will notst another attack." I muttered to myself. I could not move. He took one more step, and his feet were above my face. "Let us see, what would happen if I were to crush your dantian? Then, you would go back to being the idiot young master that you always were. Let us see that happening, shall we?" the deaconughed. I could see his foot approaching my chest. This was something that I could no longer dodge. This was truly life threatening now. "Stop!" I shouted with all my effort. My forehead hurt. I felt a splitting headache. I could hear a ringing sound, and the sound of th crashing waves that deafened me in the Spirit Jade pool weeks before. "What are you doing? You brute forced a spiritual attack? How did you do that?" I heard a sounde from where Hua Bolin was supposed to stand. But this voice was not of Hua Bolin. I opened my eyes again, and saw that Hua Bolin was no longer above me. I rose up to see that he was on the ground, unconscious. And crouched next to him was a young man that I did not recognize. "How did you do that? You used a spiritual attack. That is something that can only be done by those who opened their spirit sea. Did you open your spirit sea?" the young man asked. "Who are you?" I asked, crawling backwards. I was too weak to stand up. I could still feel my internal organs reeling from the attack by the deacon. "I am your Senior Brother. Now, your turn. How the hell did you do that?" "I don''t know. I was in a life threatening situation. The body does wonders at times like these. I don''t know how I survived. But now that he is unconscious, I think that it is time for a little payback?" I said, struggling to get up. I took out a few pills from my spatial ring and popped them in my mouth. For some reason, although I could feel them relieve me of my pain, I felt tired. Immeasurably tired. "You must be feeling swamped. That is what happens when you use your spiritual energy without any guidance or technique. I am surprised that you are still awake." the young man said. "Move." I said with a hoarse voice as I barely stood up. I inched closer to Hua Bolin. This bastard was aiming to cripple me. I had to cripple him now. I could not just let enemies get away like this. "I am afraid that I cannot let you do that. As a core disciple, I am not going to let a Deacon lose his cultivation." the young man shook his head as he stood in front of me. "He tried to kill me. I am a disciple of the sect as well. Where was your righteousness then?" I raised my eyebrows. "I was waiting." the core disciple shook his head. "Waiting for what?" "Orders from the elder. Whether to let you die or not." the core disciple smiled, and I could see the same craziness and killing intent that I felt before. I was utterly screwed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 107 Everyone Wants To Kill Me "You are here to kill me as well? What have I done to you?" I took a step back. "I am way too powerful for you to even try to escape from me. Even if I used only twenty percent of my power, you wouldn''t be able to handle it." the young man said. He looked strong as hell. But the robes that he had were different from the ones that we had. They had a blue hint to them, unlike the pure white that we had. Mind Eye "Level - ?? Name - Jun Wuchang Cultivation - ??" "He is too powerful for the mind eye to show. Goddamn it, what is with my luck? I thought that my luck was supposed to be good. The system said it was good." I thought to myself. "This ce seems a little cramped. Let us take this outside." he suddenly said. My hands went and put a defensive position at my chest instinctively, but it was useless. I felt a force kick me towards the wall. The wall broke open instantly, and I was looking at the darkened sky. "It looks like your luck ran out. The elder said that someone like you should not exist in the Sky Heavens sect. You should be executed." Jun Wuchang said as he approached me slowly. "Am I going to die?" "Which elder told you to kill him?" a bright and cheerful voice interrupted me and him. "Impossible!" Jun Wuchang froze. He looked up, and he fell to the ground st. "Sect leader?" I looked up with shock as well. In the sky, with his robes fluttering in the wind, my master was standing tall and strong. He looked down with contempt and a smile on his face, like he had everything under control. "Which elder told you to kill him? I am not going to ask again. Next time, I will get every elder here and soul search them until I get the answer. Do you of all people want the elders to go through that?" Li Tian said. "Why are you protecting this vile spawn, sect leader? This bastard brings nothing but trouble for the sect. If we kill him, then they will reward us. We will shoot up to the first ce after all this time with the rewards that we get." Jun Wuchang looked at Li Tian with pleading eyes. "Do you think that you can convince me of all people to be a dog of the imperial family? Just cough it out. And maybe I will let you both live. Maybe I will let you all live." Li Tian nced at Deacon Hua, who was still lying on the ground, unconscious. The space in front of Li Tian distorted. At this moment, the distortion became ck, and I could see a wrinkly hande out of this portal that was created in the sky. "Second Elder. Please tell me that you are not the one behind this. If you are, then I am afraid that for the next three years, this sect will not have one of its powerhouses standing by it." Li Tian looked at the portal with solemn eyes. "You are still young, Li Tian. So maybe you do not understand. There are times when we must concede to the higher forces. These are such times. Let the young boy die, and the sect will be peaceful for a long, long time." an old voice came from inside this portal. "So it was you who was behind all of this. Then I am afraid that this means you are going to spend some time in Frozen Earth Prison." Li Tian shook his head. "Do you think that you really can trap me somewhere? Do you think that you are the sect leader because you are the strongest in the sect? Don''t be ridiculous." the old voice sneered. Slowly, a whole person came out of the portal. I could not recognise who came out, but for some reason, his face and his voice felt the tiniest bit familiar. "Come on, Second elder. Do you really think that you are stronger than I am?" Li Tian shook his head. "I may not be stronger than you are, but my goal is not to escape now, is it? It is to kill." the old man smiled. My expression changed. What he meant was pretty obvious. He wanted to kill me. And someone that powerful could easily kill me. I willed all of my Qi into my back. I had to use the Kun Peng Movement Arts and get away from here. No matter how strong they were, I had to make an effort to leave. "If you attack him, then you will put all these innocent bystanders in danger." Li Tian said. p It was then that I realized that I was in the residence of the new disciples. There were people everywhere. Everyone was looking at me, with fear and confusion. "Quite the show that''s been put on, isn''t it? But there are times when we have to ept some coteral damage." the second elder sighed. "You have truly gone mad, elder. I am afraid that at this time, I have no choice but to fight you." Li Tian said. As he said this, a sword appeared in his hands. But unlike any other sword, his sword was humongous. It was not a great sword, per se, but rather a sword, just exemplified in scale. He looked like an ant holding this sword. "You are seriously trying to save this boy? For you to use The Heavenly Punishment against me? You dare use the sect''s most valuable weapon against its own elder?" the second elder raged. "You are the one who is disobeying themand of the sect leader. Now, there is still time for you to surrender. Three years of your life is nothingpared to the humiliation of losing to a sect leader less than a fifth of your age." Li Tian said. "Shut up, you brat. Come on. Let us see who will actually win." the second elder scoffed. In his hands, a staff appeared. The two figures blurred almost instantly, and they reappeared right next to each other, with their weapons in contact. But the weird thing was, even though the weapons hit each other, I could not hear anything. It was then, that the sound wave hit me. ng! Winds rushed everywhere, and it pushed me a whole two meters back. And this was just the result of a fight that was happening far away from us, in the air. What would happen if one of them were to attack me? I would be obliterated almost instantly. "Why does all of this have to happen in just the first few days? Why do I have to face the drama always? For one second, can''t it be someone else? What is with my luck? I just had to get reincarnated into this body. Now, everyone wants to kill me. " I shook my head and sighed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 108 Boss Fight I held my ground and looked up in the sky again. Then, I looked back at Jun Wuchang. With both of them trying to kill me, there was the off chance that Jun Wuchang would try and use this opportunity to nick me while my master was not looking. I took a few steps back, and the wings formed on my back. ,m "Kun Peng Movement arts!" My body hovered in the air, before I tried to shoot backwards, as far away from this ce as possible. "Where do you think you are going? There is such a good show going on here. Don''t you think that you should stay and watch?" another familiar voice rang in my ears. I felt an invisible wall block me, and I could not move. I dropped back to the ground and looked around with confusion. "Don''t worry. I am not here to kill you. I am just here to make sure that no one is stupid enough to kill you while the two bigshots up there are debating about how you will end up." the voice said. I could hear a hint of amusement from him. "You are the person from the mysterious pce. Who are you? You know who my father is. My real one and my foster father. How do you know them?" "Some things are better left unexined. It is interesting to watch you young ones scramble to find all the answers then." the voice said. I shook my head. "Nothing else to do now." Sighing, I just sat on the ground. I looked up at what was happening. If anything was going to happen to me, then this fight would be the one to decide it. ng! Once more, the weapons collided. There seemed to be a wind that blew away all the disciples that were looking at the fight. But this wind did not reach me. Whoever was protecting me, he was also protecting me from the aftermath of the battle. The second elder did not look like he was in great shape. He had blooding from his mouth. Although he had blocked both blows, it was clear that master had advantage in both power, and weapon of choice. "You should give up, elder. There is no way that you will win against me. I have long surpassed you in cultivation as well." Li Tian said. "What? Impossible. There is no way that- How is this possible? You broke through the bottle neck? That means that you are as strong as the sect leader of the Tiandu Sect!" the second elder took a step back. It was like he was treating the air as the ground! He put his weapon away. "You are right. There is no way that I will be able to match you. But my goal here is to kill that vile bastard''s spawn. Not go against my own sect." the second elder smiled. The area around him darkened, and the second elder slipped into another portal. He disappeared. Li Tian did not look around with surprise like I expected him to. He calmly looked in my direction and smiled. He leisruly approached me. I looked around. There was no portal forming around me. So that meant that he was not near me. But he just threatened to kill me. "Did you really think that I would be so stupid as to create a portal right next to you, boy?" I heard the old voice that I so desperate feared right next to me. I was frightened. I darted to the right, trying to get away from this voice, but my body froze. This pressure, simr to the one that I faced during the top ten trial that the sect leader forced us through, was holding me in ce. "With this, the sect will rise up once again." the second elder chuckled. "Not so fast, second elder. I am afraid that you will have to spend some time in istion and contemte what you did wrong." the person who promised to protect me till now finally appeared before me. I could finally put a face to this voice. He was young, but not so young. He was like a man who was just past his prime. But the wless white robes that he bore made him look like a god that descended to the earth. "What is the Heavenly Music Pavilion doing in this matter? I thought that you did not care for the sect affairs any longer." the second elder also appeared. He was right next to me, but he did not take a step forward. "Why don''t we take this conversation else where? I do not want to fight here. There are kids here who will face quite a number of problems. Let us go to the pavilion." the white robes man said softly. Immediately, I felt a force take me away. I could not even resist. I felt my surroundings change. I was in a courtyard of some sort. There was ake in front of me, with lotuses filling the pool. In the middle of the pool, there was a floating sculpture of a woman with a zither in her hands. "You are quite the audacious man, second elder. You actually wanted to kill the disciple of the sect leader right in front of him, and the rest of the sect." the white robed man chuckled. "The disciple of the sect leader? When did this happen? The royal family will be furious!" the second elder shouted. "Why do they need to know? Will you tell them? Should I be worried about where your loyalties lie?" Li Tian appeared next to the second elder. "No! Of course not!" the second elder stuttered as he staggered back. "Now then. There is still the part where I have to punish you for your offense." Li Tian smiled. He raised his hands, and a golden whirlpool emerged from his hands. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 109 What Do I Do Now? Half of the elder''s body disappeared. This whirlpool was sucking him inside, but the elder was not screaming in pain. He just closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Is he dead?" I asked, shivering. "Dead? Why would he be dead? I just sent him somewhere else." Li Tian looked at me weirdly. I slumped onto the ground. The day was exhausting enough as it is, and this just topped it off. Three people tried to kill me at once! "Now then, what are we going to do about him? We can''t just send him back there. He isn''t going to be the same person anymore." the white robed man said. "I have no intention of sending him back to the outer court. He needs to go somewhere else for now. I think that he should seclude himself until he reaches the Core Formation Stage. Then, I will send him to go for a few missions." Li Tian shook his head. "I should seclude myself until I reach the Core Formation Stage? How is that any fair? I can go out for missions instead." I suggested. "And tell everyone that you are an open target? I don''t think so. How could Liu Qian be so stupid? He should have hid the fact that this idiot started cultivating and sent him right to me. I would have done something about it, and we would have a little more freedom to experiment." Li Tian sighed. "If I should seclude myself until I reach the Core Formation Stage, then won''t I miss the preaching by the elders? That discussion about the dao was truly profound and I think that I can learn from that." I said. "You can go on the path of the dao yourself. There is no need for you to get an elder''s help to do it. Now, where do we put him for this closed cultivation? It has to be somewhere that no one will expect." Li Tian said. "We can put him in the Frozen Earth Prison. I mean, that is perfect. No one will think that he will be in the sect''s punishment grounds. And, we can make a room there so that he doesn''t freeze from the cold." the white robed man said. "That works. We should send him there now." Li Tian looked at me now. "You should get to the Core Formation Stage. Looking at you, and how fast your cultivation has taken off, I am sure that it will take no more than just a few months. Just six minor realms. They won''t take much time. But there is one thing that you have to keep in mind. Understand what Core Formation means. You have to form a core. Just remember that." Li Tian said as he snapped his fingers. The pleasant weather of this courtyard turned into a chilling cold. I felt my fingers freeze up almost immediately. "Oops! I forgot to give him the protection." I heard master''s voice. The moment he said that, I could feel the cold cut down, until I could not feel it anymore. Ping! [System detects change in storyline. System is confused at the incredible progression of Host. System will update to System V3. Time toplete update - 3 days] "What? Change in story line? Does this mean that all of this happened too fast? I knew it. All of this should have happened much, muchter, probably when I was in the Core Formation Realm, or in the Nascent Soul Realm. Why did this have to happen now?" I sighed. "Now then. Why don''t you go into his room and prepare for a long cultivation session? You should be able to get as much Qi as possible from this room. It is my personal cultivation room. You should be honored to use it." Li Tian said as he tapped my back. I was propelled forward at an incredible speed, until I saw that I was in a dark room, much like the one that he forced me in for the nine days. I took a deep breath. Cough! "The Qi density of this room is immense! If I start using the Heavenly Devouring Art here, then I will be able to get to the Core Formation Stage in just a month or two, forget the five or six that they think I should take." my eyes brightened up. The pitiful state that I was in was apparent. I was weak. But this was an opportunity. I could actually grow stronger. I could get to the Core Formation Stage and be an actual cultivator. I looked around. There were no openings. To one side, there was a basket of pills that I very much recognized. Food Pills. I popped one into my mouth and took another deep breath. "Alright. I don''t have the system for three days, don''t I? I think that I should just cultivate then." I told myself. I started performing the Heaven Devouring Art. The room was dark, but there seemed to be some light, though where it came from was not apparent. And with this little light, I was able to see that the Qi in the air was thick enough to form a mist of sorts. Now, with the Heaven Devouring art, this mist was forming a vortex and entering my body through my pores and openings. All this Qi was just going in. I could feel the Qi overloading my Dantian. This was a lot of Qi. Just like thest time, when master overloaded my dantian to forcefully make itrger, I also knew that I had to force my dantian to berger andrger. Drop by drop, the Qi condensed in my dantian. Cracks appeared once I forced more of it in, but the Qi was spent in repairing the cracks that it made. Ding! I felt my strength grow stronger. The system, always told me whenever I grew stronger, but now, I felt what everyone felt when they grew stronger. I did not improve a whole realm, but I was sure that my strength increased by a bit. This was the increase that I needed right now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 110 System V3 One monthter, My hair was overflowing. My face haggard. But those were all secondary. Because once again, the system knew exactly what I needed and it came to my rescue after the second update. "System Homepage." Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Young Master of the Liu Family Level - 9 Strength - 66 Stamina - 32 Agility - 63 Cultivation - Foundation Establishment - 9thyer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Medium Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Kun Peng Movement Arts (Basic Proficiency) Mind Eye(Active) Dao of Transformation(0.1%) Dao of Ice(0.5%) Skill points - 16 Stat Points - 0 The system had some obvious changes. It was clearly the addition of Dao. That was probably the story line part that the system was talking about. Maybe it did not expect me toprehend Dao this quickly. And surprisingly, the system had its own Daoprehension system ready. Rather than a whole step by step guide though, this process was a little different. It told me what Dao actually was. Something that originated from nothing, something that represented the origin of power, it was all very primordial. All of it sounded mystical. But I finally understood how to cultivate the Dao. It was about understanding the origin of the power that I was cultivating. The Dao of Ice was easy enough. With the cold seeping in from around me, I could feel my sweat constantly turning into Ice. I could feel the Ice around me. With all of this, all of a sudden, the system just gave me a notification saying that I learnt the Dao of Ice! It happened too quickly. And as if my body knew this, I suddenly could use this Dao anytime, anywhere. There was moisture in the air everywhere. I suddenly had the power to turn this moisture into ice! This did not need any Qi at all. But, for some reason, it did hurt my head whenever I used this power. The second change was even more obvious. The increase in my cultivation. With so much time in my hands, I was finally able to take that Foundation Tempering Pill. With that, my dantian grew much stronger, and it became so much easier to force it to grow. Along with that, the sheer amount of Qi within the room was just too much. I was not shocked at all that I grew this much in so little time. The month was eventful to say the least. Now, I was sure that I could beat that deacon with my eyes closed. I knew now that all he had was sheer power. He knew nothing about the Dao. But one thing that set me off was that every time I used the power of the Daos, it felt like I was making this unspeakable connection with what I presumed to be the heavens. It felt like I was borrowing their power. I did not want to borrow their power. I wanted to make this power my own. But all that aside, I had a goal that I had to reach now. I had to break through to the Core Formation Stage. Two pills appeared in my hands. All this time, I also took the time to create a few pills. I had one of the best ingredients for a fruit for someone in the Foundation Establishment Stage who was going to the Core Formation Stage. I had the Hidden Qi Peaches. The Hidden Qi Pills in my hands were perfect to break through to the Core Formation Stage. They would provide me with the Qi I needed without overloading my veins. I would use them to create the Core that master told me to form. I popped one into my mouth and took a deep breath. I was still standing, and started performing the Heaven Devouring Art. It remained the best art to absorb all the efficacy of the pill. Qi started pouring into my body. It clearly had some attribute, but that was not of any concern to me now. My Qi would not be so easily influenced anymore. I guided all the Qi into my dantian. I started forcing the Dantian in my body topress now. That was the obvious step. Now, I needed to make a core, and that meant making all the Qi a single source. All the Qi started repelling, and cracks started appearing all over the dantian. I felt sweat beads fall off my face. Whew! I heard a sound around me. This force that seemed to make all the Qi repel itself disappeared. The Qi startedpressing, and the dantian came together. I could feelyers uponyers of Qi fuse together. The Qi formed a golden hue as it came together. The dantian was in the shape of a core now. The size of the core was small. Much smaller than before. If before, it was the size of a water melon, then now, it was the size of a walnut. But one thing was certain. It had more Qi than before, and I felt stronger overall. Ping! Ping! Ping! Notification after another, the system started pinging. [Congrattions. Host has entered the Core Formation Stage.] [Congrattions. Host has entered the proper cultivation to be called a cultivator. Host has earnt the title - Cultivator. If equipped, title will boost agility and strength by one point each.] [Congrattions. Host has achieved recognition from the world. The World recognizes Host as a child of Dao. Host can equip this title. When equipped, Host will not face any bottlenecks until the [Error] stage.] "What the hell just happened here? I am a child of Dao?" I muttered. "What did you just say? You are a child of Dao?!" Liu Man suddenly cried out in shock. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 111 You Are Still Weak "Yes. Does that mean anything to you?" I asked. "Of course it means something. It means that the heavens have bestowed upon you a bigger cheat than this system of yours. They have allowed you to surpass the cultivation bottlenecks. You will be able to rise in cultivation without any hurdles!" Liu Man said, his voice trembling. "Yes, that is what the system said. It also said something about a title. I seem to have gotten two of them. I guess that I should try to equip these titles. System, equip title Cultivator." I said. [Equipping title cultivator. Title in effect. Strength and agility raised by one stat point.] the system pinged. "Really?" I couldn''t believe it. "System Homepage," I said immediately. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Cultivator Level - 9 Strength - 70(+1) Stamina - 32 Agility - 68(+1) Cultivation - Core Formation Stage 1st Layer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Medium Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Medium Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Kun Peng Movement Arts (Basic Proficiency) Mind Eye(Active) Dao of Transformation(0.1%) Dao of Ice(0.5%) Skill points - 16 Stat Points - 0 The title changed. Until now, I thought that the title was just another useless gimmik, but now it was giving me some actual benefits. Liu Man was wrong. The child of Dao might be a heavenly cheat, but the system was better. Much better. "Now, I am also in the Core Formation Stage. This is big. I finally got to this stage. I thought that it would take forever. Now, I am sure that I am above all my peers in cultivation. I can definitely screw them over." I smiled as Iughed out heartily. "That is where you are wrong. Complete wrong." I heard a voice interrupt me. The cold air around me disappeared. The entire area around me changed, and I was back in the niceke with the refreshing weather. In front of me, Li Tian and the white robed man were standing with frowning faces. "You are arrogant. I thought that the current dangers you face would tell you that you are not strong enough. But going to the Core Formation Stage got you in on your head." I looked at the both of them with shameful eyes. "You are weak. That is set in stone. You got to the Core Formation Stage in one month. That is indeed the second fastest speed that I had ever witnessed. But one thing is for sure. Even if you have the fastest cultivation speed, you are still in the Core Formation Stage. Everyone in the stage that you are up against are in the Xiantian realm. Why do you think that your father told you that you have to get there in just three months?" he said harshly. "The second fastest? Who was the fastest?" I asked. I had to know. This was faster than what I expected in my most liberal expectation. "Of course, you would want to know." Li Tian chuckled. He nced at the white robed man. "There is nothing wrong in divulging this little information. Your father was the one who was the fastest" the white robed man chuckled. "My father? Who was he? Was he a genius?" I asked. This was too interesting for me to pass up on. "Haha. This is not your natural father we are talking about. It is Liu Qian. The lion of the Sky Heavens sect. He really hid a lot from you, didn''t he?" Li Tian startedughing. "Father was the fastest cultivator that you have seen?" my mind went nk. The person stuck in the small city was actually the- how is this possible? He is still in the Nascent Soul right?" I stammered. "The injury he faced truly made him lose all of this progression. Or he would be in the position that I was in." Li Tian shook his head. "He would be in the sect leader position? What is going on?" I was just shocked out of my mind now. "Now where should we send him. As a person in the Core Formation Stage, he is notpletely useless." "True. I don''t need to worry about some random fly killing him." Li Tian nodded. "Then should we send him through the forest? No. He will die if some random spirit animal feels like sneezing. It''ll be a pity if he dies after we invested so much time into him." the white robed man said. "Then what do we do now? Should we send him to the Pill tower for that mission? That needs an alchemy disciple. He is one right?" Li Tian said. "Yes. We can send him for that. But will he be able toplete the mission? It is first mission. We cannot afford to mess up our rtions with the Pill Tower for this." the white robed man said. "Just a simple mission. The pill tower still needs me for that. They won''t just screw us over if we fail something so trivial. So it is decided. We should send him for the mission." Li Tian said. "Thank you for this opportunity, master, but if you don''t mind me asking, what is this mission that you want to send me for? And what is this requirement of being an alchemist disciple?" I asked. "Now, who should we send along with him? Let us make things interesting, shall we? There is that new inner sect disciple. She will not get anything from just closed door cultivation. Why not send her outside for this?" Li Tian asked. "You are changing a lot of rules for this boy. The elders won''t like this." the white robed man said. "That is how rules change, don''t they?" Li Tian chuckled. "What is going on? And is Cai Lien somehowing with me to this mission?" I was just breathless now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 112 Cai Lien Cai Lien "How is this happening? I have to go on a mission with him???" My body was red hot. My cheeks flushed red. Just thinking about him, his hair shining in the sun, and his eyes ring right at me, I could not think about anything else. "Of all the people, how the hell did you get feelings for him?!" my inner voice shouted at me. But I had no answer. That day, when he defeated me, I just felt something change. He was no longer that trash young master that everyone just talked about. He turned into something different. "No. This is not the time to think about this. I have a mission to focus on. I have to go to Pill Tower. I have to make sure that everything goes ording to n." I shook my head. I sighed as I put my sash to the side. The inner sect was chaotic. Because I was the new Inner Sect Disciple, I was allowed to get the advice of an elder one on on! It was incredible. I was able to finally breach a subject of the Dao and of cultivation that I could never do in the family. Just thinking about the family irritated me. They were ready to sell me off so that that bastard of a son could be the patriarch. "And he was the one who saved you from that plight." the same figure appeared before my eyes again. "Stop thinking about it. I could barelyst the past month. Now, god knows how long I have to go on this mission with him. Will he be like all men are? The people that mother warned me about? He was called the idiot young master." I told myself. He had the worst reputation in the entire city, and that did note easily. He had to do a lot of bad things to get there. "I should just go out and take a nice walk." I decided. Slipping into the Sect Robes, I headed out of my residence. "Junior Sister Cai Lien is leaving her residence!" The moment that I stepped out, I heard the same annoying voice that I hated for thest week. "Now these are the men that I need to stay clear of." I thought as I red at the man who was just sitting cooped up in front of my house. Although these were the residences that were dedicated for the women, this man was allowed to just stand here to keep an eye on my residence. Why? Because he was ackey of the despicable Hong Jimin. The number one disciple of the Inner Sect. The one who was at the peak of the Houtian Sect. It was said that the only reason that he wasn''t in the Core Sect was because he did not want to leave the inner sect where he lived like a king. What luck did I have, for me to catch his eye so soon after I entered the sect? And it was not like I could even use my paltry background against him. I was a girl from a branch family of the main Cai family. Meanwhile, Hong Jimin was from the Hong Family, another one of the three families under. And he was not a part of a branch family. He was a direct lineage descendant. "Thank god I will be leaving the sect and escaping him for a while. I was thinking that I would never be able to escape his grasp for the next year." I sighed with relief just thinking about whaty next. "What are you doing, Junior Sister? I just heard the bad news. It turns out that you are leaving the sect for a mission!" I heard a voice in front of me. I did not even need to look up to know who it was. "How the hell did you know? I haven''t told anyone yet." I frowned as I looked at Hong Jimin''s face. "Word travels fast in the Inner sect. Especially when it is word that I care about. Now, I hear that you will be leaving alone with another male disciple, but this one is from the Outer sect. How dare this person ept the mission even after knowing that I exist. I hear that this person has caused quite the stir once he arrived." Hong Jimin said. "What are you implying?" I raised my eyebrows. "He offended a Deacon, and for some reason, after the Deacon rushed into his house for some payback, this disciple just disappeared for one month! Now, he is returning to the sect again. He must have gone through some rigorous punishment during this time." Hong Jimin said, smiling. "What is this all got to do with me? If you have something to say, just say it." I snorted. "Well the thing is, it ismon knowledge that your beauty has smitten me. And this man that you are going on this mission with, he is from the same city that youe from. Now, I am not supposed to care about this little pumpkin, should I? I certainly hope not." Hong Jimin said, finally revealing what he wanted. I could not say anything. If I even showed the slightest bit of concern towards Liu Feng, then his life would be a living hell. Already, every inner sect male who even talked to me ended up having severe injuries mysteriously. I did not want to cause another one of these incidents again. "Why would I care about the idiot young master of the Liu Family? He is thest person that I want to associate with. But I keep telling you, Senior brother, I am not interested in you. I hope that you can keep away from me." I said, trying to keep a straight face. "That is exactly what I knew you would say, Junior Sister. That is why, I thought about sending Yu Jinpeng here to help you take care of this rascal while you are on your mission. I pulled some strings, and although I cannote with you, he will be." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 113 To Pill Tower "What did you just say? That rat faced bastard will being with me?" my expression changed. Until now, I tolerated his stupid efforts, but this was going too far. He was going to encroach on my along time with Liu Feng- I mean, disturb my mission? I could not allow this. "Senior Brother. If you are serious about pursuing me, then I suggest that you do not do this. If there is one thing that I do not hate more, it is that you are trying to take away my freedom." I snarled. "To think that you would actually resist this? It is true then. The rumors that I have heard around are true." Hong Jimin shook his head. "What rumors?" my face fell. "I hear that Liu Feng is engaged to you. It was a despicable rumor, I must say. But now, I think that it only just tells me that I need to take care of this boy." Hong Jimin said as he turned away. My hands clenched into fists. I did not say anything. He was too powerful for me to do anything. But one thing was sure. He could not just touch someone in the Outer Sect easily. The only way that he could do anything to Liu Feng was through his disposableckeys, like this Yu Jinpeng that he was sending. "I thought taking a walk would be nice, but to think that all it does was cause a headache. Who would have thought?" I shook my head. Somewhere in the sect, "Is someone talking about me? Why do I feel like that?" Liu Feng''s ears perked up as he rubbed his nose. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I headed to the missions hall. Until now, I couldn''tplete any missions at all, so the only thing that I could do was stare at all the people who were able to get these rewards forpleting these missions. I couldn''t say that I was not jealous. I needed these resources. They were the best way for me to grow faster. I walked in and headed to an empty counter. I put my identity token on the counter and looked at the young woman behind it. "Cai Lien? You are here for your mission with Liu Feng? He is not here yet. I thought that he would be with you." the woman said. "Why would he be with me?" I quickly shook my head, blushing at the mere thought of spending this time alone with him. "Calm down. I was just stating the facts. Anyways, you can just sit in a corner. After both of you arrive, only then can I brief you about this mission." the young woman pointed to a sparse area of the hall that no one was sitting at. I nodded and sat there, tapping my leg as I waited for Liu Feng. An hour went by, and Liu Feng was nowhere to be seem. Now, I was getting a little irritated. This was irresponsible! He had toe for this mission. I was not here early. He waste! "Where the hell is he right now?" I muttered. As if someone was taunting me, I heard my name getting called out. "Cai Lien. Pleasee to the mission desk number three." I heard a loud voice. I stood up and headed to the desk. I could see that there was a man who was standing at the counter. But he did not seem like Liu Feng. His back was turned to the desk, but his hair was longer, and he seemed a little taller than Liu Feng used to be. "He can''t be that Yu Jinpeng. That bastard isn''t this tall either." I thought as I headed to the counter and looked at him closely. "Hello, Senior Sister Cai Lien. It has been a long time since west met." the man turned around and smiled. "Li-Liu Feng! You have changed!" I cried out in shock. "Oh yes, there seems to have been a big difference in how I look. I wonder why. Maybe it is because of a small breakthrough that I had." Liu Feng said, "A break through? Is he in the third realm of the Foundation Establishment stage now?" I wondered as I tried to move the Qi around me. But the Qi was not budging. It was getting sucked into a vortex that seemed to be centered around Liu Feng. "Impossible! He is stronger than I am!" I realized. "Now then, can I know what this mission is? It has been long since I could actually interact with humans. I cannot wait to go to this Pill Tower." Liu Feng said, stretching his arms. "It has been long since he could interact with humans? What does that mean? Was he actually imprisoned for thest one month?" I wondered. But I could just ask himter while I was on the mission. I looked around. I was crossing my fingers, hoping that Yu Jinpeng would not show. Not just everyone could add another member into the mission team without the permission of the team members. But Hong Jimin was one of them. He had sway with the elders, the deacons, and obviously in the missions hall. "Now then, both of you have arrived. Are you waiting for someone? You seem to be darting your eyes somewhere."the young woman asked. "Me? Wait, did you say that only the both of us are in this mission? But I heard that Hong Jimin wanted to send Yu Jinpeng to the Pill Tower as well." I asked. "Yu Jinpeng? He is going to the Pill tower on a different mission. He left just an hour earlier. You might meet him there." the woman confirmed. "Who is this Yu Jinpeng?" Liu Feng asked. "You are Liu Feng, aren''t you? The person who offended a deacon immediately after his arrival. Well, you also seemed to have offended Hong Jimin over thisdy here." she pointed at me. "Why is she making me the viin here?" I trembled. "Why don''t we just get to the important part. I don''t have time to care about who hates me and who wants to kill me anymore." Liu Feng just shook his head. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 114 I Might Lose The System If I Dont Do This? Liu Feng The way she looked at me felt weird. It was like she wanted to say something, but she didn''t. And I didn''t want to press on. I took a deep breath as I looked at the youngdy behind the counter. "What is the mission?" I asked. "You must go to Pill Tower in the Yunir City, and must assist the alchemists. There are bandits in the area, and it is imperative that you must protect them from the bandits." the youngdy said. "And how many contribution points can I get?" I asked. "20 contribution points." "I should be able to get a few herbs for that much. Got it. How do we leave the sect though. The ck Swamp Forest surrounds the sect, and I am not strong enough to leave on my own." "This is your first mission, isn''t it? You will see. Go upstairs." the youngdy smiled. "Upstairs? What is there?" I raised my eyebrow. I looked at where she pointed. There were indeed stairs that Ipletely did not notice. "Let''s get going. I would rather leave now than encounter Hong Jimin." Cai Lien said in a hurry. "Whatever you say." I shrugged. Both of us headed up the stairs. That was when I realized that the Missions hall did not have a second floor. At the least, one that was visible to everyone. And it was true. The stairs were filled with people who were walking to the terrace, which was open. And once I got to the top of the staircase, I could finally see why they wereing here. And boy did this sight shock me. Roar! I heard monsters growl and birds screech. And none of these monsters were normal, and none of them were smaller than a few meters long. Every single one of them had wings, and their purpose was quite obvious. "The Sky Heavens sect has its own beast taming section? With this many beasts?" I eximed. [Loading 20%] A blue screen popped up. It closed almost immediately, but I knew that something was up. [Changing scenario. Altering scenario to make mission more suitable to Host''s current strength. Scenario Altered.] [New Story Quest. Kill Yurian Gale. Location - Pill Tower Time Limit - Three Months Reward - Increase of two levels Penalty - Termination of System] My eyes widened. The penalty shocked me. For the first time, I understood that the chance of me losing my system existed. And this hit me hard. "What happened to you? Why do you look so shocked?" Cai Lien brought me back to reality. "Have you ever heard of someone called Yurian Gale?" I asked. "Yurian Gale? Who is that? What kind of name is that? I wonder who names their child so funnily." Cai Lien chuckled. "She is right. The names that I have encountered are different from the ones on Earth. This seems so much like a western name." I also agreed with her. "Let us go. There is rarely a steed left. We must get one as fast as we can. Or else, the seniors will take one away from us." Cai Lien said as she ran forward. She showed her identity token to the person clearly in charge. He nced at her, and then me and went to the back. "Will this beast take us to Yunir City? Or just outside the sect?" I asked. "To Yunir City, of course. What the hell were you doing thest one month? I heard rumors, but is it true that you actually got imprisoned for offending a deacon?" she asked. "That''s what you hear? What the hell are you talking about? After the whole incident, that is the only thing that you heard?" I asked. "What do you mean? Every single disciple from the Outer sect was aghast at how angry the deacon was at you. They say that he almost killed you. And then, an elder intervened and stopped the situation from escting." Cai Lien said with the most innocent expression. "What about master and the second elder fighting? What about the part where the white robed man enters? What about that whole part? You must be kidding me! Did they manage to erase the memories of the disciples?" I was just shocked. "Your beast is ready. This is your first mission, so I think that this is your first time riding a tamed beast. As long as you do not offend it, it will not offend you." the man that Cai Lien talked to came to us. "Offend it? Is it a spirit beast?" I asked. "Of course. Do you think that we are some stupid third rate sect? We only use spirit beasts that can understand us. And in turn, we have to respect them. If one of the new disciples is stupid enough to disrepect a beast, then there were incidents where the disciples were never heard of again." the man said. "I understand. Is there any etiquette that needs to be followed?" "Not that you need to know of. Just don''t treat it like your pet. Treat it like a senior who is taking you to another ce." the man said. We looked at the spirit beast that we were supposed to mount. It was behind the man, and yet silent all this time. "A tiger with wings? How peculiar." I thought to myself. I did not dare voice my thought out loud. If I offended it the wrong way, then I would get into trouble. Ping! [Host is warned. Host must not take this mission lightly. If Host fails this story quest, then Host will face severe consequences.] The system buzzed again. "What is wrong? Why the hell is the system so serious all of a sudden? Why do I need to kill this Yurian Gale?" I muttered. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 115 Yunir City Riding on a spirit beast was tough. As majestic as it may sound, it was anything but. No one told me anything about how much I had to do to just hold on. There was nothingfortable about this. I had to put my concentration into holding on. Cai Lien had it even worse. She was at the edge of being flung over by the wind. Maybe the spirit beast noticed it, but maybe it didn''t. We were above the ck ring that circled the sect, the ck Swamp Forest. It loomed over me. I just couldn''t let go now. Even if I could fly, even the skies were dangerous. "You are new meat, I can see that." this deep voice rumbled in my ears. My eyes widened and I looked at Cai Lien. She also looked surprised. This person was addressing both of us. "Who are you?" I shouted, trying to ovee the sound of the whistling wind. "Who do you think I am? You are in the air, and there is no one else around you." the voice continued. I looked down at the spirit beast that we were on. "Could it be? The spirit beast?" I muttered. The sound of the wind faded away, and I could feel the force that was trying to tear me away from the beast die down. There was this protective barrier around us, stopping everything around us. "Now then, why would the sect be so stupid as to send two green horns to the Pill Tower? The girl is more interesting. Why would they send someone so weak to this task?" the beast said. I had nothing to say. I just couldn''t tell anyone the true circumstances because even I did not understand them fully. At best, all that I could say was that the reason that Cai Lien was on this mission was because master wanted a little fun and drama. "Well then, if you don''t know, then talking to you has be quite boring." the beast snorted. I understood what he meant. He would remove the barrier. And this barrier was good for me and for Cai Lien. For one, it saved us from the fear of dying! "Wait! It is because of my father. I am Liu Feng. A few people are paying some special attention to me because of my lineage." I said hastily, trying to think of a way to deal with this. "Your father? Now that I think of it, there was another Liu back in the day, Liu Qian. Oh, the glory days. Are you rted to him, by any chance?" "Yes, he is my father." I nodded vehemently. "You are the son of Liu Qian? I see absolutely no simrities. You are not even half the genius that he was. When he was your age, he was already entering the Nascent Soul Realm, a whole major realm above you." Cai Lien looked at me with shock. "Impossible! You are in the Core Formation Stage? I thought that at best you were above me by one or two minor realms, but you are a whole Major Realm away? How were you able to cross eight minor realms in just one month?!" Cai Lien shrieked with shock. "This was not how I wanted to show off my strength." I shook my head. "Oh! You were able to increase your cultivation by eight minor realms in just one month? Now I believe you. You are interesting. No wonder the sect elder wants to keep an eye on you." the beast chuckled. "The sect elder?" my ears perked up. "What sect elder? Which one? The second elder?" I asked, my breath getting haggard. "The second elder? What do you know about it boy? No one raises the topic of the second elder anymore. It is taboo. Of course I am not speaking to the second elder. I was talking to the first elder about this." the spirit beast said. "Thank god." I sighed with relief as I slumped onto the back of his luxurious mane. "Well then, now that I am no longer interested in what goes on with your life, hold on to your dear life, because I am releasing the protective barrier." the spirit beast said. "Please wait, senior. Is there any way that you can keep it? I can give you a few pills to supplement the Qi that you are using." I asked, trying my best to keep him upied and to change his mind. "Do you think that magical beasts actually care about spirit pills? It is thest thing that we want. We can directly consume any spirit fruit that we want. Why would we want to have a spirit pill? You are barking up the wrong tree." the spirit beast disagreeed. I could feel the barrier around us getting thinner and thinner. I held on to the mane once more and looked at Cai Lien. She was also in the same situation as I was. "How much longer do we have? I suck at geography!" I shouted as the sound of the wind deafened us. "You suck at what? I did not understand the word you said!" she shouted back. "I don''t know where we are! We passed the sect, but we are somewhere else. Where is that somewhere?" I shouted back. "I think that by the speed we are going, we still have about twenty minutes to get to Yunir City!" she said. "Twenty minutes? Wow, that is fast! Flying mounts are the best form of transportation for sure. If I have one of these for myself, then I can go anywhere I want without any trouble. But pity, I can''t get one so easily. Beasts with intelligence like this one will easily go upwards of a hundred million spirit coins in auctions." I sighed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 116 Yunir City(Part 2) The city came in sight. I knew the moment that I looked at it that this was Yunir City. The city was big. Bigger than even Kaishi city. And I could tell that it had a few powerful families. From the sky, I could see huge spots of green in the bustling city, and this would only be possible for the big powers. And at the center of the city, I could see two highlights. I could see a mansion bigger than any that I saw before. That was probably the city lord''s mansion. And right next to the mansion was a tower. And boy was this tower tall. At a staggering height of almost six hundred feet, this was the tallest building that I had seen in this world. It seemed that every time I went somewhere, this world kept surprising me. "This is where you drop off." the spirit beast lowered down to the ground slowly. It did not go into the city though, and stopped outside the city gates. "This is your first mission, so you probably got your instructions. Once your mission is over, then the sect will receive that information, and another spirit beast wille to collect you. Now then, I have some actual interesting things to get to." the spirit beast pped away, leaving us alone in front of the city gates. The guards looked at us with mouths wide open. They pointed their fingers as they shouted, "A mount! They had a flying mount! They must be important disciples!" "What do we do now? I do not know what instructions this spirit beast was talking about." I nced at Cai Lien. She took a deep breath as she faced me. "Are you seriously concerned about that right now? Here I am, still shocked at the fact that you are in the Core Formation Stage, and you are talking about the mission? You had a cultivation lower than me!" she shouted. p "The mission is very important. We can always talk about this partter." I said, trying to change the topic. How could I exin how I increased cultivation so fast? I knew that the biggest factor had to be the Heaven Devouring Art. "Forget the mission. I know exactly what to do. You were the idiot young master of the Kaishi city. You were the person that Sister Zhiqui always regretted being betrothed to. How did you change so much?" she asked. "I know that you have questions. Anyone would be surprised if someone rose a major realm in such small time. But the opportunities in the cultivation world are endless. There is always going to be a fruitful encounter if you are fated for it, and I was fated for mine. That is why I am where I am right now. I think that we should focus on the mission right now." I sighed. "How did he be so powerful? Of all people, him?" she muttered. I did not know if she knew that I could hear her, but I chose to ignore it. I walked to the city gates. Cai Lien begrudgingly followed me. "Who are you, Young Master? By the looks of it, you seem to being from an esteemed family." one of the guard asked politely. "You idiot! Can''t you see the symbol on their robes?" one of the guards shotued at the former. He then faced us. "Forgive us, members of the Sky Heavens sect. My friend here is just clueless about the world. I hope that you can look past this offense. The gates of the Yurin City are always open to someone from the great Sky Heaven''s sect." the guard bowed. Thankfully, I knew why he was so respectful. Yurin city was the closest city to the Sky Heaven''s sect. It did note in the way that I was traveling when I went to the sect from my city. But one thing was sure, both of these entities coexisted with each other. Without Yurin City, the sect would lose a major source of ie. And without the sect, the city would lose a major protector. Even a city in a kingdom needed a powerful force behind it to protect it from other cultivators. And of course, they needed powerful protectors to defend against the demonic sects. "What are you doing? Why do you keep freezing up? Let us go." Cai Lien said. "Yeah, I was just thinking about something. Where do we go now?" I asked. "For someone who has spent a month in the sect, you are absolutely clueless about how a disciple should act, and what a mission is," she said, flinging her hair back. "You might not know this, but thest one month, I have been here in captivity. So the total time that I spent in the sect was no more than one day. I know as much about the sect as some random person on the street does. In fact, I might even know less." I said. "Not my fault you got into trouble. Now, we must try and get to Pill Tower. That is where our mission is." she said. "I just thought about it. The Pill Tower is at the center of the city. It is where the most protection is possible. Who would dare attack someone from the Pill Tower when there is the city lord mansion right next to it? Why is there a problem of bandits? It doesn''t make sense." I asked. "Why would any bandit want to attack the Pill Tower directly? Even the Demonic sects wouldn''t dare do that. Even the imperial family would not dare touch a Pill Tower. They are the corner stones of every kingdom. The problem is that the bandits are stealing the spirit herbs and ingredients that areing into the city en route." Cai Lien said. "How the hell do you know all this? We got the same briefing." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 117 Arrogance "I did some research. It is my first mission. I had to be sure I knew what I was getting into." Cai Lien shrugged. We were headed to the Pill Tower. Getting there was the easy part. I could find where it was from anywhere in the city. Just looking up, I could see the huge tower above us. It was just massive. Within a few minutes, I could see that the crowds were getting bigger. Pill Tower seemed to be a ce of huge significance for the normal masses as well. If I had to guess, as a ce of alchemists, they probably had a monopoly in the spirit pill market of the entire city, or even the entire region. We could finally see the entrance to the tower, and saw that there was a huge line just to go in. "Now we have to wait? I am sure that as sect disciples, we should get some preferential treatment."I grumbled. Cai Lien did not respond. She just looked forward with interest, trying to see what was going around here. "Move away. Move away. Let him pass through!" A loud voice came from the back of the street that we were just passing through. I nced at what was going on. A carriage with two monsters that I couldn''t recognize was rushing towards at a speed that did not indicate that it intended to stop. With so many people here, it just seemed to want to plow its way through. "Looks like I finally encountered a proper arrogant young master here." I sighed as I moved to the side. Now was not the time for me to mess around. I needed to focus on my story quest first. It was too important for me to just put on the side. "Move away!" the voice shouted again. When everyone looked at the carriage, their expression changed, and they all gave way almost immediately. They obviously recognized the person who was in the carriage, and they did not want to offend them. But the moment that the carriage passed by us, it screeched to a halt with just a single word from inside the carriage. "Stop." the man in the carriage said, and it stopped right in front of us. The curtains around it did not let us see what was inside, but I knew that whoever was inside could see what was out. "Look what we have here. Why is a young and beautifuldy like you standing in this crowd with all these people? Why not join me?" the man said,ughing. "Are we not enough for you, young master?" a girl inside giggled. I could understand what the situation inside was. This man was clearly the pervert. Cai Lien''s expression changed. But she did not retort. She just looked away. "When my young master gives you the honor of meeting with him, then you ept it." I felt a horrible pressure forcing the both of us to look at the carriage, and then to bend our knees. "What family is this young master from, I wonder. I am from out of town." I asked, gritting my teeth. "What family? Don''t kid yourself. Don''t you see the clover symbol on the carriage? Our young master is a disciple of an esteemed alchemy master." a middle aged man came out of the carriage and looked at us haughtily. "And is it the intention of your young master to force two disciples of the Sky Heavens sect to kneel? One of them from the Inner sect?" I said, forcing a grin on my face. "You are from the Sky Heavens sect?" the look from the man''s face disappeared as quickly as the pressure did. He nced at our robes, and the truth dawned on him. "Forgive us, disciples. I hope that you have a good day ahead of you." the middle aged man was about to go back into the carriage. "Wait. Why do I need to care about who some disciple is. Why don''t youe into teh carriage, baby doll? The Sky Heavens sect will not care about some random inner sect disciple. And you look like a new one." the same lecherous voice came from inside the carriage. The eyes of the middle aged man darted inside and out. He was obviously worried about where things were headed with this. "Young master! The new sect master of the Sky Heavens sect is not like any other. I don''t think that this is the time for this." the middle aged man said in a whisper. "I don''t care. The sect will not offend my master over a small disciple. For disrespecting me, break the legs on the male disciple, and grab the girl." the young master said. Now, my face darkened. He wanted to take this fight to me, so I obviously had no choice but to retaliate. "What is happening over here?" another voice intervened. A man wearing a robe bearing the same clover symbol as this young master''s carriage did walked over. He nced at the two carriages, and shook his head. "Escort the young master inside. I am sure that he had his fun for the day." he sighed. "Looks like he faces this problem quite a lot." I chuckled. The middle aged man''s face darkened. "Are you trying to insult our young master boy?" he said, shouting. "I did not say anything till now, because I was in the Pill Tower. But you are in the same realm as I am. The only difference is that you are a part of a force that focuses on making pills while Ie from a force that prioritizes fighting. Do you think that you can actually go against me?" I shouted as I stood up to the force that he was putting up. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 118 He Is In The Vicinity I had the time, so I took the liberty of using mind eye on him the moment Iid eyes on him. This man, Hulong Tian, was in the same realm that I was. He couldn''t be stronger than me. After the seclusion, and getting acquainted with the power of Dao, I just knew that I was so much stronger than before. One thing was set in stone. The world that I had seen before and the world that I was yet to see that had masters of Dao within them werepletely different. Even with the little that I knew about what Dao was, I could apply it to my attacks, and they were so much stronger. Just stronger. "I am afraid that is no longer necessary. I shall escort you to the building myself, disciples of the esteemed Sky Heavens sect." the person who hade to intervene, intervened. I nced at him and nodded. "I shall respect the Pill Tower, not the arrogant idiot who dares think that the Sky Heavens sect is something to scoff at. I hope that the tower does not wish to send the wrong message." I said. The expression of the man darkened. "I know that the way that this young master has addressed you was wrong, but please, do not misquote words. We have nothing but awe and respect for the sect. But do not mistake it for subordination. The pill tower bowes down to no one." he said with a menacing tone. "We are here to help the Pill Tower with a mission. Why is it that we are out here fighting? Let us go in, and we will get started with our mission." Cai Lien said, trying to desperately salvage this situation. "The youngdy is right." the man nodded and pointed the way forward. We skipped ahead of the huge line and saw that there seemed to be a separate entrance through all this. "Why are there two entrances? Is this one for the VIPs?" I asked. "Of course not. The VIPs are allowed to contact the alchemists directly. That line is for those who wish to purchase spirit pills. Unfortunately, the number of alchemists in this world is dwindling, while demand remains unbounded." the man shook his head. "Mind eye." I muttered. "Level - 9 Name - Hulong Kin Cultivation - Foundation Establishment Stage 7thyer" "He seems to be in the same family as the man who was serving that young master. And why is someone who is guarding a ce this important, so weak? The city lord''s mansion has people in the Core Formation Stage just to be regr guards." I wondered. "Now then, shall we go to the Pill Tower part of the Pill Tower? People mistake it to be the shop that we set up front, but they are far from right. We just don''t deign to correct them. We are also the only ce an alchemist can be a certified alchemist." Hulong Kin said with aproud face. "There is a test to be an Alchemist? Is there a requirement? Can anyone take this test?" I asked. "Of course. But for outsiders, there is a hundred thousand spirit coin fee to take the test." Hulong Kin said. "Hmmm.... I should take the test sooner orter. If I have that certification, then I can show that I am an alchemist, and then I can try and get proper valid proof to show everyone." I thought to myself as we kept walking. This was obviously not what we came for. "Are you thinking about taking the test? Are you sure about it?" Cai Lien leaned in as she whispered. "Why? What is wrong with that?" I asked. "What is wrong? You are in the martial part of the sect. The sect will force you to move to the alchemy faction if they find out about your talent. You clearly want to stay focused on the martial way." she said. "Wow. Thanks for your concern. But I have it figured out. The one person who needs to know that I am an alchemist, knows. So no one in the sect can force me to be an alchemist. But there is one thing that I need to know about the pill tower." I asked. "What is it?" "The people here. Some ce like the Pill Tower should have so many big backers. They sell Pills, don''t they? There should be so many people flocking here just to work for them. Why are the guards so weak then? And why do they need people like us from the sect?" "How do you not know this? This is stuff that everyone teaches you as a kid!" she eximed. "Well, I was not very attentive as a kid." I scratched my back. "The imperial family does not want a power stronger than it inside the kingdom. That is why they forced the Pill Tower to agree that they would never have someone stronger than the Core Formation Realm, and something like that. No one knows the specifics, but one thing is for sure. There is still going to be one person in there who can help out the tower in case of an actual emergency." she said with a solemn tone. "Okay then. We have to go up now. I hope that you are okay with a teleportation array? We would not want to make the guest use stairs now, would we?" Hulong Kin said. "We will do what you want. Just take us where we need to take us." I waved my hand. He guided us to this array and ced what seemed to be a shiny stone on it. I saw the eyes of Cai Lien light up the moment that sheid eyes on it. It was clear that it was precious. But the light within the stone disappeared, and so did the people around us. We were teleported to another floor. It was not nearly as crowded as the previous one. Ping! [Emergency! Emergency! Host is in vicinity of Yurian Gale. Host is in vicinity of Yurian Gale!] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 119 He Is In The Vicinity(Part 2) [Emergency! Emergency! Host is in vicinity of Yurian Gale. Host is in vicinity of Yurian Gale!] My pupils dted. I turned around instinctively, but it was soon obvious that he wasn''t behind me. He could be above me, around me, or even right below me. But one thing was for sure. He was near me. "Which floor are we on? How many floors does this tower have?" I asked. "We are on the tenth floor. Out of fourteen total. This tenth floor is where all of the disciples from other sects are weed and introduced to their mission." Hulong Kin said. "I see. And what about the floors above us? Who is above us and below us?" I asked. "The floors above us are reserved for the alchemy elders. They are the elders who are Xiantian realm alchemists. They are alchemists with six clover leaves and higher." he said. "And what about at the top? The master of the Pill Tower?" I asked. "Of course not. You know that this Pill tower is just a branch, don''t you? And the one on top of the tower is the branch leader of this Pill Tower. He is a great alchemist with an eight leaf clover!" Hulong Kin said with amazement and wonder in his eyes. "I see. What is his name, I wonder? Forgive me, but I am not acquainted with this city as much as I am supposed to be." I smiled. For someone to be an important boss that I had to face, it had to be the head of the Pill Tower. "The leader''s name is Ga Yu." he replied. "Ga Yu? So familiar, but it might just be a coincidence. But if I have to kill him, then I need to be able to fight with him. Everyone in the higher floors is above the Xiantian realm! I need to be able to fight with those people!" I sighed as I thought to myself. "Is he in the tower right now?" Cai Lien, who was silent till now, asked. "No, he is not." Hulong Kin shook his head. "He isn''t? Then he can''t possibly be Yurian Gale. The message said that he was in my vicinity. I think he is someone who is below me." I thought. "What about the people who are below us? More alchemists?" I asked. "Yes, of course. The Pill Towers are the only ces in the kingdom where you can find more alchemists than cultivators. Except when you are in the first floor." Hulong Kin smiled. "I see. I see. And are these alchemists in the Nascent Soul Realm?" "Some of them are. Most of them aren''t. But we are wasting too much time here. The sun ising down, and this is the time that bandits strike the hardest." Hulong Kin said. "If the bandits strike now, why did you bring us here? You should take us to the ce where all of this is happening, should you not?" I asked. "Well, there are a few things that we need to prepare before all that is over." he smiled as he led us further into the floor. There were desks everywhere, and there seemed to be some rush. I could see that there were a few sect disciples here, but I wasn''t surprised. There had to be. "Please take these two rings. They shall record the number of bandits that you kill. Once you reach the number two hundred between the two of you, then you willplete this mission." Hulong Kin handed out two rings to us. I took one and let him hand the other to Cai Lien. I did not want to have anything weird going on when if I handed her a ring. "I thought that the mission was the deal with bandits. Why is there a contribution system? Why not take care of the bandits directly?" Cai Lien asked. "The bandit group that you are up against is the ck Bandana bandits. You might have heard about them in whatever your city you are from. Well, they are quite the nightmare. They are one of the biggest bandit groups ever to exist. And they are a pain to deal with. They have a Xiantian realm expert at the helm, and thousands of bandits in their midst. We can not eliminate them, so we deal with them slowly." Hulong Kin said. "They have a Xiantian realm leader? What happens if he wants toe out then? How can we deal with him?" "Then I can only me you for your bad luck. That is all that I can say." Hulong Kin sighed. "I shall escort you out so that you can deal with them now." "What about the contribution points? How do they work? One for every bandit that I kill?" "One for every Foundation Establishment stage bandit that you kill, five for every Core Formation Expert, and none for Qi Condensation cannon fodder." "Let us get going then. I think I have to go on a killing spree." I smiled. "I must warn you. It is not going to be that easy. But one thing is for certain. You are new so you may not know it. The bandits are tough nuts to crack. After years of piging, the group hase into contact with multiple high end skill books. They are strong, and have a lot of fighting experience. That is what your sect informed us to tell the new disciples whoe for this mission." Hulong Kin said. "Thank you for your advice then." I smiled. We walked to the teleportation array that took us to the tenth floor. It was interesting to look at, to say the least. We were about to get in, when someone ran to stop us. "Wait! You are not allowed to leave! No one on the top ten floors is allowed to leave. There is an enemy among us!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 120 Where Is Gray Holton? "Say what now? There is an enemy now? Where?" I looked around with confusion. My spear appeared in my hands. I needed to defend myself. "Please disarm yourself. Everyone who is not a part of the Pill Tower is not allowed to hold a weapon." Hulong Kin stopped me. "Wait a minute. How does that work? You said that there is an enemy. Of course I should defend myself. Why can''t I hold a weapon?" "I do not make the rules. Forgive me for doing this, but if you do not disarm yourself, then I will have to confiscate your weapon." he said as he stepped forward. I frowned, but still put my weapon inside. "Do not misunderstand even a little. I am only putting the weapon back in because of the respect I have for the Pill Tower. Not because of your intimidation. You are not capable of disarming me." I said. "Thank you for your consideration." Hulong Kin said as he looked around with furrowed eyebrows. "What is going around now? There is an enemy inside the Pill tower? How can that be?" I asked. "There are enemies of the Pill Tower all around the Kingdom. But I am not sure what this is about either. Only someone who could have taken one of the attendants hostage toe to the higher towers would be ssified an enemy. The teleportation array means that no one without authorization coulde to the higher floors." "Look for this guy. The elders gave the name of the guy we need to look for!" one of the attendants wearing the robes of the pill tower came running towards us. "What? The two here are from the sky heavens sect." Hulong Kin said. "Did you check their identity tokens? We need to be absolutely sure." thetter said. Hulong Kin turned to us. "Is it possible for the esteemed guests to show your identity tokens please?" he requested. "Of course. That is not a problem" Cai Lien nodded as she shed her identity token. I did the same, and his face rxed. "Like I said, these guests are from the Sky Heavens sect and are here toplete a mission. They cannot be the people that the elders are looking for." "But if youe across this man, then you have to tell someone, alright? You just have to. All I have is a name. Gray Holton." the man said as he walked away. The blood drained from my face. Gray Holton? That was me. That was the name that I had in my previous life, and that was my username in the system. Whoever was looking for me, knew me because of my system! That was when something that the system said got into my head. ''You have been chosen to be one of the few who were sent to another world with a system.'' Those were the words that the system had said. Now, everything made sense. That was why the system was pushing so hard on this story quest. This Yurian Gale had to be someone rted to the system. He could be someone with a system, or he could be someone the system created to be my foe. I favored the former, but neither changed the fact that I was not safe right now. "At the least, I know where he is right now. I have three months to take care of him." I thought to myself. "You need to be careful, Liu Feng. If he is someone who canmand the entire Pill Tower to go into lockdown just so that you can be trapped, then he is a powerful person." Liu Man advised. "Yes. And that doesn''t make sense. If he also got reincarnated to this world with me, then he should have had the same starting point as me. He should have had the same time as me. He couldn''t have grown this fast." I said. "That is not necessary. From what I understand, you got reincarnated into this body. Maybe he was lucky, and he reincarnated into the body of a strong person, like a Pill Elder. Or even worse, maybe he reincarnated into the body of a super genius? In that case, you need to deal with him faster." Liu Man said. "Whatever the case may be, I can''t move from here anyway. Let us hope that the reveals himself." I said. I looked at Cai Lien. She was calm at the whole situation. Everyone was, once they knew who the Pill Tower was looking for. Then, she looked at me. "Wait a minute. I remember you saying a name that was simr to this. The same funny style of naming. You said something about Yu-" "I said nothing. I said nothing. You must be confused. Now, this Gray Holton or somebody must be really stupid, toe to the lion''s den. I hope that he will get caught soon, so that we can leave. I have a mission to take care of." I quickly interrupted her. If anyone here knew that I was looking for Yurian Gale, and that actually got into the radar of Yurian Gale, I was dead meat. He must have gotten the same notification that I had. And just because of this notification, he closed the top ten floors down. If he knew who I was, then I would be dead before I knew it. "Alright..." Cai Lien frowned, but her eyes did not leave me. They stayed on me, suspicious as hell. I moved away though. I looked around, trying to gauge the situation. Hulong Kin had long gone away with all the other Pill Tower people. They were out there looking for Gray Holtoln. Little did they know that no one in this world would use that name. Even I wasn''t. I was under the name of this body. "Maybe he isn''t a genius after all. Why would he think that Gray Holton would be under the name Gray Holton here?" I wondered. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 121 Five More Days "Move! Move!" they shouted. There was still chaos everywhere. I looked at them with interest. How were they going to look for someone with only a name? Now that I was cast out of suspicion, I was relieved. I was confident that they could not find me. Now, all I could do was enjoy the show. They clearly had no intention of letting us go. All we could do was see what was going on. We found seats nearby. The chaossted another hour before Hulong Kin returned back to us. "I hope that you have not been inconvenienced by all of this." he asked. "What do you think happened? But I guess that we cannot change that. Now, the sun has set. The bandits must be attacking. Do you want us to go there now? Your people will lose their lives today." I asked. "The load that ising today is not valuable enough for us to have such urgency. You can just return and rest after this is all over." he smiled. "What do you mean, after this is all over? This is still not over? Why the hell is this taking so much time?" "This is a serious security concern. Every single alchemist is a treasure of the kingdom, I am sure that you agree. Without alchemists, the cultivation of most cultivators in the kingdom would stagnate. We cannot let such a threat in the tower be let go so easily." Hulong Kin said. "You only know a name. You don''t even have a face. How the hell are you going to find someone like that? Forget that even. How did you even know that you have a threat here?" Cai Lien asked. She was silent all this time, but I was sure that she was fuming at our current situation as well. "How do you know that? I have not told you the specifics about this." he looked at us with apprehension. "You haven''t been very secretive about your issue. Everyone here knows what is going on. Now then, answer thedy''s concern. There are many guests here that you are holding hostage, practically. There should be a reason that you think there is an enemy here, don''t you? You must have some source." I asked. This was good. I could find out who ratted me out. That person would be Yurian Gale. I still had that slight hope that he was not the Pill Tower branch leader. "That is confidential. We cannot just tell you how the Pill Tower operates within. I ask you to sit down and wait a little while." Hulong Kin said as he stepped back. But the fire was lit. Around us, people heard what we said. They also started asking the attendants around them. They were innocent here, unlike me. They had no reason to be detained. "Now you have done it. Fine. I am not responsible for this. The youngest Pill Elder of the Pill Tower says that someone who is an enemy of the Pill Tower entered here. He is the personal disciple of the Pill Tower branch leader, and he is also the brightest genius of the Pill Tower, the best alchemist the tower has seen in a century!" Hulong Kin said. The moment he said this, everyone became quiet. When they were dealing with someone like that, they could not resist. An alchemist would have the biggest backing of everyone. They would have experts trying to curry their favor, and when it is a Pill Elder who was a once a century genius, they would have masters all over the kingdom behind them. "Then, can I go work now? I need to find that person. We are in trouble if we cannot find him." he muttered as he left us again. I looked at the others who were looking at us with ashen faces. "What is wrong, brother? Is there something that we have done? By any chance, do you know who this person is that he just told us about?" I asked. "How do you not know him? The alchemy genius whoes only once a century. The whole kingdom knows about this prodigy from the Yunir City. You Feng." Cai Lien spoke up. "You Feng? I feel like this name is very simr to Yurian Gale. Why is that? Well, I wonder. But now that I know who I need to go against, I should do something about it. If he is a Pill Elder, that must mean that he is in the Nascent Soul stage, or even the Xiantian Stage. It will be hard to go against him." I told myself. "Forgive us all, esteemed guests. It seems that a dire mistake has been made. We hope that you can forgive us. The Pill tower shall have to remain closed for the next five days to choke out this rat. We shallpensate you splendidly once the enemy is found." an attendant announced. "What? They are willing to close the Pill Tower and hold us hostage for five days to find out who the enemy is? This is truly unfair." I shook my head. "What is going on? We have to stay here now?" the crowd was getting ufortable. "You can use this time to your advantage. It is not every day that you are in the Pill Tower. You can use this time to be an alchemist." Liu Man suggested. "You are right. I should be an alchemist. I have to do it sometime anyway." I nodded as I looked around. There were attendants running around everywhere. I stopped one of them. "What do you want, esteemed guest?" he asked. "Esteemed guest? Well, they have to treat us with utmost respect after the stuff they are pulling off." I shrugged and continued. "I wish to take the test to be an alchemist. I can make Foundation Establishment Level pills." I asked. He looked at me pensively, but he sighed. "The entry fee is a million spirit coins." he said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 122 Im Poor Now "What? A million? But the previous attendant said that it was just a hundred thousand coins!" I eximed. "That is for someone testing to be a single leaf clover symbol test. But someone who is able to synthesize foundation establishment pills, that means that you are attempting to beat the two lead clover," he said. "How does this ssification even work anyway? I am getting more and more confused right now." I asked. He gave me a look like I was some country bumpkin. He did not believe that I could be an alchemist. Anyone would think that I was doing it for fun. "The single leaf indicates that the alchemist is able to create Qi Condensation Realm Pills. Two leaves indicate foundation establishment stage. Three and four for Core formation, five and six for nascent soul, and seven and eight for the Xiantian realm." he said. "So only one each for the Qi condensation stage and the foundation establishment stage pills, huh? I guess that makes sense. The Core formation stage is where the real cultivation starts. Well then, I think that we should go get the test done. I don''t want to keep waiting. If I can do this, then I should be able to sell my pills here as well right?" "Of course. Every recognized alchemist is allowed to sell pills in the pill tower. A Pill Tower is a haven for an alchemist." the attendant smiled. "Take me to the ce where the tests are going on then." "Coincidentally, a group of alchemist disciples is here to take their test. But it has been dyed because of the situation. I can take you there." the attendant offered. "I see. I see." I took a step back to let him go forward. "I am afraid that we cannot go through the teleportation array. It is disabled because the intruder might be able to escape through it. Please follow me to the stairs." the attendant shook his head. "Which floor are the tests happening on?" "The third floor." the attendant said. "Wait a minute. I thought that the top ten floors were sealed off. What is this about the third floor now? How can we go there? Are you trying to y me for a fool?" I frowned. "Of course not, esteemed guest. The elders have decided that after sealing off the entire Pill Tower, the guests are allowed to go to any of the floors, as long as they are supervised. There are cultivation rooms avable for all those who wish to avail them." He said with a louder voice so that everyone could hear him. With this, all of the other people on the floor just scrambled around. They wanted this cultivation room. And there were probably limited spots avable, so they had to rush to get there. "I will also go to get a cultivation room. I wish you the best of luck. But I am sure that you do not need it. Your talent as an alchemist has already been shown." Cai Lien said as she left me alone with the attendant. "Alright then. Let us walk down seven floors. It shouldn''t be that big a problem." I said. "Pleasee this way." We went to a corner of the floor. There, behind an unassuming door,y the stairs. Immediately, someone stopped us. "Where are you going?" he asked. "This guest wishes to take the two leaf clover test. I am taking him to the third floor." the attendant said. "Oh! Hulong Tuyu? Go ahead, go ahead. I just can''t seem to understand why this happened? How did someone sneak into the tower?" the attendant sighed. "Another Hulong? What is this? Are all the attendants of the tower from the same n? Or is this n a servant of the Pill Tower? What the hell is this?" I wondered. "I have no time to chitchat. I have to take this guest downstairs." Hulong Tuyu sighed as he walked down the stairs. It was not that difficult. Cultivation made my physique strong. It also made it stronger than most others. I could see that the attendant in front of me was gasping for air even though he was in the Foundation Establishment stage. "How can someone be so high up in cultivation when they are so useless?" I wondered. We got to the third floor and left the stairs. This floor seemed to be much bigger than the previous one. But that did not make any sense to me. From the outside, it looked like all the floors were the same width. That meant that the higher floors had more rooms for some reason. "Must be all the alchemists inside." I guessed as I kept walking. We stopped in front of a huge group that was just sitting at what appeared to be a waiting room. They were all reading the same looking book carefully. I took a closer look and saw what the title was. "Medicine Encyclopedia" "It is the list of spirit ingredients!" I realized. All of these people were studying for some test of sorts. "So the test is going to be in so many things, and not just making a pill. I just hope that I will be able to do this right." I hoped as I walked forward. "Where do I pay?" I asked. "Do you have a credit provider, or do you wish to pay with something of simr value?" he asked. "Credit prividor? This ce is so weird. It is so advanced, but it also uses such a basic system like barter." I thought as I took out the card that I got from the Shianxi Auction house. "Will this work?" I asked. "The Shianxi Auction House? Of course! I shallplete this transaction and send word to the auction house." the attendant took the guard. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 123 Becoming An Alchemist (Part 1) The attendant returned minutester and returned the card. "It is an honor to have a VIP guest of the Shiaxi Auction house here. I hope that you forgive us for our paltry service. The test will be starting shortly. I hope that you will be able to pass." the attendant''s expressions and face changed considerably. Now, he was no longer looking at me with contempt, but with a worshipping expression. This VIP figure was clearly not for show. But why did they give me such a big title after just giving him one or two pills? I did not understand it, but I shrugged. Why care? I nced at the participants. They were all looking at me now. Themotion that the attendant made turned their attention towards me. For some reason, I felt like all of their time was being wasted. They were trying so hard to memorize the Pill ingredients. But for me, all I needed to do was spend a few skill points and I could have all of this information imprinted in my mind. An old man appeared at this very moment and took a quick scan. "I see that many of you havee here fromst time. Well, I hope that you will have a different oue as well. Thest exam, I was very disappointed by the results. All of you are here for the first leaf clover exam, I assume." he asked. "I am here for the second leaf clover exam, senior." I raised my hand. He raised his eyebrows. "I can see that you do not have a pill badge as of yet. Your hands are rough and scarred. You are no alchemist. You are a martial artist. Why is it that you wish to humiliate me by wasting my time?" he frowned. "That is not my intention, senior. I am just here to get this test over. I assure you, I am an alchemist. And, I have already paid my fee. I hope that you can amodate me." I tried my best to remain calm and not offend anyone again. "Fine then. Let us get going. I hope that I am lucky and see another genius like that You Feng. But the heavens won''t do me that favor, it seems." he shook his head as he kept walking inside a room. ? All of the Alchemy Disciples here stood up and followed him in. I also did the same. I had no clue what to do, so I decided to just follow what they did. The moment I was at the threshold of the room, I could smell the various spirit ingredients within. There were many. My eyes sparkled. Here were many of the ingredients that I just hoped would appear in the auctions. Many of the Pills that I intended to make were cut short because Icked some of the herbs that were here in this room. "Now, I will cut the arms of any bold man who dares to touch the herbs." the old man nced at my direction, as if I was the person who would do that. "You will be given a test sheet. Write down every single herb that is here in this list. Those who manage to identify thirteen of these herbs will be able to go to the next round." he said. Attendants appeared from nowhere and handed out papers and quills to every single participant. We were made to sit far from each other, and the old man scoured through the room to make sure that we did not look at each other. The herbs were right in front of us, and I could identify each and every single one of them instantly. Every time I saw one precious herb, my heart tightened. This was another herb that I was missing to create another superb pill. But the opportunity passed me by. I was in the Core formation realm now, and the pills of the foundation establishment realm were no longer as effective as they were supposed to be. I sighed as I wrote down every single one of the herbs. It was over within minutes, and I put the paper down. I looked around, but it was not apparent to me why every single one of those Alchemy Disciples were studying those books so studiously. Here they were, racking their heads and trying to figure out which herb was which. I almostughed looking at them trying so hard. "It looks like you are done. Why don''t I take a look?" the old man appeared in front of me. I nodded, and handed him my answers. I looked at what he was doing, and how his expression changed. That was the best way to know if I was actually right. Because, there could be a change in what the system thought was the name, and what the world recognized as the name. "Interesting. You are an interesting fellow. Why don''t you get out of here now and wait outside while the rest of these miserable brats try to figure out which is which." the old manughed as he walked away from me. The alchemy disciples all red at me with hatred. They were under the impression that I was the reason the old man started looking down on everyone. I sighed as I left the room. I knew that I had to have passed. I took a seat and looked around. The attendant that brought me here, Hulong Tuyu, was also here. He saw mee out and came to me. "I see that luck was not on your side, Young master. Maybe another time?", he said consolingly. "Why are you so sure that I failed?" I chuckled. "It has been a mere three minutes since you went in, young master. Unless every single herb in there, you recognized instantly, you would not be able toe out without failing." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 124 Becoming An Alchemist (Part 2) "I see. And I think that I was lucky. I recognized all of them." I chuckled. The attendant switched back to the weird look on his face. I knew that he wanted to say that I was lying, but he was just stopping that impulse now that he found out I was a VIP member of the Shianxi auction house. "I shall congratte you then, young master." the attendant bowed slightly and quickly left. He wanted nothing to do with me anymore, I could tell. I shook my head and looked at the entrance. No one was leaving. The people inside were taking way too much time. I cursed at this world. In times like this, I could do nothing. I had no patience. Years of getting used to having a phone in my pocket robbed that from me. An hourter, I heard a loud dong. There was shuffling within, and the quiet room turned noisy. All of the alchemy disciples left the room now, and were discussing between each other. It was like every other exam that I had written in my previous life. The simrities were uncanny. The old man came out of the room was well. "Ahem!" He cleared his throat. ,m All of the alchemy disciples looked at him, me included. We were waiting with bated breaths to see what he was about to say. "As usual, this time the result is very disappointing." he shook his head. I could see the faces of many fall down when hearing that. They knew that they were going to fail. "Not a single one could get a perfect score. I thought that at least one of you would, but perhaps I am being too optimistic. Now then, you all follow me." the old man pointed to different people in the room. At the end, he stopped and nced at me. "You really surprised me. To think that you would just get one thing wrong. I am honestly surprised." he nodded at me as he pointed towards me as well. "One thing wrong? May I know which one it is?" I asked. "The Blue Mandragora. You called it the Sky Mandragora. No one knows that the hell that is. Come on then, follow me." he said as he turned around and headed beyond this room into another on the floor. "This must be the mistake that I was expecting. I knew that there were going to be discrepancies in databases." I sighed as I followed him. The other alchemy disciples looked at me with eyes of shock and wonder. They had no idea how this happened. I took just mere minutes toplete what everyone else took an entire hour for. And yet, I clearly got the highest score. I did not care though. I just wanted the badge. I followed him to the other room. In there, I could see that there were multiple furnaces, and the smell of spirit pills wafted to my nose. "As all of you are aware, this is usually where you have to undergo the me test. You have to be able to control the fire and perfectly regte temperature. But right now, at this situation, I have been ordered not to allow any one to use a Pill Fire from the tower. They are precious and powerful. The enemy might be among us, so it is just not desirable for the enemy to steal a Pill Fire. We will be skipping directly to the final test, which should be able to inculcate the fire test within." the old man said. "Regting fire? What the hell is this? All I did was follow what the system showed me exactly. I have no idea what regting the fire is. Thank god, this Yurian Gale is such a drama queen." I took a deep breath. "Take any furnace. Now, the person who came for the two leaf clover test, you will have a different pill to create. You will have to make a Foundation Tempering Pill. As for the rest of you, it is going to be very basic. You have to make a Qi Supplement Pill." the old man said. "The foundation tempering pill? The instructor must be mad at him, to give such a difficult pill to make." the alchemy disciples that remained broke into discussion. "Silence!" the old man quieted the room. "What about the ingredients, senior?" I asked. "Here." the old man threw a jade box at me. I opened the box to see that it had all of the ingredients, bunched together. "Many might think that this will decrease the efficiency of the pill." I chuckled. "What do you think though?" he asked. "I am under the school of thought that believes that when the ingredients are next to each other, their medicinal effects are rubbed on each other, and it makes creating the pill much, much easier." I smiled. "Then why are youining? Go ahead. You have all but ten hours to do this." he snarled. "I have a problem though, senior. A foundation tempering pill is valuable. The pill is worth ten times the value of the ingredients, which themselves are worth almost a million spirit coins. I understand that I just paid for the ingredients, but will I keep the pill that I create?" I asked. "You are very haughty, child. You have not even made the pill, and you are already asking if you can keep it. You are interesting. The pill is yours, obviously. You paid a million spirit coins for the ingredients, like you said. The pill tower has no need to grub for money. We have enough. We treat all alchemists like sons. You should go ahead and start." the old man chuckled. "Thank you then. I shall get to work then." I nodded and smiled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 125 Becoming An Alchemist(Part 3) I stepped on to one of the furnaces. This was the first time that I was going to be performing alchemy on a furnace that wasn''t my own, so I was not sure what I could expect. "Enable Skill Assist, Alchemy." I said softly. Ping! [Enabling skill assist.] the system confirmed. I could see exactly what I was supposed to do now. I shot Qi into the furnace and a fire started immediately. It was low, and I made sure to keep it that way. One by one, herbs entered the furnace and were tempered by the heat. Their essence was extracted slowly, and separated from each other by my Qi, that was barely holding them together. This was easy to think about, but it took a whole thity minutes to go through the entire process. Usually, my Qi would have been half depleted by now. But with the breakthrough, I was not even remotely exhausted. I took out the final ingredient, which was also the most expensive one of the bunch. It was the thousand year ginseng. It was the spirit herb that was going to bind all of the ingredients together right now. I let the fire extract the essence and put it at the center of a spiral that I was creating. Within the spiral, the essence of the other ingredients started mixing together, and all of that was held together by the thousand year ginseng. With this, I could feel massive amounts of Qi getting consumed to keep things going. I took another deep breath and put my hands together. Qi shot forward and hit the runes on the side of the furnace. It activated the array that was already inscribed within. The spiral that I created starteding together into one golden, viscous liquid. I separated it into three parts and let the fire die down. Now, it was time to let ite together. The pills started forming roughly, and I let my Qi do the work. The shape formed, and I felt the furnace shake a little. I let the lid fall on top of the furnace and finally exhaled. "Alright. That took a while." I stretched my hands as I turned around. Until then, I was too concentrated on the Pill Formation to think about anything else. Now that I turned around, I finally saw what just happened. Every single one in the room was staring at me with their eyes unblinking and their jaws open. They were staring at me like they just saw the devil. "Did you just do all of that in just one hour? Did you just close the furnace in an hour? Are you stupid?" the old man finally broke this silence. Ding! At the right moment, the furnace suddenly shook. A sweet smell escaped the furnace and filled the room. Every single alchemy disciple said in unison, "the bone tempering pill!" "Youpleted the synthesis in just one hour? How is this possible?! Only You Feng could match that speed! But how can there be two geniuses like this at once?" the old man fell back. He supported himself with a counter and looked at me like he was looking at a monster. I did not waste any time and took out a jade box. I opened the furnace and put in all of the pillls into this jade box. With that taken care of, I went back to reality. "Ipleted the test. I am a certified alchemist, right?" I asked. "That method! That method! That is simr to the one that the heavenly genius You Feng used in the Pill Towers gathering!" one of the onlookers cried out. "You just did somethingpletely stupid. You just dug a grave for yourself." Liu Man said with a foreboding tone. "I just realized. Now, everyone is going to think that I am connected to that guy, and he is going to look into me. Especially now that he has five days of time in his hands." I shook my head. "Atleast you confirmed one thing about him." Liu Man said. "What? That he has a system? That much is apparent. But if he has a system, then he would have done it at the same speed as I did. But they clearly just said that You Feng was faster. And by the looks of it, a lot faster. Or else, they would have called me a genius bigger than him." I said. "That is true. We can be sure that he has a system like you." Liu Man confirmed. "Wait a minute. This might just be me thinking too much, but he could have a system that is not a system like mine. He could have something like an alchemy system or something like that. Is that possible?" I wondered. "You can ask your system. It answers some of your questions sometimes, doesn''t it?" Liu Man suggested. "First, I need to get out of this mess." I looked back at the old man who stood still. "Are you rted to You Feng, by any chance?" he asked with a trembling voice. "You Feng? The genius of the Pill Tower? If I was rted to him, then I wouldn''t be here taking this test, would I? I am just a disciple from the Sky Heavens sect. Please do not make any unnecessary assumptions." I frowned, trying my best to show my displeasure. "Then this way of synthesizing pills? It is so simr to the way that You Feng does it. I have to report it to the higher ups." the old man started fidgeting around. "Well, I did not want to do this, but my master will be displeased if he finds out that his technique is bing so public." I tried to change things around, and see if I hit something. "Your master? Who is the great master who was able to create this wonderful technique?" the old man asked out loud. I looked around and pointed to the disciples just standing around. "Why are we having this discussion here? Master will be displeased if he finds out that so many people know about this." I said with the most irritated voice that I could muster. "Everyone, get out!!!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 126 Cooking Up A Story The disciples scrambled to leave the room. They left me alone with the old man. "Don''t tell me! Your master is the reclusive Pill Saint, Mu Tian!" the old man spected. My mouth curled up into a smile. He bit the bait. Now, all that I had to do was unravel a story out of this. "Do you know how displeased my master will be with this? You should hope that the people outside do not have a loud mouth. Or else, I am not sure how much longer their mouths will run." I said with an arrogant look. "This is truly astonishing. I have no intention of offending the Pill Saint. It is my honor to help him out. I shall make sure that none of these stupid Alchemy Disciples even dare to open their mouth about this." the old man said. "Good. Now then, what about my pill badge? That is what I came here for, isn''t it?" I asked. "I am afraid that it will take a few days. The badge has to be registered to you, so that you can be the sole user of that badge. May I have your name please? I canplete thei registration as fast as possible and get this to you in two days at best." he said. "The name is Liu Feng. And do not worry. I will be here for a long time. The tower has been locked down for five days, has it not? I have no choice but to be here, and I have no intention of using master''s name however I please." I said. "Liu Feng? I shall make sure that it is done as fast as possible, young master. You can collect it at the reception desk on the first floor by telling them your name," the old man bowed down and he looked at the door. "Don''t worry. I will leave. Take care of the crowd and make sure that no one speaks of this outside." I said with a menacing tone. I left the room and looked at the crowd. They all looked at me with interest in their eyes. The deafening sound of their discussions trickled down into whispers. They all looked at me like I was going to gobble them up. I shrugged as I kept walking away. I was done here now. "Everyone, get back into the room now. Your test is far from over!" the old man came out of the room and shouted. The crowd shuffled and walked into the room again. With this, I smiled. Everything was going ording to n. I stretched my arms and headed to the stairs. "Esteemed guest? You are done already? Has the instructor been strict this year? He has been known to make the participants of the two leaf clover test synthesize extremely difficult pills. There is no shame in tryingter." Hulong Tuyu, who was walking around, gave a smile. "Yeah, sure. I failed. He made me make the Foundation tempering Pills. They are almost impossible to make. On another note, what do I do when I have a pill that I have and want to sell? A few months ago, I received a Foundation Tempering pill, and wish to sell it. I am in the Core Formation Stage, and I have no need for the pill." I said. "That is a true pity. It is advised that every cultivator takes a Foundation Tempering Pill once to temper and strengthen his foundation so that he can be stronger in the future." Hulong Tuyu said. "Allright. Now how much does each pill go for?" "It is dependent on the appraisal. As an aspiring alchemist, you must be aware that every step effects the efficacy of the pill. So that means that a better alchemist will make a better pill. But the general range of a batch of Foundation Tempering Pills is from three to ten million spirit coins. And they are rare, so they only go for that price in auctions." he said. "Good, good. I should get that much. Where do I submit them?" I asked. "I am terribly sorry, but the Pill tower does not ept any pills from outsiders. It only epts pills that are synthesized by alchemists from pill tower, those who have a certified badge. This is what incentivizes alchemists to join the tower in the first ce." Hulong Tuyu said. "Alright then. Take me to one of your rooms. I have nothing to do now for the next few days. Might as well cultivate in peace." I sighed. "I shall do that. Please follow me. Do you wish to have a cultivation room? There are a few remaining. Surprisingly, not everyone has decided to avail a cultivation room." Hulong Tuyu said. "Alright. I''ll take one." I said. "Do you have a Low ranked spirit stone, or do you wish to procure one from the Pill Tower?" "I am sorry, say what now? A spirit stone? Yes, that is the milky white stone that you used. I assume that there is Qipressed within it. Well, get this in your head. Your Pill Tower is holding me hostage. I will absolutely destroy you if you want me to pay for my own amodations. Shut up and get me a spirit stone for free." I growled as I let my Qi run rampant. It started crushing down on Hulong Tuyu. As someone in the mere Foundation Establishment stage, he could not resist the pressure that I was forcing down on him. "Mercy, esteemed guest! Mercy! I shall do that." Hulong Tuyu fell to the ground. "Good. You have that in your head. Now then, let us get going. I want to see for myself what a cultivation room is. If it is even half of what I had thest month, then it is truly magnificent." I smiled as I thought about it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 127 Cultivation Room I was disappointed. I realized how well master had treated me now. The room that they gave me was in, with an array at the center. The Low grade spirit stone was used to power up the whole array, and this created a dense Qi all around me. But the Qi was nowhere near the amount of Qi that was in the room which I used for my closed cultivation for nearly a month. It was paltry inparison. However, it was still miles better than cultivating without, so I headed into the room. I closed the door behind me and stood in the center. There was a mat there, presumably for every one who sat down and started meditating. But my way of cultivation was different. I started performing the Heaven Devouring Art. Qi started umting in my core, and the core started spinning. It started increasing slightly, but not at a visible rate. "Not everything happens so fast, I guess?" I sighed. Ping! [Profiency of Heaven Devouring art has increased. You have achieved expert proficiency.] the system said at this moment. "About goddamn time. I was thinking about this. This is the skill that I use the most, and yet this is still not at the next level." I grinned. "System homepage." Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Cultivator Level - 9 Strength - 70(+1) Stamina - 32 Agility - 68(+1) Cultivation - Core Formation Stage 1st Layer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Expert Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Medium Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Kun Peng Movement Arts (Basic Proficiency) Mind Eye(Active) Dao of Transformation(0.1%) Dao of Ice(0.5%) Skill points - 21 Stat Points - 0 "I seem to have gotten 5 skill points. Is this from the upgrade?" I asked. [Host gets five skill points for every skill that enters the expert proficient level.] "I see. Interesting. I get five skill points every time now? That is good to know. That is good to know. Then I think that with this increase in proficiency, I should be able tolpete each cycle faster, and get more and more Qi with each cycle." I thought about the possibility and chuckled. I continued performing the Heaven Devouring Art. As I had predicted, with each cycle, I was getting more and more Qi added to my core, and I was also able toplete each cycle much faster. This was an upgrade that I desperately needed. "If only this happened a month ago. I would probably be at the second or even thirdyer of the Core formation stage." I sighed. Unlike the foundation establishment stage and the Qi condensation stages, where everyyer was just a minor bottleneck that I could just break through with ease, I just had this feeling that the Core formation stage was harder to progress in. "You are an idiot. You should use the other title that you have. The child of dao title. You are cultivating. You will not encounter any bottleneck at all." Liu Man said. "That''s right! I have to use the child of dao title. System. Use title, Child Of Dao." I said. [Changing Title. Title, ''Child of Dao'' equipped.] I could feel the Qi within the room suddenly change direction. All of that Qi just rushed towards me. The Qi acted like I was their favorite son. Quite literally. I could feel this warm nket hugging me, and filling my body with the same warmth. It feltfortable. And the anomaly was, I was not even performing the Heaven Devouring art! I was not cultivating, and the Qi already started rushing towards me. This was too big a cheat! "How lucky am I? To think that I got such a fruitous encounter. With this, surely, I should be able to get to the Xiantian realm." I told myself. I started performing the Heaven Devouring art. The Qi rushed into my body, but it felt natural to me. Unlike when I was first coughing because of the sudden bombardment, this was normal to men now. This was still not the same as when I was in the room in that freezing ce, but it wasparable now. It actually held its ground. If I entered that room again, I was absolutely positive that I could break through to the nextyer in just a day. "That is a bad idea. You should consolidate your realm. Look at all the alchemists around you. Every single one is at a high level. They did not cultivate to get there. They just gobbled pills and became stronger. But ites at a cost. You will not be able tobat as effectively." Liu Man said. "How do you know this even? I appreciate the advice, I really do. But how do you know all of this? These are all things that old and experienced masters tell their disciples!" I was just confused now. "I said this before. My memories work differently from yours. I just know things. But the only thing that I can''t seem to figure out is what the hell I am. It is just ironic at this point." Liu Man sighed. "Just wait. I am in the Core Formation Stage already. It is just a matter of time before I can get to the Nascent Soul realm. I will be able to go through the gate." I said. "I am waiting. But I think that you forgot another condition to enter the dragon gate? You need to be in the Inner sect. I don''t think that you are in the Inner sect right now." "Stop rubbing it in. I will get there eventually. But I think that I should focus on cultivating for now. Better get stronger now. I just want to get out of this pill tower as fast as possible and get strong enough to deal with You Feng." I said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 128 Rebellion Five Days, I opened my eyes. I thought that I would be able to cross a minor realm, but I was mistaken. It was harder than I had thought. Even if there wasn''t any bottleneck, so to speak, there was still a huge chasm to cross. I stretched my arms. My body was a little sore afterpleting so many cycles of the Heaven Devouring Art. I creaked open the door of the cultivation room to find that the outside world was not as quiet as inside the room. The cultivation room had the wonderful feature of blocking out all sound from the outside. And it worked extremely well until now. "What is going on, brothers? Why themotion?" I asked one of the men who was in a fierce discussion. "You don''t know? The Pill Tower has been closed for five days, and it is opening today. Everyone is desperate to leave. All of us came here to help out the tower, but no one expected the tower to be so unreasonable. The sect has already called for all of the sect disciples toe back if they want to." the man said. It was at this moment that I realized that every single person that I could see had sect robes on them. The people that the tower had forced to stay inside were from the Sky Heavens sect. "Boy, is this going to be an interesting showdown to look at." I chuckled. "So we can leave now?" I asked. "And you don''t want to. You have to get to the Nascent Soul realm in three months and get his throat. Or else, you are screwed." Liu Man reminded me. "The bandit mission has to be finished as fast as possible. I can''t afford to be wasting time on this. Like you said, I need to get to the Nascent Soul realm. That is the priority. And for that, I can''t be wasting time on bandits. I will get this over with, and go back to the sect to focus on getting to the Nascent Soul realm." I said. "Yes. I am d that you are thinking straight." Liu Man sighed with relief. I headed to the center of the floor where the teleportation array was located. It was already swarmed by people from the Sky Heavens sect and alchemists from the Pill Tower alike. And this was just a recipe for disaster. "How can you me me for something that the Pill Elder has decided? This is just absurd!" one of the alchemists bearing the clover symbol on his robe said. "You are an alchemist. It was your stupid decision to join this god forsaken tower. We have helped you all this long, and this is the repayment we get? Don''t forget, you are just alchemists. Even if you are in the Nascent Soul Realm and I am in the Core Formation realm, I can kill you if I wanted to!" the man shouted. My ears perked. "I can kill an alchemist even if he is in the Nascent Soul Realm? Obviously not now, butter, when I advance in the Core Formation stage. I might be able to get there. He is a pill elder, so he should be in the Nascent Soul Realm or the Xiantian realm, but for someone like that, he has to be in the Nascent Soul realm. The system won''t give me an impossible task, will it?" I thought to myself. "Silence! This is absurd! Stop fighting!" a woman shouted. Her voice was sweet, but domineering. "Senior sister! How can we let the Pill Tower get away with this? They have gone too far. We need to show them that the Sky Heavens sect is not somece that they can just bully and get away with." the man who was fighting said. "And are you the sect leader of the sect, or is he the branch leader? Both of you represent nothing but yourselves. This problem was caused by You Feng. That much is apparent. So why don''t we bring him out to answer for this impudence?" she snarled. "Yes! We must get You Feng out here to apologize for this! Where is he?" the man took the alchemist by the cor and asked threateningly. "He is in the twelfth floor, where all the Pill Elders are. You are not allowed to go there. The branch leader might not be here, but he is going to be furious if you do this." the alchemist said. The fear was apparent in his eyes. "Let us go there. We are from the Sky Heavens sect. We have no need to fear some branch leader. Not even the main Pill Tower would do this to a sect of the seven." the other disciples rallied. "This is good. We will be able to drag him out. The system is sure to give out a message if I am that close to him. I can confirm if he is Yurian Gale." I loved what was going on. This was just what I wanted. "Activate the teleportation array. Let us go to the twelfth floor!" the senior sister said as she looked at one of the attendants who was just standing frozen in one corner. "Forgive me, esteemed guests, but I am not authorized for this task. The teleportation array will only take you to the first floor. That is the only ce that you are allowed to go." he said, his arms and feet trembling. "Do you even know who I am? Do you think that a core disciple of the Sky Heavens sect just came here for fun? The sect had ns to take out the bandit problempletely, but it seems that the tower does not care for that at all." the senior sister smiled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 129 Rebellion (Part 2) [This chapter is going to be a little different from the others... I am writing this on a phone because I don''t have any other device on me at the moment. I hope that you can forgive the grammatical errors that arise.] The disciples ask came together into the spirit array and held the attendant by the cor. "If you don''t open the array, then you are going to face a date worse than death. I suggest that you do what''s best for you." The disciples holding his cor said. "Please don''t make me lose my life. The pill elders will not forgive me for doing this." The attendant started sobbing. "If only we cared about that. But look at it this way. No one will know unless your friends tell on you. And, you can always me this little rat for the deed." He pointed to the Alchemist who was standing there. "All of you dare actually go against this tower, I will see how you intend on getting any spirit pills at all in your life." He still had the same arrogance in him. That did not decrease even a little bit. "You don''t need him. All you need is house special token and a low grade spirit stone. I assume that he has both. Pige him. Let the tower understand what fate awaits them if we don''t help them." The senior sister said. She was truly interesting. She was the one who instigated this rebellion to another level. And the fact that she was a core sect disciple interested me. "Mine eye" "Level - ? Name - Cai Yun''er Cultivation - ?" "I am still not able to see what her cultivation is? This is impossible. Wait a minute, is it possible that she is in the Xiantian realm?" The mere thought of this shook my body. "This was why both the white robed senior and master time me that I was still weak. I have to face people like these, who have been cultivating their whole life to get to the Xiantian realm. They are bound to be strong. I have an inherent disadvantage in that I started cultivatingte." I sighed. Another detail caught my eye. "She is also getting the Cai family! She just be from the main family. Someone like that is bound to get a lot of resources. I wonder if she knows who Cai Lien is though." I thought to myself. "Senior sister is right! There is indeed a token and a low grade spirit stone in this man''s spatial ring. They can be used to activate the array." One of the men cried. p "Then what are we still doing here? Get going. Let us all go to the twelfth floor and start knocking." She smiled. Her smile was like the smile of a cunning and sinister viin who was about to n something. But I needed to go there and see for myself who You Feng was. I had no choice but to walk into this trap that she seemed to be making. The runes on the teleportation array lit up and everyone walked right in. I could not fit in this round, so I decided to go ahead with the remaining people. Surprisingly, Cai Yun''er did not leave with the first batch. That was unsettling, considered that she was the one who instigated this whole incident. I was not sure if it was because she had some n under way, or if she just didn''t want to leave in that crowded array. This second batch was different from the first. Everyone was apprehensive about the consequences. They were actually level headed for a change. Cai Yun''er noticed this. "The branch leader is not here. There is no one that can match me. Any fears that you have are unfounded. But I will not force you." She said. Cai Lien was also in this crowd. I didn''t expect some one like her to be so agitated and start the rebellion. "Go get another token from an attendant." Cai Yun''ermanded. Her words seemed to be influential. Every one from the sect listened to her. "I guess that is what happens when you are a core sect disciple." I shrugged. One of the disciples ran to an attendant and grabbed him by the cor. He grabbed the token and a spirit stone from him and returned to the array. Using the two, he activated the array. There was this trick that I didn''t notice in thest teleportation, but it looked like the token was a key that allowed the user to choose where to go. The runes of the array activated, and I felt the surroundings change. The new floor that appeared in front of us was different, obviously. It had rooms everywhere, and no space for people. It was like a glimpse out of a hotel. "The pill elders must reside here. That is why this floor serves no other purpose." I realised. The people that went in before us were nowhere to be seen though. I was certainly concerned about that. So were the others, who broke into discussion. They were suspicious of what was going on, as was I. I shook my head and decided to break this ufortable rift. "Where is You Feng? We have to teach him a lesson, should we not, senior sister?" I looked at Cai Yun''er now. The ball was in her court. How she would react to it was upto her. "Some thing is wrong. Where are the people? I can''t see anyone here. We need to regroup with them." She said. Ping! Ping! Ping! [Host is in contact with Yurian Gale! Host is in contact with Yurian Gale!] At this moment, a horrible truth dawned upon me. There could be more than two system users, and You Feng could be Yurian Gale''s target, not mine. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 130 Who Is Yurian Gale [This chapter is going to be a little different from the others... I am writing this on a phone because I don''t have any other device on me at the moment. I hope that you can forgive the grammatical errors that arise.] I thought about it. Just like me, I believed that there were two other system users like me. One of the system users was probably You Feng, and another was Cai Yun''er. I knew for a fact that You Feng was the one who was looking for me. He was the only one that could mobilize the entire pill tower to look for one person. The pill tower was too strong a force to listen to an outsider. And I was looking for Yurian Gale. That was what the mission the system forced me to do. But there was the chance that Yurian Gale and You Feng were different people. Yurian Gale could well be Cai Lien looking for You Feng, whole You Feng could be another system user who was looking for me, Gray Holton. This triangle got me a bit confused to put together, but it made me understand something. All of this was a show. That was for sure. "Whoever is behind my reincarnation is doing this. All these new system users, and making me fight them, this is demeaning." I thought to myself. "If you are right, then you have another problem in your hands. The person you are up against, Cai Yun''er or Yurian Gale, is powerful, stronger than what you expected. She could be in the Xiantian realm, for all you know. You can''t fight her as easily as you expected. It will be sessfully." Liu Man said. I took a deep breath as I looked back at Cai Yun''er. She was waiting for something. "What do we do now, senior sister? They must have gone somewhere by mistake, but we still cannot let You Feng get away with this. We should charge in and see where he is held." I said. I needed this to get over fast and get away from whatever she was nning. "You are new. I don''t recognise you. I guess that you are quite the country bumpkin, for you to not know the basics. If you manage to offend the alchemists, then your martial path is over before it even started." She shook her head as she chuckled. "Damn it, what is she stalling for?" I gripped my robe and looked forward. Every minute that ticked by made me more anxious to what awaited. I looked at the teleportation array. The runes were shining. Someone wasing through from here. I stepped away and looked at everyone else. Not a one was looking at their back. Not one except for Cai Yun''er. "I knew that she was upto something." I cursed. "Someone ising from the teleportation array! It might be the people who went in first!" I shouted, trying to draw as much attention as possible to this. Cai Yun''er red at me with rage. She didn''t want anyone to know about this, obviously. Everyone looked at who wasing from the array. The runes lit uppletely, and people started appearing. They were dressed in ck, and they certainly were not from the Sky Heavens sect. "Brothers, it looks like the meat this time is fresher than ever. Let us hear tonight!" The one in front shouted with a frightening smile. " I know them. I can recognise these bastards! They are the ck bandana bandits!" One of the disciples shouted. "You clever girl. You wanted a distraction, and who better to give one than us? You want them to kill us so that you can kill You Feng without any one knowing." I realised. This was an ingenious n, except that it screwed me over. I needed to get out of here. This was no longer a fight that I could handle. The ck bandana bandits had a leader in the xiantian realm, and Cai Yun''er was also probably at that stage. The pill tower''s leader, or atleast a few of their elders were at this stage. I was not strong enough to participate in this. "The bandits must have heard that the branch leader was not here and they attacked! Fight back!" Another disciple cried out. Cai Yun''er frowned. She was about to step back when her eyes widened. I looked at what she was looking at. It turned out to be a who. A manrger than everyone else, exhuming a pressure like no one else. "Mind eye!" "Level - ??? Name - Ru Yutan Cultivation - ???" "He is definitely at the Xiantian realm! He should be the leader of the bandits that Hulong Kin told me about. " I took another step back. Any confrontation would be disastrous. "I didn''t know that the leader of the ck bandana bandits would be so free toe to the pill tower. I wonder what brought you here." Cai Yun''er said. "If the sky heavens sect had a Xiantian realm expert to spare for the pill tower, then so do we." He replied. Cai Yun''er was clearly shook by this development. She must not have expected that the leader himself skills have arrived. "What is all this fuss. Who is making so much noise in the pill tower? It seems that thisst few years, we have been too liberal with who we let in." Another booming voice entered the fray. "Hahaha! I knew that you were still in the tower. This was all a big ruse, wasn''t it? Orchestrated by the youngest branch leader of a pill tower ever. You Feng, how are you, you traitorous bastard?" Ru Yuntan growled. The branch leader? You Feng? They were the same person? And they were both obviously in the xiantian realm. Three xiantian realm experts had just gathered against each other! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 131 Face Off [This chapter is going to be a little different from the others... I am writing this on a phone because I don''t have any other device on me at the moment. I hope that you can forgive the grammatical errors that arise.] A young man walked from the depths of the floor towards us. I knew that this was You Feng. It just shocked me, what Ru Yutan said. He said that the branch leader of the pill tower was You Feng! That meant that the branch leader was definitely in the tower, and that You Feng was in the Xiantian realm. The the big shots looked at each other. "I assume that one of you fools is Gray Holton. It must be thedy who just came here. You are the one who is looking for me, aren''t you?" You Feng asked. "I don''t know who Gray Holton is, but your life is mine. For the betrayal that you showed me, I will skin you alive!" Ru yutan shouted as he rushed towards You Feng "What system did you get? A cultivation system, I presume? Well, it can''t beat the alchemy system that I got, because you are officially screwed." You Feng continued to talk to Cai Yun''er. "You are James Keesham?" She finally asked. "Looks like we are meant to hack at each other. Forcing us to do this by putting it systems in the line, the creator must really be bored. Why don''t we show him some fun then?" You Feng smiled. "How dare you ignore me, you bastards!" Ru Yutan was enraged. A saber shot forward from his hands and flew towards You Feng. You Feng frowned and he snapped his fingers. Two pills appeared in his hands. He called both of them at once and bent forward, barely escaping the saber. His eyes became bloodshot, and his veins started bulging. He consumed the blood burst pill, and it was drawing out the life force out of him in the form of raw energy. The second pill, I also recognised. This one blew my mind even more. It was a evergreen lush pill, which could supplement the life force of someone. But the thing was, to get the ingredients of such a pill, one needed to spend a king''s ransom. And You Feng spent all that on one fight. He looked at Ru Yutan with a menacing nce. He was about to step forward when Ru Yutan did the next obvious thing. "Brothers! Attack! Show these pill tower bastards and the conniving aplices from the sky heavens sect how the ck bandana bandits treat their enemies!" Ru Yutan shouted. Aaargh! The bandits cried out as they rushed forward with all their might. They had fierce expressions on their faces and glinting weapons in their hands. They were bandits, so they would not hesitate to kill. I had to be careful in costing my opponent. That was when I stopped and realised something. "This is the only chance I have of killing Yurian Gale. I am not strong enough to kill them on my own, but if they are weakened, then I stand a chance." I thought to myself. "System, how many skill points do I have?" I asked with the quietest voice I could muster. It was obviously unnecessary as the voice was drowned in the noise that the bandits made. I bent down to avoid the attacksing through my way. They were so haphazard, it seemed that the bandits just wanted to see blood. [Host has 21 skill points.] The system promptly replied. "Is there any one gone consumable that I can buy from the shop? Any item that causes damage?" I asked. This was just a throw in the dark that I desperately wanted to buy something. [Host can buy three items with current skill points.] The system showed me the options that I could buy. "Which one is them can kill a Xiantian realm?" I asked. [All of them can.] The system replied. "Wait, what? All of them can? Then I will take the cheapest one. The Dragon grenade. I''ll take two of them. I should be able to guarantee a kill." I told the system. [Purchasing two dragon grenades. 10 skill points consumed. I felt two grenades hit my hand. But I knew that at such a high realm, they would be slow to avoid this with ease. I needed to wait for them to fight it out. I put both of the grenades in my spatial ring and looked at the situation. The three Xiantian experts were in front of each other, holding them at bay. As for the bandits, the disciples of the sky heavens sect were no joke at all. There was blood on both ends. My eyes darted to the far side of the make shift battlefield to where Cai Lien was. She was weaker than even me, and for a beautiful girl like her, the bandits were bound to pay more attention. But I noticed a man standing next to her, fighting away the bandits that wereing towards her. "Must be that person that she asked if he wasing that day. Good to know that she is going to be ok. Then I guess that I''ll finish off the sect mission as well now." I decided and took out my spear from my spatial ring. I looked at the bandits charging at me blindly. "Blue dragon spear art, second form!" The spear twirled around and blood spilled around me. These bandits had practically no defence. All they were doing was attacking. But this was only advantageous to me. Why would Iin about that? I could feel the ring that I put on my hand tremble. I nced at it. The number changed from 0 to 4. I looked back up at the charging bandits and their war cries. "Rats to a ughter." I shook my head. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 132 The Final Showdown (Part 1) [This chapter is going to be a little different from the others... I am writing this on a phone because I don''t have any other device on me at the moment. I hope that you can forgive the grammatical errors that arise.] Boom! Everyone stopped and looked at the the Xiantian experts. They had just collided for the first time. The force of this one collision pushed us back a few feet. I looked at what happened. From what just happened, it seemed like Ru Yutan and You Feng were fighting each other. "Damn it. I need them to take care of Cai Yun''er first. She is the problem. She will be able to deal with her problem with ease of they tire each other out." I cursed as my spear shed another throat. Ice started forming at the edge of the spear and the blood froze. This was the little addition of dao that I could muster. And it was already making a huge contribution. "You should stay away from this fight, disciple of the sky heavens sect. This is a matter of the ck bandana bandits facing with a former member. We know how to discipline our own." Ru Yutan snarled at Cai Yun''er. "You Feng was a part of the ck bandana bandits? Impossible! To think that he had such a secret!" There were gaps around the floor. You Feng was displeased with this revtion. "Stop misleading the people, Ru Yutan. You and I both know that I am not a part of the ck bandana bandits, and I never will be." You Feng said. "The bandit group would never be stupid to take a traitor like you in. To think that you would kill your own fellow brother for loot! You must pay for what you did." He shouted. "I don''t know what you have between the two of you, but can you finish it fast so that I can deal with my dear friend James here?" Cai Yun''er said. "Do you think that this joke of a psuedo-Xiantian realm bandit can hold a candle to me? Someone who could not even find his own dao? Please don''t kid yourself. The fact that he is alive is just my graciousness. But don''t you want him dead? Or do you want him alive so that your little charade can go on for a little bit longer?" You Fengughed. "How dare you look down upon me- cough, cough" Ru Yutan started coughing out blood and copsed onto the ground. "Looks like you have some tricks up your sleeve." Cai Yun''er chuckled. "Take a look at yourself and see if you are okay as well." He smiled. "Do you think that my system wouldn''t tell me if I was poisoned? I detoxed the bone sucking powder a long time ago. Why don''t you try something new?" Cai Yun''er chuckled. "I am a mere alchemist. There is no way that I can best you in a fight. So the only thing I can do is bring you to my level. The bone sucking powder was a mere diversion. You can no longer using any skills. Let''s see how you face me now. I am much higher than you in cultivation." You Feng chuckled. "What is wrong with these stupid viins? They keep revealing their master n before they seed. Why are they do stupid. He lost the element of surprise now " I shook my head. Why did I have to face the stronger over, whole Cai Yun''er got the stupid alchemist who could not even fight? "Even if this is a battle of mere wills and Qi, this is one that you are bound to lose." She said. I looked around again. With the sudden fall of their leader, the bandits were copsing like dominoes. They had no idea what was happening. I sighed as I inched closer to Cai Yun''er and You Feng. They were too concentrated on each other to care about some Core formation brat who could do nothing to them. Boom! All of a sudden, this huge pressure pushed me three feet away, and I almost lost my footing. I looked at them to see what was happening. It seemed as if they were locking horns through brute force. I could see that they were just pushing Qi directly at each other with no technique at all. This was probably because of what You Feng said. He poisoned her with something that did not ask allow her to use any skills at all. But why he was not using any skills alluded me. He was also a system user, so he should have a much easier timepared to other alchemists. He should have learnt a few skills for battle anticipating such a situation. "You are thinking about the wrong things. You have a chance. Let them exhaust they qi and strike the moment that they lose their concentration. They will stop after a few minutes. This uses too much Qi. It will drain their energy and dull their senses enough for you to be able to sneak in this attack of yours that you are nning." Liu Man said. "They may be exhausted, but I still don''t want to take any risks. I''ll deploy both of the grenades at once and hope that one of them works. I have to wait till one of them is at the death bed. But I hope that You Feng is not too strong either. The mission is for me to kill Yurian Gale. If You Feng does it, then I might fail the mission." I said. I could see the sweat forming on both their faces. Cai Yun''er was more troubled by this handicap, probably because she was used to having skills at her disposal. "You forget, I still have my final card in my hand." Cai Yun''er said. In her hands, a sword appeared. But this sword did not feel ordinary. I felt the same feeling I had with Ji Riyal. This was sword dao. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 133 The Final Showdown(Part 2) [Got myptop back, sorry for the trouble :) ] I took out a human ranked shield that I just had lying around in my spatial ring. I had a feeling that this was not going to be a simple battle any longer. Dao frightened me. And sword dao was bound to be strong, stronger in attack than any other. I could not even expect what was going toe. "Do you think that I entered the Xiantian realm without having a Dao of my own? Us alchemists, we are masters of fire and earth, and you just don''t realize it. If alchemists were actually weak inbat, then the pill towers would have copsed centuries ago." You Fengughed. His fists startedbusting spontaneously, and he pointed them towards Cai Yun''er. She swung her sword once, and a ray of light shed towards You Feng. He threw a fire ball towards the sh, but it cut right through it and headed towards him. He gritted his teeth and threw another ball of fire forward, but this one was more powerful. The sh deflected and hit another side of the pill tower. I could see that every wall had runes on them to make them stronger, but this single attack was strong enough for those runes to beak, and the wall to copse. "That is why master told me that I had to enter the Xiantian realm if I wanted to leave that room. I need to master a dao and get to the xiantian realm, it seems that they are connected to each other." I nodded. Ethereal Weapon arts! Shield first form! A protective barrier formed in front of me in anticipation of some fallback. The moment that the residue attack approached me, I could feel the mortal danger. It struck the barrier that I created, and pushed me back ten feet. Cracks began to form on the barrier and on the shield. It was not going tost another attack. And I did not have a shield for every attack that they were going to throw out. "The weapon that I should get should be a protective armor or a shield. I have my spear, but my defense front iscking." I realized. I finally let go of the shield, and fell to the ground. The attack had gone past me to the rest of the crowd. I didn''t care what happened to them though. I had to make sure that these two died. They were talking about their systems in the open so easily, and that could only mean that they nned to kill us all eventually. I started getting close to them. This was the only time that I could attack them at. With both of them understanding how powerful the other was, they had their concentrations focused on each other. I nced at Ru Yutan, who proved to be worthless almost immediately. He was coughing out ck blood, and was on the floor still. "ck blood? ck veins? This guy was poisoned with venom from the Hidden Cloud snake! The same poison that thedy from the Cai family was poisoned by! For the first time, I got lucky!" I realized. With glee, I ran towards him. The fight had taken the other two to another ce after all, and they couldn''t care less about a vanquished enemy. I got to him, and saw that he was struggling to stay awake. He was strong enough to keep the poison at bay, but only that. He could not do anything else. I grinned and took away his spatial ring. This was my payment for saving his life. Then, I put the Cloud Suppression Pill in his mouth, and used Qi to shove it down his throat. I kneeled and whispered in his ears, "Wait for them to be busy, and then strike. You should injure both of them at once. Then, I can guarantee that you will kill You Feng." I said. Luckily, no one cared about me and Ru Yutan. Everyone was too engrossed with the fight that was taking ce in front of them. The ck veins all over Ru Yutan''s body started fading away slowly. I quickly left his side. I did not know what he would do. In the end, he was a bandit, and I could not trust him to not kill the person who saved his life. He started moving a little bit, and coughed out more blood. The blood was ck, and it had all of the venom that he had ingested. I knew that much. I smiled. He would make this fight interesting, to say the least. When battling someone who used a lot of poisons, it was best not to make them desperate. This would do exactly that. The fight between You Feng and Cai Yun''er was not any close to finishing. Although their attacks were still consuming Qi, because they were using their understanding of Dao to make their attacks stronger, this was going to be a long battle of attrition. That was why I needed this to take a quick turn. If the Pill Tower was under attack, the word would spread. Someone would send reinforcements. I needed to kill both of them before that happened. "You are too infuriating. Just die already!" You Feng shouted. "Phoenix wings of glory!" he shouted, and a pair of wings appeared behind them. They stared pping, sending piercing fire bullets toward Cai Yun''er. "Why the hell didn''t he do this before? He could have just used a trump card if he intended to kill anyone anyways. Why did he dy this so long?" I was furious now. His idiotic thinking was decreasing my chances of killing Cai Yun''er. "You will pay for your betrayal. Both of you! I will destroy you even at the cost of me!" Ru Yutan rushed towards them both. "I told him to sneak attack. Why is he rushing straight at them? Does no one here use their brain?" I shook my head. But the expression of both Cai Yun''er and You Feng changed. "He is about to self explode! He is going to kill both of us!" You Feng shouted with shock. I looked at them with shock as well. He was going to self explode. I turned around to run, just like everyone else who heard this. But I felt a suctioning force. No one else felt this. I was just close to Ru Yutan. Closer than everyone else. So were You Feng and Cai Yun''er. They were also getting sucked in. This was his final card. Boom! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 134 Dust Settles Boom! A huge shockwave sent energy flying everywhere. I was caught into the attack. So were both You Feng and Cai Yun''er. But I had the time to take out my life saving grace, the Ethereal weapon. I made it a shield and used it to defend myself. But no weapon could bridge the gap between two major cultivation realms. My bones were broken and internal organs shaken. I could barely move. But with that little movement, I popped a few pills into my mouth to heal myself as fast as possible. I felt the energy heal my body enough to move around. I looked at what You Feng and Cai Yun''er were doing, and if they were alive. I needed them to be alive. Their bodies were charred ck, and they looked like they were burnt to a crisp. But there was movement. Slowly, they were healing, and this healing was visible. I quickly took out the grenade from my spatial ring and threw it at them. I made sure to take out the pin. The grenade rolled to both of them and just stood there. "Don''t tell me! The grenade is not working!" I clenched my fists. The two bodies moved their faces to look at me. They looked at the grenade. "You.. I was unsure who Gray Holton was. You are Gray Holton, aren''t you? You are the other system user." Cai Yun''er said with a hoarse voice. "You are the person that I need to face? You cheated me! I will kill you!" You Feng took out two pills from his spatial ring and put them in his mouth. Skin appeared immediately, and then I could see that he was recoveringpletely. I was frightened. I couldn''t let this happen. I quickly took off the second grenade and threw it at him after taking out the pin. "Do you think that this thing can really do us any harm? What is this, a grenade? Did you not realise that normal weapons from Earth can no longer harm us?" You Fengughed. Cai Yun''er struggled to move. "You idiot. That could be an item. Stop messing with it-" Boom! Boom! One by one, two explosions were set off by whatever You Feng did. Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! [Host haspleted story quest] [Host has killed xiantian reason expert some being two realms below.] [Host has leveled up three times.] [Host has upgraded to basic level knowledge pack] [Host has acquired world map(partial) as a bonus gift.] I looked down. My torso was bleeding. A fragment of the grenade hit me. But it didn''t damage me at all. I didn''t feel any pain, and I want even bleeding. I looked around. Everyone was down. Everyone has fallen because of this. I did not expect the after math of the battle to be this fierce. But the good thing was, I had deniability. I walked back to where everyone was blown back andyed on the ground. For all intents and purposes, I was unconscious for the whole event that urred. "Guess this finally got over. " I sighed. I did not think that this would get over so easily. I nced at my ring. It was already full. I had finished the mission before it even started. "System home page" I muttered. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Cultivator Level - 12 Strength - 70(+1) Stamina - 32 Agility - 68(+1) Cultivation - Core Formation Stage 1st Layer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Expert Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Medium Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Kun Peng Movement Arts (Basic Proficiency) Mind Eye(Active) Dao of Transformation(0.1%) Dao of Ice(0.5%) Skill points - 21 Stat Points - 15 I looked at this with wonder. I finally had achieved something. Killing a Xiantian realm expert, that is a rare feat, achieved by few probably in the entire kingdom. After all, defeating an expert was one thing, and killing was another. Even though I was defeated by the self destruction of that bandit, no one actually died from that. All three of us who were caught up in the attack actually survived in the end. "Put eight points in strength and seven points in agility. Better now thante." I said. [Adding eight points to strength. Adding seven points to agility. Addition confirmed.] I justid on the ground and took a moment to take it all in again. With this, my system was safe with me, for now at least. But the controls of the system were with someone else. And he or she could take this away from me at any time, at his or her whimsy. "What happened? What was that sudden st? Where is senior sister?" someone shouted. I looked at him with pity. He had no idea that his beloved senior sister had died. At this point, I also felt some guilt. As the disciple of the sect leader, I was the one who had killed the Core disciple of the sect. It felt wrong. "The real core sect disciple must have died, and this Yurian Gale must have taken her ce. That was probably what happened. I mean, Yurian Gale is a male name, that is for sure. I wonder how it is, living in a girl''s body." I started justifying my actions. Ping! Ping! Ping! "Urgh! What is it this time? I justpleted everything right? And the actual mission that the system gave was actually a whole three months of time. What is it saying now?" I grumbled. Although I needed to get stronger, overworking myself was not my motto. I could get stronger eventually, but I didn''t want to force all of it immediately. [Host is too weak. Host is too weak. Progression is deemed slow. Host will have to undergo rigorous training. Host will be teleported to the training spot in: 12:23:59:56] "I have to go somewhere? In thirteen days? Where the hell is this?" I was taken aback. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 135 Reinforcements Arrive I stayed that way, on the ground for another hour. The others were slowly getting up and recuperating from their injuries. I also took in a few pills to heal myself, but I was not so open about it. Cai Lien seemed fine as well. She was outside the st radius, and the man next to her shielded her from the fierce fight. And as for the bandits, all of them were in the same situation as we were. We were too drained to even resume the fight. The bandits had long lost their fighting spirit when their leader was defeated in mere moments. Now, this only made things worse for them. They lost their biggest pir. That had to recoup their losses, and continuing a listing fight would be stupid. The columns of the tower crumbled from the fight, and I could see the light shining from outside the tower. These cube days, I lost all sense of time. This showed that the sun was still up. But more importantly was what the other disciples saw through this hole that formed. "Reinforcements! Reinforcements have arrived!" One of the disciples cried out. "What do we even tell them? Was anyone able to see what happened? How did senior sister, the core disciple ranked tenth on the core list, die in this fight?" Anothermented. The disciples got up slowly and continued to recover. At this time, I started walking towards the site of where the fight happened. But no matter how much I looked, I could not see a single spatial ring. The st was probably do strong that the rings were destroyed. It pained me to see all that possible loot just disappear, but what could I do? I still had the ring of the ck bandana bandits. I started sifting through the spatial ring. My eyes sparked as I went through every item. It just struck my mind that the bandits struck the pill tower a lot. That meant that he had a lot of wonderful spirit herbs that were worth a small fortune. But that was when he had them. In my hands, these herbs were worth a king''s ransom. They should make me stronger, that was for sure. They came at the right time. And the other things in the spatial ring did not pale byparison. In one corner, neatly piled, was a stack of atleast a thousand spirit stones. They were probably of the low grade, but it was still a huge upgrade from what I had before. And right next to that, there was a small box. I could look into it, and could feel a huge qi signature within it. "It could be a middle ranked spirit stone! This must cost a fortune to acquire. Something like this, it is best for a break through. If I get to the peak of the nascent soul realm, then I should be able to use this." I thought. I looked to the side once more. There were weapons all over, but not a single defensive armour. "If he had armor, then he was probably wearing it. Noone would buy a defensive artifact and not use it." I thought. Then, there were the cards. Stacks of cards with probably millions of spirit coins within them. At thest corner, were pills. Probably stolen from pill tower again. This one spatial ring was worth more than a third rate family, and it could rival even a second rate one! "Not a single person is allowed to live! Apprehend the bandits!" A loud, feminine voice shouted. I heard foot steps storm the floor. "This one is from the sky heavens sect!" "Don''t trust the sect robes. Check the identity tokens. Not a single bandit is allowed to escape!" The feminine voice demanded. "Where is the branch leader? I recieved an urgent correspondence saying he and the core disciple were fighting the bandits." She said. I turned around to look at who was incharge. The woman was stunning. But that was not all. She was strong. I could feel it. "The-the branch leader? By that, do you mean You Feng?" One of the disciples weakly said. "Yes, I mean You Feng. Show me your identity token, disciple, or I will be forced to think that you are an enemy trying to gain my trust." She said immediately. "Wow she has some serious trust issues." I thought to myself as I readied my identity token to the checks that they were doing. "They fought against each other. The branch leader fought with senior sister after the bandit revealed that You Feng was actually a bandit who betrayed his brothers." The disciple said. "Thank God he said that right. Or else, it would have been us who would be implicated." I sighed with relief. "And why are the disciples of the sky heavens sect on the twelfth floor, where only pill elders are allowed to reside?" She asked. "Because your pill tower still owes uspensation for holding us hostage for five whole days. We came here to demand an apology, and the bandits arrived. You are lucky that we were here. The bandit leader self destructed to kill himself, the branch leader, and senior sister." The man standing behind Cai Lien stood up and said. The woman raised her eyebrows. "The pill tower was closed for five days because there was an enemy within. The sect will understand that." She said. "What it won''t understand, is how the pill tower knew who the attacker was, even though there was no way that he announced himself whileing in. Unless the pill tower has a special artifact to do that." He asked. "That is... Confidential." She said after a huge pause. "Bull sh**. You Feng knew that I was here because of the system. They are lying there way out now." I was angered by this. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 136 Elders "What is happening here right now? Are you going to make the same mistake that You Feng made? Are you going to force us to stay here? Because it is not going to go down very easily." the man said. I used my mind eye on him. "Level - 12 Name - Yu Jinpeng Cultivation - Core Formation Stage Peak" "He is quite strong." I nodded. "He must be wooing Cai Lien or something. So the people in the Inner sect are this strong." "Don''t think that we are not able to do that. We are the pill tower. If we wanted to detain some one from the sky heavens sect, then we will detain someone from the sky heavens sect. The only person in the entire sect who can probably stop us is Li Tian, and he will not go against the pill tower for someone like you." the woman said coldly. My impression of her fell sharply. She might be a good leader, but she was going down the same path as You Feng. She was forcing us to stay here. At this moment, one of the doors of the tower slid slowly. I could hear footsteps. "What is this disturbance? I felt a tremor. An entire batch of ingredients, wasted like that. I will hang the person responsible for this." an old voice said with irritation. "Do not worry, master. I will make sure that you will get that person. I will skin him alive for this impudence." a familiar voice said. I frowned. I knew that I recognized this voice. This was the arrogant young master whose eyes fell on Cai Lien. I stood upright and looked at the personing out. As I had expected, the face behind that horrible person was not good as well. He was big, and not the good way. With fat all around his face, and body, he looked repulsive. "You-You- You are the bastard who dared to speak up against me!" he suddenly pointed to me. The woman nced at me now. She looked at my robes, and noted that I had the robes of the sect. She nced at another guard who came with her, and beckoned him to check me. "Are you joking right now? Just because this guy here says something, you think that I am an imposter? Fine then. I am also an alchemist. Are you going to say that the pill tower hands alchemy badges to bandits now?" I was incensed. This was too much. "You are an alchemist? Fine then. Show me your badge." she said. "I don''t have it. I just passed the test five days ago, because you trapped me here. And where is thepensation that the pill tower has to give us? I think that for this time that they robbed from us, they have to give each of us around fifty pieces of low ranked spirit stones." I said. "What? Are you joking? Do you think that you are actually going to get anypensation? There was a genuine threat, and the pill tower was forced to adapt." she retorted. "Are you going to go back on your word now? Is that what the pill tower does?" I shouted back. "Just what on earth is happening here? Why are there so many people here on this floor? And why is the floor so damaged?" the old man who was behind the fatty young master asked. "Old man. Did you go deaf? There was a fight. Your branch leader tried to kill all of us, and we survived. Now,I am new to the sect. I do not dare im that I know the elders. But surely, they care about the disciples more than you think. We are the sect. Unlike your pill tower, where anyone can pay money to enter, a sect is bound to be different. So if you think that you can bully us because you have a stronger fist right now, just remember, the fist behind us is going to be different." I said coldly. "Well said! Well said! That is how a disciple of the sect should be. Wukong was an idiot to think that you did not belong in the sect. To think that he wanted to send you to the capital. You are a true disciple of the sect. Tian did a good thing." a sonorous voice appeared. The expression of the old man, the pill elder, changed. "What is the third elder of the sky heavens sect doing here? I did not know that you had any ns toe here," he asked. "Why wouldn''t Ie here? Our disciples have disappeared for five whole days. Did you think that the sect wouldn''t notice? And you did not even think to tell the sect? Do you think that the pill tower is that strong? Any one of the powers can trample your little branch." another old manifested out of thin air. He looked at the disciples and back at the reinforcements. "Where are the disciples? About half of them have disappeared. Where is Cai Yun''er?" he asked almost immediately. "That is the problem, elder. Cai Yun''er died! And half of the people that went up on the first round through the teleportation array have just disappeared! We do not know where they are, elder!" one of the disciples said. Boom! I felt a crushing intent pushing me down to the ground. Every single person, including the arrogant woman, the pill elder, and the fatty, all kneeled at this pressure. And the source was clear. "Cai Yun''er died? Do you realize what this means? It means that this branch is now the enemy of both the Cai family and the Sky heavens sect. Do you think that you will survive now? Do you think that your haughty manner will continue any longer?" he bellowed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 137 The Fall The woman looked up with much effort, her eyes pleading for mercy. "This pill tower has no need to survive anymore. The Pill king will understand. After all, you have killed a daughter of the Cai Family''s family leader, and you have imprisoned the disciples of the sky heavens sect against their will." the third elder said. "It was not the intention of the pill tower for any lives to be lost. The bandits were at fault here. That could be the only reason." she said hastily. "Do you take us to be fools? The bandits were lead by a mere pseudo Xiantian realm fool. He only came here because he had a grudge against your branch leader, who you made to be so secretive that no one even knew. The former had no chance of killing Cai Yun''er. Even if he self destructed, she had a life saving protective talisman that she could use to barely survive. And who here could go against a Xiantian realm expert, even one at the death''s door step?" he red at her with anger. "It is impossible! There is no way that the branch leader would kill a core sect disciple of the sky heavens sect!" the woman cried out. "If he had killed even a single disciple, there would be a problem. And now, the direct disciple of the sixth elder has died. You must give a suitable answer now, or I will truly tten this tower, regardless of the people in it. Only my disciples will survive." he looked at her threateningly. "Mercy! The death of the core disciple was not expected. But we shallpensate your disciples for the troubles we have caused. The bandit''s loot are yours to take. We shall give the ten spirit stones to each person here, so that they can smoothen their cultivation path." she said. "No. Ten spirit stones each? Do you think that a paltry thousand or so spirit stones is worth the life ? of a Xiantian realm genius, younger than even your genius pill elder? One medium ranked spirit stone, each. And I will make sure that from now on, the Pill Tower will stay in its limits." he snarked at the pill elder, who was still kneeling. "Yes. I will make sure that my stupid disciple knows his limits. I will teach him well." he hastily said. "And there is still the matter of how the death of Cai Yun''er will be dealt with." he nced at the woman again. "Thepensation?" she said, surprised. "That was because your tower imprisoned the disciples. That is separate from the matter of Cai Yun''er dying. And do not think that she was the only casualty. There were disciples who died in the battle against the bandits. Them entering the tower was your fault. If you want to me anyone, me your tower because you did not want to pay to exterminate the banditspletely." he snarked. Gritting her teeth, she said, "What do you want?" "I do not want anything. I am not like you. Money is not all that we want. We do not want to quantify our disciples with money. You are the people who have to tell the Cai Family how she died. Right now, right in front of me. If I find that you added an unnecessary detail, or if you did not mention a necessary one, then heads will roll." he said coldly. "But I-" The third elder threw something towards her. Buzz "Third elder? What happened? Rarely does the sky heavens sect interact with a family of the three under, why is it that that has changed?" a voice came from that item. The woman''s face changed. She looked at this with fright. "The pill tower, or a representative of the tower wants to break some bad news to you." the third elder said. "Bad news? Did the tower cancel the batch of pills that we ordered? Surely you couldn''t care less about that." the voice asked, chuckling. "Elder of the Cai family, the Pill tower regrets to inform you that a daughter of the Cai Family, Cai Yun''er, had died in the tower. Although the reason is not sure as of yet, the tower was attacked by the ck bandana bandits, and there was a fight." the woman said. "So it seems like you have chosen to make a story of your own" the third elder cracked his knuckles. "What else is there to add, that is confirmed?" she asked with desperation. "The fact that the two had fought against each other, and that they knew each other. Also mention that the branch leader of the Pill tower also happens to be from the ck bandana bandits." I shouted. She pissed me off, and I needed to make her, and the Pill Tower''s life difficult just for that. "You liar. I know that you are inventing this. Shut up!" the fatty stepped up. I raised my eyebrows as I looked at him. I did not expect him to step up for the tower. "Now, this is interesting. Where did this story disappear?" the third elder disappeared and reappeared in front of me. I nibbled my lower lip and smiled. "When there were hostile forces who were indiscriminately making the disciples of the sky heavens sect show their identities, and even think that I am an imposter just because some arrogant fellow says so, then why would I risk my life and say this in front of you people?" I said. "Good, good. This is really good. Now then, tell me the full story. Cai Yuan! Are you listening? This is what happened to your dear niece!" he shouted at the woman, or rather the item in her hands. "The pill tower should be happy that the true perpetrator of this all, You Feng, is dead." I chuckled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 138 Trouble Brewing "Tell me clearly. What happened." the third elder said. "Yes, elder. The bandits arrived, and senior sister and You Feng came out to face them. You Feng said something about the leader being only in the pseudo Xiantian realm. He copsed almost immediately, and it seemed that he was poisoned by You Feng. But after that, there was a problem. The fight was not over yet. For some reason, You Feng was looking for some one named Gray or something. It was weird. And he seemed to think that that person was senior sister. She nodded, and immediately after that, You Feng attacked her. The fight went on, and then the bandit leader surprised everyone by surprise attacking them and detonating himself." I said. "Impossible. How could the bandit move after being poisoned by the branch leader? There is something wrong with this story." the pill elder said with shock. "I am just recounting the happenings of the fight. I have no idea what poison was used. But I was not the only person here. Everyone here, including the bandits, will tell you that the two fought. In fact, I think that at the end, I also heard You Feng say something. I was on the ground, and could not get up. But I am sure that he survived the self destruction, and so did senior sister. What happened after that, I do not know." I said. This was not what happened. I had to change a lot of things. But I had to make sure that the pill tower would be the one taking the hit. I was already a little guilty that I was forced to kill a core disciple of my own sect. Now, I hoped that I could make it up to the sect by giving them the pill tower on a silver tter. They would be able to get something back from this. "I see. Is he telling the truth, third elder?" Cai Yuan, the person from the Cai family, asked. His voice was getting a little fuzzy. "He seems to be telling the truth. I am not sure if this is theplete truth, but he did not falter when he spoke about them fighting. And he is a mere Core Formation child. He would not be able to affect the battle even a little." the third elder said. "Then what happened is clear then. I will inform the family, and let all hell rain upon that branch. I always wondered why the Yurin City needed a Pill Tower when there was a Pill Tower in the Cairin City. A twin tower was unnecessary. And unlike this tower, Master Mu is heavily respected. I think that we should talk with him, and crush this to the ground to create a memorial for the family head''s beloved daughter." Cai Yuan said. The woman paused for a moment. She then looked at the third elder. "I am not strong enough. I am a mere honorary guard. We are reinforcements from the Cairin Pill tower. I am afraid that what you say, you have to say to master Mu." the woman shook his head. "What irony. To think that Master Mu would have such an unreasonable woman beneath her. I would think that he would send someone trustworthy here. Surely, he knew that the disciples of the sky heavens sect were imprisoned here." the third elder said. "Master Mu is in secluded cultivation. We are here on the orders of the Pill Elder." she nced at the Pill elder who was on the ground. "Of course, it has toe back to you. I knew that it was going to bite me in the back to let someone like you in charge of the twin towers when the two branch leaders went to seclusion. Now then, I don''t care anymore. Cai Yian, you take care of this. I do not any part of your revenge. I just want to know where half of my disciples disappeared. If anything happened to them, then I will do your work for you." he said, looking around. "The first batch might have gone to the wrong floor, elder." I smiled at him, trying to get in his good books. He saw right through me. "Stop talking now. You have said what you needed to say. Go back and recuperate. I will look into that matter myself. Ki''er, take care of this. I want you to hold the ground and get everyone to the sect. It is not right to stay here anymore. As guests, we have overstayed out wee, clearly." the third elder smiled. "Third elder! Do not forget, the alliance between our two powers go much further than just missions. We coexist with each other!" the pill elder shouted. "Do not think that we cannot survive without you. Only the new disciplese here. Remember that. You are not worth sending any important disciples. The only reason a Core Disciple came here was because we wanted to annihte the bandits. Clearly, that was a mistake on our part." he scoffed. "I will take care of this, master. Please look for the disciples. We cannot spend too much time here. We cannot leave the sect for this much time. It is not safe for the sect." a sweet voice came from next to the third elder. A woman, younger than Cai Yun''er, appeared. She looked like a fairy descending from the heavens. She looked at all of us. "Senior sister Ji Ki''er!" one of the rare female disciples cried out with glee. Ji Ki''er smiled at the person who called her out. "I hope that you are recovering. I will make sure that all of you are taken to the sect. Until then, I hope that these pills are sufficient for you to recover." With that, a few hundred pills appeared in front of her. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 139 Recovering After a few hours, every single person recovered to some extent. With that, the movement back to the sect started. The senior sister, Ji Ki''er, sent everyone through the teleportation array to the top floor. Now that the sect practically controlled the tower, there was not a single person who would dare to go against the words of a disciple. I slowly moved towards Cai Lien. She also saw me, and I saw her expression change from tensed to relief. "Thank god you are alive! I was so tensed! Are you an idiot? Why would you want to speak up against those people? Do you want trouble?" she chided me instantly. "Well-" "So this is the man that junior sister Lien is travelling with. It looks like my senior brother has nothing to worry about at all. He is nothingpared to the great number one of the inner sect." the man who was standing next to Yu Jinpeng, said. I nced at him with raised eyebrows. "Do I know you? I don''t think that I have ever offended you." I asked. "You should stay away from junior sister Lien from now on. Or else, things will not be pretty for you. I trust that you know of Hong Jimin? From the great Hong family? He is the one who is destined for the fairy of the inner sect. You should just get away." he snarked. "Is it? If I am not wrong, the one destined for her is someone else entirely. And that much is already written on paper. Now then, what are you going to do? Kill me? Kill a fellow disciple? I''d like to see how much you worship your senior brother, and to what length you would go for him." I smiled. I was done hiding. I had enough power in my hands to kill him. I could buy some item now and use it as a life protecting talisman. So I had no reason to cower anymore. "You should watch out for your back." he scoffed as he left. "Are you an idiot? Why did you say that? Now, Hong Jimin is not going to leave you alone!" Cai Lien grabbed my hand. "I have to get to the Inner sect at some point or the other. And if I want to get to the Core sect, then I will have to be better than any of the Inner Sect disciples. And for that, I need to be stronger than this Hong Jimin." I said. "Those are lofty goals, child. I hope that you can achieve them." the third elder hovered behind me. I looked back with surprise. I hastily bowed. "So then. This is Liu Feng. The person that all of the elders in the sect are talking about. You are a really interesting person. The second elder, well, he is really upset that you are still alive, isn''t he?" the third elder chuckled. "I can see that not many remember the second elder and his... displeasure of me joining the sect. After all, I do not think that it is suitable for an elder to act against a mere disciple." I carefully chose my words, not letting any one know the true events that transpired. "Fine then. But if you want to get to the Inner sect, then three dayster is probably your best chance. Did you not know that? You are in the Core formation stage already. You are guaranteed a seat in the inner sect, practically. But time is running out. If you miss this chance, then you will have to wait, for another three years." the elder chuckled. "Another three years? What?! Why does it take that long?" I was shocked. "Because we ept disciples only once every three years, we also send the disciples who are worthy to the inner sect. Few from the new batch of disciples are ever truly strong enough to get to that stage. But I am interested in seeing who Liu Qian raised." the third elder chuckled. "My foster father... If possible, can you tell me about him? It seems like he attended the sect before, and that he was very, famous." I asked. "I still have to get the other set of disciples that are trapped on another floor by some formation. I think that I should get going. Why don''t you go ask your father yourself?" the old man disappeared as quick as he appeared. I looked back with disappointment. "Again, I am met with a resounding no. Why does everyone hesitate in telling me what exactly happened? I should just ask mother. She will know." I decided. I followed the mass and went to the teleportation array. It took us to the top of the tower. At the terrace, we could see the entire city beneath us. I could see the city lord''s mansion was also right next to us, and it got me thinking. "With such a powerful force right here, how the hell did the banditse into the tower? Cai Yun''er must have done something." I thought to myself. There was no one here except the people who came with me. The others left. And looking up, I knew exactly how. Leaving was a huge monster with wings. It was terrifying, and it just showed me the true power that the sky heavens sect held. p Ji Ki''er appeared behind us through the teleportation array. "Remember. The beasts that are here are not to be trifled with. Everyone must stay calm, and should not say a thing to the senior. And, show respect. They are doing you a favor. All of you will be having the honour of riding the majestic senior, Julong Feng, the silverback eagle." she said. A screech froze us in our spot. And within our eyesight, a dot grew into a gigantic eagle. "That is going to be our ride?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 140 The Trial To The Inner Sect The moment we reached the sect, the first thing that every one did was return to their residences. Cai Lien bid me adieu and did the same. This was an exhausting few days, and the final fight was also life threatening enough for everyone to need thefort of home. Unfortunately, I could not feel that way about anywhere just yet. The Liu Family manor was the only ce that remotely felt like a ce that I could be. I walked to the market of the Outer sect. Once again, the new disciples started avoiding me. But this time, they were speaking about me loudly as well. "That is Liu Feng. I hear that he was in the Pill Tower when this happened. He is so lucky. He was able to witness a fight between Xiantian realm experts and survive this fact." one of them said to the other. He did not even bother whispering. I shook my head and walked straight to the ce where I had met Ji Riyal thest time. I did not expect him to sit here though. He was a genius of the sword dao, no doubt. He would be trying toprehend the profundities of the dao in his meantime. "Ji Riyal... Why does that sound so simr to someone else that I just encountered? Wait a minute! Isn''t that the same surname that senior sister Ji Ki''er has? By any chance, is he rted to her? That would make a lot of sense!" I realized. I just sat with a column faced to my back and looked at everyone talking about me. "I need to find some information about the Inner sect trials fast. Without that, I will bepletely unprepared." I sighed as I thought out loud. I heard footsteps behind me. Someone hade here. I turned around to see a familiar, yet foreign face. It was someone who had gone through the trials that I had in the top ten. It was Li Huan. "What are you doing here? Did I offend you as well, somehow?" I asked. "You forget. Unlike you, the idiot, I know my father very well. I know what to expect from him. I saw threw that stupid disguise and his antics a long time ago. I pity you for being the fool and agreeing to his request to be his disciple." Li Huan shook her head. "Then what would you wanted me to have done? I am this strong only because of the opportunities that he has given me. If it weren''t for that, then I know that I would be stuck in foundation establishment stage." I said. "So you are also entering the race to be an inner sect disciple? What a shame. I would have thought that father would make you a core sect disciple immediately, but it seems that he is ashamed of having you as a disciple." she chuckled. "You would think that such ament would make me furious, but my stupid background and the amount of controversy I create, him allowing me to stay in the sect is already a grace in itself." I smiled. "You and your father, you are the same." she shook her head. "You know my father? Which father? My foster father? Or my real father?" I asked, my eyes widening. This was too good an opportunity to pass by. "Of course I know both your fathers. But I only met your foster father. Martial Uncle Liu Qian. I don''t know what you did in your past life for you to be so lucky that you became the son of such a great man. He was the genius of the entire country, until you came by. He sacrificed everything that he had for you. Just remember that." she said. "He did what?" Please tell me what happened clearly. I really want to know what happened." I asked, desperate. "What I said was already too much. Maybe another time. Until then, I will see you in the Inner sect trials. If you can pass them, that is." she smiled. "At least tell me what the trials of the inner sect are!" I shouted at her departing figure. "Now why would I do that to my biggestpetitor? There are so few spots after all!" she chuckled. "Alright, I give up." I sighed. "I was joking. You really are fun to mess around with. Father was right in doing all of that to. You gave up so easily!" Li Huanughed as she came back to me. My heart lightened a little. "Thank you then. It is hard when you have no friends. Well, what can we do? I guess the best source of information that I have is listening to other people gossip." I said. "Stop trying to pitch your sobstory to me. I am just telling you this because I want to pay you back for what my father did to you. Although it was hrious, I am pretty sure that he wasn''t thinking about what he did." she said. "The Inner sect trials happen once every three years. And they stay the same every time. Every elder watches the trials, and they look for potential disciples. The main format is just fighting. It is apetition. Only during your selection into the sect, does the sect look for something other than martial power. After that, the fist is the king. Only the first ten will be able to get to the Inner sect." she said. "And as a person in the Core Formation Stage, will I have a good chance of getting in?" I asked. "If you don''t get in, then you are worthless." she said. "Ah! So cruel! Thank you for this. I thought that the trials were going to take so many sections." I smiled. "Now, it is your turn to pay me back with a little information. Did senior sister Cai Yun''er really die to the hands of the branch leader of the Pill Tower?" she asked with a hush tone. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 141 The Trial Begins The day of the Inner sect trial arrived quickly. I had recoveredpletely. Being an alchemist certainly had its own benefits. With the numerous spirit herbs that I had recently acquired, I was able to make any pill that I needed. "I forgot to take the badge to be an alchemist! Damn it. Now I need to go there before the Cai family does something!" I realized. But all of that was no longer that important. I needed to go to the trial for the Inner sect. I expected that all of the other disciples who were caught in the fight also recovered. The spirit pills that Ji Ki''er had given out were no ordinary pills. They were pretty expensive Qi supplementation Pills that were useful up to the Core Formation Stage! I did not jump onto them like all the others did, but I understood the value of them. The venue was the exact same one for my previous trial. It was the huge colosseum. But this time, it was packedpletely. I got the directions right this time, and I saw people wearing all sorts of robes. This once in three year event was bigger than I expected. I noticed master on the top, looking down at the participants. Not all of the Outer Sect disciples were participating. Many of them knew their limits, and knew that they had no chance at all to enter the Inner sect. But every single new disciple was in it. I also noticed that Ji Riyal was in this round. I walked toward him. "Senior Brother Riyal. I did not know that you also were attempting to enter the Inner Sect." I said. "I was forced to leave the main trial a month ago, so I could not aim for the top prize. Master said that it was unfair if I participated against you people. On the meanside, in the month that you disappeared, it seems that you have grown much stronger. You have grasped the power of Dao. And properly, this time." he looked at me with surprise. "I had a few fruituous encounters. But I am still nothing against you. With you participating, I think that I have no chance of getting to first ce." I chuckled. "Well, let us see. Maybe your coldness will freeze my sword. But maybe I will cut you down. I only hope that there are not too many injuries today. My attacks can be quite deadly." he said with a calm tone. There was no arrogance in his voice. Only concern. "Exactly how powerful is he? For him to be so confident?" I wondered. "It looks like the Inner Sect Trial are about to start." he pointed at the judge who was entering. The judge was probably a deacon from the Inner sect. "Why are there so many spectators? I thought that only the elders would see this to look for a disciple." I wondered. "Why, you ask? Because this is where thepetition arises. The strong ones don''t care about the Inner sect trials. But the sect does not just hand out freebies. We need to work for them. That means that the higher the rank, the more resources we get. In the Inner sect, the Silver Rankings are everything in the Inner sect." Ji Riyal said. "I see. And who is at the top?" I asked. "Hong Jimin. He is at the top of the Nascent Soul Realm. Just a step forward and he will be able to enter the Xiantian realm. But pity. Master said that he is too indulgent in mortal pleasure, and the path of cultivation does not favor him." he said, shaking his head. "The Inner Sect Trials that all of you have been waiting for are here. It is time for the every one of you to enter, and see who shall brave through the odds and enter the Inner sect!" the deacon at the center said. His voice was calm but loud. And the entire crowd roared. The participants roared. It was not like we were in a sect. It was like we were at a concert and a show was being put on. "Every single one of you is randomly assigned a number. Let us see who will match with who." the deacon rose up, and he started throwing what seemed like blue lights towards us. We were obviously not supposed to dodge them. I saw a few light flying towards me. But unlike the other lights, they were constantly flickering, and were moving around, as if someone was trying to push them around. I nced at the deacon, but he did not seem to know about any of this. I turned around to look at the elders. That was when I realised that the second elder, who was supposed to be in the Frozen Earth prison, was sitting in the audience, and was ring at me with rage. He did not want me to enter the Inner sect, and he was trying to match me up with someone that was too strong for me to handle. I looked around once. There were hundreds of people here. I needed to survive at least six or seven rounds if I wanted to get a rare spot at the top ten. This was too stressful. There could be more anamolies like Ji Riyal that were too strong for me to handle. "Come on. Someone must notice him rigging the field." I looked at my master. He was also looking at me, and I saw that he waved at me slightly. "Don''t worry about the second elder. Just make sure that you do your best. You are no longer useless. You may be weak, but not in this crowd. I will make sure that you will get what fate has in store for you." I heard master whisper in my ears, even though he was there at such a distance. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 142 Who Am I Matched Against? A blue light finally hit me. I looked at the second elder to see if his expression changed. He did not look satisfied, but he did not look disappointed either. He just looked forward monotonously now. I looked down at where the blue light had hit my body. It was at the center of my chest, and upon close inspection, I could see that there was this number that was showing on me right at that point. The number, fifty six, was shown to everyone else. I looked at the number that Ji Riyal had. "Fifty seven. It looks like we were almost destined to meet, but we are not going to. A pity. We are in totally different halves. Well then, if we shall meet, then we shall meet in the finals. Until then, I hope that you do not fall short." Ji Riyal smiled as he started walking away. He went up the stairs and sat next to someone in the audience. He started talking to that person, and his face changed from the calm that it was to happy. I saw him smiling so much for the first time. I also saw who he was talking to. It was Ji Ki''er. What I had thought was right. They were definitely rted. They could be cousins or siblings, but they knew each other, and they were close to each other. "Now then. You know your number! Find the person who has your number. That will be the person that you have to face. Number one will face number one. Enter the stage now!" the deacon said. I looked at who was moving towards the stage. My eyes squinted. I recognized one of the number ones. It was the baldy who was trying to pick a fight with me. "Sima Xin, I see. I see that he has increased in cultivation since then as well. He is in the fifthyer of the Foundation Establishment stage. That is pretty quick, I think. I wonder what he will feel like when he sees how much I grew though?" I chuckled. The other person who came onto the ring was someone that I did not recognize even one bit. It was probably someone from the old disciples. There were many who could not pass the inner sect trials three years ago, and they were trying their best to get into the Inner sect now. If they couldn''t do it now, then they would have to wait another three years, which was too much time. "The disparity in talents of the normal people and the geniuses is too much. This man has probably cultivated for a whole three years more than Sima Xin in this cultivation paradise, and he is still only in the seventhyer of the Foundation Establishment stage. Sima Xin might lose this match, but if they face each other again in another year, Sima Xin would probably win. Being at the Core formation stage, I could now judge the cultivation of people who were in the Foundation Establishment stage. It was like the Qi was telling a story, and the stronger one was, the more he or she could understand it. "The rules are very simple. If anyone is injured, then that is a casualty of the fight. Swords do not have eyes, and if you lose a limb, then that means that you are too weak. But if you happen to kill anyone, then you will be punished severely. No matter how weak your opponent is, that opponent is a disciple of the sky heavens sect. You are facing against a fellow brother or sister of the sect. Killing him means you are an enemy of the sect. You shall be sent to the Frozen Earth Sect! So mind your attacks now." the deacon said. As he was saying this, he looked squarely at me and Ji Riyal, who was sitting at the audience. I knew that he was intending that we both had to control our strength. "Oh my god, they are hyping Ji Riyal too much. Just how powerful is he? I cannot wait for our fight if there is one." I rubbed my hands together. I then looked behind me. There were a few seats that were not taken. I jumped to the higher elevation and took a seat. I then looked at the fight that was about tomence. "Now then, I will not let you wait any longer. Begin." the deacon jumped up immediately, and let the two fly to meet each other. Their weapons shed. His knuckle busters hit the sword that the senior was using. Sparks red, and Sima Xin was pushed a step back. But he did not try to leave this encounter. Instead, he started pushing forward. I could see the manifestation behind him had changed a little. The bull was certainly more solid, and it felt more like a real bull. The horns had these red rings on them, and it felt like it was ready to crush mountains, just like the skill that he was using probably said. Aaargh! He raised his head, and these horns made out of Qi tried to plow the senior away. But the senior saw this and moved to the side, barely avoiding this. Sima Xin stopped and looked at where the senior changed his position to. His right leg raised from the ground and kicked it once like a bull would. And then, in an explosive burst, he appeared in front of the senior. The senior was not the least bit shocked though. His sword was fast approaching. The sword was about to hit Sima Xin''s face when I heard a loud ng. I knew that the sword did not hit Sima Xin. I saw a shing light at thest minute. Someone had intervened. "He Jion wins. Sima Xin, you have failed your attempt to enter the Inner Sect." the deacon said. Then, he turned to the main panel, the elders, and the sect leader. "Does any sect elder wish to take a disciple now?" he asked respectfully. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 143 Taking Disciples "I will wait. This boy has potential, but his temperament is not good enough. Maybe three years hence, he will be tempered and will learn some humility. Until then, I have no intention of taking him as a disciple." A big and burly looking man said. He was one of the few middle aged looking men among the elders. There was only one woman though, so I knew that she was the anamoly. "Then we shall proceed to the next match. The number twos, enter the ring." the deacon said. The two men who just fought looked to the ground with disappointment. Ofcourse they wanted to be a personal disciple of a master. It would give them more resources, and would guarantee that they would get to a higher cultivation quickly. I saw that two others entered the ring. Their fight was also as expected. A person battling someone above their cultivation base was rare, and winning was almost impossible. I had a feeling that I was only winning against opponents much stronger than me because of the stats that I got from the system. "That reminds me, I have to check my stats. System home page" I muttered. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Child of Dao Level - 12 Strength - 78 Stamina - 32 Agility - 75 Cultivation - Core Formation Stage 1st Layer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Expert Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Medium Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Kun Peng Movement Arts (Basic Proficiency) Mind Eye(Active) Dao of Transformation(0.1%) Dao of Ice(0.5%) Flowing Cloud Spear (Basic Proficiency) Skill points - 11 Stat Points - 0 "Damn it. I used up all of my skill points on that. But it sure was worth it. As long as I can get to Expert Proficiency in the other skills- wait a minute. That skill that popped up at the end. That was the Flowing Cloud Spear! I could swear that it wasn''t therest I checked." I realized. [Host must be wrong. System has updated information up to the mark.] the system replied immediately. "Yu Yutian wins!" the deacon said, changing my focus. I looked at what was happening. I knew yu Yutian, but I didn''t think that he was strong enough to actually get to the next round. "Well, lucky breaks do happen. I guess that sometimes, luck is more important than skill." I shrugged. But I certainly did not forget about the new revtion that I came across. The system that I had was not perfect. It helped me a lot, but I couldn''t rely on it. Last time, I threw the grenades at You Feng, they did not explode like they should have. It was only after You Feng picked them up that they exploded. Now, this also opened my eyes. The system had something behind it, and I had to find out what eventually. I looked at thepetition now. I needed to know who my opponents were. Fight after fight passed by, but not a single person was epted as a disciple by the elders. They clearly had higher standards. "Number twenty threes. Onto the stage." the deacon called out. Li Huan and another entered the stage. I squinted. This one was going to be an interesting one. Li Huan grew stronger thanst time as well. She was at the seventhyer of the Foundation Establishment stage. It was surprising. She grew faster than even Cai Lien. I had a feeling that it was rted to her powerful backing. She had ess to all of the resources that she wanted. The fight started, and the two women on the field started rushing at each other. Swords shed, and both were pushed back equally. Until now, I noticed that the new disciples were paired with older ones, with the exception of Yu Yutian. Li Huan''s sword shined. It shed towards her opponent like it was ready to sh her apart. "I give up!" the woman shouted. Immediately, Li Huan held back her sword. It stopped just inches away from the woman''s neck. "Li Huan wins." the deacon said as he turned to the elders. "Elders. Are any of you interested in this disciple?" he asked. "Li Tian. Are you going to allow me to take this one as my disciple? Or are you going to keep protecting her?" the woman elder looked at Li Tian and said with a loud voice so that everyone could hear. "What is the point of trying to protect her anymore? Everyone knows now. She will need to stay in your protection. But why don''t you ask her first?" he shrugged. "Lass. Do you want to be my disciple? You have been in your father''s shadow for far too long. I will let youe out of it and shine on your own." she said. "It would be my honor to be the fourth elder''s disciple." Li Huan knelt on the ground. "Someone finally became a disciple now, I see. But I wonder. How will she be treated now that everyone knows that she is the daughter of the sect leader. I am sure that many would have suspected it like I did, but this confirms it." I thought. "The first quarter has ended. It is now time for the elders to take a short rest. We shall start again after a short break." the deacon announced. "Twenty six is a quarter? Then Ji Riyal is right! I wonder how he knew exactly how many people there were. Thank god he is right. Now, if I win every match from now on, I will face Li Huan in the semi finals, and Ji Riyal in the finals, like he said. I have to win." I resolutely told myself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 144 Time For My Fight The fights continued to go by monotonously, and my number was called upon. "Number fifty six, enter the ring." the deacon said. I looked at who was entering the ring with me. I needed to know who I was up against. I saw some movement from the side of the participants where all of the older disciples were standing. And the moment he moved, every single person next to him gave way immediately. "Damn it. He seems to be someone a little important. I knew my luck wasn''tpletely good. He must have messed up my battle for sure." I realized. Reluctantly, I got onto the ring. The person opposite to me looked ferocious. He nced at me, and his eyebrows lifted up with surprise. "What a pity. What a pity. It looks like you are in the same situation that I was three years ago. Even when I was in the Core Formation Realm, I had to face the strongest of my time, and I lost against Hong Jimin. Now, here you are, about to lose to me. Doesn''t it feel ironic?" the man chuckled. I hastily used mind eye on him. "Level - 15 Name - Ren Ming Cultivation - Core Formation Stage thirdyer" I looked at him with shock. He was strong. Much stronger than I anticipated him to be. This was definitely going to be a tough fight for sure. I took out my spear from my spatial ring and pointed it to him. "What a coincidence. You also use the spear. Then shall we see who uses it better? Shall we see how much you haveprehended it?" he smiled as he took out his own spear. I could feel a piercing intenting out of his spear. It was like it was ready to pierce through my body without even doing anything. "This manprehended the spear Dao. And he actually has a hold of it. Much more than I have on the Dao of ice" I thought to myself. "Ren Ming. I am warning you. If he is killed, then you will be sent to the Frozen Earth Prison for good this time. There will be no leniency." the deacon looked at Ren Ming with sharp eyes. "He killed someone before? Great job telling me. It''s like you want to scare me into giving up." I sighed. "Let the fight begin." the deacon said, not paying attention to what I said. Immediately, my feet moved. I jumped to the side, because I felt a frightening sensationing from Ren Ming''s spear. It turned out that I was right to trust my instincts. An entire foot wide line of destruction appeared where I stood. It extended to the edge of the ring, and once it reached there, some runes absorbed the attack. "I can''t let any of his attacks hit me like that. Or else, they will spell my doom. I need to be vignt." I told myself as my feet got to work. As his spear started flying towards me, I kept moving. I had no intention of taking one of his attacks straight. I was not suicidal. Even if I had a good armor or some thing like that, I would get seriously injured just by the recoil. I kept moving, trying to find a good opening. Just running around would be a losing strategy. Where I would spend all of my Qi on escaping, he would surpass me in a battle of endurance. With a higher cultivation base, he would definitely have more Qi than me. I needed to attack, and do some damage. To someone with such a heavy attack, I knew that he focused too much on attack, and none on defense. I needed to get one attack through to make an impact. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fifth form! Blue Dragon Breaks through hell!" I shouted as my spear glowed with a blue hint. It shot forward towards Ren Ming with an incredible speed. Ren Ming frowned, and he also raised his spear. His spear glowed with a white hue, and he just pushed it forward. I saw that there was a point of light that was shooting at the blue dragon that manifested. The dragon roared, and the two attacks collided. I felt my spear cry for some reason. It had the lower hand. The blue dragon cried out with pain. I could feel the pain that it felt. It was losing. Before I lost too much Qi, I took back my spear and retreated. The attacks had cancelled each other out, but it was my loss on this count. I used too much Qi, while Ren Ming seemed to have done something effortless. This was too disadvantageous to me. At this point, I had to decide. How badly did I want to get to the Inner Sect? Because I needed to show a lot of trump cards to get there. "There are far too many resources waiting for you to falter now. The after math can be handledter. But do you really want to lose? It will be a difficult pill to swallow." Liu Man suggested. "You are right. First, I will try to win. And then, I will focus on whatester." I nodded. My spear felt duller than it was before. But I couldn''t care less about it now. I quickly approached him with the Kun Peng Movement Arts. Swish! He pierced his spear towards me, but I was prepared this time. Flowing Cloud Spear Art! First form! The spear started swirling around the attack, and the piercing light stopped where it was. Then, it just disappeared into thin air. "For defense and for attacks like these, this approach is really better. But it uses too much Qi. I need to finish this fast." I sighed with relief knowing that I had a chance now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 145 The Line Between Losing And Winning Ren Ming looked at me with surprise. "I didn''t think that you could actually block one of my attacks. You are stronger than I expected." he said, surprised. "Well, it is not going to be fun if it is a one-sided match." Iughed. Both of us furiously started moving. Our weapons started shing every second, and I felt my hand going numb. But I knew that this closebat was not good for him as well. My strength stat was doing its work here. "You are an idiot. Why are you using the Child of Dao title here? You should be using your cultivator title, shouldn''t you? That way, you can get bonus stats." Liu Man interjected. "That''s right!" I realised. I quickly evaded his attack and retreated. "Change title to Cultivator." I said. [Changing title to cultivator. Title changed.] the system responded. I felt the strength and speed impact me immediately. This was going to make a difference. I charged back into battle. The attack that came towards me was too fast, so I had to parry it. Flowing Cloud Spear! First Form! The attack stopped in its tracks, and I used this moment to return the favour. "Flowing Cloud Spear! Second Form!" The spear disappeared momentarily. Ren Ming looked around with confusion. He put his spear close to him, fearing an attack from any direction. "You are an idiot. Why wouldn''t you attack me when I am defenseless?" I wanted to say, but I didn''t want him to get an upper hand with something that I said. I snapped my fingers, and the spear appeared where he least expected it. "Itsing from the top! Look up!" someone from the bystanders shouted. I frowned. This was not fair. He would definitely not have seen thising, if it weren''t for that person interfering. And now, Ren Ming was looking up at the attack that wasing towards him. "I give up." he said softly and waved his hands. My spear stopped in its tracks though. It was like it had another master now. "You give up? You were strong enough to stop the spear in its tracks with a wave of your hand! Why did you give up? I don''t need your mercy." I said. "Mercy? This isn''t mercy. If it weren''t for that person telling me, I wouldn''t have expected it toe from the top. That attack was supposed to connect, and it would have defeated me. So this is your win." Ren Ming said calmly. "Liu Feng wins!" the deacon announced. The audience was dead silent. No one expected this oue, least of all me. The deacon looked at the elders now. "Are the elders willing to take a disciple now?" he asked. "Ren Ming. You have given me a delight today. Your temperament has changed for the better. Not having the next three years in the Inner court will be a waste of your talent. You do not need to rely on the resources there. Join my side, and I will let you wreak havoc upon the world with your spear." a tall and thin looking man stood up. "It was always my wish to be your disciple, fifth elder. And now, you have fulfilled it. Thank you for your grace." Ren Ming bowed down and knelt. The audience, especially the older disciples of the Outer Sect, broke into cheers. Then, the deacon looked at me. He nced at the elders. "You won this match by sheer luck. Do not think that you are worthy of bing a disciple of a sect elder." the second elder said coldly. The deacon looked at me with pity. "Then we shall take a small break and start with the next matches after an hour." he said. I sighed and headed on to leave the ring. "What did you do to anger the second elder? I have never seen him say something like that to a disciple in public." Ren Ming stopped me. "I didn''t do anything. But the second elder does not like my father. So I guess that I have to live with it. But I must congratte you in bing the disciple of the fifth elder. I wish you the best of luck. I am sure that you will grow much stronger now." I smiled. "It was a good fight. Back then, it was Hong Jimin who stopped me in the first round. And now, it is you. But he is a strong man, and do not think that you can go against him that easily. You need time to get to his stage." Ren Ming said. "I don''t do anything to offend these people. I just happen to be unlucky enough for everyone to hate me." I sighed. I walked to where I was to rest. "It was an interesting fight, watching you defeat Ren Ming. I am shocked at how strong you are, Junior Brother." Ji Riyal came up to me. "I am sure that you are much stronger. Why jest." I smiled. "I am no longer so sure. You have not used your power of the Dao yet, and you are already able to use such strong skills and even take care of the piercing strikes that I would definitely have to use some effort to neutralise." Ji Riyal shook his head. "I was just lucky. I was just lucky. One thing happened to work. But maybe after watching your match, I will understand exactly how inferior I am to you." I chuckled. "Well, I hope that my match will be as uneventful as the ones before me. I don''t want any problems right now. I hope that my opponent will be as clear-headed as yours and know when to ept his or her defeat." he said. "Just how strong does he think he is?" I wondered. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 146 Ji Riyal "Number fifty seven. Enter the ring." the deacon said. The sky was turning dark, and I half expected thepetition to extend to the next day. But it seemed like no one had any intention of stopping. Ji Riyal entered the ring, and so did another older disciple. He looked at Ji Riyal, and then at Ji Ki''er. It did not escape anyone that he sat next to her, and was conversing with her freely. "What is your rtionship with senior sister Ji Ki''er? For you to talk with her so freely." the opponent asked. "I am afraid that it is none of your business. I do not understand why you wish to know, and I have no intention of telling you. Now, can we start the battle?" he looked at the deacon. "Just know this. You toad lusting after swan''s meat. You will die before you know it if you lust after senior sister. Everyone knows that senior brother Hong Jimin is the only one who is worthy of her." he dered. "That pervert? He needs to be put in his ce. But I think that so should you. And just so you know, my sister is not meat for all of you to lust upon." he said as he took out his sword out of his sheath. He was carrying his sword on his side all this time, and he did not have a spatial ring. It was not surprising, considering that he had no cultivation at all. The fact that he had no cultivation at all was the surprising part. "I don''t know why the sect wants to bring in weak people like you who will eventually be unable toprehend anything and stagnate. I will show you what a true cultivator is." the older disciple shouted with pride. "Let the fight begin." the deacon said. Immediatley, I felt a sharp aura fill the air. Ji Riyal''s eyes changed. I never expected that his eyes, which were so calm till now, could be so terrifying. His sword moved forward slowly. So slowly that I could see the trajectory clearly. And so could his opponent. But his opponent seemed frozen in his tracks. A white light left the sword and went crashing towards his opponent. The older disciple raised his own weapon, a sword, to defend himself. sh! There was a clean sound. No ngs, nothing. And I could smell the bloode out of the older disciple. Aaaargh! "My arm! My arm! He cut my arm!" the man shouted with fear and shock. "Do you yield?" Ji Riyal pointed the sword towards the man''s face. "Put that sword away, Riyal. You have won this match. There is no need to be so harsh." the first elder stood up. This was the first time that I saw him say something till now. "Yes, master." Ji Riyal nodded as he bowed down. He put his sword back in its sheath, and I breathed with relief. "Wait a minute! Ji Riyal is the disciple of the first elder? When did that happen?" I was shocked. Then, I remembered something that happened at the beginning of the sect entrance trials. He was told to meet someone. The first elder already decided to take Ji Riyal as a disciple before he even entered the sect! "Ji Riyal wins. I believe that there is no need to ask who wishes to take him as a disciple." the deacon smiled. "There is no need. Why wait and waste anymore time. Let us continue." the first elder smiled. "He cut off my arm! Elders! He must be punished for this! He cut off my arm!" the older disciple screamed with pain. "As was said before, swords do not have eyes. You can only me yourself for being too weak. To think that this Hong Jimin is so weak to rely on these stupid people." Ji Riyalughed. The expression of his opponent turned ugly. But he could not say anything. Biting his lip, he took his own arm and sword with his left hand, and carried them down the stage. People scrambled around him, trying to fix what had been done. Meanwhile, Ji Riyal walked back to where he was sitting. He approached me on the way. "Well then, I am sure that by now you will know who would win between the two of us. Why not just decide now and tell me. That way, we can avoid the whole fight. It is a waste of time, and I do not want to spend this much time on something that is supposed to be guaranteed." Ji Riyal said. "You really are different, senior brother. But I am afraid that until we meet inbat, I cannot say for sure who will win. I am sure that you held back a considerable amount of your skill, and I have a few trump cards of my own." I shook my head. "A pity then. I will have to wait here for so much more time." he shook his head. "Well, one thing is for sure. I am d that you and I find the same enemy in Hong Jimin. I hear that he harrassed your sister as well?" I asked. "Well, this was only made known to me, but it seems so." Ji Riyal nodded. "Have you faced issue with him as well?" "Well, my situation is a little weird. Recently, I was betrothed without my consent, and now, this Hong Jimin hates me because he wants to pursue my fiancee. Well, I can rest assured now that I can leave him to you. I am not strong enough to deal with a Nascent Soul expert now." I sighed. "Well, I cannot promise you that. My sister is strong enough to deal with someone in the Nascent Soul Realm. Surely, she will not need me. But if you need any help, I will be sure to give you my aid." Ji Riyal smiled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 147 Going To The Finals Battles passed by. The oues were just as expected. One after one, they continued with the battles. The way that they made the battles baffled me. Some were lucky to get a free pass and continue on. But in my eyes, it was not lucky at all. Me, Ji Riyal, Li Huan, and a few other older disciples who were stronger than the others, were the only ones who received this lucky grace. And now, fight after fightter, my half was reaching an end. "Number twenty three, and number fifty six, enter the ring." the deacon called out. Li Huan and I entered the ring, and faced each other. "Junior sister, you and I both know the oue of this fight. Do we really need to spend so much effort and time?" I looked at her. "Yes. We know the oue. But some part of me says that I still have a chance, and that part does not wish for me to give up. It is against my Dao heart to give up without fighting. Not when I know that I have a chance." she shook her head. "Imend your will power, but there really is no chance. But I cannot dissuade you further. I only hope that you see when you are about to fall, and quickly make sure that you call out your defeat." I said, shaking my head. "Let the fight begin." the deacon said. Without even wasting a moment, I did what I had to do. "Blue Dragon Spear Art, Fifth form! Blue dragon breaks through hell!" I shouted. My spear raced towards her, and the dragon that manifested behind it roared at her. She pursed her lips and unleashed her own attack. Her sword and a tiger behind it tried to fight back against my own. But the disparity between the foundation establishment and the Core Formation stages was too much. I had much more Qi, and was stronger in general. The dragon tore through her attack and approached her with a devastating speed. But Li Huan still had no intention of giving up. She raised her sword at ast ditch attempt to defend. My expression changed. I quickly held back my spear and shot forward disappeared from where I stood. Li Huan looked around with confusion, trying to see where I was. "You lost, junior sister. You lost the moment I unleashed that attack. If I had dyed any longer, then you would have taken a serious injury." my spear was inches from her neck. "I... lost." she sighed as her sword dropped from her hand. I bent forward and picked it up for her. "You are a strong opponent, junior sister, and I have no doubt that you are a genius. But sometimes, you must know when to stop. That attack could have taken your life. If it had, then I would have no way to show my face to your father." I said, handing her sword to her. "So that is all that you had running in your mind?" she looked at me and gave me a mischievous smile. "Why would I have anything else in my mind?" I blushed. Who wouldn''t if they faced such a beauty giving a smile like that. "Liu Feng wins. He shall proceed to the final round." the deacon called out. Both of us stepped down from the ring and looked at the two who were approaching to rece us. There was Ji Riyal, and one person from the older batch of disciples. It was already surprising that there were a total of three new disciples who entered the top four. This was the only older disciple. "It seems that I have no need to call upon the two of you to arrive. Enter the ring, and we can proceed to see the fight before thest." the deacon said. I looked at the horizon. The sun was rising. The whole event had taken the entire day and night, but everyone did not even have an intention of stopping. This was the advantage of being cultivators. They wouldn''t feel exhaustion with just this. All the elders and the audience were still cheering, but the loudest were the older outer sect disciples. They needed at least one of theirs to enter the finals. "Senior brother Jin! You can do this! You can defeat that upfront!" one of them shouted. "How do they have the courage to say this after they saw all the matches of Ji Riyal destroying his opponent?" I wondered. To their favor, Ji Riyal, me and the other two semi finalists only had three matches each. The free bypasses that we got allowed us to rest happily while others had to toil. "Let the fight begin." the deacon said. I popped a Qi restoration pill in my mouth and looked at what was happening leisurely. The sword was unsheathed, and with each strike, this senior brother Jin was only getting pushed into a worse state. He was not weak, but he was not strong enough to deal with the attacks that Ji Riyal was pushing out. "The sword dao seems more terrifying than the spear dao. The spear felt like it could defend at least a little. But his sword is forgoing all defense to achieve the best attack possible!" I thought in my head. The attacks were creating scars on the battle field. Only he and my first opponent, Ren Ming, were able to do that. "All the others have not achieved nearly enoughprehension of Dao as these two have. They are truly terrifying." I noted. I looked at the Senior brother Jin''s sword. It was cracking. It was not a bad weapon, but it just couldn''t withstand the barrage of attacks that Ji Riyal was just pushing out. Crack! I finally heard it. The sound of defeat. "I give up. You are truly terrifying. I cannot match you at all. You are all monsters. Who would have thought that the new disciples would be so strong?" he gave up and threw his broken sword to the ground. "Ji Riyal wins. And now, we shall give these two an hour to recuperate for the final battle." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 148 Sudden Enlightenment "I do not need any time to recover. And I believe that neither does Junior brother Liu Feng. Then why wait any longer? Why not go ahead with the fight?" Ji Riyal looked at me. I had no choice but to nod. I was not that exhausted. In fact, after I recoveredst, I only had one battle. And that battle as also andslide. I crushed Li Huan in just one move. I had already taken a Qi recovery pill and recovered to my peak position. So I had no reason not to fight now. I jumped from where I stood andnded on the ring. I faced him with my spear out. "Fine then. Let us battle. Let me see how strong a person of the Dao truly is" I said as frost appeared at the edge of my spear. I had to put in every little power I had into this. I wanted to win. This was the first time that I so desperately wanted to beat someone without the system telling me to. It only felt fit. With my mission toplete this world, I needed to win every battle in my path. I needed to be unbeatable. "I will be unbeatable!" a glint appeared in my eyes. Immediatley, I felt this power fill my body A golden light hovered on me, and it appeared like this armor. "It looks like I am a mere stepping stone for you, junior brother. You have used me as your motivation to enter the path of the Undefeatable Dao." he shook his head. "The Undefeatable Dao." I muttered as I looked at my hands. This Dao was truly mysterious. It filled my body with power. More importantly, I knew that the moment that I faced someone and I lost, I knew that I would be knocked out of this path. Ping! Ping! [The system is pleasured by the path that the Host has taken. The system shall do its best to be the Dao protector of the Host. Host shall now receive a boost inprehension of Dao of Ice to help with the impeding battle.] All of a sudden, my eyes froze. I stopped and sat down on the ground, closing my eyes. Frost appeared all around me, creating a five feet radius around me that no one could trespass without freezing their legs. I could not hear anything except the profoundities of the Dao of ice that were being preached to me. This was too good. I could understand so much that I didn''t understand before. However, before I knew it, the preaching stopped. My enlightenment ended with it. I slowly opened my eyes, and what I saw shocked me. In front of me, Li Tian, my master, was just standing calmly, and behind him, Ji Riyal. All of them were observing me with strange eyes. "You have the most unnatural timing to have a sudden enlightenment. But it seems that your gains this time are considerable?" he asked me. "Considerable? With my gains this time, I am afraid that senior brother is no longer my enemy. With this, I know that I have grasped a rudimentary understanding of the Dao of Ice." I said. "That is surprising, considering that you have been in that stage for only one minute." Li Tian chuckled. "One minute? Impossible! It felt much longer than that!" I could not believe my ears. "Well, there is nothing that I can do, can I? That is the undeniable truth. But now. it is time for the final battle." he stepped back and went back to where he was supposed to be seated. "Junior brother, you have gotten a gift from the heavens. I am truly jealous. I had only entered a moment of enlightenment once before, although it had been slightly longer than yours. But to think that it woulde just moments before our battle. It looks like even the heavens want to make this an even battle. They want to watch a show." Ji Riyal chuckled. "You are right. Someone wants to watch a show. But I am not sure who it is. I don''t think that the heavens are that ruthless." I shook my head. "Why wait for any longer? Let the final battle begin." the deacon said. I raised my spear. In front of me, the straight path towards Ji Riyal was immediately covered in Ice. Ji Riyal raised his spear and struck it down. A sword energy came crashing down at the approaching Ice wave. They countered each other, and although the Ice stopped invading further and started cracking, the sword energy was also spent to the fullest. The both of us were evenly matched on the front of Dao. But one thing worried me now. I was bound by cultivation. I was not a Dao cultivator to the fullest. So that meant that I needed to use Qi tomunicate with the heavens and use Dao in my attacks. Ji Riyal was going to be different. He was a Dao cultivator. He had decided to walk on the path of the Heavens, and could use as many attacks as he wanted to, until his own body gave way. I could not rely on a battle of attrition. I needed to finish this fast and clear. We moved, and every time that we did, Ice and sword shed against each other. My spear had no other purpose than to serve as a medium for my Dao. The ring below us was cracking. It had already taken a lot of damage before, and now it was pushing it. I stopped and took my spear. "This floor seems unstable. Why not take this battle to the skies then?" I smiled. Saying this, I struck the spear down to the ground. Ice filled the entire arena, and it started cracking. Ji Riyal''s expression changed. He raised his sword and tried to attack me. "Toote." I smiled, and wings appeared behind my back. "Kun Peng Movement arts! Sky Movement!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 149 Ice Versus Sword I was hovering in the air and looking down at Ji Riyal. "How is he hovering in the air? He is just at the Core Formation Realm!" one person in the audience shouted with shock. "It is just hovering. That can be done with a few secret techniques. If he is able to fly, then that would be a cause to worry. It would be a testament to going against the heavens if he can fly in the Core Formation Stage." another said. I heard this and almostughed. But now was not the time nor the asion to reveal all of my cards. My spear rose up and flew to the ground. Ji Riyal was struggling to maintain his bnce in the crumbling arena. But he did not give up. A sword light shed with the spear, and it came crashing back towards me. I looked at him with surprise. I did not expect him to be able to unleash such an attack while struggling without any footing. Without any cultivation, I thought that he wouldn''t be able to stay strong on the ground, but what he did next shocked me. He raised his sword and just flicked it a few times. shed appeared across the ring, and all of a sudden, Ji Riyal had a stable ce to stand. It was like he was carving the ring, like an expert butcher. "All of us have incredible cards, but this is just true mystery. Mastery of the sword. If only I could obtain the mastery of frost like that, then I would be able to freeze him where he stood without any effort." I sighed. "The fight is not over. I hope that you will not put your focus elsewhere." Ji Riyal''s voice rang out. I saw that a sword energy was iing towards me. It was bigger and stronger than the previous ones. This was his true power that he was hiding till now. I put my spear in front of me and took a deep breath. Flowing Cloud Spear! Third Form! This was the final form that I could use right now. The other forms had been unlocked, and I knew them, but I did not have the time to focus on them. This was the peak of the Flowing Cloud Spear that I could achieve. I felt the spear lighten considerably. It felt like a cloud indeed, but also like it was water. It flew to meet the sword energy that came toward me and embraced it like apanion. The rigid spear was flexible now, and it just bound the sword energy, not letting it move. But it could not just extinguish the sword energy like it did with the spear energy against Ren Ming. It deflected the attack to somewhere else. The sword energy hit the ring''s boundary, and runes appeared. The runes dimmed down a bit. This was a terrifying attack that had the potential to destroy the protective boundary around the ring! Seeing this, the audience felt afraid. Who wouldn''t? These attacks were not something that any one could defend easily. "Worry not! With me here, I will see who can get hurt!" Li Tian stood up and dered. With that, the disciples calmed down. That was right! The elders and the sect master were standing right next to them! Who could hurt them? I smiled and continued to hover. This was best for me. I did not require any footing, because in this sh with ice and sword, I did not need to use any movements. I raised my hands again, and ice appeared on the tform that Ji Riyal made. It was not like before though. The ice tried to permeate the legs of Ji Riyal and freeze him where he was. "I am not going to just sit down and take this likest time. Lest you think that I am throwing away this match." Ji Riyal chuckled as he raised his sword. Two lights briefly shed. Everyone looked at his feet. The ice that wasing up calmly slid. "Such control! He carefully made sure that the ice would be cut down and not his own leg! This is a true genius!" one personmented. I was also shocked at this disy. It was simply too skillful. But I was done yet. My Qi raced to my back bone, and translucent wings formed behind my back. Then, I shot forward. I appeared right behind Ji Riyal and raised my spear. He turned around raised his sword as well. My spear was stopped before it even moved forward. "Just by rasing his sword, the energy that it gave off was enough to stop my spear? This is too domineering." I shook my head. Ji Riyal was about to attack again, but a barrier of Ice suddenly appeared to separate the both of us. "If I go up again, then there will be some spection and people might be able to understand what my movement art is. I need to do something else." I decided. An ice tform was created opposite to the one that Ji Riyal carved out. Inded on that. But instead of slipping, I felt most safe here. This was my domain. Something that I had created. Then, I aimed my spear at him. "Ethereal Weapon Arts! Spear! Third form! One spear to break through the heavens!" I pointed the spear at Ji Riyal. The spear hummed. There was nothing else. This was the spear, and the spear alone going forward. There was no manifestation involved. The spear shot forward at a terrifying speed. As it approached the barrier of ice that I had created, it parted to make way for the spear. I smiled. "This should do it." I was confident now. I did not want to use this attack just yet, but I wanted to win. And now, seeing Ji Riyal''s face through the parting, I knew that this was going to be the critical point. ng! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 150 Inner Sect! (1) Cough! I coughed out blood and flew back. I quickly put my hand down to stop my instant defeat. My hand was getting battered by the pieces, but I stopped right before I was about to leave the ring''s edge. Then, I looked at Ji Riyal. The dust had not cleared yet. The ice boundary that I had created had fallen down and I could not see what was happening there. But I looked up and saw that there was one elder missing from the seat. The first elder! "He is Ji Riyal''s master!" I remembered. I shook my hand slightly and the ice that was there slowly disappeared into nothing. It didn''t vanishpletely. No one could make something out of nothing. All I did was hasten the process of converting the ice into vapor. Then, I could see the real scenario. The first elder was standing in front Ji Riyal. In his hands, was my spear. He was frowning, and looked back at Ji Riyal. "How suicidal can you be? Did you want to die trying to win? See! Your attack did not even defeat him. It did no damage to him at all! And you wanted to forsake your life? Is it worth it?" the first elder said to Ji Riyal with a ruthless voice. "Forgive me, master. I had apse in judgement." Ji Riyal bent his head down. "Yes. And for thispse in judgement, you will be sent to the dream pavilion for one month. Go and reflect on your mistakes." the first elder said. Ji Riyal could do nothing but nod. And nod he did. "This fight has a clear winner then? Liu Feng wins the outer sect battle. He enters the Inner sect with a ranking of one hundred on the silver rankings. And as for Ji Riyal, he will have to enter the martial pavilionter to get ranked." the first elder said. The moment he said this, everyone who seemed to be from the Inner sect looked at me with envy. And with this, even I felt a sudden surge in strength and power. I felt like there was a slumbering beast inside of me that was growing stronger. Ping! [Host has learnt the Undefeatable Dao! Host has gained progression in the Dao] the system said. It was then that I realized that if I wanted to grow in the undefeatable dao, then I had to defeat all of my enemies. And not ones that I knew I could defeat. The truly powerful ones. "Let us get going then," the first elder was about to look away when I interrupted him. "If you don''t mind me asking, elder, what is the cultivation of the person who is in the spot above me?" I asked. I wanted to know how powerful the people I suddenly offended were. "I cannot say. That is a secret. But generally, people in the top one hundred are all in the low and mid Core Formation stage. Just like you." the elder said. "Thank god. I was afraid that I would be facing a lot of powerful seniors. I am d to know that I stand a chance against them." I breathed a sigh of relief. "Don''t be happy just yet. Your senior brothers and sisters have spent three years with the help of the elders toprehend the bottlenecks that they faced and to understand the Dao. You are weak. Next month, when you will have to battle to keep your ranking, then you will understand howcking you are. Until then, ept the benefits of being in the top one hundred." the first elder shook his head and smiled. The first elder grabbed Ji Riyal and he disappeared from where he stood. But he did not reappear where he was supposed to. He seemed to have gone somewhere else. I suspected that he went to the Dream Pavilion for that punishment. "Well then, that was no proper way to announce the winner of the grand trials to enter the Inner sect! The trial that happens only once every three years should be celebrated most wonderfully. The sect is truly grateful that among the ten that have been selected, a total of four from the new disciples have entered the Inner sect. This is a record that has never appeared before. I shall start by weing you to the Inner sect. And to all of those that have failed to enter the inner sect, cultivate diligently. There are more than one ways to enter the inner sect. If you catch the eye of an elder, then he or she can send you to the inner sect. But for that, you must cultivate. The martial dao is not so easily transversed. And now, the ten that have entered the sect, you may enter the inner sect and cultivate the new robes that denote your new status." my master stood up and said grandly. He was truly a master of public speaking. With this, the disciples roared. It was also new to me that one could be an inner sect disiple by impressing an elder. But I was already in the Inner sect. Now, I had something else to take care of entirely. And that was the ticking time bomb in my system. There were only ten days remaining. That was not even an estimate. After those ten days, there was not knowing where I could be transported. That was why I needed to prepare. I decided that I would go to the sect treasury to get my weapon of choice. Rather than a weapon, I knew that I needed a new armor. I walked up to the point where the first elder once stood. I bent down to take the spear that he had stopped. "I need to grow strong enough that not even the first elder can stop my spear." I thought to myself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 151 Inner Sect! (2) The next stop was the Inner sect. I needed to know what the inner sect was, and how I would get my resources. I was like everyone else. I needed the same resources to thrive with the other disciples. And now, as the winner of the Inner sect trial, I was going to get more than the others who joined with me. I was at the border of the Inner sect. There was a clear barrier, and a single point of entry. The deacon there looked at me and nodded. "The fresh blood has finally arrived. I was waiting for you toe. It seemed like you were going to take forever." he chuckled. "The others have alreadye in?" I asked, surprised. "Of course they did. While you were there, wasting your time loitering about, the other disciples already went in with their robes and have gotten their residences." the deacon chuckled. "Then I am afraid that I am going to have to trouble you to go through the introduction again. I am new to the sect, and unfortunately thest deacon has not been so kind to me. I do not understand how the sect works." I sighed and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Do not worry boy. The Inner sect and Outer sect arepletely different. Every single disciple in the Inner sect is a gem that the sect wishes to polish. We will not treat you badly, as long as you remain filial." the deacon smiled. "And I will promise you that I shall remain filial to the sect." I nodded. "Well then, let us start with the resources. Those are the important part. That is why the Outer sect is nothingpared to the Inner sect. Every single Inner disciple has ess to the seven grounds of Dao. These are havens toprehend the dao. They are, forest of des, Cliff of Unbreaking Winds, Thunder Valley, Garden of Iron Trees, Frozen Pond, Sword Mountain, and Sea of fire." the deacon said. "The thunder valley I have heard of before, but I was not fortunate enough to enter. What do I need to do to get in?" I asked. "The contribution points. Do you think that the sect makes you work in vain? Why do you think that so many people went to the Pill towers in the twin cities? It takes ten contribution points to enter any of these grounds. And for the new Inner sect disciples, every one of them can visit one, and only one of these grounds for one time." the deacon said. "For one time? Is there any time limit?" I asked. "Time limit? Let us see how you willst when the elements unleash their forces to batter you beyond your imagination." the deacon chuckled. "And deacon, what of the ranking? The elder mentioned that I was ranked one hundred. Does that give me any benefits?" I asked. "Of course it does. Among the hundreds in the Inner sect, the top one hundred are allowed to enter two of these grounds per month. And the top twenty five are allowed to enter the havens without any restrictions. They are legendary after all." the deacon said. "I see. Are they existences in the Nascent Soul Realm?" I asked. "Some things are best left to explore on your own. Now, let us continue." the deacon quickly changed the topic, but I knew that he was hiding something. "The top twenty five are probably at the Nascent Soul Realm, or at the peak of the Core Formation Stage." I guessed. "The resources that you get every month will be given at the start of the month. Luickily, even though the month has started a few days ago, you will still get your resources. As a person in the top one hundred, you will be given ten Core Guiding Pills. They can be used to supplement the Core and strengthen it. Few pills can truly increase the cultivation of a Core Formation Stage expert, and this is one of them." the deacon said. "Where can I get these resources, esteemed deacon?" I asked. "You need to go to the Medicinal Hall. Don''t tell me that you don''t know that! You must have gone there for the resources in the Outer sect." the deacon looked at me with ck lines. "Well..." I looked away. "Impossible. I have never seen someone as wasteful as you." the deacon shook his head. ,m "And where do I get the Inner sect robes, esteemed deacon?" I asked again. "How do you not know this as well? You have received the robes for the Outer sect," the deacon shook his head. "..." I could not respond to this as well. Shaking his head, the deacon gave me the instructions. "Finally, I have onest question. When I became second in the trial to enter the sect, I was promised a treasure. But I still have not received it. Where can I receive the treasure, deacon?" I asked. "This is obviously in the Weapons Pavilion. How do you not know anything of the sect? Just what hole did you sleep thest month that you were in the sect?" the deacon was getting irritated now. "I was in an unfortunate incident and had to stay inside for the entire month. I could not even listen to the preaching of the elders." I sighed and tried to keep the real story away from him. It was a secret that I was the sect leader''s disciple. "I see. That is truly unfortunate. But do not worry. The elders care about the seeds in the Inner Sect. That is why, every week, one of the elderses and gives a lecture in the Grand Dao Hall. Rarely, even Core Sect disciplese to listen to these preachings. You will benefit very much from those." the deacon said. "This has been very helpful, deacon." I quickly bowed down to thank him." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 152 Frozen Pond I asked around and got my Inner sect robes. I also headed to the Weapons Pavilion and saw that there were many armors from which I could pick. I took the one that was still relevant to my current cultivation. It had to withstand the onught of the fights that I was about to go through. I also wanted to hide the armor beneath my robes, and this armor was thin enough to do that. It was best to make this protecting grace a secret. With all of this in order, I asked around and reached the frozen pond. The frozen pond was very different from what I had expected. It had many, manyyers. To call it a frozen pond was an oversimplification. There wereyers. With eachyer, the ice felt more solid, and at the very center of this pond, fog stopped my vision. I could not see what was there. And at the outskirts of the pond, numerous disciples bearing the Inner sect robes were sitting on the ice with closed eyes. No one dared to make a peep. With so many people trying toprehend the profundities of the Dao of Ice, who wanted to disturb them? They would be the enemy of everyone here, and it would be highly frowned upon without doubt. I understood why the deaconughed at me when I asked him why there were no time limits. To enter the pond, one needed to show his or her identity token. But after that, so many people left shivering. They could not bear the cold. I was confident that I wouldn''t be facing such a pathetic situation though. "The system is truly godly. It gave me the greatest thing that I could ask for. It gave me this sudden enlightenment. I definitely wouldn''t have won if it weren''t for the system. But now, I need to make sure that I can win without relying on someone else." I steeled my will as I walked forward to enter the pond. "You are the new disciple, right? Liu Feng? Looks like you are trying your luck with the frozen pond. It is only fit. Rarely do I see someone so well versed with the Dao of Ice before even entering the Frozen Pond." the person in charge of the frozen pond stopped me. "I was just lucky and I had this lucky encounter." I smiled as I said. "Go then. You have three attempts to enter the training grounds. One for being new, and two for entering the top one hundred. Use them well." the person said. "Thank you for your kind words. I will make sure to make well use of this opportunity given to me." I bowed down slightly. "Since you are new here, I will just warn you. It is not easy for you to enter the depths. Do not force yourself. If you can, then go forward. But there is no shame in staying in the outskirts. There are many others who stay here." he said. I nodded. This was probably the caution that he had to give out a lot because of the many arrogant and stupid disciples who think that they can go to the center of the Frozen Pond without even understanding the Dao of Ice. I stepped foot on the pond and my eyes shed with surprise. This was truly wonderful. This feeling was like the dao of ice was beingid out in front of me, and I had to seize it. Whatever was at the center of the pond, and was giving out this coldness, whatever created the ice, it was truly profound. I was standing on this ice, and I had no control of it. Even though I could materialize ice out of the water vapor that was in the air, I could not even begin to control the ice that was beneath my feet. I stepped forward, and the cold increased. Snow appeared on my eyshes and my arms. It was stopping me from going forward slightly. Although I knew that I could force myself to go forward, I did not want to. I did note here to make a point. I came here toprehend the mysteries that this ce gave out. If I actually tried to break through forcibly, then that would only exhaust me and I would leave early. I would only lose because of that. I took a step back and sat down. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes. The ice around me started to sing. It felt like the water around me was trying to tell a story. One drop that started at a pond, traveled to high heavens, carried by the sun, basking in its presence, and then came down to the mountains as rain. That same drop of water, freezing in the cold, and then slowlying down the mountain until it reached the pond back as water. It felt like a mystery to me, and a story at the same time. The story of a single drop of water would stretch back to the beginning of time. I opened my eyes again and looked up at the sky. "The same water that gives life, you gave it the power to take life away. What irony." I chuckled. I raised my hand and a drop of water appeared in front of me. The water turned into ice, then water, and then steam. It turned back into water again, and then it dropped back to the ground or rather the ice. "This water beneath me. Why is it so strong? Why is it so heavy?" I wondered. The water droplet immediately turned into ice, and became part of the terrain. I sighed and looked away. "The pond is truly marvelous. But in one simple session, I spent more than five days. Five days spent like fleeting seconds. How did this happen?" I muttered. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 153 The Deadline Approaches I looked at my body. There was frost all over my body, and I could barely move. This was probably what stopped many people from just staying here forever. I sighed and struggled to get up. My whole body creaked, like it was rusty. I swept through it with Qi, and the bones started losing the ice. But the terrain was fighting back, and undoing what I was trying to achieve. I quickly used the window that I got to leave the ce quickly. Once I got to the edge, the ice stopped trying to enter my body. I sighed with relieff and looked around. There were many others who had the same problem that I did. I realized that two other new disciples of the Inner sect who got in along with me were also here. They seemed to have juste out of the frozen pond, and they were shivering furiously. The person in charge till now came in front of me and looked at me with shock. He looked up and down, as if he was trying to look for something. "Do you have a treasure of the Ice attribute?" he asked. "I think not. I don''t know if I can afford a treasure with an attribute at all." I shook my head. "Then how is it that you almost broke the record for the most time stayed inside by a firster? This level has only been seen before. It is true, a tiger''s son can only be a tiger. To think that you almost reached the time your father stayed in here." the person shook his head. "My father? Liu Qian? How much time did he spend here?" I asked. "You don''t need to know that. But you certainly are going to make waves. Normally, for the first time, they stay inside for just a few hours in the outskirts before the ice freezes them and I have to go inside to take them out. But you stayed inside for five days! How is this possible? Even if you have an understanding of the dao, only true Nascent Soul Experts are able to stay here like that!" the person said. "I can only say that I was lucky." I smiled and quickly left the ce. The other two new inner sect disciples looked at me with shock. They were clearly only inside for a few hours but hearing that I was inside for five days shocked them out of their wits. I went to my residence and sat down. "This is truly mysterious. That time, just before the match, what seemed like days of preaching was just a minute outside in real life. But when I tried toprehend something in the frozen pond, what felt like mere minutes was a whole five days! This is truly weird." I thought to myself. The dao really eluded me. "System Homepage," I said. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Cultivator Level - 12 Strength - 80(+1) Stamina - 32 Agility - 77(+1) Cultivation - Core Formation Stage 1st Layer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Expert Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Medium Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Kun Peng Movement Arts (Basic Proficiency) Mind Eye(Active) Dao of Transformation(0.1%) Dao of Ice(10.5%) Flowing Cloud Spear (Basic Proficiency) Undefeatable Dao(0.1%) Skill points - 11 Stat Points - 0 I looked at thest addition with interest. This was what gave me this sudden enlightenment. The system wanted me to continue along this path. Iughed as I shook my head. I turned my gaze towards something elsepletely. It was the timer that the system was showing. [Host will be teleported to the training spot in: 04:12:35:21] No matter how many times I asked the system, it has the same response: I was too weak! It said that I was going to go to this training spot and get stronger. That was the only thing that it was willing to divulge. "How frustrating. It is so stingy. Does not want to give me any information." I shook my head and looked away. The only thing that I was worried was the incident that urred weeks ago. The appearance of two system owners frightened me. What if there were so many others? What if someone like that was going to encounter me in this training ground as well? Yurian Gale and that James character were lucky. They had a strong starting point. I was reincarnated into a crippled body with no cultivation at all. I had to start from scratch, and this was why it was taking too much time. But the others were probably luckier than me, and they were getting reincarnated into bodies of geniuses of powerful families and sects. They were getting a higher starting point. It was going to take a while before I could catch up to them. That was my primary worry. If I entered the training ground and I encountered one of these system users who was so much stronger than I was, they would kill me with a snap of their fingers. I needed to have better preparations. I shook my head. "I have eleven skill points. I used up all that I had for that mission, and it did not even give me anything. I spent so much time, and all that I got were a few levels of experience." I grumbled. With this, I popped a few Qi recovery pills into my mouth. I needed to recover from the damage that the frozen pond did. I opened my eyester. "I am finally at the present now, aren''t I? Well then, I think it is time that you take control of this now." Liu Feng smiled. He looked up to the heavens. "Growing cocky now, aren''t we? Let us see what you do now. Just remember that you are still too weak topare to me." a thundering voice came from up there. [ATTENTION READERS! FROM THIS POINT ONWARDS, THE STORY WILL PROCEED IN THE THIRD PERSON!] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 154 Entering The Training Grounds Five days passed in the blink of an eye. Liu Feng opened his eyes. "The time has finallye. It looks like the timer has run out," he muttered. There was a box in front of him that was blinking in red. On it was the message: [Host will be transported to the training ground in: 00:00:00:05] With every passing second, the box blinked once more. Liu Feng clenched his fists and took a deep breath. "Time to go then." He closed his eyes, and could no longer see anything. He had disappeared from where he once stood. He was transported in front of a majestic tform. That tform was raised with hundreds of steps in front of him. He took a quick nce at his surroundings. "There must be a thousand steps here at the least!" he said with shock. He knew that he had to climb this tform now because there was nothing else to do. He was in this enclosed space, and the only way to go was forward. Although the sky was still an option, all around him, walls were towering towards the inside. They seemed like they were there to trap him here. And on these steps, there were people. Even around him, there were people. But it looked like they were not people at all. They showed no expression, and their eyes seemed tock life itself. Liu Feng shook his head and tried to step onto the first step. Bang! He staggered back a few steps and stabilized himself. "What the hell is this? There is some pressure that is not allowing me to go forward." Right as he said this, he heard one more sound. He looked at where it came from. Someone had dropped back down from the hundredth step and fell back to the ground. "You damned mountain. I will surely get over you." the man who fell to the ground got back up and started climbing again. Liu Feng ran toward him to stop him, but it was like this person could not even hear him. "This must be the training. The pressure that is stopping me from going forward, it must have something in it." Liu Feng thought as he tried to go forward to the first step once more. The pressure was still insurmountable, but Liu Feng resisted it. He ground his teeth and finally stood on the first step. The pressure was raining on him, so he had to stay still. It was obvious that taking even one step forward would increase the pressure, and he would be kicked out of the thousand steps. He looked at what the others on the stairs were doing. They were all sitting down, and were meditating for some reason. "I knew it. There seems to be a secret that can onlye from trying toprehend the pressure itself. Once I do that, the pressure might decrease, and I might be able to go to the next step." heughed out loud. But once he said this, he looked up above. There were still hundreds of steps that awaited him. This was going to be a long road here. He sat on the ground and closed his eyes, letting the pressure waft over him. It felt ufortable at first, but after a while, the pain seemed addicting. This pressure seemed to stem for a power. Crash! Once again, Liu Feng heard a familiar sound beating in his mind. "The spirit sea is acting again. This must be a secret that is rted to the spirit!" Liu Man, who had been silent for a while now, said. "The spirit sea. Just what is it? How can I even see through it?" Liu Feng asked. He had never even seen his own spirit sea. Until now, it had only been something that troubled him. "It is in your Niwan Pce. Located in the temple. Look through it. Look inside." Liu Man said mysteriously. Liu Feng nodded, and he directed his attention inside his own body. Until now, he only ever looked at his dantian. With a golden core that was slowly umting Qi around it, it felt truly powerful. But now, Liu Feng looked higher up. He tried to look into his own mind. But something seemed to stop him. It was a weak power, and he knew that he could break it easily. But this was the power that he himself had put in ce. It was the mantra that Liu Man had told him to use when they first met. "I can always use it again. I need to see what is within my own spirit sea." he decided. The weak power copsed under the Qi that Liu Feng pushed forward. But the Qi stopped there. It did not dare move forward. But there was a suction force that swallowed Liu Feng''s conscious. All of a sudden, he felt like he was inside a different ce altogether. He could see a golden sea, and he was in the middle of this sea. Standing on top of water, he felt like the god of this sea. He looked around, and saw another familiar sight. "The egg that I bought in the auction! Liu Man! You are here?" he asked with confusion. "The moment that the spirit sea opened, I did not want to stay in your dantian any longer. It was taking too much space, and would affect your cultivation." Liu Man said. The voice came from the egg itself and it felt truly mysterious. Then, Liu Feng looked at the waves around him. The sea was in turmoil, like there was a tsunamiing. "Just what is making them so restless? This ce feels like a part of me, and with it in such chaos, I feel like my head is splitting." Liu Feng asked. "You are in your own spirit sea. Look at yourself. That is your spirit. You are in here with your truest form. Not your body, and only your mind. Of course, you will feel pain when something happens here. That is why, you must force it to calm down. You are the master of your own spirit sea. Force it to stop! This noise has been irritating for me as well." Liu Man said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 155 Spirit Sea, Spiritual Root "You had to endure this noise till now? Why did you wait till now? I should have done something about this a long time ago." Liu Feng did not know what to say. "You were not strong enough. Only in the Core Formation Stage or in the Nascent Soul Stage can a cultivator even hope to touch the spirit sea. It is too dangerous to do anything when you are just in the Foundation Establishment stage." Liu Man said. Liu Feng was almost moved to tears when Liu Man said this. This was consideration at the utmost level. Liu Feng was already getting dizzy because of the constant crashing of these waves. "How do I take care of the waves right now? Do I just try and force them to?" Liu Feng asked. "I am afraid that it is something that you should learn to do on your own." Liu Man shook his head. All of a sudden, Liu Feng felt an insurmountable pressureing from above. He was familiar with this pressure. It was the same pressure that was on the thousand step staircase. This pressure wasing directly to the spirit sea. "No wonder the spirit sea started rumbling all of a sudden. It has to be rted to the pressure." Liu Feng realised. The spirit sea was shaking violently, and Liu Feng felt the headache grow further. It was like something was trying to crawl out of his forehead. "I will contain you!" his eyes grew angry and he raised his hands. He flew up forcefully tobat this pressure himself. Along with him, the water below him also started moving. It followed the hands of Liu Feng and met with the pressure like it was a sentient being. The water created a temporary shield, stopping the pressure froming forward anymore. With that, the sea started slowing down a little, and came to a stand still. Not a single thing could be heard. "Finally! Some peace. I can finally sleep!" Liu Man said with joy. Liu Feng felt a tinge of sorrow. He should have done something before, but he didn''t. Liu Man had to suffer for so much time before this matter was taken care of. But now, he felt like he had a connection with the spirit sea. He felt like he controlled it, and that he was the owner of it now. Looking around, he saw that there was something other than the egg in the spirit sea. There was something else deep in the water, and only aftering into control could he feel its existence. He walked towards it and waved his palm. The water rumbled and an object came outside. The moment it did, a golden light shook the entire space, and it made even the golden sea look like a mere cast away object. The object was shaped like a heart, but Liu Feng knew exactly what it was. "This is the Spiritual Root that Liu Man told me about months ago! It has to do with my talent! But what is this? What does it even do?" he wondered as he tried to touch it. The spiritual root buzzed and it inched closer to Liu Feng''s hand. The moment they came into contact, Liu Feng''s eyes shook with golden light. He hovered up like a god, and his hair was swept up by this incredible force. Memories started flooding into his mind, and the spiritual root started shining even brighter. "Feng''er. It looks like you have somehow found a way to cultivate even though your spiritual root is chained down." a sound came from deep within the spiritual root. Liu Feng''s eyes returned to its original state, and he looked at the spiritual root. "Are you... my real mother?" he asked. "You really are your father''s son. You would definitely find a way to cultivate. I thought that chaining down your spiritual root would be good enough, but you seem to have found a way to take in Qi directly in the most aggressive way possible. You are devouring the Qi itself!" the voice said. "I have so many questions..." "And I am afraid that I cannot give you any of the answers. I am just a remnant soul that was here to protect you and to make sure that you wouldn''t be able to cultivate. Now, there are too many enemies who want to kill you. But do not worry. The memories that I have unsealed will show that you have many allies as well. Be careful." the voice said as it faded away. Liu Feng looked at the spiritual root with a lost gaze. But before he could even react, the sea around him no longer listened to him. It formed a whirlpool and started swirling around the spiritual root, creating a maelstrom. The sea was endless, but the maelstrom that was created seemed huge. "I feel this endless power. Is this the way that people feel when they cultivate? Is this why I feel that the other cultivators are different from me. So they have walked a different path till now." Liu Feng muttered. He took a step back and the maelstrom grewrger andrger. Eventually, it stabilized. It was like a huge behemoth, and Liu Feng was just a tiny spot in front of it. Liu Feng looked at the entrance of the spirit sea. The ce from which he entered the Niwan Pce. Right next to it, there was a door that was chained down with runes and one piece of paper. He saw it only because he felt a strange sensation from there. And it was because the paper flew away and fell to the sea. The door creaked open, and it just disappeared. There were two doors, side by side. Liu Feng''s face changed. He looked up and saw that the water that formed a shield copsed and fell to the sea once more. The pressure was about toe crashing down. Ohm! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 156 The Mystery Of The Crippled Boy The pressure stopped where it was. Liu Feng saw that from the opened up door, a stream of Qi entered the body and went into the maelstrom. Then, a stream that was thinner, but still substantial, made entirely of pure, golden, viscous Qi, left the maelstrom, flew to the door that was leading to his dantian. Liu Feng suddenly shook, and his body started glowing a little. Something happened, and his body that seemed like it was made of stic, suddenly became more solid. His soul was bing stronger, and it was showing clearly. "My cultivation! It is increasing!" he said with shock. In the Core Formation Stage, no matter how much he cultivated, his gains were very low. But all of a sudden, he felt like his cultivation was increasing again. The pace was not heaven defying. It was an ant''s pace. But it was still an improvement nheless. And all of this wasing from him doing nothing! "This is impossible! The spiritual root is only supposed to transform the Qi from outside into your own when you sit down and cultivate using some cultivation art. The spiritual root is not supposed to do it on its own!" Liu Man said with shock. Liu Feng looked closely at the spiritual root that was the center of the whirlpool. Luckily, it was still visible. And on the spiritual root, multiple runes were etched onto the spiritual root, and they were shining now. It was like the runes had some hidden meaning. "Someone did the impossible! Someone etched a legendary cultivation manual on the spiritual root itself! But this is not possible in such a low realm. Something like this can only be possible by legendary masters much beyond the Xiantian realm!" Liu Man was shaken. Even ording to the memories that he inherited, this was never seen before, and was only a theory. Liu Feng was also shocked upon this discovery. "Just who are my real parents? And if they are so powerful, then why is it that there are many enemies in this kingdom? They should be strong enough to defeat them all, right?" he wondered. But the time was not right to think about this. He left the spirit sea, and came back to the material world. Feeling thews of the world, as well as the pressure that was pushing him away, he came to his senses. "I need to do something about this pressure!" he realised. "System! Change title to Child of Dao." he said. [Changing title to Child of Dao] the system replied. The moment the system said that, Liu Feng felt a torrent of energy rushing into him. He looked back into his Niwan Pce for a moment, and saw that the thin stream had be a river! Ping! [Cultivation has increased. Host is in Core Formation Stage Second Layer.] the system said. Without dying any further, Liu Feng opened the system homepage. "System Homepage," I said. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Child of Dao Level - 12 Strength - 80 Stamina - 32 Agility - 77 Cultivation - Core Formation Stage 2nd Layer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Expert Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Medium Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Kun Peng Movement Arts (Basic Proficiency) Mind Eye(Active) Dao of Transformation(0.1%) Dao of Ice(10.5%) Flowing Cloud Spear (Basic Proficiency) Undefeatable Dao(0.1%) Skill points - 11 Stat Points - 0 It was at this moment that Liu Feng realized something truly peculiar. The stats seemed a little higher than they were supposed to be. His strength and agility were higher than they were before, and this was not counting the buff that the title gave him. "The undefeatable dao! I knew that it strengthened my body. It must have done something more. It must have given me extra stats!" he guessed. But now, the pressure was still standing. Liu Feng closed his eyes and tried to feel the intricasies of the feeling that was washing over him. "There is some principle that is hidden within!" he said with shock as he tried to concentrate on it. He did notprehend this before, but he could see the principle now. This was because of the title that he had equipped. The title had implications that no one could even begin toprehend. It was one of the biggest cheats possible. And now, with it, Liu Feng could begin to understand the principle surmounting the pressure. Liu Feng opened his eyes. For him, the pressure suddenly disappeared. With his grasp of the principle, he no longer felt anything. He stood up and went forward to the next step. Boom! The pressure suddenly increased, and he sat down again, trying to understand the principle further. The closer he got to the top, the more principle he couldprehend from each step. His body felt strong now. This mysterious principle was giving him a power that he could properly use in battle. He felt like this was something that was made for battle. Unlike the Dao of Ice, that he had to integrate into attacks to do real damage, it felt like this principle was an attack in itself! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Frozen Earth Prison "Where the hell is Liu Feng! I will make sure that your entire peak is destroyed if anything happens to him!" Li Tian was furious. Liu Feng suddenly disappeared from where he was supposed to be. Li Tian was not monitoring him continuously so he only realised what had happenedter on. And now, the person that he had promised to protect was no longer there. "I don''t know what happened to him, but it seems like someone was clever enough to remove that abomination from ournd and save us from disaster." an old man was standing in chains in front of Li Tian. If Liu Feng were here, he would recognize this person as the second elder! "I am not joking. If his fatheres here knocking, then the whole sect will be the one to face disaster! And I don''t mean the one that you all love so dearly. I mean the one that turned the entire kingdom upside down!" Li Tian boldly said as he turned away to leave. "So he is still alive. That monster!" the second elder mumbled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 157 The End Of The Staircase Liu Feng was far beyond the second step now. He had gone to the middle. On his hand, dancing, was the same principle that forced so much pressure on everyone else. Liu Feng seemed to have expert control on this power. He was continuing upwards without any intention of stopping. Just minutes before, he had a sudden enlightenment of this principle, and he knew that thisprehension meant that he had no need for the middle steps anymore. He could go up further than many others. He looked up to see that there were few there. At the very top of the staircase, there were three people sitting down and meditating. They were at the brink of reaching the end. And below them, only two others were making their way upwards. The rest of the climbers were below Liu Feng, and it looked like they were trying to make their own way. "They don''t look like they are system users. But why the hell can no one hear me? It is like all of them are puppets and they are moving like someone is controlling them from the background." Liu Feng wondered as he kept climbing upwards. He stopped briefly at the six hundredth and sixty sixth step. The pressure seemed to have changed fundamentally. The principle seemed to have advanced. But Liu Feng needed only a minute of slight concentration to understand the changes that were present and the principle that he was controlling had changed along with the change in surroundings. He seemed to see forests and ponds. He heard the singing of fairies, and saw them dancing around him. The stair case disappeared in his eyes. He saw beauties approaching him with provocative dresses and faces. They wanted him and they kept touching him. "Scram! I know that you are an illusion!" Liu Feng said coldly. He was different now. He changed. He no longer cared for these distractions. He looked up and saw the end of the staircase once more. The beauties around him changed immediately. From singing fairies, they turned into screaming demons. They scowled at him and tried to tear him away. But Liu Feng did not even falter. He let the demons tear his skin away, but he kept climbing up. The faces of the demons changed, and they looked at him with shock. They quickly ran away when Liu Feng raised his hand and the same pressure that was falling on him tried the act on these illusions. Crack! The surroundings began to crack, and the forests and ponds disappeared. What remained was obvious. It was the staircase. One staircase that seemed to stretch on forever. Liu Feng spent hours and hours, and it probably went past the day mark. But his progress was slow and he reached the nine hundredth step. Looking up, there were only three more in front of him. The same three people that were sitting down and trying toprehend something. They were immobile, and they were at the same ce for hours. This scared Liu Feng. What if thisst step was going to be insurmountable. "Stop thinking like that. Nothing is insurmountable. I will be able to cross worlds if I have to. All I need is time!" Liu Feng shook his head and willed his heart. He started climbing again. One step at a time. He inched closer and closer to the three men. It was then that he realised something horrifying. The three men were not facing the end. They were facing the entrance. They were facing the people who were climbers. The moment that he stepped onto the nine hundred and ny eighth step, the eyes of the three men opened. "You are not ready to climb up the staircase of the heavens! You have not understood the Yuan Principle enough. Return and climb again!" the man in the middle said. Before he could even have a proper look at these three men, Liu Feng felt this immense power push him out of the staircase. Instead of toppling down like normal physics would work, he crashed right at the first step. "Damn it! I could not even look at that person." Liu Feng cursed. He saw that many other were falling as well. The number of people on the staircase had increased from the time that he started climbing. "Mind eye." he whispered. [Error! Error! System abilities cannot be used in the staircase of the heavens! System abilities cannot be used on restricted objects!] the system red. Liu Feng was taken aback. "This is a cause for worry. They are all considered objects?" he whispered to himself as he started his journey upwards once again. This time, the pressure that was raining down on him was easy to manage. With just a wave of his hand, the pressurepletely disappeared. "This pressure, the Yuan Principle. That man said that I did not understand itpletely? Then I must have done something wrong. I am missing a portion." Liu Feng paused for a moment. Then, he went to the spirit sea once again. This was where it all started. The pressure had something to do with the spirit sea. Inside, his embodiment was king. Waving his hand, he could recreate this very principle inside the spirit sea. The waves started crashing once more, and it created a deafening sound. "There needs to be an equilibrium. So that the sea is calm, but the principle exists. I need to be able to control the principlepletely." he surmised. He slowly raised his hand, and the spirit sea shook a little. There were ripples at most, and then, it was calm once again. The sea was still, but above, the air was raging. The Yuan principle existed in his Niwan Pce and it no longer acted like the suppressing pressure, but rather like a nourishing energy. The pce that seemed boundless was clearly growing stronger. Liu Feng started climbing once more. This time, the pressure just rolled over him. He could see the Yuan principle in the air. When he reached the six hundred and sixty sixth step, the illusions that appeared did not evene near him. "Onest stretch to go!" he whispered as he kept going. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 158 A New World He stepped in front of the three men once again. This time, his Yuan principle was perfected. The eyes of the three men opened once more. With unision, they said: "You haveprehended the Yuan Principle. You may pass further." Saying this, they moved aside, giving Liu Feng away to pass through. Liu Feng took the final step. He realised that there were nine hundred and ny nine steps. It bordered on the number nine. It was a little interesting. Until now, he thought that it was a thousand steps, but it turned out to be one less than that. He shook that thought away from his mind and looked further. He no longer had this huge staircase blocking his view. He could see what existed further. Looking at the sight, he chuckled. There were towering trees in front of him, pitch ck in color. In front of him was a teeming forest. There were certainly many powerful beasts within as well. Liu Feng could hear the roars that froze his blood. Just judging by their battle cries, these beasts could tear him apart with ease. He looked around to see that there were a few people at the edge of the forest, thinking about going in. "Mind eye." he whispered. "Level - 21 Name - Sikong Jimin Cultivation - ???" The numbers frightened him. Being at a level that high certainly meant that he was a strong person. And the fact that he could see these stats meant that this person was animate. Liu Feng walked up to Sikong Jimin. "Brother. Can you help me out?" he asked. Sikong Jimin heard Liu Feng speak. He turned around to re at this newer. After looking at him up and down, heughed. "You had a cheat like system and you are still in the Core Formation stage? Just how weak can you be? You had a full three years and you could only get to this ce? You are pathetic." Sikong Jimin scoffed. Liu Feng scratched his head with shame. "I am not like you, brother. My luck has not been heaven defying like yours. I was reincarnated into this world just five or six months ago. I did not have the three years like you, and I was reincarnated into a crippled body, so I think that I actually did pretty well for myself." he said. "Whatever. It looks like my luck is good. I have one less contender. But I wonder. Maybe you are adept at something else. Do you have an alchemy system or something?" Sikong Jimin asked. "An alchemy system? Do you have a specialized system, brother?" Liu Feng asked. "You don''t? Interesting. I thought that everyone had a system that was specialized to do something. Don''t you read the chats?" Sikong Jimin said. "The chats? Now you must be kidding me, brother. What chats?" Liu Feng asked. He never had any of these. "Wait a minute. You don''t have the chats? To talk to the other system users? There are dozens of people who are active on these chats. Did you get that update three months ago?" Sikong Jimin looked at Liu Feng curiously. "I don''t know any of this. In fact, I only knew that there were other system users only a few weeks ago, when one of them tried to kill me." Liu Feng replied. "Then I think that you are a little different from us. Maybe your system is a little broken. Well then, I have to enter this ce. But I suggest that you do not. You are far too weak, and you will die the moment that you encounter any of the beasts that lie within." Sikong Jimin advised. "Thank you for your kind advice, brother, but if I do not get stronger, then I will face death through another way. This reincarnation of mine has given me many enemies even though I have been a tame person. I can only hope that I will find some good fortune among adversity." Liu Feng shook his head and continued to walk further into the forest. "I will not stop you. But if youe in my way, then I will not show any mercy." Sikong Jimin dered aggressively. Liu Feng did not respond to that and entered the forest. The moment that he did, he felt the air grow heavy. His eyes sparkled as he took a sniff. "So many good herbs! There should be a lot of good stuff in here. Maybe if I can find a few good herbs, then I will be able to find a good recipe that will advance my cultivation." Liu Feng thought. He continued forward in his advance, and started looking around with apprehension. Danger coulde from any side, and he had to stay ready. At this time, he no longer needed to hide his wealth. Among all these other system users, his weapons probably meant nothing to them. He took out his ethereal spear and had it ready on his person. Calmly, he walked towards where the medicinal smell was the strongest. There was a small opening from the bushes. He peered through this opening to see that underneath a canopy, stood a purple herb. It was only a foot tall, but around it, was this ferocious looking bear. "The purple Ganoderma! It is a mythical herb that when consumed directly, can make even a Xiantian realm expert advance in his cultivation!" Liu Feng said with shock. Roar! The bear looked at Liu Feng who made this sudden noise. "Oh sh*t. I shouldn''t have said anything." Liu Feng cursed and fled back. But the bear did not give chase at all. It just stood there, right next to the Purple Ganoderma. "It must be a protector of the herb. Stealing it is going to be tough. I am going to have to trick it." Liu Feng decided. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 159 Purple Ganoderma Fifteen minutester, Liu Feng was behind the bushes, looking at the bear. He was grinning from ear to ear, looking at what the bear was doing. Behind him, his wings werepletely unfurled. He looked at the bear closely. It was looking around, and then back at the purple ganoderma that it was protecting. Then, a sharp noise came from a corner of this circr canopy. It was the opposite end from where Liu Feng was standing. The bear ran towards that sound, and he made his move. Liu Feng disappeared from where he was standing, and appeared at the purple ganoderma just secondster. He took the herb and put it in a jade box, and put the jade box in his spatial ring. The mysterious smell disappeared instantly. Roar! The bear roared as it looked at Liu Feng with rage. Liu Feng''s blood froze, and he almost hesistated. But his wings fluttered, and before the bear could reach him, he was already fleeting. Liu Feng ran to the outskirts of the forest, where he guessed that the bear would probably not continue its chase. The bear ran towards him, and had no intention of stopping. The bear had been guarding the Purple Ganoderma for a whole year, unbeknownst to Liu Feng. It was waiting for the herb to grow just a bit more before it could consume it. But at the nick of time, this human had the audacity to steal it from right underneath its nose? Impudence. But a bear was slow. Before it knew it, it lost track of Liu Feng. And the smell of the detestable human had also disappeared. It could only smell the forest, and it could not even sense the herb anymore. Roar! The bear roared once more with anger. What it didn''t know was that Liu Feng was near it, hiding atop the trees. He was covered in mud and grass. He already prepared the grass and mud to mask his own smell. He stared at the bear, while the bear had no idea where he was. Liu Feng did not dare move for even a second. He made a mistake a few minutes ago, and the bear knew where he was standing. He knew that the senses of the bear were almost too good to fool. The bear was standing there, until it looked to the side. Then, it started running back to where it came from. Liu Feng sighed with relief, but he did not move from where he was hiding. He just stood there, and looked at the direction that the bear nced at with bated breath. Seconds passed by, and then minutes. But nothing was happening. Still, Liu Feng did not want to take a risk. At that moment, he heard one foot step, and a growl. He froze on the spot. ,m "Something strong is here!" he realised. Growl! A tiger appeared from the end, and came into view. It just walked around like it was king here. The bear certainly was running away from this. The tiger changed its direction and looked at the tree that Liu Feng was standing on. Its mouth looked like it was smiling. But the tiger did not approach him. Instead, it just walked away, and the immense pressure disappeared. "Oh my god. It knew where I was. That was terrifying. These monsters are too strong." Liu Feng sighed with relief. He then started running to the outskirts, until he was back where he started. A lot of the system users that he had seen before went into the forest. But there were still a lot of people standing outside, probably making their preparations. Liu Feng could not risk doing anything here. He started moving around the outskirts, and tried to find a deserted ce where there was no one. Eventually, he chanced upon a waterfall. There was not a single soul at sight, except for a few birds that flew up in the sky. Liu Feng sat down next to the waterfall and put a few bushes in front of him to disguise himself temporarily. Then, he took out the purple gonaderma. "If I had the other ingredients, then I would certainly enter even the Nascent Soul Realm in one go. This is too powerful. Too bad, the other herbs are also very precious. But this one can be consumed directly. It is gentle enough." Liu Feng said as he took the herb out and put it in his mouth. The herb melted into essence and slid into his stomach. A warm feeling spread through his entire body, and then, it started growing hotter. Excepting this result, Liu Feng had already started performing the Heaven Devouring Art to take in all of the essence possible. The essence transformed into Qi that flooded Liu Feng''s dantian. Slowly, the core at the center of the dantian started spinning at a rapid pace, and all the Qi revolved around it. The core started growingrger andrger. Liu Feng could visibly feel the core growing stronger, and his cultivation grow much more than before. This herb was truly one of the greatest herbs that one could find! Ping! [Host has reached the Core formation stage thirdyer.] Ping! [Host has reached the Core formation stage fourthyer.] Ping! [Host has reached the Core formation stage fifthyer.] Instantly, three messages came out! "I went up three minor realms? This is truly wonderful!" Liu Feng grinned. He opened the system homepage immediately. "System Homepage," he said. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Child of Dao Level - 12 Strength - 80 Stamina - 32 Agility - 77 Cultivation - Core Formation Stage 5th Layer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Expert Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Medium Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Kun Peng Movement Arts (Basic Proficiency) Mind Eye(Active) Dao of Transformation(0.1%) Dao of Ice(10.5%) Flowing Cloud Spear (Basic Proficiency) Undefeatable Dao(0.1%) Skill points - 11 Stat Points - 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 160 The Center Of The Forest Liu Feng was only here for a day, and he could already see multiple benefits. He had gotten to the fifthyer of the Core Formation stage, even when eachyer was seemingly taking forever to get to. He also got the Yuan Principle, and was able to use it. "The Yuan principle! I should have used that instead of running around like that! Maybe I would have been at a better state and wouldn''t have run away so pathetically." Liu Feng thought. He then got up from where he stood. The water fall was a nice addition to the sound, and even if there were any enemies, they wouldn''t know where he was. He stared at the fall and looked at it closely. "For some goddamn reason, I feel like there is a cave there with something inside. It feels only fit that there is a cave in here." Liu Feng thought as he stroked his chin. Then, he took out his ethereal weapon. Transforming it into a spear, he started walking towards the waterfall. Even though he was at a high level in cultivation, he did not dare proim that he was invincible. He was not even sure if he was strong enough to go through the water fall and get out of there without any injuries. So, he used the shield as he was going in. "Ethereal Weapon arts, shield! First form!" Liu Feng whispered as a barrier made out of Qi formed around the shield. The shield was at the very center, and it made it stronger than any other time that he had used the ethereal shield arts before. The weapon made all the difference. He entered the water fall, and the water clouded his sense of space. He just walked forward aimlessly. The water was curving around him, and the shield did a good job of protecting him from the down pour. The barrier remained intact without any cracks, and Liu Feng reached the other end without any problem at all. It was at that point that he almost dropped the shield to the ground with amazement. His intuition was only partially right. There was something behind the waterfall alright, but it was no cave. What stood in front of him was more like an entrance. It was arge closed space, and it just had one reason of existence. It was a pathway to the other side of this enclosure. And this was a shining enclosure. Liu Feng could not see any of the ck trees from the opening that existed. He walked towards it to get a better look. "You have got to be kidding me. How is there a whole city here? Wait a minute! Are these... people?" Liu Feng almost fell back with shock. He looked at this incredible sight that awaited him. This was a teeming city. With people running around the streets, and sky high buildings, it was nothing short of a miracle city of the heavens. That title was deserved. Every single person in the street could be picked out, and it was a cultivator. And not a single one of them was weak. The moment that Liu Feng set foot on the city, almost everyone stopped what they were doing, and stared at him. Then, they started talking among each other. "Who is that? I never saw him." "How can someone be so weak? I thought that the outside was filled with strong people. My child could beat the living crap out of this boy." another said. Hearing this made Liu Feng look away in shame. No matter where he was, the fact that he was weak was not escaping him. The fact that he entered the fifthyer of the Core Formation realm was also not helping one bit. It was like one needed to be in the Xiantian realm to even make a difference. But Liu Feng steeled his heart and approached one of the men. "Senior, I am new here. Can you please help me out?" he asked. "Hahaha! You need help alright. How do you stay somewhere like this ce and be so weak? I have never seen someone who is as old as you and still stuck in the silver realm. You must be veryzy." the man shook his head. That brought Liu Feng''s attention to his surroundings. Taking a huge breath, he realized that the mana density in this ce was enormous! "If I can stay here for one or two months, then I will certainly be able to break through to the Nas Soul stage. That is for sure. I could get to the Core Formation realm in that room in one month, and now I even have my spiritual root unlocked." Liu Feng thought. "You are new here. I think that you should go to the Adventurer''s guild and register yourself. Better get some money and find some ce to hide. How did someone like you even survive for so long with no power at all?" the man said. Liu Feng nodded and walked forward. "I get it. The people here are strong. Why do they have to humiliate me like that? And where the hell am I? Is this still the Tiandu kingdom? Is this even the same world? Where the hell is this cepared to the rest of the world?" Liu Feng was freaking out. He went to the adventurer''s guild to find that it waspletely packed. He could feel the power levels of everyone there. He was absolutely sure that one of them was even stronger than his own master! "How is such a culmination of people so unknown? I would surely know this ce if this many strong people live here. It must not be in Tiandu Kingdom." Liu Feng decided. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 161 City Of Heaven He looked at the receptionist at the adventurer''s guild. She was a plump woman, and was definitely a city toppling beauty. Every one in this room was probably heads over heels over her. Her fair face, her red lips, and provocative dress was enough to get Liu Feng''s blood pumping. He could barely stop himself from rushing towards her to start thepetition. But Liu Feng stopped himself. He felt it strange that he had this sudden drive that he hadn''t even felt when he was with Cai Lien, Bai Zhiqui, or any of the other beauties that he had met before. They were all certainly more beautiful than this woman was. It felt like some sort of trick that she was performing. The receptionist raised her eyebrow and looked at Liu Feng. "Looks like we have a neer here. Why not let me show him the ropes, boys? I will talk to all of youter." she winked at the half dozen men who were drooling at her. They shook awake and looked at Liu Feng with jealousy. But there was no hatred in their faces. There was just carefreeness. It was not like the outside world, where they would pick a fight with him. Instead, they just went ahead and sat down, drinking more booze. Liu Feng sighed with relief, knowing that he had evaded cmity. He did not want to get into a fight with any of these monsters who were so much stronger than he was. He approached the woman, and used mind eye on her. "Looks like you are an interesting addition to the city. Thest time that there was any visitor here, well, we read about it in the history books. So then, what brings someone from the outside to the City of Heaven?" the woman, Hu Jing, smiled as she asked Liu Feng. "Yes, sister. I think that I have a problem. Can you help me out here? What exactly is the forest outside that surrounds the city?" Liu Feng asked, not beating around the bush. Hu Jing looked at him with interest and nodded. "The forest? That is the ck Iron forest. But I would think that you know that." she said. "I am not very well versed with the names of ces. Can you help me out once again. The way to enter the forest was toe through the staircase of heavens. I think that it is rted to the city of heaven? But the ce is enclosed. What lies beyond the forest, if I may ask?" Liu Feng asked. "You came through the Staircase of heavens? You passed the test?" Hu Jing shouted with shock. ? Immediately, the whole guild became silent, and everyone was ring at Liu Feng. He could feel this pressure on him, and it was nothing like the Yuan Principle. This was just the in pressure that one would feel when a stronger cultivator was bearing down on him. And in this case, there were dozens upon dozens who were at least in the Xiantian realm. "I.... think I said something wrong?" Liu Feng asked, hesitating. "You said something wrong indeed. Until now, I was thinking that you were from the Han Dynasty. But it looks like you are from somewhere else entirely. I thought that no one would evere from the staircase of heavens. It looks like there is a massive eventing that will rock this city apart." Hu Jing shook her head. "Well, if it helps you, I am not the only one who came through that staircase. There are many more, and almost every single one of them is stronger than me." Liu Feng said, trying to divert the topic now. "Anyone is stronger than you. That is not the question here. But if you have the Yuan principle, then that means that we have someone that can unlock the Yuan Mountain once more. The city of heaven can try to conquer the Yuan Mountain once again!" Hu Jing said with pride and joy. "The Yuan Mountain? Wait, the staircase is right next to you guys. Why can''t you just go through it yourself and understand the principle? Why do you need someone toe from the outside?" Liu Feng pointed out. "The Yuan Mountain IS the way out of the city. Anyone cane in, but only a person with the Yuan principle can go out. You may not be stuck here, but we all are. We are waiting for someone to open the mountain to enter it. And we finally found that someone." Hu Jing smiled sweetly. "I am not here to deny you my support. In fact, it would be my honor to help all of youe out of this ce. But can you help me out here? Do you have any map of the outside? Specifically, one that corresponds to the Tiandu Kingdom?" Liu Feng asked. "The Tiandu kingdom? Kid. All the maps that we have are thousands of years old. I don''t think that your tiny kingdom existed at that point." one man stood up and said. Liu Feng nodded slightly, and his brain lit up once more. "Do you know of any ck Swamp Forest then? Surely something like this must be recorded." Liu Feng asked. "The ck swamp forest? Yes, we know of that. The mysterious forest that moves in a cycle of three years? But isn''t that in the Han Dynasty? What is this Tiandu kingdom that you speak of?" the man nodded. "The Han Dynasty must have split up into multiple kingdoms! I am near the Tiandu Kingdom! Thank god! Once I am able to leave here, I can find my way back!" Liu Feng was overjoyed. "Sister Jing''er. Do you think that it is wise to take someone as weak as him to the Yuan Mountain? We don''t know what is in there, and he could be killed before he can even react!" the man who was speaking till now said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 162 City Lord "There is still time. Let us take him to the city lord before we can do anything about this." Hu Jing said. Liu Feng looked at all of them with some fear now. He regretted saying what he did. Now, he was at the mercy of people who could control him in the palm of their hand. "Do we even know if he can use the Yuan Principle? We cannot disturb the city lord without some proper reason. Make him show the principle." one of the men called out. Liu Feng felt a little light headed. On one hand, he could say that he was lying. But that would risk angering them, and he could lose his life. But if he did show the principle, then he would be forced to go to this Yuan Mountain, and it would be dangerous. "Either way, it is going to be dangerous. But if I show them the Yuan principle, then I can haggle for a few resources, and I can try and grow stronger. That way, I will survive the uing expedition." Liu Feng decided. He opened his hand, and the Yuan Principle started dancing around his hand. All of the men and women in the tavern stopped speaking and red at Liu Feng''s hand. "It is true. The Yuan Principle. With this at the entrance, we will be able to stop the huge pressure and actually enter the mountain!" the first man said with an emotional tone. "We have a chance to see the outer world! We need to tell the city lord immediately!" another pitched in. "You brutes will kill him with your rough hands. I will take this little brother there myself." Hu Jing stopped anyone froming forward and jumped out of her counter to stand next to Liu Feng. She stood in front of me like she was protecting me from the others. But Liu Feng just met her, and was unsure of her intentions. "Either way, I cannot control what is going to happen." Liu Feng thought. The two of them left the tavern and headed to the tallest building in the city. In this city of heavens, the tallest building seemed to touch the skies itself. Years of science and technology from earth couldn''tpare to sheer power. They entered the building with no trouble. Surprisingly, there was not a guard in sight. People were just rushing in, and went to the teleportation array to go to where they wanted. Almost every single person who went in nced at Liu Feng. It was not every day that they saw someone who was this weak. One of them evenmented at him. "Sister Jing''er. Who is this person? Why are you babysitting someone who could not even get to the gold level? This is just a waste of your time." he said. Liu Feng did not even have the patience to respond. He was sick of thisment. "This is not just a normal person, brother. This is someone who has in his hands, the power of the Yuan Principle. Apparently, he hase from the Stairway of heavens. This is a serious issue, and we might be going to the Yuan Mountain in this generation. I am going to the city lord even though she told us not to disturb her just for this reason." Hu Jing said seriously. For the first time, Liu Feng heard that someone that high up in the top was a woman. He knew that the cultivation world was dominated by men, and it was interesting that the strongest person here was a woman. The man thatmented first stepped back with shock. "This man knows how tomand the Yuan Principle? I think that the Yuan principle is strong enough to cover the gap between the silver and gold levels!" the man said. "Wait, what? I might have a chance against the Nascent Soul Cultivators? I think that I will have a chance with them as long as I can perfectly learn how to use it in battle." Liu Feng thought to himself as he continued following Hu Jing. They entered the teleportation portal, and Hu Jing took out a special te. This was something that not everyone clearly had. And then, she took out the spirit stone to power the array. The stone that she took out shone brighter than any other thing that Liu Feng had ever seen before. And he knew exactly what it was. It was a mid level spirit stone, and it was very, very precious. To think that something that precious was being used as material for a teleportation portal. No wonder these people were so strong. They were teeming in resources. "As long as I get in their good books, I should be able to get enough resources to get to the Nascent Soul realm with ease." Liu Feng told himself. The teleportation portal''s runes appeared, and then, the two people disappeared to the high end of the tower. "It takes so much energy to get to the top of the tower. Electricity is truly a godsend on earth. This is not economical. To think that they are using spirit stones like cabbages." Liu Feng''s heart ached when Hu Jing used a spirit stone like that. But then, when they came to the floor that they needed to get to, she still had the spirit stone in her hands, and there was still a lot of energy in the stone. p The spirit stone was reusable. Liu Feng saw this and sighed. Or else, it would be too wasteful. Then, Liu Feng turned his attention to where he was. He could see that there was a window to the outside world, and whatever it was made of, it was a precious material. Liu Feng could just feel it. "I am at the top of the city!" he whispered to himself with glee. This was a sight to see. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 163 Meeting The City Lord "What are you doing here, Hu Jing? I thought I explicitly said that no one was supposed to disturb me?" a sweet voice interrupted Liu Feng''s ne of thought. Hu Jing involuntarily trembled and kneeled down on the ground. "Forgive me, City Lord, but this was an important issue that could not be dyed any further." Hu Jing said. "What is this important matter? And you better have a very good answer, or I am going to show my fury!" the sweet voice showed a hint of irritation. "This boy here, he says that he came from the Stairway of the heavens. And he has control over the Yuan Principle. There is a chance that he will be able to open the Yuan Mountain, and we will be able to leave this city for the first time!" Hu Jing said with sparkling eyes. Creak! The door that stood in front of Liu Feng and Hu Jing opened, and a bright light shone upon them. Liu Feng squinted at the light, while Hu Jing was unmoving. "Come in. This is going to be interesting. Hu Jing, you can stay there." the city lord said. Liu Feng looked at Hu Jing, and at the bright entrance where he was supposed to go inside. He was obviously very worried. But nevertheless, he had no choice. Clenching his fists, he entered the room. The bright entrance aside, the rest of the room was like a cultivation room. And the mana density was something that Liu Feng had never seen before. He could feel the Qi just entering his spiritual root, and then going to his dantian. The size of the stream might have erged to a river by now. The Qi was forming mist, and some of it was even liquidating, forming small droplets here and there. "This is heaven..." Liu Feng mumbled. "So you are the boy that can use the Yuan principle. You are very weak for someone who climbed the Staircase of the heavens. I wonder why you are still stuck in the Silver realm though." the city lord spoke. Liu Feng looked at the city lord, who was at the center of the room. His mind went nk once heid eyes on her. She was on a bed, and was in the meditative pose, but her eyes were open. And those eyes captivated him. He could lose himself in her eyes. If Hu Jing was a city toppling beauty, then this city lord was a kingdom toppling one. And she looked young! Unnaturally young. Like she was just as young as Liu Feng himself. "I was not fortunate to have been blessed with as many resources as you. I have never had a cultivation room until a few months ago, and I am sure that given a few months in this paradise, I am sure that I can get to the next realm. What is it, gold?" Liu Feng said. "You are very confident, boy." the city lord smiled. "Why call me boy, when you don''t look that much older than me." Liu Feng countered. "Don''t use that tone on me. With just a wave of my hand, you will be ripped apart into shreds." the city lord said coldly. "I am sick of this. Like I am not able to control my own fate. Everywhere I see, people call me weak. And whatever I try to do, I have the chance of facing death. But do you realize that when my chances are like that, I can choose one that is detrimental to you? I can help you out. I can open the Yuan mountain. But I want to do it after three months. Not immediately. From what I think, you have been stuck here for more than a generation? Three months will not be a lot to you guys. But for me, I think that I will be able to enter the Nascent Soul realm, and I will have a chance at surviving the expedition that you want me to go on." Liu Feng said resolutely. "Fine. Fine. We can wait three months. You want to cultivate for another three months? Go ahead. I will not stop you. But when the timees, you shall honor your promise. You will enter the Yuan Mountain with us, and we will leave this godforsaken ce." the city lord said with a cold voice. "I am risking my life for you guys. Don''t you think that I deserve to know your name?" Liu Feng smiled at this point. "You don''t. Hu Jing! Take this man and give him a cultivation room. Give him a few spirit stones. The mid ranked ones. Let us see how he gets to the gold realm. I will also see if he can show us a heaven defying cultivation speed." the city lord said. Liu Feng still didn''t know who she was. She was the only one after his own master, Li Tian, that the Mind eye did not show the name for. She was so strong that the mind eye could not get any information from her! Liu Feng nodded at the city lord and turned back to return to Hu Jing. "I will be waiting, exactly three monthster. And whether or not you are in the gold realm, you will being with me and the rest of the city. Do you understand that?" she said once again. "Don''t worry. I have confidence in myself. I may not be as strong as you, but I sure as hell perform great under pressure." Liu Feng grinned. He walked to Hu Jing. "I need to get a cultivation room now?" he asked politely. "What did you say to her inside, that made her so angry? She almost never gets this angry." Hu Jing asked. "Well, I put forward a proposition. Maybe she didn''t like how I put it forward?" Liu Feng shrugged. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 164 Three Months Day after day, week after week, three months passed. "It is time toe out, don''t you think? I gave you enough time." the city lord was standing outside the cultivation room where Liu Feng was. Even though the cultivation room was not supposed to let other voices go in, the city lord was able to project her voice inside. She was that strong! Liu Feng calmly opened his eyes. "Three months are over huh? All that time, gone in an instant," he said, getting up. Stretching for two minutes, he opened the door to the cultivation room. In front of him, the city lord was standing calmly. His eyes darted for a moment, and he smiled. "Looks like I can finally see your name, Min Wan." Liu Feng thought to himself. After so long, he was not an ant anymore. ncing at Hu Jing, who was standing right next to Min Wan, he could see her cultivation as well. She was in the Xiantian realm, much to Liu Feng''s surprise. She was strong, and she would make a huge difference in the world outside. "I am ready. Are you?" Liu Feng looked at Min Wan. "I am surprised. You actually fell through on your promise. You are no longer the weakest person in this city anymore. But don''t dare think that you can still question me." Min Wan said as she turned around. "Follow me. The rest of the city is ready. Today, the city of heaven will break through these shackles that bind us." Min Wan said. Liu Feng followed her to the teleportation array. But instead of getting on it, Min Wan paused for a moment. "Hu Jing. You know how to get here on your own. The teleportation is such a hassle." Min Wan said and she raised her hand. Immediately, she was able to control Liu Feng''s body and took him somewhere. The surroundings changed, and he knew that he was outside the tower that almost touched the sky. A roaring crowd stood in front of him. He could recognize a few of these faces. They were in the adventurer''s guild. "He is the one! He is the one that can control the Yuan Principle!" one of the men shouted. Immediately, everyone red at Liu Feng. He felt a little ufortable, but what could he do? "Silence!" Min Wan''s voice shut them all down almost instantly. "This is not a joy trip. We are not going to have some fun. This is a battle for our survival! There are no records of what lies inside the Yuan Mountain, and it is not going to be easy. Not one of our ancestors have left here after spending so long in this ce." she said. "We do not know if he has the Yuan Principle! Those thick heads in the adventurer''s guild could be mistaken. All they drink is booze anyway." one woman stepped up and asked. "What did you say, you wretch?" the man who shouted before, came up to her with anger. ? "Stop it! This is when we have to be most united." Min Wan scowled, and she looked at Liu Feng. "Show them your Yuan Principle," shemanded. "What do you think I am? A hush puppy? For you tomand? We are here to help each other, do you understand that? You can''t just force me to use the Yuan Principle. You have to ask politely." Liu Feng did not back down. Min Wan clenched her teeth. But she gave way. "Fine. Can you please show them the Yuan Principle?" she asked. Liu Feng knew that this was killing her, and her pride was too much. But since he forced her this much, he raised his hand. The principle danced in his hand with utmost mastery. Liu Feng was not just cultivating and trying to raise his cultivation to the Nascent Soul stage when he was in the cultivation room. He also took the opportunity to understand the Yuan Principle deeply, and to be able to use it upon will. Now, the Yuan Principle was not just at his fingertips. With just a thought, he would be able to try and use it on the people in front of him. But, being merely in the Nascent Soul realm, he was not able to make a big enough connection with the heavens to be able to disy the pressure that the Staircase of the heavens poured on him. He needed to get to the Xiantian realm to do that. "Well then. Everyone saw what happened here, didn''t they? These three months, I told you to prepare yourself. I told you to get everything that you need. Children, women, everyone will being on this trip. Don''t give me any excuses. None of us are weak. If you don''t want toe, then you can just stay here. But now, the outside world awaits! Let us head to the Yuan Mountain!" Min Wan shouted. With that, everyone cheered. They cheered like this was theirst day. And no one knew if it was. For some people here, it might possibly be. For they knew not of the dangers that awaited them. "To Yuan Mountain!" "To Yuan Mountain!" "To Yuan Mountain!" the crowd chanted. Min Wan red at Liu Feng. "Don''t dare disobey me now. One wrong step and I will not hesitate to cut off your head. Follow me, and you will see benefits. Make sure that you are behind me at all times." she said coldly. It looked funny, such a young looking woman giving this order to Liu Feng, who was almost the same age. But to Liu Feng, Min Wan no longer looked like a beauty that could arouse an entire kingdom. She looked like a demoness from hell that would tear him apart. Now that he had gotten what he wanted, he had no reason to disobey Min Wan. He quickly nodded, because she was going to be his biggest shield on this trip. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 165 Yuan Mountain (Part 1) The entire city was marching towards a singr path. It was not the entrance through which Liu Feng entered the City. For some reason, that entrance was apparently insurmountable for the others. This Yuan Mountain was the only way to leave the city for its residents. This part had been written on their history books. Liu Feng looked at Min Wan. "If you are leaving this city, did you take all the treasures that you own, and did you leave anything here?" he asked. Obviously, he was a little different from the others. He could leave and enter this city through that entrance whenever he wanted. But he didn''t because almost thousands of Xiantian realm experts were standing in front of him and they all did not want him to leave. "Of course we did. Do you think that we can face the outside world without all our might? It is a pity that we cannot take this cultivation haven with us, but that is ok. We can find a suitable heaven and earth vein outside and settle there." she said. "I just want you to prepare. In the outside world, people like you, people who are in the Xiantian realm, or whatever you call the realm that is after the gold realm, they are very rare. In fact, all of them are important guests. The people that you call normal, these gold ranked people who are apparently weak in your eyes, in many families they are elders and first level guest elders. The moment that you step outside this ce, everyone either will want to destroy a terrifying agglomeration like this group for just existing, or they will try to poach you. You will need to be careful." Liu Feng said. "Thank you for your concern, but we know how to take care of our own. There is no way that they will be able to take any of our people." she dismissed him and continued walking. The city was disappearing, and buildings fading away on the side. What stood in front of Liu Feng and the others now was this huge mountain. Liu Feng presumed that this was the Yuan Mountain that everyone was talking about. Everyone stopped here and gazed at the mountain with apprehension and fear. It was then that Liu Feng knew that this was the Yuan Mountain. What else would make this unruly crowd fear it? Min Wan looked back and saw hesitation in many eyes. She knew that she had to step up now. "This is the final battle that all of you have been preparing for. Your adventurer''s guild has existed for his very purpose. Are you going to hesitate now? Or are you going to continue the will of our ancestors?" she said. "Let us break down Yuan Mountain!" Hu Jing chipped in, shouting shrilly. With that, many of the men were incensed. They looked at Min Wan and nodded. "Then why are we pausing before the fight even begins? Let us move!" she cried and started moving forward again. The Yuan Mountain inched closer and closer, and after he could see the bottom of the mountain clearly, Liu Feng felt the pressure hit him. He felt this pressure was so familiar, yet it was so foreign. It was different from the pressure on the staircase. The staircase used the pressure to teach him the Yuan principle. The mountain was using the Yuan principle to force everyone down. He frowned and snapped his fingers. Instantly, the pressure in front of him broke. It was like trying to use water to drown a fish. Liu Feng would not be affected by this pressure anymore. And when he did, a single line behind Liu Feng was no longer affected by this pressure. "We need to form a line behind this boy. That way, we can avoid the pressure!" one of the men who was coincidentally right behind Liu Feng, said. Min Wan looked at this and nodded. She then allowed everyone to rearrange themselves. Being in the Xiantian realm or higher, everyone had incredible senses. Even almost a kilometer away, they could see Liu Feng, and they could be perfectly in line. The pressure also helped herd them like sheep. Min Wan stepped right behind Liu Feng. "Keep going forward. If there is any problem, then I will be the one to help you, do not worry. And, just wear this. Better safe than sorry." she said as she handed Liu Feng a thin cloak. Liu Feng looked at it just once and he knew that this was a Heaven Grade armor. It would cost a fortune outside, and she just gave it to him. He knew that this was precious even for her, but the fact that she wasn''t using it meant that she had better things on her person. Nevertheless, he could not afford to be distracted. He continued to walk forward calmly. The Yuan Mountain had one single entrance. A small cave at the bottom. And it was pretty clear that they had to enter it. He walked towards it, and found that there was a person there! A person that looked eerily simr to the three in the staircase. He opened his eyes the moment that Liu Feng approached him. "You have grasped the Yuan Principle. You are allowed to pass. The ones behind you, they are destined to stay here forever!" he said coldly. "Bend down." Min Wan said. "But the pressure-" "Bend down." Liu Feng had no other choice but to bend down momentarily. Swish! A light ray whizzed past his head and flew towards the man. Before he could even react, the ray hit his neck, and a thin slit appeared along it. There was no blood, and no indication of anything happening. But Liu Feng knew that something happened indeed. The Yuan pressure had disappeared! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 166 Yuan Mountain (Part 2) The man in front of everyone just fell down to the ground, and the pressure disappeared. "The Yuan Pressure is gone! We can finally try and conquer the mountain!" one person cheered from the crowd. They no longer had to line up behind Liu Feng. They went back to crowding in front of the Yuan Mountain and looked at it with fear no more. "We don''t need this stupid boy anymore. Get him out of the way." another said. "Shut up. All that we did is just the first step. There is still more to go, and we have no idea what awaits us. Let us go in slowly. Follow me." Min Wan said thatst bit to Liu Feng. Liu Feng nodded. He just saw the incredible disy of Min Wan''s power, and he had no intention of messing with her anymore. They continued down the path and entered the cave in front of them. What awaited them was total darkness. "Take out the moon stone!" Min Wan shouted. Saying this, she took out a bright light emitting stone from her spatial ring. It was like a light bulb that was portable, and needed no fixed energy source. The blue light filled the cave, and Liu Feng was able to see whaty ahead of them. In front of them, there were a lot of rocks, and almost nothing else. This was exactly what they would expect from the insides of a mountain, but they would think that the Yuan Mountain would have something more within it. Min Wan stood in front of Liu Feng now, like a strong figure, and continued forward. Liu Feng quickly followed behind her, and tried not to fall in pace. The mountain was huge, but it was still scble. This route seemed to have a way through to the other side. There was light visible, and everyone could see it. "The end is here! We can finally leave this ce!" one of them shouted. Liu Feng noted that all these people seemed to have this inclination to shout out their thoughts. And they also had no self control. The moment that they heard the exit was near, many swiftly ran past Liu Feng and Min Wan. "Stop! Where are all of you going? We do not know what lies ahead!" Min Wan said fiercely. "You are the city lord. Well, the city is behind you. Why don''t you go there and stay a ruler? We are no longer your servants. If you hate us so much, then why don''t you chase after us?" one of the people who was running sneered at her and quickened his pace. Min Wan did not stop them though. She turned and looked at the many people who were hesitating. "They are right! I am no longer the city lord! I will not stop you, I will not force you to follow me. This world is yours! Go ahead!" she dered. Immediatley, everyone else brightened up, and they ran past Min Wan to leave the cave on their own. Liu Feng could see the hint of sadness on Min Wan''s face. She was utterly disappointed by this show from the people. But it was not his ce to say anything. He just stayed calm. He noticed that even Hu Jing, who had brought him to the city lord, had vanished. Only the two of them remained. "Don''t worry. I will bring you out like I promised. Just follow me." she said and continued walking slowly towards the light in front of them. The outside became clear to Liu Feng. It was a scene that was all too familiar to him. There were many, many trees that towered above. This was the ck Iron Forest. They were back where he started. Min Wan paused for a moment and looked to the right. There was another cave here. and it seemed to be the habitat of something strong. "Those idiots. They ran from here after waking up such a terrifying thing." she muttered. Liu Feng heard her, and his eyes darted to where she was looking. Inside the cave, he also felt a presence. There was something in there that wasing out. Thud! Thud! Footsteps could be heard. These were no footsteps of a normal person. These were the footsteps of a giant! Liu Feng stepped back with fear. "Don''t go back into the Yuan Mountain. I still do not understand itpletely. Hide somewhere else. Get shelter. This is a forest. There will be countless dangerous monsters here, but because there is a beast of this caliber here, there shouldn''t be any beasts of intelligent stupid enough toe to this territory." Min Wan said. Liu Feng nodded and he quickly ran to behind one of the trees. But, his eyes were still glued to the entrance of the second cave. The sound of the footsteps was growing, and the magical beast was getting closer. At this point, Liu Feng was almost sure that it was a spirit beast and not a magical beast. "Why are humans in this ce? I thought that you humans were too weak toe here. To think that you woulde and disturb me. You need to be taught a lesson." A deep voice came, and a huge figure covered the sun. Liu Feng saw this figure, and he could recognize what it was. "A dragon!" he whispered, but his voice did not even daree out. Roar! The dragon roared and it red at Min Wan, who was standing in front of it. "Those idiots were stupid to disturb you. Please forgive us. I will go and teach them a lesson, if you are willing to leave me." Min Wan said. She did not want to fight right now. "I will not show mercy to people like you. You don''t deserve a second thought from me." the dragon said. "That is no dragon, Liu Feng. That is a flood dragon. It is a few years of cultivation away from bing a true dragon, and that means that it is terrifying. It may not be a true dragon, but this battle is stacked against your friend." Liu Man said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 167 Flood Dragon Min Wan and the flood dragon battled for hours. Liu Feng was getting battered trying to resist the shockwaves. A battle at this scale was too much for him to handle. He was barely able to get through this. The cloak that Min Wan gave him was the only reason that he still survived. Attack after attack, Min Wan was getting thrown back. She was covered in blood. But that didn''t mean that the flood dragon was unscratched. It was also injured, and there was a deep gash on its neck. If that attack had really gone inpletely, then it would have died. "Do you really have to fight me and risk your life? Is it really worth it?" Min Wan shouted at the Flood Dragon. But it took absolutely no notice of these words. Blood sttered everywhere as the dragon tried to fly towards Min Wan. She brandished her sword and swung it down with all her might. Thunder was sparking around her sword, and it went straight for the wound on the neck of the flood dragon. Boom! Liu Feng could no longer see anything. He heard a thundering sound and two thuds. He knew that both of them fell to the ground. Understanding that the fight had ended, he ran into the battlefield to try and save Min Wan. He could not afford to let his most important shield die just like that. But when the dust settled, he saw that Min Wan wasnded right next to the flood dragon. Both of them were in theirst breaths, but no one was strong enough to move. Liu Feng was no longer the weakling. His attacks had some effect. Seeing that the flood dragon was still alive, he could not afford to let it stay that way any longer. "There is another human here! I knew that you humans were despicable!" the flood dragon said weakly. In Liu Feng''s hands, his Ethereal weapon appeared in the form of a spear, and he roared, "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fifth form! Blue Dragon breaks through hell!" The flood dragon was ironically cyan colored, and this blue dragon that appeared on the spear went towards it. It was apparently enraged. It looked at the flood dragon and it opened its mouth wide. Splurt! The spear lodged itself in the wound that Min Wan had created, and sparks appeared on the spear as well. Ping! [Host has killed [ERROR] stage flood dragon. Host gained 50000 exp!] Ping! [Host has leveled up.] Liu Feng had no time to worry about these notifications though. He looked at Min Wan with worry. Quickly taking her in his hands, he took out a healing pill. Although he was unsure of the effectiveness of a pill like this on someone who was so much stronger than the intended recipient of the pill, he knew that a fly''s meat was still meat. Anything was better than the half dead state that she was in. Covered in her own blood and the blood of the dragon''s right next to her, she looked like she hade straight from the womb. "Take this pill! Swallow it!" Liu Feng put a pill in her mouth, but she was unresponsive. She looked like she had died altogether. But Liu Feng did not give up hope. He gritted his teeth. "I am not doing this because I wanted to. I am only doing this because the circumstance has forced me to." he said as he kissed her. Using his tongue, he guided the pill through her throat. Within moments, she opened her eyes. Cough! Cough! She woke up and looked at Liu Feng. Then, she took a pill from her own spatial ring and swallowed it. Although her appearance was not great, she finally came back from death. "You, you, you. You kissed me to make me swallow the pill!" Min Wan said, stuttering. She looked at Liu Feng weirdly. "Please forgive me. It was something that I had to do. I had no other option if I wanted to save you." "You idiot! You did something much worse. Please tell me that you did not get any blood in your mouth!" she said with worry and leaned forward. "I... might have had some blood in my mouth. But what is the concern? Is there something in the blood that is very dangerous? I know that I can handle it." Liu Feng said, leaning back. "Spit the blood out. Spit the blood out!" she shouted at him. But how could Liu Feng do that? It was physically impossible. "I am not sure what the problem is. If there is something that is dangerous, then I am an alchemist. I can try to solve the problem." Liu Feng said. "No. This is not a poison. Your body will not think of it as a poison. No pill can stop this." she said, shaking her head. Then, she looked at the dragon and gnashed her teeth. "You goddamn dragon. You forced this fight, and now you are going to be the death of me!" she shouted at it. Liu Feng was genuinely confused now. He looked at Min Wan, and thought for a moment that she lost her mind in this fight. Then, he felt a heat rising in his body. "I feel this energy in my body. Is it because of the blood?" he asked. Then, he saw that Min Wan also looked a little different. Her body seemed to be curved voluptuously, and her face was red. Her clothes stuck to her body, making her seem more desirable. "What happened to your face? It seems a little red," he asked. Before he could even respond, she grabbed his hand. Even if she had barely recovered, she was much stronger than he was. With thest bit of self control that she had left, she barely uttered the words, "A dragon''s blood when consumed by a woman and man together, is the strongest aphrodisiac." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 168 Red Hot (Kinda R18?) Liu Feng had no control either. His body was ming hot. He tore open his robes and looked at Min Wan. She had torn of her clothes at the same time as well. She seemed like the most beautiful person that he had everid eyes upon. Her eyes looked like they were carved out of the most beautiful stones. Her skin shined like jade, and it shimmered. Whenever Liu Feng touched her skin, it felt like he was on the clouds. They kissed passionately. Liu Feng looked at his dragon, which waspletely awakened. He then nced at Min Wan''s perfect body. It was like god had decided to finally make the perfect form without any defects. The dragon and phoenix intertwined. For hours, their moans could be heard. Ping! Ping! Liu Feng was not even bothered to nce at these notifications when this fairy in front of him needed his attention. They slowly became one. The heat in his body did not decrease even the slightest. In fact, it only grew stronger. The lust in their eyes was apparent. They were inseparable. ............... Hourster, Liu Feng opened his eyes. Next to him, however, Min Wan was no longer there. She had disappearedpletely. But in her ce, was a single letter. "Keep the cloak. Nevere see me again." Liu Feng did not know how to respond. He did not think that this would happen. Whoever could expect something like this to take ce. Even at this moment, Min Wan did not even know that Liu Feng knew her name! But another totally different thing surprised him. "What the hell happened? My cultivation increased? I forgot! The first time of a woman who is higher than someone else in cultivation will increase the male''s!" he realized. "System homepage," he said. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Child of Dao Level - 13 Strength - 80 Stamina - 32 Agility - 77 Cultivation - Nascent Soul Stage 3rd Layer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Expert Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Medium Proficiency - Foundation Establishment level) Kun Peng Movement Arts (Basic Proficiency) Mind Eye(Active) Dao of Transformation(0.1%) Dao of Ice(10.5%) Flowing Cloud Spear (Basic Proficiency) Undefeatable Dao(0.1%) Skill points - 11 Stat Points - 5 "For sure, I am no longer weak. If I enter the sect now, I will definitely be hailed as a genius. But they can''t get too suspicious. How the hell am I going to exin why I was missing in action for a whole three months?" Liu Feng was talking to himself as he aimlessly walked away from the flood dragon. Then, he paused for a moment. "How could you be so stupid? You need to take the corpse! This treasure is right in front of you and you just leave it?" he chided himself and ran to the corpse. After sucking it into the spatial ring, he nodded with satisfaction. Then, he walked into the cave of the flood dragon. As a powerful spirit beast with intelligence, it was supposed to have a lot of treasures. And Liu Feng was not wrong. The moment he entered the cave, he could smell something weird. "This is truly wonderful. Liu Feng! Go forward a few feet to where the smell ising from. This flood dragon was so lucky, toe across a pool like this." Liu Man said in a hurry. Liu Feng never saw him want something like he wanted it now. He agreed though. Liu Man had helped him multiple times in the past, and he wanted to reciprocate the feeling. After following Liu Man''s instructions, there was indeed a pool in front of Liu Feng. He could see that there was a lot of blood within it as well. "The flood dragon was trying to shed its bloodpletely and regrow. To be a true dragon. Maybe if it had a few more years with the pool, it could achieve that. If it was a true dragon, then your little woman wouldn''t have stood a chance." Liu Man said. Blushing, Liu Feng looked away. Although he was not in control of his body, he could vividly remember what had happened. And when he thought of her supple, jade like skin, he could only blush. "Just enter the pool, but do not do anything. I need this for myself." Liu Man said. Liu Feng nodded and jumped into the pool. He felt his skin getting hotter and hotter. "Wait a minute! Isn''t dragon blood an aphrodisiac? Why the hell am I in here?" Liu Feng realised. "It is only an aphrodisiac if a man and woman consume the blood of the same dragon at the same time. Not this case. How else will people be able to get dragon''s blood and be draconian?" Liu Man rified. Then, Liu Feng''s body shook for a moment. His chest felt like it was going to tear apart. For a moment, it looked like it did. An rock, or rather an egg came out of it. This was Liu Man himself. The egg went deep into the pool, and just stood there motionless. But Liu Feng knew that it was anything but. He could smell the medicinal properties of this pool. And by the second, these properties were decreasing. Whatever Liu Man was doing, he was doing a hell of a job. The blood red pool turned crystal clear in mere minutes. The egg also came back to the surface, but it did not just enter Liu Feng''s body. Instead, itnded on Liu Feng''s hand. Crack! Crack! Liu Feng''s eyes widened. He knew what was happening here. Liu Man was finallying into being. And he would finally know which beast he was. Crack! A small white paw came out of the egg. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 169 Liu Man Hatches The egg crackedpletely. Two unblinking eyes looked at Liu Feng and the world around it. "I am finally outside that wretched egg. I can see the world now!" the cub spoke even though it was, well, just a cub. "What are you? A tiger? You seem like a tiger." Liu Feng reached to pat Liu Man''s head, but hesitated at the end. "I remember now. I can feel it. That was why I felt such rage when that dragon dared to try and poke around me." Liu Man said, but his expressions were just adorable. "Wait a minute. Are you a mythical beast, like the white tiger?" Liu Feng paused for a moment. "Yes. I am the white tiger for this generation." Liu Man nodded. "You are the white tiger for THIS generation? How does that work? Are you saying that only one white tiger a generation exists, and only one azure dragon, ck tortoise, and vermillion bird exist for every generation?" Liu Feng asked. "You put the dots pretty well. I am one of the constetion beasts. I derive my power, and my memories from the Baihu constetion in the west. That is why I had those inherited memories. And now that I am out of the egg, I can finally understand everything." Liu Man said. "So you are a constetion beast. That is wild. You really are a mythical beast. But now, we have to find a way out of the forest. The ck Iron forest, they called it. I am sure that it is somewhere near the ck Swamp Forest, but I did not get to see the map so I don''t know how close they are." Liu Feng said. "I have a way to leave. Let us wait till night. That way, I can try and connect to the Baihu Constetion and see if I am able to understand where to go." Liu Man said. "That is wild. Being a constetion beast really has its benefits, doesn''t it? But I think that it is better for you to stay inside my robes for a while. We are in a forest where there are so many beasts that can tear us apart. I am in the Nascent Soul realm. Although I dare not im that I can beat the beasts, I know that I can run away pretty easily." Liu Feng said. "I don''t deny that. But do you realize something very interesting? The dead beast inside your spatial ring is none other than the king of the forest. With the blood of the king on you, many, many beasts will stay far away from you. Still, you are right. Better cautious so that we do not have that much trouble." Liu Man nodded. "And just how strong are you? I mean, how do you even grow stronger?" Liu Feng asked. "Beast cores. You did not take out the Flood dragon''s beast core, so you still haven''t seen what one is yet. But I shally im on it. Once I am able to devour beast cores, I will not even need to cultivate. I will grow stronger with time." Liu Man said. "And how powerful are you now?" Liu Feng asked. "I just came out of the egg. I don''t know how I was in an egg in the first ce. I would think that one member of the winged tiger family gave birth to me, leading to this different state. But I am weakened. I can take care of a Core formation stage cultivator, and if things are desperate, I can risk my life to take care of a Nascent Soul realm cultivator." Liu Man said. "And what if you are no longer weakened, and you have consumed the flood dragon''s core? Can you take care of Nascent Soul Realm cultivators then?" he asked. "With ease. With ease." Liu Man said without any hesitation. "You have got to be kidding me. I worked my a$$ off for a year almost just to get to the Nascent Soul Realm, and in just a few days, you can beat me? This is unfair. Totally unfair." Liu Feng shook his head. "You humans are different from mythical beasts. Only one white tiger can ever surface per generation. And our generation is different from yours. The lifespan of a mythical beast is thousands of years. My predecessor existed almost five hundred years ago. That is why humans control the world and are the more threatening race." Liu Man shook his head. Liu Feng and Liu Man continued to talk until the sky turned dark. Then, Liu Man walked out in his tiny body and gazed at the stars. "We need to go that way," he said and pounced onto Liu Feng''s sleeve. Liu Feng nodded and he walked in the direction that Liu Man pointed. He had nothing to do after all. Now that he had a lot of Qi as well, he started using the Kun Peng Movement arts to traverse this distance in as little time as possible. As the trees rushed past him, Liu Feng nced at the tiny cub that was clutching his chest. "If you are one of the four constetion beasts, then when will the other threee out? Or have they alreadye out?" Liu Feng asked. "The ck tortoise, well the ck tortoise has never died. For millions of years, it has survived. I know where it is, but I don''t think that we will be going near it anytime soon. The vermillion bird is simr. It is a phoenix in many ways, and it goes through a constant cycle of rebirth. So these two have always existed from the beginning of time. The only constetion beasts who have to reincarnate are me and azure dragon. I am sure that since three of the four are outside now, he will alsoe into existence." Liu Man said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 170 Constellation Beasts "He wille into existence? And they are not enemies, right? All the constetion gods are friends, right?" Liu Feng asked. "We all have the same purpose. But now is not the time to be worrying about that, so we should just continue on our track. I promise that when the timees, I will reveal it to you." Liu Man said. "Yeah, I get it. I am too weak to do anything. I get to the Nascent Soul Realm, and I am still to weak. How the hell does that work. I swear to god, one day, when no one can say that anymore, I will rub it in so badly." Liu Feng ground his teeth. He ran through the trees, and continued straight down his path. Not a single beast approached him along the way. Liu Man was right. The blood on his person gave the smell of the Flood Dragon. Anyone marked by the scent was someone that the Flood dragon wanted to protect or kill. Either way, they were not somebody that the beasts wanted to touch. But that only took into ount the spirit beasts. As for the magical beasts, they had no intelligence, and mostly just acted based on instinct. Roar! Just as Liu Feng thought, the moment that he left the area of the spirit beasts, the magical beasts would start attacking him. Keep in mind though, that Liu Feng was in the thirdyer of the Nascent Soul Stage now. And magical beasts capped out at the Core Formation stage at best. So, these were only cannon fodder in Liu Feng''s eyes. He took out his spear and killed the bear that appeared in front of him within just seconds! "Wait! Don''t go yet!" Liu Man stopped him. Liu Feng halted and looked down at Liu Man. Liu Man jumped out from Liu Feng''s chest and trodded to the magical beast that Liu Feng had just in. Going straight for the head, he used his paws to crack open the head with ease, ease that surprised Liu Feng. A purple ball of extreme Qi density came out. But Liu Feng knew, the moment that heid eyes upon them, that this had a lot of impurities. They couldn''t be used by humans, and could only be used by beasts like Liu Man, or alchemists. Swallowing the beast core, he went back to Liu Feng. "It was a nice snack. I need to regain my power, so stop whenever you see a magical beast, I need as much as I can get. But do not kill with excess. Some spirit beasts get offended when humans kill too many magical beasts." Liu Man said, To this, Liu Feng could only nod and continue further down the path. He ran for hours, and met so many beasts on the way. Liu Man devoured dozens of beast cores, but his stomach barely bulged. It was like he hadn''t eaten any at all! Finally, Liu Feng saw that the density of trees had subsided. The forest wasing to an end. He stopped running, and let his Kun Peng wings disappear. Then, he slowly walked forward. "Get the eyes! The eyes are the weak point!" he heard someone shout all of a sudden. It was at a distance, and he could only hear it because of the acute hearing that he gained from going stronger. But still, it would be nice to know where he was, so he disappeared from where he stood. "Uncle! The Scarlet me Python isn''t dying! The heavy water is not working!" a small girl, maybe the age of ten, said. A girl this age had no ce on the battle field, but with dozens of people around her, she was certainly well protected. "Dojo master, this is not working, as Little Yun said. We need to attack it directly. We need to seige it from all sides." one of the men stepped up and said. "Fine. I will do this myself. Protect me though. This is going to take a while to prepare." the Dojo Master took a spear from his spatial ring and brought it to his forehead. With his eyes closed, he started chanting something. The spear started glowing red, and it felt hotter and hotter. Then, he fluttered his eyes back open and red at the Scarlet me Python that was wreaking havoc in front of him. The python was also looking at him, the biggest threat that it faced. But for a split second, the python had fear in its eyes and it looked to the side. The dojo master did not let this go, and he threw the spear at the python at this opportune moment. The spear struck, and the python wailed with pain. The other members also started attacking the wounded python, and it was beaten to death. "You are the best, dojo master! With this, we can finally get a new courtyard!" one of the menughed. "Wait. The python was distracted for a moment. That was why the spear struck so easily. There might be someone here." the dojo master was cautious. "I am afraid that friend here is right. I seemed to have attracted that python''s malice. It was a good thing that you managed to y it before hand." a young man appeared from the bushes. "And who might you be?" the dojo master asked. "I am Liu Feng. I seemed to be a little lose. Can you help me out and tell me where I am?" Liu Feng said. He had no need to conceal his identity. After all, he was much, much stronger than the people in front of him. "Where you are? You are in the Forest of No End. In the entire Tiandu Kingdom, who doesn''t know of it?" someone else said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 171 Gejin City "The forest of no end! No wonder I knew that this felt so familiar. So it was describing the forest of no end!" Liu Feng finally understood. "You are funny, big brother." the girl looked at Liu Feng. "And why is a little girl like you in a dangerous forest like this?" Liu Feng bent down to reach her hight. "I am not little. And, I have the uncles from the dojo to protect me." she crossed her arms and pouted. "So cute." Liu Feng thought in his mind, but decided not to voice his thoughts to avoid any confusion. "Brother, is there any way that you know of Kaishi City?" he asked. "Kaishi city? Isn''t that the city of the Bai Family, and Cai Family?" the dojo master nodded. "The Cai and Bai family? Well, there happens to be another family there, but let us put that matter aside. Can you help me tell me where it is? I am a little troubled by directions." Liu Feng asked, smiling. "I can give you the directions, but staying in the forest for too long is not advised. Let us enter the city and talk about this there." the dojo master shook his head. "And which city is this?" Liu Feng asked. "Gejin city. What hole did you live under?" The dojo master looked at Liu Feng wierdly. "My master decided to raise me without any mortal world knowledge. Hence, I know little of how the world works, and what exists in it. Forgive me if my words seem ignorant." Liu Feng quickly thought of a reason. To this, the dojo master could only nod suspiciously. He grabbed the little girl and pulled her close to him. No one would trust a strange person that they just met. "What are the strong forces in the Gejin city? Who is the strongest person? The city master, I assume? And which realm of cultivation is he in?" Liu Feng no longer hesitated and spoke his mind. "The city lord, you mean? We don''t have a city lord. You must be from Kaishi City. But not every city is big enough for the imperial family to send their experts. The Gejin city only has five powers that maintain bnce. And the masters of these families are in the peak of the Core formation stage." the dojo master said with a puffed chest. "Then you must be one of the masters. You are in the peak of the core formation stage after all." Liu Feng pointed at the dojo master. "You are right. How did you kno-" the dojo master stopped for a moment, and tried to judge the cultivation of the man in front of him. But he just couldn''t. This young man seemed unfathomable to the dojo master. "I didn''t know that this young master was so powerful. I assume that you are a disciple of a reclusive master?" the dojo master suddenly changed his tone. The moment he knew that he was no match for Liu Feng, he had to curry his favor to make sure that nothing bad would happen to them. And why would Liu Feng let go of this wonderful opportunity to be treated well, for the first time in so long? He nodded. "My master doesn''t wish to be known to the world, so I have never approached the mortal world. But it seems like I have something to take care of in Kaishi city, so it would be extremely useful if I can get your help." Liu Feng smiled. "It would be our honor to help young master do whatever he wants to. I will make sure that you get what you need. We have maps of the entire kingdom in our dojo. If you want toe to our dojo, we can give those maps to you." the dojo master said. "A map of the entire kingdom? That would be the biggest gift that you can give me. But I do not want to be in someone''s favor. How about this? Why don''t I give this little girl who is just entering the cultivation path a gift for the future?" Liu Feng took out a jade box and handed it to the little girl. She looked at her uncle, and then back at Liu Feng. She was not sure whether she could ept it or not. "If young master wants to give it to you, you should take it." the dojo master nodded. "Thank you big brother!" the girl said and took the jade box. Immediately, the dojo master took a look at the pill that Liu Feng had given. A Foundation Establishment Pill! And of such high purity! This is truly a wonderful gift! Little Yun will be forever grateful to you, young master. Quickly thank young master for this gift!" the dojo master said once again. For a small city like the Gejin city where the strongest cultivator was only in the Core formation stage, any pill of this level and purity would be bound to cause a few waves. "There is no need. It is just a foundation establishment pill. Only taking up useless space. Why not give it to someone who can actually use it? Don''t thank me again for something so trivial." Liu Feng waved his hand and continued walking. This group was slowly leaving the forest of no end and a city came in sight. Unlike the ck swamp forest where no one dared to stay near there, the Forest of no end had many valuable herbs and the cores of magical beasts were clearly valuable, given that the dojo master came all the way here for a scarlet me python. This city was small, and could notpare to Kaishi city or Yurin city, but it was still a city nheless. At the entrance of the city, the words, ''Gejin City'' were boldly written. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 172 The Five Dojos! ,m Liu Feng was quickly debriefed of the five different powers that were in the city. And surprisingly, all of them were dojos! The dojo that the dojo master was from, was called the Hakin Dojo. It was the weakest of all the five powers, but now that they had the Scarlet me Python, they could try and sell the corpse to get a few resources for their members. Dojos were very different from families. In families, the core resources were reserved for the main family members, and only blood rtions were allowed. As for those who joined the family, they would never be able to rise to the top. It was the pitiful situation of being a person with no background. Nepotism ruled in the families. But in a dojo, everyone was treated equally, except maybe the dojo master''s children. And hence, the members all had an equal chance of getting the resources. It was a haven for people without any background. In fact, in a city like Gejin city, background wouldn''t matter, because anyone could join any of the dojos, unless he or she had no talent for cultivation at all. All that didn''t matter to Liu Feng though. He was calmly resting in one of his rooms. The dojo master had gone to get one of the maps that he promised. Liu Feng justid on the bed and closed his eyes. But his rest was quickly disturbed by a hugemotion. He got up and left the room to see what was going on. In front of his room was a hue courtyard where many disciples were training. But Liu Feng noticed that right now, half of the disciples had different badges on their robes. They were not from the Hakin Dojo, and they certainly did note here for fun. The disciples from the Hakin dojo were arguing with the other people who hade here. There seemed to be some argument amongst them. Obviously, Liu Feng could hear this argument, and to this, he could only smile. "It is time that the Gejin city is relieved of you losers. The only reason that you are called one of the five is because of your dojo master. The moment that our master ascends to the Nascent Soul realm, all of you will be at our feet!" "You want to fight? Come. I will fight with you. Let us see who is part of the worse dojo." another said. "I am not here to fight some weakling like you. Do you think that the Red Fist Dojo actually cares about people like you? You are not worth a second nce. Call out your head disciple and I will give him a nice discipline of my own." the person who was clearly the leader of this other dojo group said haughtily. To this, Liu Feng shook his head and started walking back to his own room. "Who the hell are you, to dare tough at me? Are you asking for a beating? What? So Hakin Dojo only had cowards who run back into their own rooms." the person shouted at the leaving Liu Feng. But it seemed that Liu Feng had just gone back into his room, not caring about this petty scuffle. "This is the result of some bad parenting. I pity his mother. Maybe if she had a father like me-" Suddenly, the person who was speaking hovered in the air. And the reason was his neck being held tight by the hand of the person he was cursing. "You go too far to offend people that you cannot afford to offend. Do you think that if I wanted to take care of you, I would have any trouble? Even your dojo master or whoever will not match a candle against me." Liu Feng said coldly. "My father! My father is the dojo master of the Red fist dojo! If you kill me, then you will definitely die!" the man in Liu Feng''s hands barely squealed. "So you are a second generation young master who is drowning in his father''s greatness. Now isn''t that interesting. Why don''t you cry that story in theherworld?" Liu Feng was about to tighten his grip, when a voice stopped him. "Young master, have mercy! I hope that you can leave that poor boy alone. He did not know who you were and dared to offend you." the dojo master of Hakin Dojo appeared and desperately called out. "So if I wasn''t someone strong, or if I didn''t have a good background, then it was okay to let him abuse me the way that he did? I thought that you had a little morality, dojo master." Liu Feng sighed. "His father is some one that I cannot offend. And his grandfather has roots in the Puppet sect of the Death Canyon. Forgive me, but can you please show mercy to this impudent boy. I will make sure that his life is paid for in full." the dojo master said. "I thank you for your hospitality, dojo master. You have been a very kind guest. On your ount, I will leave him be. But I hope that you tell this father of his how to raise a son. After all, his words are not the kindest to hear." Liu Feng let go. Coughing and wheezing, the man looked at Liu Feng with anger and hatred. "My father will hear of this. I will see what you are going to do then. Are you going to hide in this shabby ce or are you going to flee? I will make sure that you are hunted down for the dog that you are." he ground his teeth. "For a dog that I just happened to let live, you have a lot of words. How about this. I will wait here. Forgive me dojo master, but I am going to overstay my wee and see what this father of his is going to do to me." Liu Feng smiled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 173 Dojo Master Of The Red Fist Dojo "You are always wee to stay in the dojo, young master. Here is the map that you have asked for. I have made sure that the information on it ispletely up to date." the dojo master handed the map to Liu Feng. Liu Feng nodded and headed back to his room, while the dojo master turned around and looked coldly at the people who hade here. "You better thank me, Gen Yuxin. I saved your life here. If it weren''t for my interference, then the entire city could be rocked by the impact of his fury. Do you understand who he is? He is stronger than your father!" the dojo master looked at the man who was arrogant up until now. "I am done with you trying to scare me, you old fart. I know that you are trying to just let this matter get swept under the rug, but I promise you, I will make sure that he will pay. So what if he is stronger than you? My father is about to break through to the Nascent soul stage!" Gen Yuxin said. "Don''t tell me that I didn''t warn you. Now get the hell out of my house, and nevere back again. Next time that you do, I think that I really will discipline you in ce of your father." he cracked his knuckles and stepped forward. Gen Yuxin and his fellow disciples stepped back instinctively, and they ran away from the courtyard, leaving the disciples of the Hakin Dojo. "What the hell happened here? Why did they juste here, and leave unscathed? Is this how we act? Not one was brave enough to fight them?" the dojo master said coldly. "He wanted to fight the main disciple, but before the main disciple arrived, that young master came out. Gen Yuxin thought that he was one of ours, so he started cursing at him." one of the disciples said. "You all, such idiots. Here we are, risking our lives so that you can get more resources. It seems that we have been too lenient. From now on, all of you will be training non stop. Until one of you enters the high ranks of the foundation building stage, none of you are allowed to leave the dojo!" he dered and turned around to leave. "The high ranks of the foundation building stage? But even big brother is only in the thirdyer!" the disciple murmured, but the dojo master was no longer there to listen. The disciples left the courtyard to head to their own rooms to cultivate. Meanwhile, Liu Feng was in his room with his eyes glued to the map that he had gotten. With this map, he could finally understand the things that eluded him. Seeing the different powers, cities and sects listen out clearly, he understood the situation of the kingdom for the first time. Hours passed, and then days. He had put the map aside a long time ago, as he had memorised itpletely. Now, he was using his time to cultivate a little. His Heaven Devouring art was still a heaven defying cultivation art, and even if he was just cultivating with all of his spare time, all these bits and pieces would add up to a terrifying whole. He continued to cultivate for days without rest. Days turned into one week, when trouble finally came knocking on his door. "Who was the bastard that dared to threaten my son? Come out and give me your dog life!" a loud voice rocked the entire Hakimn gym. Every single person of significant prominence appeared in front of the gym to hold off the new arrival, the master of the Red Fist Dojo. "What are you doing here, Gen Reishi? I thought that I helped you out when I saved your son''s life. Is this how you thank me?" the dojo master of the Hakin dojo asked. "Shut up, Nan Xin. I don''t need to put up with you anymore. Right now, the Red Fist dojo is iming the entire city. With the only Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, it has the right to be the leader of the city. I think that I will demolish this ce and put together a nice courtyard for my son." Gen Reishi said as he rubbed his hands. Behind him, his son, and almost three dozen people stood there,ughing at them all. "You broke through to the Nascent Soul Stage?" Nan Xin, the dojo master of Hakin dojo, stepped back with shock. "It is a pity. Everyone thought that you would be the one who would break through before me, but it seems that resources are more important than talent. Now where is that coward? Did he run away?" Gen Reishi shouted again. "You both need to stop calling me a coward. Like father like son. Both idiots." Liu Feng appeared behind Gen Reishi. He looked back, about to attack, but his hands stopped the moment he saw who Liu Feng appeared next to. Liu Feng was hand in hand with Gen Yuxin. Gen Yuxin was frozen with fear, while Gen Reishi was trembling with rage. "You coward. Come and fight me if you dare. How dare you try and threaten me with my son?" he shouted. "You are right. I don''t need to threaten you by standing next to your son. But the thing is, I only let him go because the dojo master asked me to. But I don''t think that he is going to stop me any more?" Liu Fengughed and raised his hand. Splurt! Gen Yuxin fell on the ground with eyes that did not understand what just happened. "You bastard!" Gen Reishi''s eyes turned red. He was about to dash forward with his hands reached towards Liu Feng, when Liu Feng disappeared. He appeared next to the Dojo master, and crouched down to look at the young girl. "How about this? For a few moments, can you hold my friend here?" he handed the white cub that was Liu Man to the little girl. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 174 Massacre Liu Man had been sleeping for a while now. Liu Feng surmised that he was digesting the beast cores that he had consumed. Looking at Gen Reishi, he cracked his knuckles. "Some one who just entered the Nascent Soul stage is so arrogant. Everywhere I go, people call me weak no matter how strong I get. And you actually think that you are invincible? Do you actually think that you can hold a candle against me?" Liu Feng walked towards Gen Reishi slowly. In his hands, his spear appeared. He pointed it towards Gen Reishi, but his eyes were no longer looking at him. "I wonder, who is the person behind the scenes? I did not think that this red something dojo actually had two Nascent Soul cultivators. It is interesting that a small city like this has a powerhouse with the two strongest cultivators of the entire city. Why are you kidding though?" Liu Fengughed as he called out. "My son made a mistake and misjudged his opponent. He just entered the Nascent Soul realm, so he thinks that he can do anything. I hope that you forgive him for that." an old man appeared next to Gen Reishi. "Gen Kim! You are also in the Nascent Soul stage? To think that you hid it from the rest of us!" Nan Xin was astonished. "I did not think that I would ever see one of the geniuses of the next generation in my small city. I wonder, which power are you from?" Gen Kim asked. "Me? I am from the Sky Heavens sect. I am sure that you have heard of that. Well, do you think that offending a sky heavens sect is a good choice? Especially when the sect master has personally promised to make sure that the entire sect woulde down on anyone who harmed a disciple of the sky heavens sect?" Liu Feng leisurely said. "So you are from the Sky heavens sect! But I do not think that I have ever heard of a disciple like you. I recognize every major disciple, and I would certainly know someone who entered the Nascent soul realm at such a young age." Gen Kim said. "Could it be, you are impersonating a disciple? That is an even bigger offense." "If you think that I am impersonating a sky heavens disciple, then think what you may. But trust me when I say this, even if you wanted to kill me, you cannot. As a person in the Nascent Soul stage yourself, you know that it is almost impossible to defeat a cultivator who is above you in cultivations. The disparity betweenyers is close to insurmountable." Liu Feng said. "You forget, arrogant man, that there are two of us." the old man moved towards Liu Feng at an astonishing speed. So did Gen Reishi. Both of them tried to siege Liu Feng from both sides. "And you do not realise that I am twoyers above you in cultivation." Liu Feng smiled and raised his spear. Frost appeared all around him, and the two men who were trying to attack him stopped just inches away from him. Such was his mastery over the Dao now. He snapped his fingers, and they suddenly fell to the ground because of an overbearing pressure that was trying to crush them. This was the Yuan Principle. He was adept enough to use it in battle now. Just in an instant, two Nascent Soul cultivators were rendered immobile and could attacked with ease. They were defeated for all intents and purposes. The entire crowd was stunned. They did not expect a result like this to ur. Everyone just froze in ce while Liu Feng put the spear right below the old man''s neck. "You are the strongest right? It is going to make a bigger difference if you die first." he said. "Please forgive us. We did not know that we were facing a disciple of the sky heavens sect. We honestly thought that you were impersonating one. We will pay for our impudence. The entire Red Fist dojo is at your disposal." Gen Kim said desperately. "Right, here is the thing. I have no need for whatever paltry ransom you can offer me. I literally came down from a city called the city of heaven. So why don''t you just die in peace instead of lose your dignity?" Liu Feng let his spear fly, and blood sttered everywhere. ? Now, there was just Gen Reishi left. "Father!" he cried out with sorrow. "Your father is dead. Your son is dead. You seem to be themon denominator. It is like your whole family is made up of stupid people who do not understand how the world is supposed to work. If they find someone that is stronger than them, they shouldn''t bring their daddy out to y." Liu Feng said as he beheaded Gen Reishi as well. Liu Feng looked at little Yun. She hurriedly rushed to him and handed Liu Man to his hands. "Good girl. This old man''s spatial ring is yours, my treat." Liu Feng smiled. Looking at the Red Fist Dojo, which was just taken aback by this sudden beheading, heughed. "If you hadn''t messed with me, and just waited for me to leave this city, then by now, your dojo would be the uncontested leader of this city. But you just had to show off, and this is the result of that. Well then, dojo leader, I think that I am done now. I will go back to where I came from. You can take whatever they have. I am not too bothered about what they could possibly hoard." Liu Feng waved his hand and headed back to his room after this killing spree. When Liu Feng saw that the dojo master was so honored to receive a foundation establishment pill, he knew that the resources here could only be paltry at best. So, he did not even want to waste his time trying to scrape meat off this skinny animal. "As, as you wish, young master." the dojo master stuttered. He, and everyone else, were now terrified of Liu Feng. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 175 Leaving For Kaishi City With the entire map in his mind, Liu Feng no longer needed to scramble for directions. The dojo was almost eager to give him the best horse that they had. They wanted this demon who could massacre their entire city as far away from them as possible. Surely, they profited from what had happened. But they didn''t know Liu Feng, and they only met him by chance. It was not confirmed that he would help them, or even stay on their side. Now, Liu Feng was on his way to the other side of the kingdom. They no longer had to fear this monster that suddenly arrived. Liu Feng went along the roads. Forest passed by him, multiple sceneries arose, but none distracted Liu Feng from his path. He continued along his journey with no break. Whenever the horse seemed like it was getting tired, he would feed it a healing pill and a spiritual pill. These were pills that normal cultivators would fight for, but he was just feeding it to livestock. Because for him, his time was more important than these pills that he could make in a heartbeat. With him bing so rich now, he no longer had to care about the scraps. He did not stop by any of the cities on the sidelines, but was quite surprised by the sheer number. Unfortunately for him, the capital was not on the way, so he could not stop by to see exactly how big the capital was. He did not want to take a detour and waste another week though. He had been missing long enough, and needed to make sure that everyone knew he was back. Although he had not been in this world for long, he still held feelings of affection for his mother and father, feelings that he inherited from his body. He had the responsibility to tell them that he was safe. "Where are we? Where are we going?" Liu Man had awakened. "Why were you asleep for so long? Digesting the beast cores took that long? I would think that the great white tiger would be able to get all of that energy and digest it in mere minutes!" Liu Feng joked. "I am just a baby. I am too young. Wait a few years, and I will show you the true might of the white tiger." Liu Man growled. "Calm down. I was just joking. But you are going to grow to your maturity in just a few years? Isn''t that a little too fast for someone who is going to live for thousands of years?" Liu Feng asked. "It depends on the nutrition that you give me. You see, rather than the years to grow, the more important part is how many beast cores I consume, and how powerful the beasts that gave them are. The flood dragon core will be enough to make me equal you, or even surpass you." Liu Man said. "Fine then. Let us hope that you don''t sleep too much this time then." Liu Feng paused for a moment. The flood dragon''s beast core was still inside the head of the beast, and Liu Feng had to dig it out. With his hands dripping in blood, he handed the core to Liu Man. Liu Man took the core in with just a gulp, and his belly glowed with the same blue glow that the flood dragon had. He did not stop there though. He licked the blood all over Liu Feng''s body. "Selling something like the body will only give you some marypensation. Leave the meat and blood to me, and save a bit for yourself. You will have the ws and the skin, which are more precious anyways, and I can grow stronger. Maybe I can even match the Xiantian realm that you were hoping to reach for so long." Liu Man said. "How long are you going to sleep to digest the core? I will give you the meat and bloodter when we get to Kaishi city." Liu Feng said. "Kaishi city? I thought that we would go to the sect. Well then, it doesn''t matter. You still need to get to the Soul Formation stage to withstand the dragon gate. But do not forget. Before you go to the capital, you need to go through the dragon gate with me. I need that baptism." Liu Man said. "You got it. I promised you, and I will stand by it. I will beg master if that is what it takes. But go hibernate first. There are still three days before we reach Kaishi City. It takes too goddamn long." Liu Feng sighed. And just like that, three days passed. Liu Feng was not tired though. The stronger he got, the less fatigued he became even after staying up for extended periods of time. It felt like he was no longer mortal, but a semi immortal being. He put that thought aside and looked at the familiar sight in front of him. This was his home for less than four months, and yet it felt so warm to him. He could see his Liu Family area was still present and strong. No big change had happened to the city geographically. But to see what had really happened, he needed to enter the city. Liu Man was inside his robes, calmly hibernating, while Liu Feng strolled into the city with the horse in his hand. "Stop! Who are you?" the city guards stopped him. "I don''t think that I was gone for that long? To think that even my own city would no longer recognize me." Liu Feng heartilyughed. The moment that he showed his face clearly, the city guards took a step back. "Ghost! The ghost of Liu Feng is here!" they shouted. ck lines appeared on Liu Feng''s forehead. "Ghost? What the hell are you talking about?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 176 Ghost Of Liu Feng "Young master! You are actually alive?" the guard came to his senses. "Of course I am alive. Until now, you thought that I was dead? What happened while I was gone?" Liu Feng asked. "Master Liu Qian has disappeared! The entire city is in turmoil with the entry of the Hong Family, which is threatening your own family!" the guard said. "The Hong family? From the capital?" Liu Feng''s face changed. That was because he knew exactly why this problem came. Cai Lien already warned him that Hong Jimin, the strongest of the Inner sect was after him because he was engaged to her. And now that he was presumed dead, it was obvious that they wanted the Liu Family to scrap this marriage contract so that Hong Jimin could marry Cai Lien. He was probably using force, but he had the force of a three under family, one of the strongest powers in the entire kingdom. "Where is the Dong family now? Which family is hosting them?" Liu Feng asked. "The Bai family. Which other family is qualified to host a family of that scale? It is said that the Hong Family even has intentions to take over the entire city because of some secret that it has, but that much is over me." the guard said. "Why are you telling me all this? I thought that all of you hated the idiot young master. What changed your mind?" Liu Feng chuckled. "How can we dare call the tiger of Kaishi City an idiot young master? You are the inspiration for all the kids. They all want to be as strong as you, and hide their power as expertly as you did. You became a hero of the city after you won the martial gathering!" the guard said. "I didn''t know that a simple martial gathering had such importance. Anyway, I need to go inside. Father is no longer here, but mother might be. I need to see if there is anything here left for me." Liu Feng sighed and walked inside. The city was quiet. Abnormally quiet. Liu Feng went to the Liu Residency, where the guards was shocked more than at the city gates. "Young master! You are finally here! I shall inform the elders immediately!" the guard said. "I will be in my ce. Once the elders want to see me, I will go there immediately." Liu Feng said. "As you wish, young master." the guard ran inside, while the second stood there to stand guard. Liu Feng, meanwhile, walked inside and went into his own courtyard. It was deserted. There was not a single person there. Not his mother, and not his father. He wasn''t even sure what awaited him here. After a few hours of just standing there, immobile in thought, a guard came to him. "The elders wish to see you at the council, young master. They wish for you to go there." he said. Liu Feng nodded, and he disappeared from where he stood. The guard was just frozen still. "Why does the young master seem so strong? It is like he is one of those unfathomable elders of the family." the guard thought to himself, but quickly shrugged at the mere thought. Meanwhile, Liu Feng appeared at the family pavilion, the same ce that he hade when he first came here. And the situation was also very simr. All of the elders had been assembled, but this time, the situation and problem was much bigger. He went up those stairs and looked inside. All the elders were seated, bar one. The seat that his father was supposed to upy, was empty. "Feng''er. Do you realise what trouble you have caused?" Liu Hong''s voice permeated the entire building. To this, Liu Feng had no answer. He knew that he disappeared for too long, and this made everyone worried sick! "Forgive me grandfather. A few things that I can not exin happened." Liu Feng said. "Forget all that, father! We cannot possibly let this small boy cause the ruin of the entire family! What good is having a marriage contract that will only cause our demise? Let us hand this bastard to the Hong Family along with the contract and let them do whatever they want with him." Liu Zhu, the second elder, said. "Shut up! The day when the Liu Family gives one of their own to an enemy, we will all perish! We will either die fighting or see ourselves triumph. But never, will we sacrifice one of our own to the enemy like that! If it was your son that was in this situation, would you say this?" Liu Hong shouted furiously. "But he is not of Liu Blood! He does not deserve this!" Liu Zhu said, "That does not matter. He is my grandson and the future of the family. While your stupid sons are still stuck in the foundation establishment stage, look at him. Can you see through his cultivation? He is the true sessor to Liu Qian. Now, the family has another Nascent Soul cultivator, and this one has a chance to enter the Xiantian realm!" Liu Hong said. "They saw through my cultivation so easily? How strong are they?" Liu Feng used his mind eye to check the cultivations of the elders around him. "Wow. All of them are in the Nascent Soul stage, like I expected. But the top five elders are all in the peak of the Nascent Soul realm? And what is the cultivation of grandfather? What exactly is the pseudo Xiantian realm? Even the bandit leader had that." Liu Feng though to himself. Meanwhile, the elders were still trying to digest the fact that the child who left home in the Foundation establishment stage, returned back in the Nascent Soul realm! It was truly inconceivable! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 177 Cai And Liu Meanwhile, the Cai family was not exactly in the best of situations. In one room, multiple elders were seated and the matriarch was at the helm. She nced coldly at each and every one of them. "What has the main family said?" she asked, but she already knew what they would say. "The Cai family said that there is no way that a girl surnamed Cai is allowed to marry into the Hong family and that we must fight until thest breath." one person stepped up and said. "All this because of one lecherous rascal. I will be sure to behead him, for him to dare lust after Lien." the woman cursed. "We should let go of Cai Lien! Then, the family will not have to sacrifice itself for one impudent girl who dared to rope in a boy from the Hong family, and it can evade this whole conflict." Cai Yian, who was at the side, suggested. "If you want to die, then I will personally do it. Don''t you dare try and ruin my daughter''s life. I will not even look at the fact that you are my brother." Cai Duan said as he rose up. "Is this the time for infighting? If we start fighting now, then the fight will be lost before it even begins! Sit down, both of you!" the olddy stood up, and a wave of pressure made all of them lurch back down. "Mother! You have finally recovered?" Cai Duan had a look of absolute joy. "The Liu boy did us a good favor. I even got through the bottleneck that I never thought would happen. The battle is not yet lost, yet many of you are trying to make ends meet. The family wasted so many resources on you fools, and when the timees to fight, you run away?" she shouted at them. Cai Yian had a look of absolute despair in his eyes. Now, he lost all aspirations to be the n head, or for his son to get to that spot. "The Hong family cannot send that many experts to a small city like this. Their main family will be too weak. My guess is that they have at best three Xiantian realm experts in their ranks. But that is still a force that we can''t beat easily. Too bad, no one else is in the Xiantian realm." the matriarch sighed. "Where the hell did that Liu brat run off to? If he was still here, then we would have married Lien off to him, and the whole issue would have been sorted. No matter how much that lecher wants Lien, he would never touch a married woman. The Hong family wouldn''t allow him." she sighed. "That Liu brat is the reason, mother! We should tell the Hong family to look for him instead. He brought disaster to us." Cai Yian shouted. "If you talk once more, then I will crush your neck." the matriarch said coldly. "Matriarch! I bring in important news! There have been sightings at the city gate!" one guard rushed in all of a sudden. The matriarch nodded and waved her hand. The guard ran to her and whispered something in her ears. With that, her smile curled up. "It looks like the Liu Family has no other choice but to enter the fight. And as long as that Liu Qian joins the fight, we will not be in big trouble," she said. "What happened, mother?" Cai Huan asked. Everyone was curious as to what had happened. "The boy you were cursing had just returned to the city. It looks like we have to rush to prepare a wedding. Let the Liu Family know that we will be fulfilling the marriage contract that they agreed to." she said as she got up. "What? Liu Feng returned?" everyone stood up in shock. "I will go tell Lien the good news. She has been worried for a while now. Let the rest of the family know. Get the preparations done. I want the entire Jade Pavilion ready for receiving guests in a day." she said and disappeared. "My daughter is getting married tomorrow?" Cai Huan was the only one who was still seated, but he was even more shocked. Liu Family Pavilion, As the elders were still shell-shocked at the discovery that Liu Feng was in the Nascent Soul stage, one piece of parchment appeared in front of everyone. It flew up from one of the cabs in the pavilion. Buzzing, the runes on the parchment lit up. "Elders of the Liu Family. It hase to our attention that Liu Feng has returned to the city. It is our intention to fulfill the marriage contract. Please inform his parents so that they can be here at the earliest." a voice came. Now was the turn for Liu Feng to be shocked. He did not expect this to suddenly happen. He returned to tell everyone that he was safe. But he was suddenly getting married? He was just sixteen! There were other ways to solve a problem. "Getting married? There has to be more time! I cannot get married now! Where is the matriarch?" Liu Feng said. "The matriarch is..." ,m "What is wrong with you getting married now, you brat? Look at all the trouble that has been caused because you still hadn''t married her." the matriarch''s voice reced the previous one. "What is wrong? I am just seventeen, that is what is wrong! I don''t even know who my real parents are, I and everyone in the kingdom know that I have enemies all over, and you want me to get married to Cai Lien now? Are you signing her death warrant?" Liu Feng shouted back. "The people who are after you will not kill your wife. I know that for sure. Now get the hell here and prepare for your wedding. And Liu Hong. I know that you are there. Contact Liu Qian. He has a sound transmission token. I know of that. Don''t hesitate to use it. Now, the entire city will know that your grandson is marrying my daughter. Just tell him that the Hong family is after Liu Feng''s life, and Liu Qian wille here running. I have a wedding to n now." she said, and the piece of paper fell on the floor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 178 Marriage Liu Feng was just standing there nkly. "I cannot do anything, Feng''er. It looks like you are going to marry one of the two beauties of Kaishi city. I can only congratte you." Liu Hong sighed and said. "My father. Where is my father?" Liu Feng asked. "I will go contact him. I am sure that the moment he knows you are safe, he will rush back home." Liu Hong said. "I need to go to the Cai family and try and convince them out of this stupid decision. There has to be another way to counter the Hong family." Liu Feng said and he disappeared. Right now, he had no intention of slowing down. His Kun Peng movement arts were used to their utmost capacity, and he was rushing past the buildings. He appeared at the Cai family gates in mere minutes, and looked at the guards. "Tell your matriarch that her forced son inw is here." Liu Feng barked at the guards. "Liu Feng is here! Please,e in! The matriarch is waiting for you!" the guard immediately let him in. Liu Feng saw a huge red carpet from the entrance that just guided him in. "They did all of this in just the few hours that I was in the city? What is this? A bunch of freaks!" Liu Feng thought to himself as he continued down. "The groom is here. Time to get him ready for the wedding." the matriarch appeared before him. "What wedding? Do you think that- Wait, you are in the Xiantian realm?" both Liu Feng and the matriarch looked at each other for a few minutes, both shocked at the cultivation realms of each other. "Haha, it looks like Cai Lien found herself a genius of a husband. Truly, you are the dragon''s son." the matriarchughed. Liu Feng did not even ask her who his real father was again. He knew what her answer would be. "Does Cai Lien even know about this? That you are forcing both of us to marry all of a sudden? Is she even here?" Liu Feng asked. "Of course she is here. She ran back home after that lecher started forcing himself onto her everyday. Now, where the hell did you disappear for three months? You heard about her new suitor and just ran?" the matriarch asked. "The sky heavens sect is the one ce that no one can kill me. That, I am sure of. Why would I run away when I could grow stronger there. I was abducted by someone, and luckily survived. Now, there has to be a way that we can fight back against the Hong family. There has to be." Liu Feng asked. "They have three Xiantian realm experts. Like you said, I may have broken through to the Xiantian realm, but I am just one person. I cannot fight against three others. That is why, we have to force this marriage through. The Hong family will not support the lecher in abducting a married bride." she said. "But they will help him in abducting a bride though. You just forced them to attack faster!" he said. Like it was some sort of cue, a loud bang ensued at the gate of the Cai family. Both the matriarch and Liu Feng ran towards the gate, and saw a sight that horrified them. Hundreds of people stood in front of them, and at the front, three old men stood as guards to Hong Jimin. Liu Feng just knew that this was Hong Jimin. "What brings you to the Cai family, friend?" Liu Feng asked. "I will kill you myself, daring to lust after a woman that I imed." Hong Jimin said coldly. "I also want to see if you will dare to kill me. While I disappeared for a few months, I still am an Inner sect disciple of the sky heavens sect. And if you kill me, then I will spectate from the heavens to see what kind of death they will give you." Liu Feng smiled provocatively. "It seems that you still think that the Sky heavens sect will help you out. Do you think that the sect will go to war with their best Inner sect disciple, and a family that is as strong as they are, just for a stupid disciple whose death was confirmed the moment he was born?" Hong Jiminughed. "I think that they will!" another sound came, and a person started walking from the side. The Hong family people who had arrived looked at the new arrival with a pensive nce, and they dismissed him. This was just a mortal who had no cultivation at all! But Liu Feng knew who had arrived just by hearing his sound. "Brother Riyal! I am d that you are here." Liu Feng nodded at the new arrival. "Get the hell out of here, junior." One of the old men moved to push Ji Riyal away. "I think it is better if you do not attack one of your juniors. If you want to have a fight, then I can entertain you." another sweet voice arose, and Liu Feng recognized this too. It seemed like both the siblings surnamed Ji had arrived. Ji Ki''er was also here, and she blocked the old man''s attack. "It seems that brother Feng has grown immensely strong over thest few months that you have disappeared. I am no longer a match for you." Ji Riyalughed. "It was just luck. Just luck." Liu Feng shook his head. "What is this? A reunion? Behead all of these people and get me my bride! Wait, leave Ji Ki''er alone. Two of you should cripple her. I think that if she took the time to deliver herself to me, then I should satisfy her." Hong Jimin said as he rubbed his hands. "Impudence!" Liu Feng roared and he waved his hands. p Immediately, everyone other than the three old men were forced onto the ground by the Yuan principle. "A dog like you does not deserve to exist!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 179 Intense Fight "What is this power? To cause even Nascent Soul realm experts to get crushed to the ground?" bystanders were astonished. So was Hong Jimin. The shame that he felt for kneeling in front of his opponent was too much to bear. The old man stood in front of Hong Jimin and looked at Liu Feng with interest. "I did not think that a remnant of the past would still have any significance today. It seems like I have to help out my masters in annihting you to the fullest." saying this, the old man lurched forward towards Liu Feng. "You old brute, if you want to fight, then this old woman will face you, Hong Yi." the matriarch defended the attack and pushed Hong Yi back. "There are three of us. Even if there are two xiantian experts on your side, this is still a battle that you are destined to lose. You should just give up now." the only one who had been immobile till now spoke up. "Do you think that I would be here, standing still when my grand child is being bullied by a bunch of old men from the capital? Come! I will also see what the Hong family has to offer." Liu Hong''s voice came. Liu Hongnded in middle of the battle field and he pointed his sword towards thest remaining old man. "Do you think that a mere pseudo Xiantian realm cultivator can match a real one? Quit dreaming." the old man scoffed. "But I will be able to stop you until they are done." Liu Hong smiled. Almost instantly, the two men disappeared from where they were, and the fight took to the skies. Liu Feng saw these people use their Qi to just propel themselves up, and he was incensed. Just a few more months, and he would get to that position as well. But he put that aside. All the Xiantian realm experts were upied, but there was one more person that he had to take care of. Hong Jimin. He was at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm. He broke free from the suppression of the Yuan principle within minutes, and looked at Liu Feng fuming with anger. "How dare you insult me like that? I will murder you!" he shouted, and rushed towards Liu Feng. Shing! A sharp light sted towards Hong Jimin. He raised his palm, and a flowery petal stood in the way of the light. Still, the light just cut through the sword petal, and just went straight for Hong Jimin. "Such impudence!" Hong Jimin shouted and he just raised his hands to dispel the light with the most crude and overbearing method possible. He just struck the light away with his Qi, and it flew away, hitting the buildings and roads beside him. "You bastard. I left you alone because you were Ki''er''s brother, but it looks like I have to teach you a good lesson." he red at Ji Riyal. Suddenly, frost appeared at his feet. He was frozen in ce, and couldn''t move. Another sword light was rushing towards him with the same speed, but at the moment that he was supposed to defend, Liu Feng smiled and snapped his fingers. The Yuan Principle reappeared, stronger than ever. He hesitated for a split second, and that second cost him. The sharp light was rushing towards Hong Jimin with such speed and force that it looked like it could tear him apart. But when the sword energy connected, what happened confused both of them. The sword energy just bounced off of his body. "He has a good armor. I forgot that we were dealing with a spoilt brat here." Liu Feng realized. It was a missed opportunity. Now, Hong Jimin''s eyes were red with anger. He was faced with two who were obviously weaker than him, but they were forcing him into a desperate situation. He summoned his sword from his spatial ring. Just by looking at it, one could tell that it was a good sword. Crafted with the best materials, it looked like it was a sword meant for a king. "The Hong family took out one of its imperial weapons for a snotty brat in the Nascent Soul realm? Is he really the future of your stupid family?" the matriarch was also attracted by this sudden disy. "So you should know that no matter what happens, today, young master will be having some fun today." the old man she was battling with, Hong Yi, smiled crookedly. Liu Feng took one look at this weapon and knew that he had to pull out all of his big guns. He took out his ethereal spear. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Blue Dragon breaks through hell!" Liu Feng shouted, and his spear went flying towards Hong Jimin at a terrifying speed. "You are just in the thirdyer of the Nascent soul stage, and you dared to go against me? It looks like you are tired of living. I will see how you manage to leave here alive." Hong Jimin looked at him leisurely. He swung his sword lightly, and a huge wave just sent Liu Feng''s spear flying, and him along with it. This was too much for him to handle. Trying to defeat someone who was one or two minor realms above him was one thing, but trying to surmount six levels, when every single one of them was almost impossible to surmount, was going to be tough. At this moment, he felt a tinge of pain. "No. I will not lose. I will not dare lose. I will win every battle. I will not lose a single more. Let us see what will happen. I can push my limits." Liu Feng willed himself. A golden hue appeared around him. It was the Undefeatable Dao. He felt stronger and had a renewed energy filling his body. Pointing his spear towards Hong Jimin, he sneered. "Come then. Let me see what you got left." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 180 Assistance "Just what is going on here in my city?" a furious sound disrupted all the fighting. Everyone red at the person who had just shouted. The pressure that the single shout gave off told everyone that it was someone powerful. The city lord of Kaishi city had finally arrived. He looked coldly at the Hong family. "I tolerated the entrance of the Hong family in the city for a while, but I think that you are no longer wee here. The aftermath of your fight will not help the city in anyway. Leave now." the city lord said. "Who the hell do you think you are, trying to boss around the Hong family. So what if you are a city lord? City lords are just people who are strong and have gained the recognition of the imperial pce. Do you really think that you can go against one of the strongest powers in the kingdom?" Hong Jimin sneered. "I think that I can. The Hong family? What is that? Just three old men in the Xiantian realm, and one coward hiding behind the shadows think that they can take me? How far has the family''s intelligence fallen?" the city lordughed. Liu Feng looked at the city lord once and knew that this was no ordinary cultivator. He might not have exceeded the Xiantian realm, but he sure as hell was stronger than everyone present here. "The Hong family is here to stay. You have upied the Spirit Jade pool for too long. I think that it is time that we take a try at what lies inside." another mysterious voice about. "You want to upy the pool? I should have known why four old men just steps away from their grave would enter the mortal world. It is so that they can try and extend it. You want to touch that existence? Then you will have to fight me." the city lord said, and he put his left arm behind his back, looking like a very respectable person. "Do you really think that we came here without a n?" an old man came out of seemingly nowhere. This man was old beyond measure. He was literally one step into his grave. He had one purple stone in his hand though, and the moment that the city lordid his eyes on the stone, his breathing turned haggard. "How did youe across that? Impossible. You wouldn''t dare!" he said. "I will dare." the old man crushed the purple stone, and clouds appeared in the sky. Just looking at the sky, Liu Feng had a simr feeling. It was like the time when he said something tabboo and the heavens decided to strike down. But this time, the heavens was clearly striking down on something else entirely. Ping! [Story Quest Activated. Save the Green Gale tiger. Reward - 2 levels of cultivation] "The green gale tiger? Wait a minute. You already promised me two cultivation levelsst time. I did not get them. This ain''t fair. You forgot about it. I won''t do this story quest. You are not fair, so I don''t need to be." Liu Feng suddenly remembered. Ping! Ping! [Cultivation increased to Nascent Soul stage fifthyer!] [Host has activated divine sense] Liu Feng felt so much stronger all of a sudden. He also got this awareness of the things around him. He could feel the energy of his spirit sea reaching out. But all of that was no longer his concern. His concern was the fact that the story quest was so important that the system gave him all of this. "Who the hell is the green gale tiger? How do I save it?" he thought to himself. As if answering his answers, a loud roar reverberated through the city. Roar! The blood of every cultivator within shook wildly, and they all looked at where it came from. The city lord mansion has a green pir that appeared out of nowhere, made entirely of energy. Liu Feng could feel a gust of winding from it, and knew that whatever was causing that pir of wind, was the green gale tiger. "What is happening here? I can sense a green gale tiger here." another voice entered Liu Feng''s head. This time, it was someone he knew and knew so well. "Liu Man? You are awake? Thank god! You know of the green gale tiger?" Liu Feng asked the white tiger, who was within his sleeve the entire time! "Of course I know of the green gale tiger. I know of every single tiger that exists. As the existence that is above all tigers, I know of my kin. We may not be pack animals, but we respect each other''s existence." Liu Man said. "Did you digest the flood dragon''s corepletely though?" Liu Feng asked. "I did. The roar was unexpectedly helpful. It invigorated my blood and made me enter peak of the fourth tier." Liu Man said. "You are at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm?" Liu Feng asked. Liu Man nodded his tiny head, and looked solemnly at the wind pir. "That tiger is in trouble. Whoever started these tribtion clouds, they want to kill him. The green gale tiger is at the end of his life span, and was hiding from the heavens till now. I remember it. This was the same thing that was beneath the pool when we first spoke to each other." Liu Man said. "The one that kicked me out! The one that the system wanted me to meet. It has to be connected to the main story somehow. Whoever he is, he must be important." Liu Feng surmised. "Hahaha, now, I will see how he will survive this. This is the true end of the Kaishi city as you know it. The Hong family shall gain another strong hold, and this one shall be on the paradise that all of you have been hoarding." the old man startedughing hysterically. "Oh. Did you really think that Kaishi city had so few protectors?" Liu Feng heard another voice enter the fray. "Father?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 181 Father Arrives "Liu Qian? So you have returned to the city once again? But what is a mere brat at the Nascent stage going to do against us?" the oldest of the four old menughed. "Hong Gen, I know that you are of another generation. You old monster, you are the one who is supposed to be undergoing this tribtion. But now, you try and attack the great protector of this city?" Liu Qian snorted. "Go and attack the Green Gale tiger. Make sure that it dies in this tribtion." the old man looked at the three who were clearly his juniors. "Hong San, Hong Er, I need both of you to make sure that these people don''t interfere." Liu Feng knew that he also had to move. But Hong Jimin in front of him was still fighting him. He did not want to end this fight. He needed to win it. With the new increase in cultivation, he had a better chance of course. He had more Qi, and could use it to create a better connection with the heavens. He waved his hands, and a dragon made of ice just moved from the ground to try and devour Hong Jimin. "Do you think that you are the only one that can use Dao? I am also an adept, and I have been in the Inner sect for so much longer. Of course I visited those training grounds and became so much stronger at it than you have." Hong Jimin roared and he swung his sword. Sword energies just crushed the ice around him, and the dragon that was formed just copsed on itself. "Goddamn it. That sword needs to go. Him using that sword is the biggest problem. It is way too powerful. I am not even sure if the ethereal spear can match up to it." Liu Feng panted. Swish! Another sword energy came and tried to hit Hong Jimin. Once again, he used the sword to defend, but the sword still trembled a little. "A person who can only show power through a powerful weapon is not a true Dao cultivator. You can never use the sword like it is meant to be." Ji Riyal said and he started swinging his sword at rapid speeds. All of these rapid attacks were just swinging at Hong Jimin, and the barrage was difficult to defend, even for someone at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. Cuts and bruises appeared all over his face had hands, while the part of his body that was protected by the armor was perfectly safe. "Truly, money can buy safety." Liu Feng cursed and gripped his spear. "Ethereal Spear Arts! First form!" The ethereal spear in Liu Feng''s hand just disappeared. And Hong Jimin waspletely focused on Ji Riyal and trying to defend his attacks. He had put Liu Feng aside, for now, knowing that Liu Feng could not damage him at all. But little did he know that the spear that disappeared in Liu Feng''s hands appeared right behind his head, and was about to collide with him when an old, withered hand caught the spear. "Who dares interrupt!" Liu Feng looked at this with shock. He snapped his fingers and recalled the spear. But the hand was powerful. It did not let go of the spear, and the spear struggled there. "You dare try to kill our young master? It looks like you are tired of life. Why don''t I send you to the ce your father loves so much?" the old man, Hong Gen, said, and his palm moved slowly towards Liu Feng. Even though it moved so slowly, Liu Feng felt this impending sense of doom. Like it was an unavoidable attack, that would certainly kill him. "Don''t you dare, Hong Gen! If anything happens to him, you know what will happen to your family! That man will certainly destroy all of you!" Liu Qian shouted. "The royal family will kill him before that. I am not too worried about it." Hong Gen chuckled and the palm was about to reach him, when something happened. Another attack came in, and just crushed the palm that was heading towards Liu Feng. The sword that was the cause of the attack rushed towards Hong Gen''s face, but he put up a shield out of nowhere. The sword struck the shield and bounced back. The shield lost all of its light, while the sword returned from where it came from. Liu Feng only had one nce at the sword and knew who was the cause of this. He looked at the general direction of where the sword left to, and sighed. In the distance, a woman who would put the entire city to shame looked down upon the fight that was going on and sighed as well. "Let us hope that you and I have no more connection then." "That woman, she is so strong. It is a pity that whatever happened between us forced a rtionship where we can never face each other again." Liu Feng shook his head. Hong Gen looked ashen. "I don''t know which senior I have offended. Why is it that you have attacked me? I hope that you can give me a reason so that I can hope to appease you." Hong Gen said hastily. "Senior? Just because I am stronger than you, doesn''t mean that I am going to spend that much time wasting my time in whatever realm you are in. That man is not someone that you are allowed to kill. His life is mine to take." Min Wan said. Hong Gen looked at Liu Feng with an angry nce, but he then grabbed Hong Jimin. "This is not the ce for you to fight anymore. You are no match for him anywhere. You were about to lose that one. Better grow stronger and get to the Xiantian realm." Hong Gen said to him, and threw him somewhere. Hong Jimin just disappeared from the battlefield, and Liu Feng was left alone. "Sh@t. I need to get to the Green Gale tiger." Liu Feng realized. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 182 Green Gale Tiger Using the Kun Peng Movement art, he flew towards the green pir at a mind boggling speed. Hong Gen considered stopping him, but now that Liu Feng was at such a high cultivation, he no longer was slower than even Xiantian realm experts. His speed surprised Hong Gen, who even thought that Liu Feng had only focused on this movement based skill. This speed was impressive for anyone, not just a Nascent Soul stage cultivator. Meanwhile, Liu Feng appeared right next to the city lord mansion within a few minutes. He could see the pir upclose. At the center of the pir, in the middle of all the tribtion clouds that had formed, was one single tiger the size of an elephant. Towering above Liu Feng, the tiger looked down. It''s huge eyes looked down upon Liu Feng. "I sense a familiar aura about you. You are the child that disturbed me down at the pool that day. But now is not the time for curiosity. The fight here is not safe for you. You must leave here so that you do not get caught up in this fight." the tiger said. "Liu Feng! Throw him a bottle fo flood dragon blood. It will help him considerably." Liu Man suddenly spoke. Liu Feng nodded, and he retrieved a ss bottle of blood from his spatial ring, and threw it at the tiger. Sensing no malice at all, the tiger reached for the bottle with his ws. And then, he looked down with a surprise. "You are full of surprises, human child. To think that you would have with you blood almost of a true dragon. Even a little of this is so precious that it can cause battles. And you are just giving it to me?" the tiger looked at Liu Feng. "Anything if you can survive. As a member of the Kaishi city, it is my responsibility to help and protect you." Liu Feng said. The tiger just crushed the bottle, and the blood flew into his mouth. The moment that it did, the sky rumbled, and the lightning came crashing down. The lighting was golden, and it felt terrifying. Just a little would be enough to obliterate Liu Feng, that much he was sure of. And seeing the tiger withstand all of it made his heart pang with pain. Even though he was just someone who had met the tiger once, he understood what being a guardian of a city meant. At times of hardship, this city stood only because of this guardian. With magical beasts, experts, and families like the Hong family running around, the only reason that the Kaishi city stood was because of this one tiger. And Liu Feng knew that the tiger was important. So much so that the system would give him two increases in level, as well as the reward for the story quest that it forgot a long time ago. Aaaargh! The tiger shouted with pain. It just looked at the sky with fury and pain. No one liked the heavens. To cultivate was to go against it. And now, the heavens was raining down because the tiger had gone against its rule. "Thank you, human. You have helped me too much. This one bottle of blood has made me so much stronger. I feel like I can take on this tribtion!" the tiger shouted with glee. "You impudent boy! How dare you interfere in our matters? Do you think that you can just go against the Hong family?" am angry voice came ahead. It was Hong Yi. He was about to strike down at Liu Feng, when a single sword stopped him. "I sealed my own cultivation because the royal family promised that Liu Feng would be protected. But it looks like I no longer need to do that. After all, the royal family is growing weaker by the minute, and people like you think that you own the kingdom. Maybe I should loosen the strings a little." Liu Qianughed and said out loud. "If you dare do that, then all of the ten powers will fight you! Don''t you dare remove that seal, Qian" Liu Feng looked up. This time, an old man was not the one who spoke. This was a middle aged man. he slowly hovered down to the ground and looked at the people who were fighting. "What has happened here? The Hong family thinks that just because they are a part of the ten powers, they can just disregard the rules set by the sects? Where is Hong Jimin?" The white robed man who entered spoke. Liu Feng recognized him as the man from the Heavenly Music Pavilion. The man who protected him against the second elder. "Ah! Second brother! What are you doing here?" Liu Qian looked at the white robed man and smiled. "The brat Hong Jimin killed a disciple of the Sky Heavens sect right before he left. Some fight had happened. You know what will happen if you kill a disciple of the sky heavens sect. Especially if it is a fellow disciple who has done the job." the white robed man said, and he walked towards Hong Yi. "You should take a hint. After all, you were just fighting with a core disciple of the sky heavens sect. At least, he used to be, if it weren''t for that child over there." the white robed man nced at Liu Feng. "The sky heavens sect should not interfere with matters of the families. That was the agreement that we all came upon." Hong Yi said. "If you hand over Hong Jimin, then all is well and good. Or else, the entire Hong family will face the wrath of the Heavenly Music Pavilion. Thest time that the powers were evaluated, just remember that the sky heavens sect wasn''t the strongest because we didn''te out!" the white robed man said coldly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 183 The Tribulation The Green Gale tiger roared. Even though many hade to its rescue, it still had to go through this tribtion that was forced on it. Liu Feng looked at it with concern. "As the white tiger, is there anything at all that you can do?" Liu Feng asked desperately. "I can try and force the bloodline potential out. Why do you want to save the green gale tiger so much? You just saw it now." Liu Man asked. "The system gave me a mission. I can get two increases in cultivation realm, and I don''t know what will happen if I fail it." Liu Feng said. Seeing this, Liu Man nodded, and he jumped off of Liu Feng''s chest. Seeing the small cub walking towards the pir that was almost ten meters wide, Liu Feng felt like he was sending Liu Man to trouble. Roar! All of a sudden, a bone piercing sound came from Liu Man. Liu Man himself disappeared and just snuggled back into Liu Feng''s robes, but the roar had given the effect that it was supposed to. Before, the Green Gale tiger had light green fur that covered it throughout. With no stripes at all, the only defining feature it had was its size and the color of the fur. Now though, dark green lines of fur appeared, and the tiger started growingrger andrger. He looked at the clouds and roared even more fiercely than he did before. This was no longer the same tiger. Liu Feng could not see the gentle eyes in that tiger anymore. What Liu Man did changed who he was, and that terrified Liu Feng. Just the roar alone forced Liu Feng to freeze, and he felt like he was about to die. Looking up, the three seniors were also confused. They knew that this roar did note from the Green Gale tiger, but they did not know what had happened. The clouds rumbled once, and then parted. The sky became clear once again, and everyone in the city rejoiced that this was over. Having such an ominous sky was a bad, bad omen. But now that the sky had parted, the Hong family members all had ashen faces. The white robed man just shook his head. "You are right. The sects should not interfere with the families at all. I will not even touch you. But it is going to be interesting to spectate the interesting fight between the Hong family and a seventh rank spirit beast." the white robed man chuckled. "Impossible. The green gale tiger was about to die. Just one hit of the tribtion and it should have copsed." Hong Yi had a face of utter desperation. ? Below, Liu Feng was grinning. Ping! [Cultivation has been increased to Nascent Soul Stage, Seventh Layer.] In just one day, his cultivation went from the thirdyer to the seventhyer. All when he knew that it was going to get progressively hard to enter the nextyer. It was like today was his lucky day. Now, that the green gale tiger''s tribtion hadpleted, the green pir also mysteriously disappeared. the tiger just descended on to the ground, and just vanished into thin air. In his ce, stood a young man who waspletely naked. For just a second, he stood there, and then he waved his hands. A light green cloth covered him up, and he walked up to Liu Feng. "You have helped me tremendously. But I think that there is someone other than you who has helped me?" the tiger said. Liu Man peeked out of Liu Feng''s chest. "You know what happened. You know who I am. So you also know that you shouldn''t harm any of us." he said. "I would never have any intention of harming the great representative of Baihu of this generation. It is the joy of my life that the white tiger is descending once again to show the world that the true kings of the world are not to be messed with. " the young manughed. Seeing this young man in front of him, Liu Feng was just tempted to use the mind eye on him. As he did, he got the result that he expected. This man, Feng Wang, literally was just the name Wind Tiger. But the fact that he was in human form just freaked Liu Feng out. "You can turn into human form? How do you do that?" Liu Feng asked. "Staying in a form that big is inconvenient. Any of the sixth rank beasts can enter human form. The esteemed tiger here is at the peak of the fifth rank. If he enters the sixth rank, then he can enter human form as well. He will look like a child though, as he is still a newborn." Feng Wang said. "You are the protector of the city. Now that you have gained another five hundred years, you should go and use it to your best. Go and show those insolent brats that you are not to be messed with." Liu Man said. "I will. It seems like some people forgot about the time when Kaishi city was drowned in blood that wasn''t its own. I shall go remind them." Feng Wang disappeared. Hong Yi saw this, and his eyes shrunk with fear. He turned tail, but before he could do anything, there was a hand that held his neck. The hand felt like it was not a human hand. It had the shape of a human hand, but there was a green glow to the skin. The conversion of beast to human was not perfect. Still, though, Hong Yi was iling in the air. "Forgive me! The Hong family will retreat out of Kaishi City. We will not enter it anymore!" Hong Yi said desperately. "Do you think that the Hong family will dare enter the city when it now knows that I am in it, and I can finally move around now?" Feng Yang smiled, and his grip tightened. St! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 184 Tribulation For The Hong Family Hong Yi''s neck just disappeared into a bloody mist, and his head fell on the floor. Meanwhile, his spatial ring just disappeared. "For all your help, I am going to help you a little. You can keep this small gift." a spatial ring appeared in Liu Feng''s hand. Whose else could it be, other than Hong Yi''s! A spatial ring of someone who was in the Xiantian realm, as well as a part of one of the biggest families in the entire kingdom, Hong Yi was bound to be rich, and this ring was bound to be loaded. Liu Feng just could not believe that Feng Wang would just give him this spatial ring as a gift! After all, till now, all he did was battle people who wanted him dead. Rarely, did anyone help him out like this. Liu Feng looked up at Liu Qian and frowned. Thest discussion had thrown him off guard. He knew that Liu Qian was a genius disciple of the Sky Heavens sect, but the fact that he sealed his own cultivation to save Liu Feng was shocking. "Now, I will go see if anyone in the Hong family still dares to stay in this city." Feng Wang said coldly and just disappeared. Liu Qian slowly floated down to reach Liu Feng. "What the hell are you doing here? Why are you in Kaishi city? Where have you been thest few months?" he asked. "I don''t know how to exin it. I was abducted all of a sudden, but for some reason, I found a clear way to run away. I ended up in the Forest Of No End for a while, but found my way back here." Liu Feng said. "Someone abducted you? Who was it? Did you manage to see their face?" Liu Qian asked desperately. "I didn''t see anyone, I didn''t hear anyone. It was all too mysterious." Liu Feng shook his head. "And you have unlocked your spiritual root. I can''t believe that even her lock was not able to suppress it any longer." Liu Qian looked deeply within Liu Feng. He could see that the spiritual root was taking in all the Qi of the surroundings, andmanding it. "That is what you are looking at? I am looking at the fact that he disappeared at the Core Formation Stage, and returned in the higheryers of the Nascent Soul stage. Not even you had that heaven defying speed. If he cultivated since childhood, then who in this kingdom could be his match?" the white robed man came down and chuckled. "If he had been cultivating since childhood, then the stage that he would have been in wouldn''t be this small kingdom, but rather there. And he wouldn''t survive there. The world is too vicious to allow a disgrace to their mark live even a second longer." Liu Qian sighed and shook his head. "What are you guys talking about? What stage?" Liu Feng asked, but he had an inkling on what was going on. He suspected that his real mother''s background was much too terrifying, and that if he had stepped a foot outside the kingdom, then he would be in big trouble. "Now, that is not the problem. He is already in the Nascent Soul realm. There are two years left. What is going to happen now? He might take a year to enter the Xiantian realm, but to understand what it means to be in the Xiantian realm, for him to gain that understanding, it will take years. It will be hard to do it in one." the white robed man said. "As long as he enters the Xiantian realm, he can escape easily. That is all that matters." Liu Qian sighed and looked away. "Just what is happening here?" Liu Feng demanded, but the two in front of him didn''t care about his preferences right now. "I am about to take you back to the sect. Grab that pet with you." the white robed man said. "Don''t dare call me a pet." Liu Man''s voice came from inside. "Wow. You have really benefited from this mysterious abduction. To think that you would obtain a spirit beast as your... beastpanion." the white robed man looked surprised. "I was fortunate indeed. The battle isn''t over though! I want to see to it that the Hong family is over." Liu Feng said. "You will have ample resources in that ring that you somehow acquired, and in the sect. Just follow me. Interestingly, now that you are in the Nascent Soul realm, and that you have defeated Hong Jimin in a serious battle, you are now the number one Inner Sect Disciple. Obviously, thates with its own benefits." the white robed man said as he grabbed Liu Feng''s shoulder. Liu Feng felt the world moving in front of him at a visible speed. For the first time in his life, when someone was taking him somewhere, he was able to follow what was happening. In an instant, he arrived in the middle of nowhere. This was just a wastnd with a crater inside. "Just surrender, or I will have to use force. I don''t think that you want to lose a limb or two." the white robed man said coldly. "I surrender!" Hong Jimin crawled out of this crater. He looked at Liu Feng and scowled. Snap! The moment that the white robed man snapped his fingers, the ring on Hong Jimin''s finger came off and appeared in his hands. The sword that Hong Jimin used was probably here as well. "Now then. We got an excellent bargaining chip, an Imperial Weapon, and a Heaven grade defensive weapon. But what surprises me, even more, is that the cloak you are wearing is a higher grade defensive weapon than his." the white robed man looked at Liu Feng. "What? There is no way that this is that good." Liu Feng was surprised. This was something that Min Wan gave him, and he did not realize that it was so precious. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 185 Return To The Sect (1) ,m The surroundings changed again, and this time, it was for quite a while. Liu Feng knew that the distance from Kaishi city to the ck Swamp forest was a lot. And now, it was just put into perspective. Liu Feng took a whole three days to get to the Sky Heavens sect when he rode one of the best horses that he could find. But now, the white robed man got them to the sect in just five minutes. In five minutes, they appeared in front of them ck swamp forest, where he just left the two he was carrying fall down on the ground. "We are here. Hong Jimin. You should follow me. As for you, Liu Feng. You are strong enough to enter the forest now. You should be able to enter the region of the Ash trees as well. Although you might not be able to get the spirit beasts, you should be able to match them or escape from them. So you shoulde in on your own." he said and just grabbed Hong Jimin and disappeared. Liu Feng stood there nkly and looked at the dark forest in front of him. Unlike thest time that he was here, this ce felt entirely different. He could not recognize one pattern. The path that he enteredst time waspletely gone. Instead, there were only trees, and nothing else. He rummaged through his spatial ring and took out a familiar device. It was the spiritpass. Thepass that allowed him to reach the sect with no trouble at all. He did not expect the same result toe now, but he knew that it would give him the general direction of the sect, and that was all that he needed right now. "Don''t attack any of the beasts that stay here. I would rather not offend any of the stronger beasts here. There might be stronger beasts that we cannot go against here, and the sect you are a part of probably has an agreement with these spirit beasts." Liu Man said. "Yes. I know that much. I don''t want to put the sect in a bad spot with the beasts in the forest. Better just rush in with the Kun Peng movement arts." Liu Feng said. "No. If you do, then you will be perceived as a threat. I know how the beasts will think. You should just walk in normally. That way, they will not see you as a threat. But if you are under attack, then you can start running." Liu Man said. "That roar that you used back then. Can you do that again? It was so powerful that I felt my blood freeze over." Liu Feng asked. "Do you think that being a constetion beast is a joke? Full grown, I am one of the strongest beasts of the entire world!" Liu Man dered. "But you are not full grown. So I think that it is best if you don''t try anything. I will make sure that you get what you need. I will wait it out for the next two years. After that, I will need your help." Liu Feng said. "Your life is tied to mine. I was forced to do that when that residue of a dragon dared to go against me. So I will help you as much as I can. It is better for me as well, because I will need more and more beast cores as I progress." Liu Man said. "We should get going. It is already the evening, and I do not want to get stuck on the ground." Liu Feng said. Saying this, he started rushing through the forest with thepass in his hands. Instinctively, that mysterious power that he had gained, the divine sense, started spreading forward from his spirit sea. He was able to see almost twenty meters in front of him without even getting there! That was just not possible with his normal senses, and his senses were further impaired by the trees and bushes that surrounded him. The divine sense was able to see through all that. "This must be more than just a way to see forward. I should be able to use it, like those strong seniors did, and control objects with it." Liu Feng thought. He was able to sense multiple beasts in front of him and evaded them strategically. Obviously, he did not want to get into a fight with them. "I wonder. How do the beasts tackle the night? Doesn''t the forest devour them? Shouldn''t this be a barren forest?" he wondered, but put that aside. Soon, he could sense a small hill approaching him. And the moment that he tried to scan the insides with his divine sense, he felt something resisting him. Cough! All of a sudden, the divine sense bacshed, and he coughed out blood. "What happened?" he looked around with surprise. "It is not very polite to use divine sense and look into someone else''s home, young disciple." A calm and cool voice said. "Forgive me, senior. I had just understood it and did not know how to use it properly. I shall make sure that it doesn''t happen again." Liu Feng said hastily. "I am not worried about that. You see, you are nothing to me. And you pose no real threat to me. So I will let you go, but you should leave behind a souvenir." the voice said. "How about that puppy that you brought with you?" Liu Feng''s face changed. His hands clenched, he took out his spear. "Forgive me, senior, but you are now forcing me to fight for my life." Liu Feng grit his teeth. "Ah! The bravery of young men. Do you really think that you stand a chance against me when you don''t even know where I am?" the voice chuckled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 186 Return To The Sect(2) Liu Feng looked around with apprehension. He did not extend his divine sense again, because he was afraid that the bacsh woulde again. ? "Forget it, boy. I didn''t know that you were that Qian boy''s son. Get going. I would rather not mess with your father." the voice suddenly said. "What? How did you know that?" Liu Feng asked, surprised by this sudden change. "Because I told him. Now, why don''t you tell me what happened very clearly once we get somewhere private." Li Tian appeared in front of Liu Feng and grabbed him. Then, he just disappeared, going all the way to the sect. Liu Feng could see the surroundings blur, and he could see a time when he would also be able to get to that stage of movement. They were in a dark room now. The same dark room that Liu Feng was locked inside thest time he was here. The ce that he spent almost ten days at. But the moment that Li Tian snapped his fingers, the entire room lit up. Now, Liu Feng was able to look around properly. The room was bigger than he had expected. Before, all that he did here was sit around and read. He did think to explore the room. But now, he saw that the room was pretty big, and there were a few things he did not recognize at the end of the room as well. But he put that aside and looked at Li Tian. "What happened? You disappeared for three months, and returned a major realm higher than you were before. Forget a major realm. You are in the seventhyer of the Nascent Soul stage. How is that even possible?" Li Tian asked. "I...." Liu Feng did his best to exin what happened. He just made up a story about how he felt like he was abducted, but decided to tell him about the city of heavens. That way, his cultivation would be a little realistic. "Who would want to abduct you and make you stronger? This is interesting. I need to find out what happened." Li Tian thought about it for a while. But no matter how much he would think, there was no way that he would get it right, would he? After all, who would think that an existence like a system existed? And who would think that multiple of them did at that? "Now, let us look at Liu Man, who I had quite the conversation withst time." Li Tian looked at Liu Man, who was in Liu Feng''s chest. "It seems like I cannot escape your view." Liu Man came out and looked at Li Tian fiercely. "Never in my life, never in my life, would I have expected that a constetion beast would be born in my Tiandu Kingdom, and of all people, the person that the beast is bound to is my disciple. This is something that I never would have expected." Li Tian shook his head and sighed. "It seems that the people above the Xiantian realm are privy to secrets that the mortals know not about. How did you know that I was a constetion beast?" Liu Man asked. "Second brother had an inkling. After all, who would be able to give a sound attack that was strong enough to freeze even him? As well as stimte the bloodline of a near dead tiger that had tried its best to do the same before?" Li Tian said. "I shouldn''t have revealed myself so early. Now, what do you want with me? To keep me and force me to help you, or to kill me? I think that the humans of thisnd are quite afraid of losing their supremacy." Liu Man asked. "What is with these options? Can''t we talk about it in peace? Why are we talking about killing each other?" Liu Feng took a step back from Li Tian. "Don''t worry. After all, you are Liu Feng''spanion beast. And, I hope that this time, you will not go through the same events that made you go berserk thest time you descended into this world." Li Tian said. "Thest time was a tragedy that was caused by you humans. I hope that you have at least learnt your lesson this time." Liu Man said. "We have. We learnt not to let constetion beasts get stronger. But I am not heartless. In fact, I totally understand what you did back then." Li Tian said. "You should know. After all, that dragon gate that you have here, is something that only the azure dragon can give, and only to someone that it recognizes. I wonder, where did you meet the azure dragon?" Liu Man asked. "I was not nearly lucky enough to meet the great constetion beast. But, I was able toe across a left by sentiment that granted me this great treasure as a parting gift. I can only say that I am in this position because of the azure dragon''s charity." Li Tian said. Then, Li Tian looked at Liu Feng. "You have grown strong, and fast. At this rate, getting to the Xiantian realm should not be a problem. Especially not after that spiritual root of yours has been unearthedpletely. But you have something else ahead of you. Now that you are finally here, you need to disappear for another few months." Li Tian said. "I need to disappear? What? Why should I disappear? And even if I do, what will I do for a few months? I want to cultivate, but I am afraid that too much cultivating will make my base unstable. I need to consolidate my cultivation." Liu Feng said. "I never said that you need to hide. I said that Liu Feng had to disappear. You are going to be someone else. You are going to be Liu Tian, the alchemy prodigy of the Sky Heavens sect, going to the Pill Tower under Master Mu." Li Tian smiled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 187 Silver Rankings Liu Feng looked at Li Tian and frowned. "You want me to go undercover?" he asked. "No. The people who need to know will know. Interestingly, the Pill Tower at Cairin city is in the middle of a power struggle. They are now in control of another pill tower, so they have be the alchemy hub of the entire kingdom. And now, they have decided to attract all the alchemy talent in the kingdom by introducing the Pill Competition. It is nothing too important for you. You will join as a representative of the Sky heavens sect. Going there to expand your horizons." Li Tian said. "But why are you sending me to some alchemy meet? It is useless to me." Liu Feng asked. "I need you to stay out of public view for a while. It is better if people don''t think of you as a threat. And, master Mu has asked for you. He wants to meet you. I think that you have given him a good impression the first time that you met." Li Tian said. "The first time that I met him? When did I meet him?" Liu Feng asked. "In Kaishi. He said that he met you there, and you rejected his proposal to take you in as a disciple." Li Tian said. "That man? Bai Zhiqui''s master? He is master Mu? A branch leader?" Liu Feng was surprised. He did not think that Bai Zhiqui''s master was so powerful. "Yes. You should go there tomorrow. For now, I think it is better if you leave. Go to your ce, and sleep." Li Tian said. "I had enough rest. I want to go to one of the training grounds." Liu Feng shook his head. This day might have been a little stressful a little, but before that, he was not exactly in a stressful situation. He was given the best resources and literally fed like a king to be strong and get through Yuan Mountain. Now, all he wanted to do was try out the Thunder Valley. He had a feeling that his Blue Dragon spear art was being held back by hisck of understanding of the Lightning Dao. So, he wanted to try andprehend a little of the Lightning dao in his meantime. "No. That will take too long. You have to stay here. You will leave for Cairin tomorrow. Just rest for today. Or, if you want, today is interestingly the day that the rankings of the Inner sect. You can go and try it out. Considering that you already defeated Hong Jimin, you should be number one." Li Tian said. "Yes. I want to try that. And as the number one, will I get any benefits? Any pills, or weapons, or the sort?" Liu Feng asked. "You will get the residence of number one. The cultivation room there is enough for people everywhere to get jealous. Are you interested? In fact, I think that it is best if you be number one. It is quite humiliating that my personal disciple is not even ranked among the Inner sect. All the elders have core disciples as their personal disciples, but I have an inner sect disciple." Li Tian shook his head sarcastically. "Fine then. I will go and be number one. Where is the ranking happening? How does it take ce?" Liu Feng asked. "I will tell you. After you can break through this room. You should know how to break through this room. After all, you are in the Nascent Soul realm already. Now, you can do it, unlikest time." Li Tian said, and disappeared. Liu Feng took a deep breath and looked up. This was where he needed to go. Up. He took out his spear, the ethereal spear this time, and started storing his energy. "Ethereal Spear art, Fifth Form! Gungnir* Pierce!" [* Gugnir is the spear of Odin, and it can pierce through anything! It is a part of Norse Mythology.] The spear shone, and shot forward, hitting the ceiling. Just likest time, hundreds of runes appeared, shining. They were trying to absorb the attackpletely. But this time, rune after rune, they started dimming down as well. Crack! Cracks appeared all along the ceiling, and finally, the spear broke through. It flew up, and Liu Feng followed,ing out of this room and reaching the outside world. "Congrattions. You have broken through the room. You are now strong enough to protect yourself when the timees. I did not expect that it would take you less than three months to get to this position. You are a bigger monster than your father was." Li Tian sighed and said. Liu Feng looked around. He was on the peak of a mountain. This was the tallest peak of the entire sect, the sect master''s residence. He could see clearly the entire sect. The buildings, the people teeming, it felt like he was at the top of them all. Back then, he was walking for almost ten minutes, and couldn''t find the missions hall. Now, at this height, all of those buildings looked like they were right next to each other. "You have to go to the trial now, shouldn''t you? It is going to happen at the Dream Pavilion. I think that the pavilion spirit still remembers you. It remembers the good eggs, and was wondering when you woulde." Li Tian pointed to a building. It was at the edge of the sect, right at the entrance. After all, it was a part of the entrance trials. "Fine then. You know where you have to go. Get going then." Li Tian grabbed Liu Feng and gave him a slight push. All of a sudden, he felt the wind crash into his eyes. He still put them open, because he was apparently flying through the sect! His master just kicked him all the way to his destination. Crash! "Goddamn it. I should never have agreed to be his disciple." Liu Feng cursed as he brushed off the dust on his clothes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 188 The Ranking Matches He looked forward at the Dream Pavilion. It was just like when he just came here. The doors were open, and many people were entering. Liu Feng did the same. As it had been almost three months, no one recognized him, and no one even nced at him. He was the most unassuming person in the entire ce. That made Liu Feng feel so rxed and good. This was one of the rare times that he could just walk around, and people did not hate him for no reason at all. He entered the pavilion, and the light suddenly dimmed. He looked at the many disciples just sitting there calmly. He also looked for an empty spot, and took a seat. Closing his eyes, he let the mysterious force that permeated around him just take his consciousness away. He opened his eyes once more, and saw that he was in a simr room like when he was in the trials to enter the sect. "Oh my god! You are finally back! I was waiting for you! It was so boring without someone to have some fun with." a jolly voice came from the side. A young boy appeared in front of him. "A young boy? Wait a minute! It was a girlst time wasn''t it?" Liu Feng hesitated for a minute, thinking that he was in the wrong ce. "That was also me! I decided that I would change my look. Do you like it?" the boyughed. "Wait a minute! I brought Liu Man with me, didn''t I? Where is he?" he looked around frantically. "That tiger cub? I don''t know? I thought that I would be able to drag him here as well, but for some reason, he didn''t oblige. It was the first time that I wasn''t able to bring anyone to my dream space." the boy looked confused, but also curious. "What are you going to do now? Torture me again?" Liu Feng asked. "While I want to do that so badly, now is not the time for that. No, it is not. This is a ranking trial, isn''t it? I have to let you battle people. But since we don''t want anyone to get hurt, we do it here. After all, you are very precious. We wouldn''t want you people to get hurt now, would we?" the boy smiled mischievously. Liu Feng just knew that he had something nned, and was just expecting something toe out of the wild. He spread out his divine sense, which was surprisingly avable to him. He was also able to summon things from his spatial ring. This part just didn''t make any sense to him. He could use his ethereal spear. Now that he was not pathetically weak, he had some confidence in using the ethereal weapon outside. If even Hong Jimin could use an imperial weapon, then he could use something that was probably equal to a heaven grade weapon. Now, he looked around, his mind alert. "You are in the Nascent Soul realm! That is the fastest cultivation that I have ever seen in my life. It is even faster than the prodigy of the sect! You are really a good seed! The sect struck gold this time." the boy shrieked with surprise. Swish! Like Liu Feng expected, someone sneak attacked him all of a sudden. He blocked the attack with a spear and turned around to see who it was. With just a scan of the opponent using divine sense, for some reason, Liu Feng was able to tell that this was a man in the firstyer of the Nascent Soul realm. He just knew. And the face also seemed familiar. He was one of the disciples that sat down in the pavilion. Liu Feng was faced up against a Nascent Soul realm expert at the very beginning! "What is this! If he looses, then won''t he fall down the rankings so much?" Liu Feng asked. "Of course he won''t. I don''t like to waste time. That is why, Nascent Soul realm cultivators don''t waste their time on Core Formation realm cultivators. The gap is too much to bridge. Instead, you fight among yourself. You should get to second or first ce with ease." the boy said. ,m Liu Feng nodded, while his opponent, a stout looking man, grunted. He did not speak though. He just charged forward. Swish! Liu Feng''s opponent was merely in the firstyer of the Nascent Soul stage. Meanwhile, Liu Feng was in the seventh. He was so much stronger with cultivation alone and that wasn''t a gap that any skills or even Dao could bridge. In one attack, Liu Feng''s spear proved too swift and fatal for the opponent to handle. Blood splurted in the one spot where Liu Feng''s spear connected, and the opponent fell on the ground. "How does it feel to die, I wonder." Liu Feng chuckled. "You are really the right person to be with me! I will show you how it feels so well. Come. Let us try to match you up with a higher ranked opponent. Obviously, no one normal. Your cultivation base is consolidated and you can use its full power." the boy said and started pping his hands. One by one, with each p, a beast started appearing in front of him. After a whole ten ps, Liu Feng was in front of ten beasts, all of them in the seventhyer of the Nascent Soul stage! His face was covered in sweat just from the pressure that they were giving out. "How the hell did ten monsters appear here?" Liu Feng asked, shocked. "I made them out of memory, of course." the boy beamed. "You... made them out of memory? Who encountered each of these beasts? They are all extinct! I read about these! And how do you expect me to face them?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 189 Against Ten More Liu Feng could not expend any of his attention on the boy anymore though. He took a few steps back, but that was a mistake as well. The monsters hadpletely surrounded him. Any step back would make him closer to the monsters behind him. "Then I will go up." Liu Feng said and his wings fluttered. The Kun Peng Movement arts showed their full potential at this point. He hovered above the air, and started flying. Then, he swooped towards one of the monsters. The monster he was trying to attack, a python, opened its mouth wide, and pounced up to devour him. But Liu Feng moved to the side, and with his spear, he pierced into the skin and went down with it. The python screamed with pain and then fell to the ground. It just disappeared immediately after, leaving nine other beasts to battle. Liu Feng had an ashen face. The battle was far from over. -------------------------------------- Pant! Pant! Liu Feng was on the ground, covered in blood. Some of the blood was from his opponents. But most of it was his. This time, he really met his match in the pavilion spirit. After struggling to defeat the ten monsters that the boy had summoned, another ten appeared. And this time, all of them were stronger than before! Again, Liu Feng struggled, and he defeated them. Around him, the battlefield was strewn with ice, blood, and guts. But in the center of it all, Liu Feng was just exhausted. He could not fight anymore. Luckily, he did not lose a single battle yet. Or else, he would no longer be able to im himself as Undefeatable. And then, he would lose the Dao that he had gained. "What the hell is wrong with you? How is this a ranking match?" Liu Feng desperately asked. "This is how we measure how strong you are. Now, you are obviously the strongest of all the people here. Even the previous strongest was not able to defeat ten beasts in the seventhyer of the Nascent Soul Stage, much less the eightyer." the boy smiled. "Then why the hell did you do that to me?" Liu Feng shouted back. "I wanted to see how far you would go. It is not everyday that I find someone who can battle ahead of his ss. I wanted to see how much you could do it. And to think that you could battle ten beasts at once! Your movement art is truly too good." the boy said. "I am done here. I know that the rankings are over, and that I am number one. You should leave me here." Liu Feng said. "Yes. The rankings are over. It is too bad that I couldn''t do a little more with you." the boy smiled. "I hope that time neveres. What is wrong with you? You are just a crazy mad scientist!" Liu Feng shouted at him as he let the strong force around him take him away. The moment he blinked, he was no longer in the dream space, but rather, in his own body. Many people around him were also getting up, but they all ran forward. Liu Feng was also curious, so he quickly went to where they were going. In front of all these people, was a huge board with silver names written on them. This was the silver ranking. "I went up a rank! Finally! I can get another chance in the Thunder Valley!" someone shouted with glee. Many others expressed happiness, were some were disappointed by their result. But the top ten rankings, which had never changed before, suddenly changed. "Wait a minute! Where is senior brother Hong Jimin? He is no longer in the rankings!" someone noticed. "And who the hell is the guy who reced him? Liu Feng?" someone else shouted. Liu Feng smiled at this development. Inside his spatial ring, his token shone a little. Liu Feng took out his identity token, and it shone with a silver brilliance for a second. Someone next to him nced at him and gave him a warm smile. "What is this? Your first time? What were you doing thest three months?" he asked. "I was away from the sect for some reason. It looks like this is my first try indeed. Does the rank show on the identity token?" he asked. ,m The silver glow kept on the token. It did not look like it was made of wood anymore, but rather like it was made of silver. And on the token, were written the words, Inner Sect Disciple, Liu Feng. "You, you are Liu Feng? The new number one inner sect disciple?" the person shouted with shock. Liu Feng smiled wryly. "I guess something happened and I was lucky." he shrugged and jumped up before he was crowded. "I should just go to my new residence and sleep for a day. Master is right. I shouldn''t try anything else." he thought to himself and disappeared from where he stood. The entire crowd was taken aback. They did not expect someone entirely new to dethrone the king of the rankings. After all, this same person had been the number one of the Inner sect for a whole two years! In those two years, he had more resources than anyone else. So, it was very hard for anyone to be stronger than him. More concerning than the fact that someone else was first, was the fact that Hong Jimin was no longer a part of the rankings. "What happened so senior brother? I heard he went out to pursue that girl he had an eye on." someone said. "I heard that senior brother harmed a fellow disciple in his anger, and now, he is not a part of the sect anymore and was locked up." another said. "No way. He is a part of the Hong family. The sect wouldn''t lock someone like that up, would they?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 190 Cairin City "Get going, get going. Just keep moving." a guard said. "The number of people who havee to this one alchemy meet is too much. The entire city is teeming with alchemists. It is getting too hard to control." his friendughed as they struggled to control the crowd. "This is so frustrating. There are so many alchemists here! This must be the first time that so many of them are here. And all of them are so young! They are the geniuses of the entire kingdom!" the former said. "And every single one of them thinks that they are the VIPs! They feel like they need ten guards to cater to their needs. It is so irritating, working with such people." the other nodded. "What did you say, your lowly ve?" one of the alchemists that was walking by raised his eyebrow. "Forgive us, master. We were not talking about you. We were talking about the other alchemists who dare call themselves geniuses when you exist." the guards immediately fawned upon this alchemist. "Of course I am the greatest. In fact, I will probably win this meet. After all, the Pill Tower of the Baiji City sent only me with the confidence that I would give them pride." the alchemist puffed his chest. "Yes. Of course." the guards were experts in handling the alchemists now after so much practice. Some of the alchemists were even so generous as to give them the discards that they didn''t care about. With so many alchemistsing, many of the rooms in the Pill Tower, and the other inns were taken. In fact, many of the inns that were always empty became so crowded. But at the end of the day, alchemists were alchemists. Cultivators were asmon as fliespared to alchemists. And the higher ranked ones were almost impossible to find or meet. Any of the Fifth or sixth rank alchemists were able tomand so much power just from their connections alone. "Hello friend. Where can I find an inn for a few nights?" a young man with a cloak over him asked a guard. "You also want a room? You can go to Silver Bull Inn. My friend owns that inn, and for a few spirit coins, he can give a room. It is usually not that expensive but because of how many alchemists areing in town, along with their people, it is hard to get a room these days." the person that the young man askedughed out loud. He did not for a moment, think that this young man was an alchemist. With a robe covering his head, and no rich or shy clothing, he was not like any of the young geniuses that the Pill Towers around the kingdom had raised. When someone became a great alchemist at such a young age, haughtiness, arrogance, and pride were almost expected from them. And this young man was just unassuming. "Thank you so much for your help, friend." the young man bowed and walked forward with those directions. "If you are here to buy any pills, then I suggest that you wait for the meet to finish. Many of the pills that are created in the process will be avable for a very cheap price." the man shouted at the young man who as walking away. "Thank you for your suggestion. I will definitely try it." the young man turned around and smiled. He walked away, and went to the Silver Bull Inn. Inside, it waspletely chaotic. Almost every single table was upied. Of course, there were many alchemists among them. With every table taken, the young man scoured around to see if he could find a good table. Finally, he spotted that a single table was free. There was just one person who was in a corner, and was just having a table for himself. The young man walked up to that person and smiled. "Hello, brother. It looks like all the other tables are full. Can I sit with you?" he asked. The other party looked at this young man. "Have a seat. A table is indeed, hard to find in this city now. Every young genius thinks that they are entitled to their own table, and it is getting a little annoying." "Are you also here for the alchemy meeting?" the young man asked. "Yes. My master is forcing me for no reason. Apparently, I am supposed to meet someone in the city and I have to join the meet as well." "Your name? I am Ru Wang, by the way." the young man smiled. "Me? I am Liu Tian. I am just a victim of a scam that made me get a terrible master." This was none other than Liu Feng! On his third ss of beer already, he was ready to pour all of his sorrows into someone. As someone in the Nascent Soul stage, he was more than strong enough to just allow dispel the alcohol with his Qi. But he still chose not to and decided that he would taste the alcohol for how it was. "It seems like you have a lot of troubles, brother. I will drink to that." Ru Wang smiled and raised a ss of beer that a waiter brought him. "To fake people, and to enemies all around the world. Let us get drunk beyond measure." Liu Feng smiled and downed the entire jug in one go. No matter how much he shouted, there was no one to judge what he said here. In all this noise, who could hear what he said? At least, that was for him. But the instant after he said that, the Inn wentpletely silent. Everyone looked at the entrance. "God! I can''t believe that I have toe to a rundown ce like this. Uncle Gi. Get someone to clear a table so that I can sit there." an arrogant, young, female voice said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 191 The Three Pill Geniuses [Guys! This chapter marks 200,000 words published on RWAS. I think it''s a milestone, and if you do too, then maybe head down to the gifts section or the vote section and let it rain :))] Liu Feng nced at the girl who had juste in. Sure, she was stunning. Her petite figure and her stunning face would be enough to cause many men to drool. But the way she spoke, and the words she just said, made Liu Feng only have a feeling of disgust towards her. He had already seen his fair share of beauties, and he was betrothed to one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Forgetting even that, he saw Min Wan, and her beauty was enough to eclipse this arrogant arrival. "As you wish, Young Lady." the old man next to this girl nodded and looked around. But he could not just move the alchemists who were sitting there. Alchemists were still alchemists, and it was not wise to offend any of them. So, he looked around to judge who was not an alchemist. His eyes fell upon Liu Feng and Ru Wang. He walked towards them, and the moment that everyone saw that Uncle Gi''s eyes were locked on this table, they sighed with relief. This youngdy who came seemed to be a very powerful person that they didn''t want to offend. "Both of you. Get up. It is an honor for you to be in the presence of my youngdy." Uncle Gi said. Liu Fengzily took another sip of his beer, but he forced out all the alcohol immediately. Then, he nced at the old man. "Third realm of the Nascent Soul realm and you want to force me to get up? What? Is the background of that girl so little that she cannot afford a Xiantian realm level guard?" Liu Fengughed and took another sip. "Who the hell are you?" Uncle Gi tried to run his divine sense through Liu Feng, but the moment he tried to, Liu Feng''s own divine sense counteracted, and Uncle Gi fell back, coughing blood. "Which young master is this, I failed to recognize?" Uncle Gi asked respectfully. After all, the men in front of him were young, but to be in the Nascent Soul stage already, they had to have a lot of resources. "I don''t want to tell you. Now get out of my way." Liu Feng waved his hand. "Who the hell are you? You dare to go against my words? Do you know who I am?" the young girl stepped up and looked at Liu Feng with a haughty face. "Am I supposed to know who you are?" Liu Feng asked. "She is one of the three pill geniuses, you fool! How could you not know that, ande to the Pill Meet?" one of the alchemists shouted. "One of the three pill geniuses? I wonder who they are?" Liu Feng mused. "Gu Hua from the reclusive Gu family, Bai Zhiqui from Cairin city, and Ding Yan from the Ding family, a three under family. Who does not know these three?" someone else dered. "I know one of them. In fact, I think that I know one of them quite well. But why would I care about two others who I will never meet again in my life." Liu Feng chuckled. "I think there has been a misunderstanding. Maybe we can calm down." Ru Wang stood up to mediate. "Misunderstanding? Both of you are disrespecting me. Do you think that the Gu family is a joke? We are an ally of the Hong family! Do you think that you can dare offend us?" Gu Hua shouted at the two. "So you are allied with the Hong family. I see. In fact, I am privy to some gossip about the Hong family. I heard that they went to Kaishi city, and tried to force someone to marry into their family, but instead, they all died because they messed with the wrong people. Why would I be afraid of the Hong family after that?" Liu Feng said. "You- How did you know that? That information was sealed! No one is supposed to know that." Gu Hua took a step back. "I know of this information because I am much, much stronger than you. You call yourself a pill genius? I have seen and fought with true pill geniuses. You are nothing to me." Liu Feng said. He was obviously talking about his time in Yuxin city, when he fought against the branch leader, technically. "You- Uncle Gi. Kill them all. I will handle the consequences." Gu Hua said. "But Youngdy, the man on the right is stronger than I am!" Uncle Gi whispered. "Then kill the one on the left! They are both eyesores!" she shouted. "Now isn''t that unfair, Gu Hua? You actually want to kill me?" Ru Wang''s demeanor changed all of a sudden. He took out his cloak, and his face was properly visible to everyone now. Liu Feng, meanwhile, was not surprised at all. He had used mind eye and found out a long time ago, what this Ru Wang''s real name was. "Impossible! There are two pill geniuses in one ce!" "Ding Yan? This is Ding Yan?" another was shocked at this development. "Who would have thought that he would be here, disguised as a normal person!" "You are too arrogant for your own good. So what if the Gu family has the support of the Hong family? It doesn''t matter at all. Like brother Tian said here, they lost three Xiantian realm experts that day, and can no longer match us." Ding Yan proimed. Both of them faced each other, while the rest of the inn was looking at what would happen with bated breaths. Liu Feng was probably the only one here who was calmly drinking. In the nick of time, like a saving grace, someone broke this silence. "Brother Yan, Sister Hua, Brother Fe-, I mean Brother Tian, I am d that all of you are here at one ce. I am here to bring you to the pill tower for your amodations. Master has ordered me to bring all of you there." a sweet voice proimed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 192 He Is One Of Those Geniuses Everyone looked at the person who had just entered. It was like a divine fairy hade down to stop this fight. But Liu Feng was still seated, and was still sipping his beer. "How dare you be so respectful to Fairy Bai, you brute!" a man stood up and roared at Liu Feng. "If she has no problem, why the hell do you have one?" Liu Feng did not even spare the man a nce. "Your master wants to see us? I wonder what for. I mean, I have to go all the way to the pill tower. It is such a hassle. I have to walk all the way there, and get onto a teleportation portal. So tiring. I came here after a weary trip." Liu Feng sighed as he looked at a waiter. "The jug is empty. Why don''t you go and refill it?" he beckoned. But who would dare move when all three pill geniuses were together in the same room. This was the first time that this had happened before. The title that they had was given to them by others, and they never met each other that much. Now, all of them were facing each other, and no one knew what was about to happen. "Brother Yan! Why do you spend so much time mediating with someone who has no reason? Sit down. Let us have another round of drinks! After all, it is best to drink in a tense situation. Sister Zhiqui. Why don''t you have a seat as well?" Liu Feng pointed to the empty seat at the table. "How dare you speak so coarsely to fairy Bai?" The man had it now. He was a suitor of Bai Zhiqui, and just couldn''t handle it when someone was talking to her in such a way. "It would be my honor, brother Tian. It has been a while since west saw each other. I hope you have been well?" Bai Zhiqui nodded and she sat in the chair. To this, the rest of the Inn was just shocked. What was already shocking was that one of the pill geniuses was next to Liu Feng, disguised. Now, another one also knew Liu Feng? Gu Hua''s face was ashen. Her guard was not strong enough to go against Liu Feng, and the other two at the table were geniuses on the same level as she was. "So this is how Cairin treats its guests? Fairy Bai?" Uncle Gi saw Gu Hua''s face and knew what he had to do. "This is how the Cairin family treats its guests. By dining with them. I hope that you don''t have a problem while I am entertaining these two guests, senior?" Bai Zhiqui said softly, but everyone could hear her. In her eyes, Gu Hua was less than Liu Feng, someone that no one had ever heard about. "Good. Good. I want to know who this nobody is. I want to see who dares to go against the Gu family. Who are you, boy?" Uncle Gi looked at Liu Feng. "You do not need to tell him, brother. If you want to try and use your family to push someone around, then why don''t you try and push me around? I think that my family will give you some nicepany." Ding Yan stood in front of Liu Feng. "There is no need, brother. But thank you for your help. Fine then. I also want to see what the Gu family will do to where I am from. I am Liu Tian! A disciple of the Sky Heavens sect! I want to see what the Gu family dares do to the sky heavens sect. Does it even deserve to be uttered in the same breath?" Liu Feng said arrogantly. "Impossible! I know every genius within the Sky heavens sect. You are definitely an imposter. Do you know, Hong Jimin is also an Inner sect disciple. We would know if there was someone like you in the sect, in the high ranks of the Nascent Soul stage." Uncle Gi shook his head. "Hong Jimin? Who is that? A dog? Yes. I heard that some dog dared to break the rules of the sky heavens sect, but was punished immediately. I guess you know a few dogs." Liu Feng said. The audience could not help but be imagined. This was truly a battle of powerhouses. One of them was from the Ding family, one of them was from the Sky heavens sect, one from a reclusive family, and another from the very city hosting this pill meet. Every single one would be an honored guest, but all of them were here, against one another. Rather, it was one, against everyone who seemed to be stronger than her. "Let us go, Uncle Gi. It looks like we are not wee here." Gu Hua grit her teeth. "Sister Hua. I suggest that you wait for a while. The pill meet has yet to finish. I am sure that you will find something favorable to you. Master also wants to meet you." Bai Zhiqui stood up to stop her. "Why would I want that? You clearly want those two more than me." Gu Hua scoffed. "You are all geniuses, but it is just that it doesn''t seem fair that you would want Liu Tian and Ding Yan to get up from their spot. We will give you the best amodation." Bai Zhiqui said, trying to be cordial. "The Cairin city has done enough. I will be leaving." Gu Hua looked away. But Uncle Gi looked at Bai Zhiqui carefully. "Your master wants to meet Youngdy? You are not joking?" he asked. "Why would I lie about that? Master wants to meet the three pill geniuses who will certainly take this kingdom to another level on the Pill front," she said. "The three geniuses? Then why is that boying? What does Master Mu want with a cultivator?" Uncle Gi asked. "Because brother Tian is one of those geniuses." Bai Zhiqui smiled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 193 Master Mu "Are you saying that this man is on a simr level as my youngdy? Someone that I have never heard of? Are you trying to humiliate us, Fairy Bai?" Uncle Gi was enraged. "Brother Tian is the chief Alchemy disciple of the Sky Heavens sect. Are you saying that the Sky Heavens sect is nothingpared to the Gu family?" Bai Zhiqui smiled. "He is the chief alchemy disciple of the Sky Heavens sect? How is it that I have never heard of this before?" Uncle Gi looked at Liu Feng suspiciously. To this, Liu Feng shook his head. He took out a token from his spatial ring. It was not his own identity token though. With that silver shine and his own name written on it, everyone would be able to know who he really was. Instead, this was another token. It had the name, Liu Tian, written on a golden que. The hexagonal token shone when he took it out. The gold token signified only one thing. He was a part of the Sky Heavens sect, and was a chief disciple of one of the factions. There were many, but he was the chief of alchemy for now. It was only temporary though. Liu Feng had no idea how, but everyone seemed to think of him as an alchemy genius. He had never actually performed alchemy in front of them, but they knew of this. Liu Feng suspected that they were peeking when he was actually making a few pills for himself. But nevertheless, Liu Feng himself had a lot of confidence in himself. He knew that whatever the pill was, he could make it, because of the cheat that the system had given him. He knew how to make every single pill in the world as long as the ingredient list was put in front of him. "Fine then. We shall do as Sister Bai said. I wille with you to the pill tower. Some rats havepletely spoiled my mood." Liu Feng got up and started walking forward. He paused for a moment, and looked at the waiter. "I forgot to liquefy a few spirit coins. Take this instead." he threw a jade box towards the waiter. Opening it, a rich fragrance flew through the entire room. Every one was captivated instantly. "Is that a rare Core Consolidation Pill? I thought pills like those go for only spirit stones and are not worth spirit coins anymore. Who would give that instead of spirit coins?" everyone looked at the waiter with jealousy. Seeing all these coveting eyes, the waiter put the pill inside immediately and left. He knew that his life would change considerably with this newly gotten wealth. Everyone nced at Liu Feng with shock. Pills like those would not appear on the market a lot. That only meant that he was the alchemist who made them. And for an alchemist to just give them away like that, he was someone who was capable of making much higher ranked pills. This man was certainly on the level of Pill Geniuses. In fact, he was probably able to make higher ranked pills than them, because he was in a higher realm than them. The three, namely Liu Feng, Bai Zhiqui, and Ding Yan, started walking out of the Inn, and Gu Hua was just sitting there, dumb struck. "Young Miss. It is better if we go to the pill tower. Rarely do we get to meet Master Mu. There is no debate at all that he is the most powerful alchemist in the entire kingdom. It is a rare chance for alchemists to meet him. Put this bastard aside, and go there. You will be able to obtain something, and you will put him in his ce." Uncle Gi was trying his best to convince Gu Hua to go to the Pill Tower. Finally, she nodded, and they, along with the rest of her guards, left the Inn. All four of these alchemy geniuses started walking towards the Pill Tower. After Liu Feng went to the City of Heaven, every other tall tower was no longer that surprising to him. In fact, they were straight out disappointing. After seeing the peak that one could get to, why would he like to be on these smaller heights? They entered the pill tower, and Bai Zhiqui paused for a moment. She nced behind her, and Gu Hua entered the tower as well. She noticed that Bai Zhiqui waited for her. "Stay here, Uncle Gi. I want to see what is waiting for me." Gu Hua coldly said and walked forward. "I aming here for your master, not because you called me. Remember that." she harshly said to Bai Zhiqui. "It is the pill tower''s honor to host the next generation of the Tiandu Kingdom." Bai Zhiqui bowed slightly and opened the transportation portal. For a moment, Liu Feng scanned everyone here with his Divine sense. It was faster than using Mind eye on everyone. He was surprised in that both Ding Yan and Bai Zhiqui were in the firstyer of the Nascent Soul stage, while Gu Hua was in the peak of the Core Formation stage. They all stepped into the Transportation portal, and entered the highest floor. It waspletely empty. There was just a few mats on the floor, and a single door in front of them. The door was truly majestic. The moment that Liu Feng stepped forward, he felt something happening in his spatial ring. Something inside his spatial ring was reacting to this floor. "I see that my guests have arrived. Oh! And I see that my little friend here has more karma with me than I supposed before." Master Mu''s voice rang through the entire floor, and the doors opened. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 194 Mysterious Furnace Liu Feng was a lucky person, no doubt. He hade across multiple treasures that many would only find once in their lifetime. And of all those things, he hade across, and became apanion with the one and only white tiger. That was something that was never done before. After all, a constetion beast was never a human''spanion beast before. But with all of these opportunities, Liu Feng''s spatial ring was filled with treasure, and he had forgotten about some of them a long time ago. Now, one of them was beginning to jog his memory. It was the first time that he met Bai Zhiqui in that small shop, and he bought a medicinal pot that he suspected to be a furnace. That time, he thought that he would figure out what was within it, but now, with so much on his te, he had left that project a long time ago. However, that very furnace was moving right now. It was shaking, as if it was meeting its long lost master. Liu Feng took the old furnace out, and saw the changes that came about it. With runes all over the furnace, and the old look leaving it, it looked like a heavenly treasure. And this was the pill tower, of all ces. The three pill geniuses in front of him looked at that Pill Furnace, and salivated. "That is a good furnace. A good furnace fit for a good master. I envy you, brother Tian." Ding Yan smiled and looked the other way. It was not good manners to look at someone else''s treasure like that after all. But Gu Hua looked at it with greed and jealousy. She wanted that, and had only malice towards Liu Feng. "I think that we need to go in, and not leave Master Mu waiting any longer." Liu Feng said and walked in with the furnace in his hand. The inside of the room was spacious. It was certainly fitting of a branch leader of the biggest pill tower in the entire kingdom. There was a furnace in the middle of the entire room, and it was boiling still. In front of the furnace was an old man, and he was still working on it. He added a few ingredients and closed it up. Then, looking at the guests who had arrived, he smiled. "I have heard about the fight that had urred. I think that the geniuses of the kingdom should be amicable with each other. The future of the kingdom, and its reputation rests upon you." Master Mu said gently. "What are you talking about, Master Mu? It seems like a terrible premonition." Liu Feng said. His face was no longerfortable, as he was trying to hold the furnace. It seemed to want to go somewhere, and the power that the furnace was exerting grew stronger and stronger. "Haha. Do you know the Medicine Spirit Sect? Well, I wouldn''t suppose you would know that bit of boring history. But in the alchemy groups, that sect was a legend back in the day. They had a monopoly on the alchemy market because of one reason, and one reason alone. The Nine furnaces of the Medicine Spirit Sect." Master Mu said, ncing at the furnace in Liu Feng''s hand. "This is one of those furnaces?" Liu Feng asked. "Yes. Mine is also one of the furnaces, and seeing a familiar brother has excited this furnace. You are very lucky, to have gotten such a good furnace." Master Mu smiled. "I was lucky that a certain someone passed up on it, even though she probably knew what this was." Liu Feng looked at Bai Zhiqui. "Ah, well, why talk about the past? Let the furnaces meet for some time. Why not let them have that affectionate bonding? We have more important things to do." Master Mu said. Liu Feng nodded and stopped suppressing the furnace. The furnace flew to the furnace that was in the middle of the room. The two started dancing up and down, and it was a rhythmic beat that they followed. "Well now, into the important things. In front of me, I have assembled the strongest geniuses of the Tiandu kingdom to help save its face. I am sure you know of the Handu kingdom?" Master Mu said. Everyone nodded, including Liu Feng. Handu was a kingdom that was right next to Tiandu. In one way, they could be said to be like rtive kingdoms. But there was one problem, they were not exactly allies. This was not a situation of hate, so they never broke into war. But whenever one kingdom could find a way to humiliate the other and prove their supremacy they would. "This is a time when the Tiandu kingdom is about to select a new king. The royal family is in chaos, and their alchemists are too arrogant to work with us. Seeing this, the Handu Kingdom has decided to send a delegation now, and wants the geniuses of the Tiandu kingdom to have a match off." Master Mu said. "How many people do their delegation have?" Gu Hua asked. "Four. And I hope that we will convincingly defeat them. I have confidence in all of you. That is why I have brought you out in the guise of a meet that was the biggest in the entire kingdom." Master Mu said. "So you basically lied to the entire kingdom that there is a pill meet happening to lure out the geniuses you need to battle the Handu kingdom? Why didn''t you just ask each one of them specifically?" Liu Feng asked. "Do not mistake my words. The pill meet is something that will happen. In fact, it shall happen in all pomp, so that all of you can prove yourselves to be the true geniuses of the entire kingdom, and that way, no one will say anything when you represent the kingdom." Master Mu said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 195 The Pill Meet The day of the Pill Meet arrived. The city was full. Everyone was gathered in the arena of the city. The arena waspletely furnished, and there had not been a fight in here for thest month. Everything was done in preparation for the pill meet. Alchemists from all over the city were in this arena. The singr stage was big enough for thousands of alchemists topete. But this was not a meet open to everyone. Only two hundred handpicked, young alchemists were allowed topete here. That was still a lot, and those alchemists who weren''t able topete in thepetition were in the stands, looking on. It was the rare chance to see so many types of refinement processes at once. No alchemist would want to miss this. The two hundred alchemists took the stage were evenly spaced in between them. And at the very center, there were four furnaces ced in the grandest fashion. These were the furnaces of Liu Feng, Gu Hua, Bai Zhiqui, and Ding Yan. All of them were standing there, and looked at everyone calmly. The three pill geniuses were sources of attraction, and everyone looked at them. "One of them is guaranteed to win the pill meet." one of the alchemists who was participating said, sighing. He had given up all hope in winning, and only hoped to get some attention to his skills, and maybe get some reputation. "But who is the person who is next to him? The geniuses are actually not doing anything about putting a nobody like that at their position?" Liu Feng could hear all of this chit chat about him, but he couldn''t be bothered about it too much. He was used to this already, and didn''t want to bring himself down to that level. Master Mu slowly walked out to the arena and looked at the filled arena. Everyone quieted down with the entrance of the branch leader. They all looked at him with expectant eyes. Master Mu came to the center of the arena, beyond Liu Feng, and cleared his throat. "Thank you, everyone, foring to Cairin city for the Pill meet. I am honored that all of you havee. It is the first time that this many alchemists havee to one ce. I can without a doubt say that the most coveted ce to be is here, currying your favor." Master Mu. Everyoneughed at this. "It is time now, and we must not dally any longer. I shall now announce that the Pill meet willmence!" Master Mu said, and the moment that he said that, everyone cheered. The young geniuses in the arena looked at each other with a tinge ofpetition. They wanted to beat each other, but the mountain that was the three pill geniuses were simply insurmountable. Another old man jumped from one side andnded next to Master Mu. He bowed in front of the master, and Master Mu nodded back, then left the stage to sit in the best seat in the entire arena. Meanwhile, the old man looked at all the contestants. "Pill Elder Qingshan." Bai Zhiqui bowed a little. "Lass Zhiqui. Make your master proud." the old man said. "I am the judge of this round. The first round shall be a test of making the Myriad Aspects Pill. The ingredients have already been provided to you. The pill that you make will be the property of the pill tower." Pill Elder Qinghsan said. Liu Feng scanned through his memories and found out what the Myriad Aspects Pill was. It was a surprisingly hard pill to make. The number of steps that were involved was more than usual. "How is this possible? Such a difficult pill to make in the first round? Are they nning to rule out all of the alchemists in this one round?" someone in the audiencemented. Liu Feng smiled and took out the ingredients from the spatial ring, and opened the furnace in front of him. This was not the furnace that the system had provided him. This was the furnace that reacted before. It was one of the nine furnaces of the Medicine Spirit Sect. Now, it seemed to activelymunicate with Liu Feng. It was alive, and had a connection with its owner. The other alchemists were having a hard time already. The Myriad Aspects Pill had it in its name. It had dozens of ingredients, and many main ingredients that gave it its effect. The fact that it had many main herbs was that they would collide with each other, and fight for supremacy. If even one of the herbs broke out of equilibrium, the pill would not be formed, and the entire batch would be a waste. Because of the extreme difficulty, and the incredible cost of the spirit herbs used in the process, it was almost impossible for one of these to appear in any of the auction houses. Only someone who desperately wanted this pill would request an experienced Pill Elder to try to make it, and even then, it would probably end in failure. The three pill geniuses also started their furnaces. They started adding their ingredients slowly, and extracted the medicinal essence, while immediately taking them out afterward. It was an extremely time consuming process, and they had to repeat that dozens of times. Liu Feng was not in the terrible situation that they were though. The reason was not only that the system was helping him out by showing him exactly what to do. It was that the procedure that he knew from the manual that he had waspletely,pletely different from what he saw the others doing. And one thing he knew from the near year of experience he had with the system was that the system was always right. "Guess these people just learnt the hard way." Liu Feng shrugged and started adding the herbs one by one. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 196 Impossible! Ding! An hourter, inplete silence, Liu Feng''s furnace made a sweet sound. But Liu Feng did not open the furnace just yet. Many around him had already made a few mistakes, and that resulted in failures. Almost fifty people were out in the first thirty minutes, and that quickly shot up as the time flew. The ones next to him were still in the middle of their process, so Liu Feng knew that if he took out his pill now, it would distract them too much and they would probably fail their attempt. He did not care too much about Gu Hua, and maybe even wanted her to face failure. But Bai Zhiqui and Ding Yan were not against him, and it was important to keep friends like those in the future. Liu Feng nced up at Pill Elder Qingshan and Master Mu. Master Mu raised his eyebrows first with a little shock, but he nodded after that. Then, he moved his eyes, looking at Bai Zhiqui and the others. "Of course he is focused on his dear disciple. But how the hell did he know that I am a good alchemist? This is a serious privacy concern." once again, that concerning thought appeared in Liu Feng''s mind. Minutes passed by, and then hours. Slowly, the arena was getting emptied. Almost a hundred and fifty of the alchemists were eliminated already. Ding! Liu Feng heard a familiar sound next to him. Ding Yan was done with his pill. He was the fastest one here, except for Liu Feng, of course. Ding Yan looked around and saw that Liu Feng was also done. He was filled with surprise and shock. "It seems like my knowledge is reallygging, brother Tian. To think that you have alreadypleted! I should have heard of an alchemy genius of your level years ago. You are definitely better than all of us in alchemy." he said. "Don''t tter me. I am not as great as you guys. I just happened to have studied under a different master who had a different method of synthesizing this pill." Liu Feng shook his head. Ding! Ding! In session, Bai Zhiqui and Gu Huapleted their pill formation. Gu Hua saw that Liu Feng was still here, and was so rxed. That only meant that he was done with his pill formation, and that too, much before her. "Are you sure that the pill inside your furnace isn''t pill scraps?" sheughed. "I think not. I think that the pill in my furnace is actually a very well made pill." Liu Feng shook his head, not falling for her taunt. He still had to nod his head in appreciation for her talent. She was definitely one of the three pill geniuses. They hadpleted much, much before the rest of the alchemists. In fact, some of the alchemists in the far end of the arena were still trying to extract the medicinal essences out from all the ingredients. That was the first step! Liu Feng shook his head and sat down cross-legged while closing his eyes. He would rather just cultivate a little in peace rather than listen to some toxic and arrogant girl hate him for no reason. Once again, hours passed by. The sky was getting dark now, but many of the alchemists were still not done. The number of alchemists who hadpleted forming the pill were ten, including the four in the center. Pill Elder Qingshan sighed and hovered back up. "Everyone. It is time that we stop here. With this, the first round shall end. Those who have notpleted forming the pill can leave the arena." he said softly. Liu Feng opened his eyes with a sharp glint and got back up. The arena was getting more and more spatious now. Everyone but ten had left. "Please give me your pills for evaluation." the pill elder said. Liu Feng opened his furnace and a pill flew into the jade box that he had ready. It was so quick that not even a little medicinal smell had leaked. The other three did it slowly though. They were inpetition with each other. They took out their pills and everyone in the audience could see. That was the surprising part. Everyone in the audience was still there for all these hours. They were carefully observing what went down here. "That is a pill with seventy percent purity! I don''t think that I have ever seen a Myriad Aspects Pill with that purity before!" someone shouted when they saw Bai Zhiqui take out her pill. "She is probably the winner this time around. There is no doubt about it, in fact. Cairin city is truly blessed to have such a genius." It appeared as though speed wasn''t everything. Ding Yanpleted his pill formation much before Bai Zhiqui, but it was apparent that it was not as good a pill. Liu Feng smiled and threw his jade box to Pill Elder Qingshan. The elder opened the jade box once, and closed it almost immediately. He red at Liu Feng for the next few minutes, as if he was trying to see through him. "Did you really make this now? In such little time?" he asked. "You have the pill in your hands. You know that you can''t just reheat a pill. That one is fresh out of the furnace." Liu Feng smiled. The pill elder had no other option but to nod. The other alchemists also gave their jade boxes to the pill elder. He looked through each and every box and nodded. "Today, history will be rewritten. Ten young geniuses among us have each made a Myriad Aspects pill, a pill that even many of us do not have the confidence of making. But now, there has to be a clear winner. The top five will get the rewards." the pill elder said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 197 Number One "At number four, stands Gu Hua. At number three, Ding Yan." With that, these two looked at Liu Feng pensively. They did not expect that someone got ced above them. The only obvious person who could take that ce was Liu Feng. He was only being considered for the first ce of course because no one could possibly get the first ce. Bai Zhiqui made history by forming a pill of that level. "And at second ce, from Cairin City, Bai Zhiqui!" Pill Elder Qingshan said. With that, the three pill geniuses red at Liu Feng. Even Bai Zhiqui was shocked. She did not expect someone else to get first ce. Keep in mind that Liu Fengpleted the pill forming in almost half as time as the others. "And at first ce, from the Sky Heavens sect, Liu Tian." the pill elder said, and the audience went into chaos. They could not wrap their heads around the fact that someone they had never heard of could win the first round of the pill meet. "I do not believe this! How much purity is his pill? For him to defeat the three pill geniuses?" one of the alchemists on the stage asked. He was also displeased by this result. Some nobody was the number one genius in the entire kingdom? That only made his position lower. "Liu Tian submitted a freshly made Myriad Aspects Pill that had eighty percent purity. In my hundreds of years of experience, I have seen hundreds of Myriad Aspect Pills, but never, have I seen a pill of his purity." Pill Elder Qingshan said. "He must have cheated!" someone shouted. Pill Elder Qingshan looked at that person coldly. "The Cairin city decided in secret that the Myriad Aspects Pill would be the pill to make in this first round. The ingredients to make this pill are extremely rare, and an alchemist to make this is impossible to find. Even if someone made that pill, to have eighty percent purity is almost impossible. And putting all that aside, as a pill elder, do you not think that I can see which pill is freshly made?" he barked. The man who said that shrinked down, and cowered. "With this, the first round is over. The day has ended, and I think it is only appropriate that we continue this tomorrow." Master Mu stood up and said. The audience grunted in response and slowly slithered away. The arena emptied slowly, and the four in the center remained there. Bai Zhiqui looked at Liu Feng. "How were you able to make the pill faster than everyone else, and also make it at such high purity? I have never seen anyone one make the pill that fast. Not even my master can do that!" she said. "I happened to have a good inheritance, and my master taught me a good way to make this pill." Liu Feng swiftly ended that conversation. He did not want to take this any longer, and was about to leave. "Haha, brother Tian. Maybe a few tips from you can help us out? You are our senior in the alchemy way in so many regards." Ding Yan stopped Liu Feng. "I am tired. Maybe one day, when I don''t have things to do." Liu Feng shook his head. "Ah, that is too bad." Ding Yan shook his head. Liu Feng walked away, leaving the three to look at each other nkly. "I never would have thought that someone new would be the greatest alchemy genius in the entire kingdom. It seems like the Sky Heavens sect has a true alchemy master that no one knows about." Ding Yan sighed. "Liu Tian... was an alchemist before he was a part of the Sky Heavens Sect. I suspect that his master is someone secr." Bai Zhiqui said. Achoo! "Who the hell is talking about me behind my back? It must be those three fellows. This is why I hate the spotlight." Liu Feng cursed and walked around the crowded streets of the city. With nightfall, the streets were buzzing, and everyone was walking by. Liu Feng took out his cloak and put it on. Now that his face was a little famous, he did not want the trouble that was associated. He stopped at one of the random stores around here. The mortals in this city were staggering in number. He entered a mundane restaurant and sat on one side, looking at the window. "What are you doing here, looking out the window? Do you not have anypanions for the night?" an old voice startled him. "Who?" he looked forward. It was not every day that someone could just appear in front of him without him noticing. "Master Mu!" his face turned respectful. He would rather show some respect to someone who was now in control of the strongest alchemy force the kingdom had ever seen. But the truth behind that was that this was all only possible because Liu Feng made a mess in Yurin city all that time ago. These were merely the repercussions of that. "So then. You must be wondering why I asked you toe here. At a time when you are supposed to be lying low, I brought you to the spotlight." Master Mu smiled. "Yes. And how did you know that I was an alchemist? I mean, Bai Zhiqui might have said that before, but how did you know that I was good enough?" Liu Feng asked. "Haha, that is out of my league. I would rather not answer that. But the reason of helping out the kingdom was only temporary. The real reason is much more important." Master Mu said. "Is this rted to my father?" Liu Feng asked seriously. "Notpletely. This one, this one is rted to your mother." Master Mu sighed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 198 The Truth About His Parents! "My¡­. Mother? Who was she? Do you realize that until now, everyone has been skirting the truth? Everyone says that they are not the right person to tell me." Liu Feng clenched his fists in anger. "Well this time, I think that you should know. This time, you can learn the truth." Master Mu sighed. "Your parents. Both of them, are alive. I think that you already suspected that to be the case a long time ago?" Master Mu said. To that, Liu Feng only nodded. He knew that they were still alive. There were so many clues lying around pointing to the same. And everyone said that only Liu Qian could tell him the truth, but what was he waiting for? "You must be curious as to why you are rted to the imperial family. After all, the coronation should be of no connection to someone who has never ever stepped foot in the capital. But the selection of the new king has so much to do with you." Master Mu took a sip of the tea that was on the table. "And you must be wondering why I am the person who is telling you all of this. I am someone that you have only met once." Master Mu smiled. "Does it have anything to do with the Pill Meet here?" Liu Feng asked. "You are a clever boy. The Myriad Aspects Pill. It is one of the rarest pill to find, and almost impossible to make with high purity. And the problem is that no alchemist wants to make this pill because it will blot their perfect record. Only in a ce like the pill met will so many people try to make the Myriad Aspects Pill, and ten seed. In fact, if I knew that you were so adept in making this pill, the entire meet wouldn''t even take ce." Master Mu said. "Who is the Myriad Aspects Pill for?" Liu Feng asked with a serious face. He had a feeling that this was also rted to him. "Your father. Who else. For seventeen years, he has been trying to break your mother out of the most imprable prison in the entire kingdom, and failed. But now, with this one pill that you made, he willfinally be able to do that." Master Mu said. "How do you know him? Who even is he?" Master Mu tapped on the table, and suddenly, the wood on it started getting carved. Shapes began to appear. "Tiandu. Handu. Ginshi. Jianlong. Kingdoms, empires, all of thesesting hundreds if not thousands of years. But in this world. In this world, there are too many monsters. The Xiantian Realm may be the peak in this corner of the world,but in other corners, it is nothing but the start to the road of cultivation. Beyond these kingdoms, lie the ancient realms. And your father fell from there andnded in this ce, almost crippled. As for the person who found him, that was me." Master Mu sighed and closed his eyes, reminiscing the moment when he came upon a young man who was almost dead, lying on the ground. It was like he fell down all the way from Heaven, betrayed by his fellows, and forced to fall upon the mortal world. "As for your mother, the jewel in the eyes of the entire kingdom, the princess of Tiandu, she was the most beautiful woman in the kingdom without a doubt. When these two met and fell in love, it was a match made in heavens. But for every such match, there are jealous snakes trying to ruin them. Your father''s enemies came to Tiandu. The capital city turned into a battlefield, and it was not a pretty sight. Blood shed everywhere. Your foster father, Liu Qian, he stepped in. A one in a thousand year genius. He fought against these enemies even though the royal family forbade anyone from the kingdom to go against your father''s enemies. The fight was legendary, but no one lost. Everyone only retreated. Your mother gave birth to you in the heat of the battle, but the royal family wanted to kill you. They could not allow you to stay alive. So, to appease the royal family, Liu Qian suppressed his own cultivation, while your mother crippled you with her own hands. And then, the royal family betrayed your mother, locking her away in exchange for benefits. And your father was too injured to do anything about it." Master Mu coughed a little and looked out the window, as if someone was going toe towards them now. "And the Myriad Aspects Pill can help him recover?" Liu Feng asked. "If a pill that a mere Nascent Soul Stage Alchemist can make can totally help your father recover, then the entire kingdom would have been turned upside down." he chuckled. "Then what is this for?" "An old injury that keeps acting up. In two years, everyone wants you to get to the Xiantian stage not because you will be able to contribute to the fight that will happen. No, someone will need to be in the Xiantian stage just to qualify for participating. This will be the biggest fight all the kingdoms have ever seen. We want you to grow stronger so that you can survive. So that in a decade, you can rise up to the level that you are supposed to attain. So that you can go back and im what is yours in the Ancient Realms." "im what is mine in the Ancient Realms? You have to back up a little. There is so much that I can''t understand. There are so many parts of this story that make no sense! And you still haven''t told me who my parents are! If my father is alive and free, where is he?" Liu Feng asked. These questions that have been in his head for too long came out like a dam. "I told you what I know. The gaps... the gaps have to be covered by your father. Now, I have a meet to prepare for. Hopefully, you wille and help us out against Handu." Master Mu stood up and left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 199 Too Much To Take At Once Liu Feng just froze there. This was too much to take at once indeed. The fact that his mother was a princess of Tiandu, and that his father was still in the kingdom, trying to free her, was shocking to say the least. Even worse than all of that was what Master Mu said. "After a year of hard work. One year of toiling like I never did before, one year of working my a$$ off, and they call me just strong enough to protect myself? Even the Xiantian realm is nothing but a starting step?" he crushed the ss that was in his hands with anger. The waiter saw him do that, but did not dare step forward and attract the rage of a cultivator. "Now, I have no idea what to do. Two years left. Two years to get to the Xiantian realm. No, Liu Feng. Are you stupid? To the Xiantian realm? In one year, you were able to get to this stage, to get to the ce where many of the so called geniuses of this kingdom are at. Given twice the time now, you can only get to the Xiantian stage? No. I should go stronger than even master." Liu Feng resolutely thought. His eyes shone with this new resolution. With every new challenge that came across his way, he would grow stronger. ? But now, what came in front of him was not just any problem. It was a dam that blocked his way! His body''s birth mother was in danger! His birth father was trying to save her. And these people were after him as well. These were all his enemies. These were all people that he had to eliminate. And he would do that. He would get strong enough for the entire kingdom to acknowledge him. He was done taking all of this. Right now, he had the sudden urge to just disappear all of a sudden, and go to his residence in the Sky Heavens sect to cultivate. But now was not the time to do that. He thought to his system. The truest increase happened with the system. The fouryers that he grew in one day were harder to get through than everything that he did before. And that only meant that if he followed what the system wanted him to do, then he would go stronger beyond measure. "Look at the bigger picture. The system is enough to get to the top of the world. The top of the world." he told himself and got up. He put a few gold coins that he had lying around in his spatial ring and put them on the table. Then, he left the restaurant. The waiter that was afraid to confront him went to the table and found the gold coins. His eyes turned from fearful to joyful. This was a treasure for him. To get this much money! He quickly put that money inside his pockets and went to another table. Meanwhile, Liu Feng decided what he was going to do next. He decided that he was going to help out Master Mu. After all, Master Mu was the only one in the entire world who finally decided to tell him the truth about things. So, he could only trust him. For now, since he was in Master Mu''s debt, he wanted to pay it off by going to that pill meet against the Handu kingdom. And, the pill meet itself was still not over. Tomorrow, it would probablye to and end. "I shouldn''t try and get to number one. Too much attention. I should make it look like it was a fluke the first time around. Better let Bai Zhiqui or someone win the meet. That way, I shouldn''t get too much trouble. But damn it, I still need toe in fourth somehow so that I will be eligible for the battle against Handu." all these thoughts raced around his head as he headed back to the Silver Bull Inn where he had already booked a room for a few days. It was only a coincidence that this ce happened to have a culmination of the strongest alchemy geniuses. It was probably the first time that the Inn had seen such strong and influential people in that ce. He walked in quietly and showed the innkeeper the token that he was given. Just nodding, the Innkeeper let Liu Feng pass, After walking to his room and shutting the door so that he had privacy, he let a sigh. "Liu Man. Where are you?" he said silently. "Right where you left me. It looks like you had quite the day didn''t you? I mean, you finally went against that girl that pissed you off." Liu Man jumped onto the bed. "Yes, I did. And I won. All that aside, today was big because someone was finally caring enough to tell me the truth about my parents." Liu Fengid on the bed, right next to Liu Man. "Interesting." Liu Man nodded. Liu Feng proceeded to tell him what happened. At the moment that Liu Feng was telling him about where his father apparently came from, he was stopped by Liu Man. "The Ancient Realms? That does not make sense. I am sure that I know of the geography of this ce. The ancient realms do exist, but for someone toe all the way here from the ancient realms, something big must have happened. To enter the ancient realm is difficult because it is another realm unto itself!" Liu Man said. "Another realm unto itself?" Liu Feng was curious. "It is definitely where you are headed to next if you want to do what you think you want to do. To be the strongest in the world, to conquer it, you must conquer every one in every step of your way." Liu Man dered. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 200 Pill Meet Round 2 The arena was bustling once again. The sun had risen, and this time, only ten alchemists were on the stage. At the very center, however, were the same four people. Liu Feng, Bai Zhiqui, Ding Yan and Gu Hua. But this time, things were different. Everyone looked at the center, but their topic of discussion was no longer one of the three pill geniuses. Instead, it was Liu Feng. "Who is that person? Li Tian? I never heard of him before." "Yesterday, the pill elder said that he was from the sky heavens sect. It looks like they are nning on making a robust alchemy division. With a talent like this, they can have an alchemy master on their side." "But where does the sky heavens sect have an inheritance to raise a talent like this? I am sure that he will get poached by either the Ding family or Cairin''s pill tower. These are the only ces that can raise such a genius." With all these people talking about him, Liu Feng was a little ufortable. He sat down with his eyes closed once again to silently pass the time until the round started. Once the arena was full with the audience arriving, Pill Elder Qingshan entered the arena once more. "Today, we shall decide who the genius of Tiandu is. This person will be the future of Tiandu''s alchemy, and the reward for being that genius is immense indeed. This pill right here is a treasure that I am sure everyone recognizes but no one has had the luxury of consuming. That is because this is a rare and expensive Xiantian Advancement Pill!" Pill Elder Qingshan took out a jade box. Hearing this, everyone''s breath became haggard. Even Liu Feng''s calm eyes fluttered open because the reward this time around was too enticing. He was notpletely sure if he could break through easily, so this pill could help him out considerably. "Forget the stupid things that willeter. Anyways, I am under another identity. I need to win this one. I know that I can win. I need this pill. There is no way that another will appear seeing how exorbitant the prices of the herbs required are." Liu Feng decided. After a point, the medicinal herbs and pills for the higher cultivation stages were no longer valued as spirit coins. Instead, they used spirit stones. Liu Feng only had around a thousand low level spirit stones, and that was after he stole them from the bandit. But now, making this single pill would take at least ten pieces of mid level spirit stones, a luxury that he could not afford. "Now that I have gotten the attention of everyone here..." the pill elder nced knowingly towards Liu Feng, as if he was talking to him, and then he continued. "The second round will be just like the first round, but it will be a different pill that many of you might have heard of. The Sage Nine Pill. It is also the singr pill that can be used by any cultivator to have the same effect, but can still be made by a Core Formation Stage Alchemist. The pill that does not discriminate." Gasps ensued all around. If the first round was difficult, then this round was nigh impossible. "Does Cairin want everyone to fail? To give such a pill that even pill elders struggle with? Forget Pill Elders. Even Pill Kings cannot make this pill!" someone said from the stands. Swish! Ten lights separated from Pill Elder Qingshan''s hands andnded in each of the alchemist''s hands. These were the spatial rings containing the herbs required for making the pill. "Once again, the pill will be the property of the pill tower. After all, it is not everyday that an alchemist has the chance to make a pill of this caliber." Pill Elder Qingshan said. With that, the round had started. Liu Feng took a look at everyone around him. They were all looking at the spatial ring in their hands with distrust and worry. Even the three pill geniuses were not sure if they could make this pill. But Liu Feng wasn''t. He quickly scanned his memories for the right procedure to make the Sage Nine pill. "Found it," he muttered and looked at the cauldron in front of him. The fire breathed into life, and it zed, giving off an extreme amount of heat. Everyone nced at him and looked back at their furnace. The method to make the Sage Nine Pill was unanimous. But simple, it was anything but. This was the only pill that required such incredible amounts of heat. And the reason was the main ingredient of the Sage Nine Pill. The Frozen Heart of Snow Ape King. The fact that the pill tower had ten frozen hearts of snow ape kings shook Liu Feng. That only spoke to how much power they had. And to think that they would just gamble it all here! "Why wouldn''t Master Mu try and do this himself? And he must have more talented alchemists under him. Why would he gamble on kids making the pill?" Liu Feng wondered as he carefully took out the Frozen heart. The frost was trying to consume him, but it was useless. Liu Feng was now an adept in the cold, which was kind of ironic considering that he was an alchemist. He let the frozen heart slide into the furnace and quickly took out his other ingredients. One by one, they quickly went into the furnace. Liu Feng made sure that all of the herbs were sticking close to the frozen heart. The heart would freeze the ingredients around it, and would slowly thaw onto the ingredients, while the zing heat would try and melt all the herbs at once. It was a very unorthodox method of pill formation, but it was the only way to thaw the frozen heart. The moment that the heat decreased even a little bit, it would freeze up, and everything would be pointless. But if the heat was too much, the cold that the heart provided wouldn''t be enough, and the ingredients would turn into cinders. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 201 Sage Nine Pill st! Liu Feng did not even turn, because he knew exactly what had happened. A pill like this, it was bound to have a few failures. But these failures were going to be violent. With the heat that was required to thaw the frozen heart, all that heat would immediately bacsh and the furnace would shake and maybe even crack! st! Another furnace blew up. The alchemist behind this one red at the one who messed up first. His concentration was disturbed because of this sudden sound, and that made him lose his control. Now, he would no longer have a chance at the Xiantian Advancement Pill. "Damn you-" "Take this outside. There are people who are still working." Pill Elder Qingshan coldly said and he waved his hand. The two alchemists disappeared from where they stood. The other alchemists were trying their best not to be bothered by thismotion. Liu Feng, meanwhile, was having the easiest time. For the first time in his life, he was not the underdog. With the highest cultivation in the field, he had the most probability of making this pill. In fact, if Liu Feng tried, he could get certified and be a Six petal alchemist. That meant that he would be a pill elder. While the other alchemists were sweating profusely, Liu Feng happened to be quite cool. He was using his Dao to make sure that the temperature around him was regted carefully as well. He wanted to make sure that there would be no problem from any factors that he had control of. The heart was slowly thawing, but Liu Feng could see that there was an endless energy within it. This was the heart of a beast that was an adept in the dao of Ice. Nature itself gave that beast its understanding of the dao. The essence of the herbs had already gone into the heart by now. This was about to enter the second stage of the refinement process. While many fail in the first step, it was not the hardest. As hard it may be to understand, the part where one would need extraordinary me control was not the hardest step. After all, an alchemist would usually work under closed doors. Only now did the alchemists have to work outside in front of everyone. But in the second step, with the spirit herbspletely assimting with the herb, one would need to face a bacsh of the frozen heart itself. At the final moment of thawing, when it would beplete liquid, the final will of the Snow Ape King would strike. And this would be deadly if one wasn''t prepared. The Snow Ape King was not a joke. It was a beast in the Xiantian stage, and some could even be higher ranked. Even if it was a residual sentiment, it would attack. An alchemist couldn''t even hope to have someone behind to protect him or her, because this will would only attack the alchemist directly. With the alchemist only inches away from the furnace and the frozen heart within, there was no way that any cultivator could step in within time. That was why everyone had to bepletely cautious about the Sage Nine Pill. From start to finish, every step required the most concentration that one could muster. st! At that moment, another alchemist left thepetition. It was too much to take for him, and he could no longer continue. Liu Feng''s eyebrows were knit. But he could not even be bothered about what happened to the alchemist next to him. He snapped his fingers, and the heat rose a few degrees. But now that the essence had been extracted from the herbs, it was fine. The blue tint on the frozen heart started diminishing, and all of a sudden, it showed the color that a heart was supposed to- blood red. Roar! Liu Feng felt his entire body shake, but he kept his ground. His qi was still flowing into the furnace and keeping the heat stable. This was the residual will. It was quick and decisive, and it could even have a chance to cripple the alchemist who was making the pill. This was a double edged sword for the alchemist. The furnace shook vigorously but Liu Feng forcefully suppressed it. He let the heart meltpletely, and the me also started dipping down. In the sidelines, everyone was ring at the center. And seeing Liu Feng lower the me, it could only mean that he was either finishing his pill formation, or that he was giving up. Master Mu''s eyes glinted as he looked keenly at what was happening. He was more experienced than anyone who was in the audience, and knew what was going on. He himself had created the Sage Nine Pill once before, but that was a long time ago. And this was thest step. The pill formation step. "Condense for me!" Liu Feng said with a coarse voice and poured more Qi into the furnace. The furnace was loud, and there was rumbling. st! "A pity. It looked like he was in the final step, but it looks like even geniuses face days like this." someone sighed. "Wait a minute! The person who has been eliminated is not Liu Tian! It is someone else!" another suddenly realized. Liu Feng was still trying to suppress the furnace and make sure that the pill formation would not botch. Finally, the furnace settled down, and Liu Feng had a few seconds to rx. He took a few breaths and continued looking into the furnace. Behind him though, the other geniuses were not having a good time. They were still in the first step. They did not hasten the process by increasing the heat, so they were about to finish the first stage of the pill formation. And as if God was trying to crush their hearts, a bright sound rang. Ding!! This was the sweet sound of sess. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 202 Making History Ding! Liu Feng''s mouth curved upwards into a beaming smile. He took out a jade pill, and a blue light flew into the box. Before anyone could do anything though, he closed off the furnace. Then, he put the jade box aside and turned around to see what was happening. Four people had been eliminated already, while the others were about to reach an instrumental step. Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar! At that moment, five roars simultaneously came about. Even Liu Feng himself shook a little even though this attack was not directed towards him. As for the alchemists themselves, they were not in a good shape. st! st! The other two alchemists'' furnace sted, and they coughed out blood. Immediately, they fainted on the spot. Seeing this, Liu Feng shook his head and flicked two streams of light towards the two of them. The lights split apart and each one went into the mouth of the alchemists who had fainted. Their pale faces regained their rosy appearance, and they opened their eyes once more. In a hurry, they stood up and cupped their hands. "Thank you for your help." they said. Liu Feng just nodded his head and looked at Bai Zhiqui, Ding Yan and Gu Hua. This was the reason that he did not go through the same route. Even though it was going to take a little more Qi toplete this refinement, he did not want to get a shock like this. Now, all of these people were trying their best to suppress any internal injuries that they might have incurred because if they did not continue to supply Qi into the furnace, this would be a failure. Right now, only the three pill geniuses were still left in the round. All the others had been eliminated, and Liu Feng, an anamoly that no one expected, was the only one who was done with his pill refinement. They were notpletely in the right state of mind though. The fact that Liu Fengpleted before them was not helping their concentration. "Goddamn it. How could someone like that bastard finish before us?" Gu Hua gritted her teeth. At that moment, however, her hands faltered. There was a little imbnce in her suppressing the furnace, and all of a sudden, the will of the Snow Ape King came back to bite her. "Aaargh!" she roared out, but it was too much to take. She coughed out blood, and her internal injuries that she had suffered surfaced once again. st! Her furnace sted, and the sound almost startled Ding Yan and Bai Zhiqui. But they quicklyposed themselves. Gu Hua was falling to the ground in seemingly slow motion, when a man appeared right next to her and made sure that she would not fall on the ground. "This pill meet is just a sham!" he eximed and disappeared from there with her in his hands. To this, Master Mu just smiled faintly and looked at the arena once again. Liu Feng was sitting cross-legged, closing his eyes. "Looks like it is about to end." he finally sighed. His nose was particrly sensitive, and he knew which position they were in the pill formation. They were about to end. Ding! Ding! At the exact same times, both Bai Zhiqui and Ding Yanpleted the pill formation. This was probably the one pill that had no difference in time taken to make it. Everyone would take the same time, because everyone would have to make sure that the furnace was burning at the same temperature. They opened their furnaces, and a divine smell came out of it. Taking out the pills at the same time, they red at each other. After all, this was a truepetition. They also desired the Xiantian Advancement Pill. It was not something that could be found even for those who could afford it. Alchemy was the richest profession, but alchemists knew that the things that they wanted the most, precious ingredients, were the rarest, and could be rarely bought for money. "It''s..." "It''s..." "... a tie?" they both said in unison. They red at both their pills and knew what had happened. They made the exact same pill with the exact same procedure. And now, they looked at Liu Feng, who had somehow finished before them. Liu Feng turned around by now and looked at their pills. Chuckling, he threw his jade box to Pill Elder Qingshan, who was still in the air. "I win. I think that I should get my Xiantian Advancement Pill." he said with confidence. The pill elder opened the jade box, and then closed it back immediately. Then, he nced at Master Mu. They nodded at each other tactfully, and Master Mu flicked something towards Liu Feng. A jade box appeared in Liu Feng''s hand. But without even checking what was in it, he put the box inside his spatial ring. That was because he now had divine sense, and he did not want to open the box. Even allowing a single wisp of the medicinal fragrance was a waste that he was not willing to take. This pill was too precious right now. "I think that the results are clear. The ranks are based on the order of the pill, and for all those who have not been able toplete the pill formation, the ranks are based on how much farther you have gotten in the pill formation stage. "At fifth ce, we have Feng Hon. At fourth ce, Gu Hua, who is not here right now and has been taken away. Will that persone here to collect her prize for her?" he looked in the horizon, but there was no response. "Tied at second ce, Bai Zhiqui, and Ding Yan." A round of cheers reminded Liu Feng of the audience that was present. "And at first ce, Liu Tian." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 203 Betrayal The arena went quiet. Justpletely silent. The wind rustled, and everyone could hear it pass by. Liu Feng beamed as he looked up at the arena. He braved against the odds and did what no one would have thought. He defeated the three pill geniuses in two separate rounds. That single fact had shaken the entire crowd, and soon, it would shake the entire kingdom. Then, Liu Feng quickly took the furnace into his spatial ring and started walking away. "Are you just going to leave, Brother Tian? Are you not going to give us all a few words of advice or tell us who your master is? I wish to know who the great master who taught such a genius is, and to think that such a master who we never knew was in the kingdom." Ding Yan stopped Liu Feng once more likest time, but now was a little different. Now, the entire audience was still here, looking at Liu Feng. They were curious to know who this ck horse was. "I am from the Sky Heavens sect, like everyone knows. And I am a disciple there. My master has instructed me not to tell anyone who he is, so I can only follow his words." Liu Feng said and he just disappeared. All that speed was put to use here. He just disappeared to leave the arena. The crowd started murmuring, and then, it slowly rose to the deafening heights that it once was. And the topic of conversation was very obvious: Liu Tian, the ck horse that appeared out of nowhere, and suddenly became the most talented alchemist of the entire kingdom! And there were so many theories suddenly popping up as to who he was. Some even spected that he was Master Mu''s long lost son or grandson. Others said that he had chanced upon a lucky break in an alchemist''s final resting ground, and that was the reason that he was at such a high level. But one thing was sure. Someone who had the capability to make the Sage Nine Pill, a pill that many seniors couldn''t pull off, was something great in itself. And making it in such record time, while also doing the same with the Myriad Aspects Pill, that meant that he was an exceptional alchemist. Soon, many would crowd to enter the Sky Heavens sect to avail his services as an alchemist. *** Master Mu and Pill Elder Qingshan were in a room. They both looked at each other and calmly nodded at each other. "That pill, is it really good enough? A pill that is more than eighty percent purity?" Master Mu asked. "Yes. It should be enough to heal him." Pill Elder Qingshan nodded. "And this idiot here bought the story. He really thought that we were his father''s best friends. I don''t know where that bastard is hiding, but now that the master will recover, he will be unstoppable. The entire kingdom will be bathed in blood and Liu Feng will be another casualty like he should have been seventeen years ago." Master Mu said. "How much of what you said was true though?" Pill Elder Qingshan asked. "Well... all that doesn''t matter. And now, he gave the one Sage Nine Pill that he created to us. Once his father knows that he will definitely spit out blood." Master Mu grinned. "But we still lost in this deal. You saw him. He is in the seventhyer of the Nascent Soul stage. He is close to the peak, and now that you have given him the Xiantian Advancement pill, he will enter that stage with ease." Pill Elder Qingshan said with worry. "That is the best part. I had two of these. One of them was the real deal, that I wanted to give Bai Zhiqui if she would win. And as for the other one, it is not the Xiantian Advancement Pill, but the Xiantian Break Pill. The difference is massive. If he takes it, he is guaranteed to enter the Xiantian realm, and the pill is more expensive. But once he takes it, he will never cross the firstyer!" Master Mu grinned. *** Liu Feng stood in front of the furnace and opened the lid. A refreshing aroma just wafted in the room, and he stood in its presence to splurge himself a bit. That was because he really struck gold today. Normally, when making high level pills, many alchemists would choose to throw away the majority of the essences because they wouldn''t be able to make the pill properly. It would drain too much of their concentration and the pills that were formed would have major defects. But, in Liu Feng''s case, he was making a Core Formation Stage pill. He had a lot of the essences in his hand and closed doors inside the furnace. So the number of pills that came out were not one, but three. And the other two were still in his furnace! Now, in his hands, two jade boxes appeared and he put these pills inside them. He then nced outside the window. The streets were crowded with people. The sun was about to set once more. Each time, the refinement process took too long. It took almost ten hours each time. Liu Feng was not happy with that at all. This was why he did not even think about spending more time using alchemy to increase his cultivation. Although he would be able to make pill and increase his cultivation by a lot, it would still take too long to make the pills of his caliber, and it would not be worth it in the end. At the end of this all, Liu Feng took out his biggest win of the day. The Xiantian Advancement Pill. He opened the jade box to see for himself what it looked like. [Alert! Alert! Malice detected from Pill! System advises host not to consume this pill.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 204 Rage [Alert! Alert! Malice detected from Pill! System advises host not to consume this pill.] Liu Feng saw this, and his hands clenched into fists. The pill that he was holding was almost crushed, when Liu Man, who was in the room, suddenly jumped up and took away the pill. "What are you doing? That has something in it! It can be harmful." Liu Feng said. "Yes. Of course it will be harmful. This is a Xiantian Break Pill. The moment you take this, you will never be able to go past the firstyer of the Xiantian stage. Who gave you this pill? How could they be so heartless?" Liu Man asked. "It looks like I am too trusting. I actually believed him. Then I expect that what he told me was also wrong." Liu Feng said. "Goddamn it!" he punched the bed in front of him, and it caved in instantly. It could not resist the power of someone in the Nascent Soul Stage. "Master Mu. I thought that he was someone that Liu Qian himself trusted. It looks like there are far too many things that you and I both don''t know." Liu Man said. "Now, I know exactly what I have to do. I have to go back to the Sky Heavens sect and ask my master why he would send me to somewhere like that, in into the jaws of the tiger that wants to kill me so badly." Liu Feng''s were filled with rage. If he could, he would go to Master Mu now and try to kill him. But Master Mu was in the Xiantian Stage. Liu Feng was no match for someone that strong yet. "No. This is the first time that you have an opportunity to learn more about the situation. Just act as if you know nothing and see where things go. It is even better if your enemies think that you are going to be stuck in the Soul Formation Stage. That way, when you transform it, no one will see youing." Liu Man said. "You want me to go back to that gathering of the Handu kingdom and act as if I know nothing at all? When I probably did something for him? I gave him a Sage Nine pill and a Myriad Aspects Pill. I probably gave what he needs." Liu Feng gnashed his teeth. "We know nothing as of right now. Just put the pill inside. If you take this pill, you might not be able to cross the firstyer, but remember. That also means that any Nascent Soul Cultivator who takes this pill, any one of them, will enter the Xiantian stage. You will have a convenient helper." Liu Man said. Liu Feng calmed down and tried to sit down, only to realize that he had broken the bed himself! "Alright. I will wait it out. The meet should happen sometime tomorrow or the day after. Master Mu probably knows where I am staying right now. I should just stay here and cultivate until that bastard tells me toe." Liu Feng said. "And do not use your anger to drive yourself. Do not throw away the meet. You want to win. After all, when the person who brought back the pride of the kingdom wants something, the entire kingdom will have no choice but to obey." Liu Man said, but Liu Feng could sense a sinister n developing there as well. However, Liu Feng had the confidence that this n would definitely help him out. Liu Fengid a mat on the ground and sat there cross legged, biding his time. The day passed, and soon, someone knocked on the door. The moment that Liu Feng opened his eyes, the door swung open. This was Liu Feng trying to test his divine sense and trying to use it to control objects telekically. Behind the door, a girl with an old man next to her just stood there.She saw Liu Feng in the center of the room, with a mat on the floor. "You bastard. So this was where you were hiding." she gnashed her teeth. "Why did youe here?" Liu Feng asked Gu Hua. "Friend. I think that you are a very talented alchemist. But I asked around. There is definitely not a single master who has taken you in. All that you have is an inheritance that you have gotten somehow. Such an inheritance is not something you are worthy of holding. The Gu family will relieve it off of you." the old man behind Gu Hua said. This was not Uncle Gi anymore. It was someone much stronger. It was someone in the Xiantian stage. "So this is how the Gu family operates? Sneaking up on someone after they lost utterly? I wonder how your Dao heart remains stable. After all, if this is something that you do regrly, that only means that you are a pill genius because you have killed all the other geniuses." Liu Feng taunted Gu Hua. Before Gu Hua was about to rush forward, the old man stopped her. "What are you doing? Do not forget your ce. Stand here and don''t cause any trouble." he barked at her. And Gu Hua actually listened. She bit her lip and put her head down. This old man was definitely not some servant. This was a master of her n, and someone of high standing. "I gave you a choice. But you have chosen very poorly. So then, I think that I have to use force. Let us see the memories that your spirit sea contains." the old man reached forward, but Liu Feng was just frozen in ce. It was like he could not do anything at all. This man was too powerful. Liu Feng felt the man''s consciousness enter his own spirit sea. He quickly looked in, and saw the maning in. "Damn it. Get the hell out of here." Liu Feng immediately used the Yuan Principle inside the spirit sea itself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 205 Against Xiantian The Yuan Principle started making the spirit sea tumble. The still water became tumultuous. The old man who had entered Liu Feng''s spirit sea started clutching his ears, as if this noise was bursting his head. This was the same reaction that Liu Feng also had. But Liu Man seemingly could endure it. "Suppress!" Liu Feng shouted, and the Yuan Principle doubled. Going against someone in the Xiantian realm, he could not afford to show off his cards. Although he had never fought in his spirit sea, he knew that the Yuan Principle could exist there. And he had no intention of experimenting by using the Dao of Ice here. If something happened to his spirit sea that would damage his consciousness, then he would probably enter a vegetative state. "Who are you? To think that you actually have a spirit attack. But do not think that you are almighty." the old man said and his eyes started turning red. That re shook Liu Feng''s concentration and made him shiver. In that momentarypse of concentration, the Yuan Principle copsed, and the old man shot forward to reach for Liu Feng''s neck. "Come. I want to see what mysteries you hold within your head." the old man grinned. Liu Feng could not do anything now. He was quickly taken by the old man, and was looking at him with fear. Still struggling, Liu Feng tried to use the Yuan Principle again, but it was toote. In such close distance, he could not deal with the old man. "You should not resist anymore. Just prepare for your death." the old man said, and his forehead touched Liu Feng''s forehead in this spirt sea. "Aaaargh!" Liu Feng felt a sharp burn. It was like his very existence was going to be extinguished. Just at that moment, something happened. A bright light appeared in the maelstrom that happened to be in one corner of the spirit sea, calmly doing its work. This was the spiritual root. A golden light shot towards the old man, who was unsuspecting of what just happened. The light hit both Liu Feng and the old man. Both of them screamed with pain, and Liu Feng fainted immediately. His spiritual body was rarely used to any kind of pain. The old man, however, was no longer locked onto Liu Feng. He then looked around, as if someone else was there. Seeing that Liu Feng was in an unconscious state, he was sure that someone else was in this ce. "Who dares sneak attack this old master?" he roared. "Who dares sneak attack you? It looks like the world is full of presumptuous idiots who think that they are entitled to the world." a cold voice pierced the void and shook the old man''s soul itself. Just listening to this person speak, the old man could feel that he was much, much weaker inparison. This person who just spoke was a master. "For the offense of daring to enter this sacred ce, and daring to touch my son, you shall face death!" the voice stated. The moment that this was said, the maelstrom stopped moving. The whirlpool of Qi just halted, and the golden spiritual root stood in the middle, visible in all its glory. The old man locked his eyes on the spiritual root, and a certain fear emerged. He started fleeing the spirit sea, and tried to run to the entrance. "You came all the way here. Stay back and nourish the child that you dared to attack." the voice spoke once more, and the spiritual root started glowing. The old man looked back to see what was happening but it was toote. A golden light struck his forehead and just pierced through. The old man''s eyes were wide open, just filled with shock. Thest memories that he had, were those of Liu Feng himself. And those memories made him confused. When he tried to read Liu Feng''s memories, he tried to get the most important ones. He thought of Liu Feng as Liu Tian, the alchemy genius. And any alchemy genius'' most important secret would be his inheritance, or his secret master in this case, or something like a treasure that he had acquired. But Liu Feng''s was none of these. For him, the most protected memory was something that he had never seen. It was Liu Feng, staring at a blue screen in front of him, with a few stats written on them. This was the system homepage. No one knew what the system was, and so, the old man was just confused. In hisst moments, he felt regret. He still had enough energy in his soul tost a minute longer, but just barely look on. He could not move. He was just on the threshold of passing away. He saw the unconscious Liu Feng on the surface of the spirit sea, and the golden spiritual root slowly approaching him. The spiritual root suddenly changed shape, and it became a beautiful goldendy, an astonishing beauty. Thedy was as graceful as she was pristine. Just looking at her, the old man felt like she was the angel who hade to take him away. "My dear Feng''er." the beautifuldy stroked Liu Feng''s cheekbones. A single tear drop fell from her eyes onto Liu Feng. Just looking at this, the old man felt a tinge of sadness for this woman that he did not even know! The moment that the tear drop fell on Liu Feng''s face, it shone. Liu Feng shivered a little bit, but still did not open his eyes. "What are you still doing here? Someone like you does not deserve a peaceful ending!" the goldendy red at the old man and said with a harsh voice. At that exact moment, the old man no longer felt like she was an angel who hade to take him away. She was the devil who hade to collect his soul and drag him to the depths of the earth. Another glint of light struck the old man. "Yes. I remember what he was protecting at thest moment. It was her, and that mad man. To think that I was against the son of that mad man." for a split second, everything made sense to this old man, and then, his body just split apart into dust. He was no more. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 206 Who... Am I? When Liu Feng opened his eyes, a colossal headache ensued. Thest thing that happened... wait, what was thest thing that happened. Liu Feng''s memories were all scrambled. His mind was screaming, struggling to put everything together in the order that happened. One thing was sure though. He was Liu Feng. Wait a minute! Wasn''t he Gray Holton? "I came to this world to clear it. I came to this body." he reconfirmed with himself. But when he was saying this, he felt a little weird. It was like he was just parroting what his memories stated, but they felt so foreign suddenly. "I was facing that old man in the Xiantian stage." Liu Feng finally remembered what thest thing that happened was. He was facing that person, when all of a sudden, he lost his consciousness. His memories were invaded by the old man. "But where is he?" he looked around, but the old man was no where to be found. Whatever the old man did to him though, it messed with him. It just made him forget who he was essentially. "I need to calm down." Liu Feng took a deep breath. Then, he started trying to collect all of his memories together, starting from the beginning. "Wait a minute! What is the beginning? Where am I? Why do I feel like I was at two different ces at once?" Liu Feng paused. ? At that moment, something entirely different became clear. The reason why he was having this conflict of identity, was because he was two different people at once. He was Gray Holton, living Liu Feng''s life. Until now, he, Gray Holton, was in control. But whatever happened before, brought the two of them together. Now, looking through all the memories that suddenly flooded his mind, instead of those simple shbacks that he had before, he could experience a new life that he never knew within just minutes. He went through the life of the young master of the Liu Family, one man who was humiliated because he was not able to cultivate. He fell into the pleasures of human life because there was nothing else that he could achieve. For the first time, he went through life in the perspective of Liu Feng. All of a sudden, he did not have Liu Feng for all the trouble that he faced when he entered this world. After all, the experiences that were just seen, they were too much for anyone to handle. "I am Liu Feng. No, I am both of us at once." Liu Feng murmured and then nodded. At that very moment, the spiritual root started humming, and at another edge of the spirit sea, another change was happening. When the old man died, he transformed into seemingly nothing. But what he really transformed into was spirit energy. And this energy finally assimted with the spirit sea. The spirit sea started changing colors. From the golden color that dominated it before, the one patch where the old man died, the spirit sea started having a green hue, like it was an ordinary sea. The spiritual root also responded to this change. It sent a golden light towards this spirit sea, and the green hue started having another tint of gold added to it. Liu Feng saw all this change, but he did not understand what all of this signified. "I still have to go out. If I am in the spirit sea for this long, then my true body will be defenseless." Liu Feng realised. He left the spirit sea, and returned back to his own body. When he opened his eyes, he could see the familiar outside of the room. He was on the ground though, so the predominant image was the ceiling. He struggled to stand up though. His own body resisted him for a moment. But a small hint of dominance appeared in his eyes, and a strange power filled his body. Then, the body behaved like a tame beast, willing to bemanded by its owner. Liu Feng got up and looked at what was happening. Gu Hua was supposed to be here, along with the Xiantian stage expert. If he was unconscious, she would try to retaliate. But where was she? "Wait a minute!" Liu Feng jumped with fright as he looked down at a still body that was on the ground there. It was the body of the old man. He still did not know that the old man faced his demise in Liu Feng''s spirit sea. "He is dead?" Liu Feng quickly confirmed the same by scanning the body with his divine sense. And after that, he quickly took the spatial ring on the old man''s body and stored it aside. The old man''s misfortune tranted to something very good for Liu Feng. "You are finally awake." a voice came from behind. Familiar with the voice and its surprising nature, Liu Feng did not jolt or yelp. He knew that the person who had just spoken was Liu Man. "Finally awake? How long was I out?" Liu Feng asked. "Two days. And whenever I tried to enter your spirit sea, I met with a strong resistance, as if someone powerful was trying to stop me. How on earth did you manage to kill someone who entered your spirit sea when you are utterly clueless about defending it?" Liu Man asked. Liu Feng could only cluelessly shake his head and walked into his room. "What happened to Gu Hua?" he asked. "She ran, I did not give chase. I just left you there because I would rather not interfere in a battle of souls, and any disturbance would prove fatal. I stood guard, so I would think that Gu Hua is very much alive." Liu Man said. "Regrettable." Liu Feng noted, but he wasn''t too concerned. She was nothing in his eyes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 207 At Sky Heavens Two days had passed since the pill meet had ended. The whole city of Cairin was in an uproar. The winner of the pill meet had just disappeared after the meet was over. Not only was this disrespectful to all the alchemists who wanted to meet with this newer and wanted to debate with him, but also, it was strange and mysterious. With this stunt that Liu Tian had pulled off, everyone was talking about him. Everyone who wasn''t talking about him, was talking about how the pill geniuses were no longer the representation of the entire kingdom, and that there could be other geniuses who were in hiding. One thing was for sure. Liu Tian made waves through the entire kingdom. In just two days, he became an instant celebrity, and everyone knew about him. Liu Tian from Sky Heavens sect was now hailed as the biggest genius of the entire kingdom. p But there was one group of people more surprised than anyone else. And who else would it be, other than Sky Heavens itself. In the core of the Sky Heavens sect, underneath many arrays and protection talismans, in a single room, stood the most influential and powerful people of the entire sect. "Alchemy Leader. Why did you call upon this entire council?" Li Tian calmly asked, as he was the one who was presiding over this meeting. "Why did I call upon this meeting? Because the biggest members of the alchemy world are asking me how I raised a genius that I never heard the name of. The entire sect will lose its shame if the world knows that some mysterious figure has been impersonating a disciple of the sky heavens sect. Do we even have a disciple by the name Liu Tian?" the alchemy leader, a middle aged man with bushy eyebrows and tough skin, said. "Haha, so this is regarding Liu Tian! I was worried that something important happened, and was ready toe out of the sect even at this sensitive time. But to think that it is something so trivial." Li Tianughed as he shook his head. "What is so funny in what I say, Li Tian? The entire alchemy group has been struggling to raise one genius to rival those of the pill geniuses. He was supposed toe out today, against the Handu Kingdom. But now, with someone else iming to be the chief alchemy disciple, he cannot go anywhere! And with what happened, who would allow my disciple to go with this new one being so talented?" the alchemy leader asked. "So it is about that? Do not worry, alchemy leader. Do not worry. After all, Liu Tian will not be in the spotlight for much longer. Soon enough, more important things will be in y. Many important things wille into y." Li Tian smiled knowingly. "What are you nning, you conniving fox?" another elder cursed at Li Tian. "Although I respect everyone here as my senior, please do not forget that you are talking to the sect leader." Li Tian''s expression turned frigid for a second, before it reverted back to its carefree state. "Many wille to Cairin, but it is not the battlefield that the sect should care about. We should still focus on the imperial capital, two years hence. That is where we need to set our sights on. For now though, we should just let Liu Tian do what he wants." Li Tian said. "Who the hell is he? It sounds like you know him so well?" the elder second from the right said. This elder was a little different from the others. His arms were chained to the chair that he was sitting in, and his entire body bound. This was the second elder. The one that attacked Liu Feng all those months ago. "He is just someone that I picked off the street so that the alchemy division could finally have a chief alchemy disciple. I did not know that you were grooming one all this time." Li Tian smiled and winked at the alchemy head. "Shut up. I know that you were following our every step. Who the hell is this man? No alchemy genius can be found on the road like that. Who are you trying to humiliate here?" the alchemy head roared. "Please, calm down. Like I said before, we do not need to pay much attention to Liu Tian." Li Tian smiled. "I wonder why. Could it be, that he is the son of that traitor, or the son of the person that the royal family hates so much?" the second elder gave a knowing gaze. "If you are, even for a moment, suggesting that Liu Feng is in fact, Liu Tian in disguise, then I cannot believe that anyone could be that stupid." Li Tian startedughing. "Then why would you protect someone so much? And I don''t think that Liu Feng even is in the sect. After he suddenly became number one in the inner sect, he disappeared. What did you do, Li Tian? Did you unfairly give him resources of the sect?" the second elder said coldly. "First of all, I have no idea how he became so strong so fast. And second, if you suggest that someone who was crippled for sixteen years of his life, and then suddenly is an alchemy genius as well as a cultivation genius, then I think you should rethink your position as a nurturer of young geniuses. If you think such an absurdbination exists, then you must think that the heavens are dead then." Li Tian chuckled. "Why not? Why not? Liu Feng is no ordinary person. He is that person''s son, Liu Qian''s foster son, and his gics alone would make him one of the biggest geniuses thisnd has ever seen. I still cannot believe that he was crippled at birth. I think that something happened there-" "I will not care that you are an elder of the sect anymore if you go to that taboo subject. The decree is a decree. No one will dare voice theirints even if they have them." Li Tian''s voice became terrifying at that instant. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 208 Handu Pill Tower, Cairin City. Three young geniuses stood in front of Master Mu. He was clearly worried. Looking outside once or twice, and then back at the three geniuses. "Where the hell is he?" Master Mu muttered. To this, Gu Hua bit her lip, but she did not respond. She might have been responsible for his death, but she wasn''t stupid enough to admit it. The moment that she did, her family would suffer the consequences of killing one of the biggest geniuses that the kingdom had ever seen! "To think that winning would make him so arrogant!" Master Mu cursed. "Forgive me, master, but does brother Fe- I mean, brother Tian know that he has toe to the Pill tower at this time? I don''t think that anyone told him the time or the ce." Bai Zhiqui said. "No one told him? I thought that you went there." Master Mu raised his eyebrows. "I was not told to go, master. I focused on honing my skills so that I could try and defeat my opponent in this pill meet." she said. "All that doesn''t matter. The pill meet won''t be won if that person is not defeated. There is no way that we can win without him. We need all four to have a chance at winning." Master Mu shook his head. "He is just an arrogant person who has no respect for his seniors. He must be punished. He might be a genius, but there surely must be another alchemist that can take his ce." Gu Hua suggested. "How are you so sure that he won''te?" Master Mu red into Gu Hua''s eyes. Just as Gu Hua froze up with terror and fear that she gave herself away, Master Mu looked away, muttering to himself. "How could he be so irresponsible? Wait, is it possible that he took the Xiantian - no, he wouldn''t be so stupid as to take the pill already." Master Mu thought to himself as he kept pacing around. "Forgive me, master, but the sun is already touching the middle needle. I think that it is time that we go." Bai Zhiqui pointed to a time measurement device that this world used. "We should go. I can only hope that hees out of whatever hole he is hiding in and realises that the pill meet is today." Master Mu said. "I knew that I should have said all this after the pill meet with Handu was over. Now, it ising back to bite me." Master Mu cursed. They left the pill tower and went to the arena. Once again, this was an event that was supposed to be celebrated with such pomp and ir that it couldn''t be held anywhere else. This was a gamble that both kingdoms took. One of them would be dered the victor, and that kingdom would win face, reputation, and would have one thing superior to the other. So both kingdoms would bring their A-game to this event. The arena buzzed with more excitement than ever before. If the arena during the first pill meet was packed, then this ce could only be described as overflowing. With the Handu and Tiandu showdown, cultivators, ordinary mortals, and alchemists all came to this city to see this incredible performance that was about to be shown to them. The city probably never saw this many people in its lifetime. This same match up only happened once before, and that was in Handu. So, the people of Tiandu finally got their chance to witness a chance at victory first hand. They jumped at it. But the main perpetrator of the entire event, Master Mu, was biting his nails at the entrance. His proud and confident demeanor waspletely gone now. Without his biggest alchemist on the roster, he was no longer sure of victory. In fact, he was not even sure if Tiandu would draw. And if he went down as that alchemist who selected the team that lost against the Handu Kingdom then he would be disgraced and would lose all face. The four people were in the preparation rooms of the arena. Although this was meant to be for warriors who fought in battle, it was furnished to the best extent, making it a very luxurious resting area. The three pill geniuses looked at each other with heavy hearts. This was the first time that such heavy expectations stood on top of them. They were also expected to win, and couldn''t afford to give it away. "Our opponent. You said that one person will be almost impossible to defeat if we don''t have Liu Tian. Who is he? For you to not have confidence on your own disciple." Ding Yan asked. "Thepetition that will happen now will happen four rounds. And every round is basically a test in itself. me control, me Division, Medicinal Herb extraction, and pill formation. The first three, they will be close battles. But the fourth, in the fourth round, they are bound to drop Han Dingsun, the seventh prince of Handu. The biggest alchemy genius Handu has seen, ever." Master Mu said with a foreboding tone. "The biggest alchemist that Handu had seen ever? Isn''t that an overstatement? In the hundreds of years that Handu had stood, there hasn''t been a single alchemist who was as talented?" Ding Yan asked, skeptical. At this moment, the silent Gu Hua stirred. "Han Dingsun. The genius that has a chance to enter the Ancient Realms. I don''t think that anything else needs to be said." she whispered, but even then, she felt shivers. "The genius that has a chance to enter the Ancient Realms? That is a big im, Gu Hua. Who said this?" Ding Yan asked. "Every single alchemist who has seen this mad freak perform alchemy." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 209 Tiandu Vs Handu The words that Master Mu said put the geniuses in a daze. Especially Bai Zhiqui. In the years that she had been with her master, she never saw her give that sort of praise to anyone. They were in the same daze when they entered the arena as they were told. The crowd cheered hard enough to put them out of it and they all returned to the moment. Opposite to them, three young men stood solemnly in front of their furances. The fires were already burning, and they were getting ready for whatever round came for them. ring at them, the three geniuses took their positions as well. On either side though, surprisingly, one person was missing. It was impossible for Master Mu to find a suitable recement for Liu Tian, and as for the person missing from the Handu Kingdom, it was not known who it was yet. Ding Yan leaned towards Gu Hua and asked, "Which one is Han Dingsun?" Gu Hua did not respond to him though. She just snorted in reply. "Put your ego aside for a day. This is an important moment, and we have to be a team. Otherwise, there will be absolutely no way for us to beat our opponents." he said. "He isn''t here." finally, after this convincing, Gu Hua said. Bai Zhiqui also heard this, and nodded. She also never saw Han Dingsun before, and was curious to see who this extraordinary genius was. "Haha! People of Tiandu! Today, we are going to make things a little easier for mu friend Qingshan here. He already struggled to keep things going when the pill meet of Tiandu happened. So I will help you all here. This day is important. Two kingdoms and their geniuses will learn from each other and everyone can observe this disy of talent!" a middle aged man stood up and said. p His voice reached everyone in the arena with ease, and all of them scoffed at what he said. The two kingdoms came here to learn from each other? What a joke. Every one knew that this was nothing but a mere gesture at saving face of whoever was about to lose. They were still neighboring kingdoms, and no one wanted to go to war. But the fact remained that this was apetition between the two kingdoms, and whoever would win would have the finalugh. "The pillpetition will be happening in four rounds. The first round is me control. One person from each kingdom cane forward to participate in this trial." the middle aged man said. The entire arena cheered, but there was a lot of discussion as well. The most obvious thing of all, was that the two most important people of the entire meet were missing. "Where are thest alchemists of the kingdoms?" "I don''t know! I came all the way here because I heard that Liu Tian is a match for Han Dingsun ording to the people who were here in the pill meet. I am skeptical of that, but they both aren''t here!" "Why are the two most important alchemists not here? I came here to see Han Dingsun perform alchemy in the way that he does it, but all that talk about Liu Tian made me curious. Still, where are they?" "This is pointless. Having a pill meet where the strongest alchemists of each kingdom isn''t present, are they trying to make thispetition a joke?" another spected. But one thing waspletely unanimous among everyone: They wanted to see the two geniuses of each kingdom go against each other. To the side, a ck robed man was chuckling at the discussions that were happening. He was looking at the proceedings as well. "A bit idiotic, don''t you think? Comparing some upstart to someone who is such a groundbreaking alchemy genius like you?" The ck robed man did not turn around, but he just nodded slightly. "Truly idiotic. That man is just someone who got there by look, whilst you are someone who is hailed as a genius who can even enter the Ancient Realms?" Now, the ck robed man turned around. It was clear that this was Han Dingsun. "Who are you?" Han Dingsun asked, looking at the simrly dressed mystery man who managed to see through his identity in just a nce. "I did not think that such a young alchemist could enter the Xiantian stage. Once again, you prove to me that you are above all those who are on the stage right now." the mystery man chuckled. They locked eyes for a second, and Han Dingsun also chuckled. "You were also bored of the show that they put for this?" he asked. "You and me are very different. You are the prince of Handu. You want to win. Meanwhile, I am the person they want to rely on, when one of their teammates tried to kill me." the mystery man sighed. "I see. Are you trying to sell yourself to Handu?" Han Dingsun asked. This was no longer a joke, but a serious question. "No. I would rather not downgrade myself that much. I am a man of principle. You might be bored, but I am here because I do not want to go there and stay in that ce with those filthy rats. Of course, when the timees, I will have to show myself along with you." the mystery man was also clear now. It was Liu Feng, or rather, Liu Tian. "Fine then. Whatever you say." Han Dingsun shook his head and continued to look at the round that was about to start. A thin man with beady eyes took the stage from Handu, while Gu Hua stepped up in the case of Tiandu. "Well, all of this is still boring, no matter where you watch from. I''ll be going then." Liu Feng said and he headed back where he came from. Ping! Ping! [New Story Quest! Defeat Han Dingsun in Pill Battle.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 210 Han Dingsun The moment that Liu Feng saw this message, he turned around to look at Han Dingsun. So did he. They turned at the same time, and looked at each other carefully. But Liu Feng could see something in the edge of Han Dingsun''s eyes. He was looking at something elsepletely. He was looking at what Liu Feng was looking at. "You-" "Shhh" Han Dingsun put his index finger on his mouth. "Do you want everyone to know about it?" he asked. "You are also a host? I should have known. You probably have an alchemy system. Genius my foot." Liu Feng said. "If you put it like that, then yeah. But then again, who are geniuses? They are the people who are blessed by the heavens and are given an easier time understanding certain things. Some of them have heavenly physiques that make them invincible. Aren''t those also cheats? I am a genius because I have been blessed by a system, and so have you. But I did not think there would be another alchemy system." Han Dingsun said. "Another alchemy system? Have you met a few system users elsewhere?" Liu Feng took a step forward so that their conversation remained a little private. Still, he was on full alert, because even a single move by Han Dingsun would injure him. "Do not think that I would attack you. After all, I have a mission toplete, don''t I? I need to defeat you in a pill battle. It will be quite the showdown. A battle between systems." Han Dingsun chuckled. "You haven''t answered my first question. Did you meet any system users elsewhere? How many are there?" Liu Feng asked. "I met a few here and there. I was sent to this ce, I think you were too. But it was doable. I could survive and get out. It seems like all of this is quite the show, keeping the fighting bulls well shaped and fed." Han Dingsun said. "If there are so many system users here, then I have no doubt that there will be more outside, probably in these ancient realms." Liu Feng said. "I am sure there will be. Oh! It looks like Handu wins the first round!" Han Dingsun said as he looked down upon the arena. Gu Hua looked at her opponent with shock. She was utterly defeated in this round, even though she waspletely sure of herself. But she collected herself together and went back to where she sat. "I lost because of that damned Liu Tian. He distracted me that day, and the internal injuries have persisted since." she said. Even though she was so far away, everyone here was a cultivator, and could hear her clearly. They knew that these were mere excuses, and she was trying to save a little face. "It seems like you have your fair share of enemies already. I think you were a little unlucky when you came here?" Han Dingsunughed. "A little unlucky? You were reincarnated as a prince. The seventh prince of Handu. You had avish life. Me, I was reincarnated as an idiot son who was crippled." Liu Feng gnashed his teeth when he thought about how bad his circumstances of reincarnation were." "And the first battle will go to Handu! It was a spectacr battle, and every alchemist here knows that the two contestants have given their best. But our very own has inched by." the middle aged man announced with fervor. Why wouldn''t he be happy when Handu was in an upper leg? "And as for the next battle of pill fire formations, pleasee forward from both teams." he said. Liu Feng still had no idea what all these tests were. He just controlled the me like the system told him to. He did not know what else was there. And he certainly did not understand what pill fire formations entailed. This time around, Bai Zhiqui stepped forward while another young man from Handu stepped up. "It seems like your kingdom is full of beauties in the alchemy field. You are so luckypared to me. Everydy in alchemy who happens to be beautiful is rare found, and has a terrible temperament." Han Dingsun sighed. "So is the case here." Liu Feng shook his head. "So is the case here." The two took out there furnaces whichid bare open. The trial had started and Liu Feng looked keenly as to what was happening. The pill fire within the furnace started expanding, and it started splitting. One pill fire became two. Two became four. And soon, the entire arena was lit up with pill fires. "So they are literally making pill fires? What kind of stupid ideology is this? If there is a pill battle, it is supposed to be a simple pill battle. It should be one pill and whoever can make it better should win." Liu Feng muttered. "I agree. All these arepletely unnecessary, but time is of the essence. We need to get back to the kingdom by tomorrow." Han Dingsun said. "Really? Why?" Liu Feng asked. "That must remain a secret for now." Han Dingsun smiled knowingly. Liu Feng shook his head and looked at the arena once more. The number of pill fires was frightening. While there were thirty two on the side of Handu, Bai Zhiqui had a mind boggling ny six! "It looks like we win this round." Liu Feng smiled. "How can you be so sure? The battle is not over yet. It is only over once they are able to create a pill on all the fires simneusly. They will probably make a Qi Supplement Pill of the lowest grade as it is the easiest to make." Han Dingsun said. "It is not over yet? Then why did she make so many pill fires? She could just do a few more than her opponent right?" Liu Feng was surprised. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 211 To Put On A Display "Well, what can I do? It is her choice, isn''t it? If she wants to put on a show, then who am I to stop her?" Han Dingsunughed. "Put on a show huh?" Liu Feng chuckled as he kept looking. Everyone around in the stands was already murmuring, having the same question that Liu Feng did. To win against that man, all Bai Zhiqui needed to do was make more pill than him in general. She did not need to put on a show this big. But she did, and it was something that Liu Feng was willing to enjoy. He needed the battle to go on until it reached the fourth round and that meant that one person had to win. He had no confidence in any of them because all of them were people who lost against him. For someone who lost against him, a person who did not even practice alchemy that much, he did not have high hopes for. Still, he kept watching, hoping that a miracle would ur. Both the alchemists took out a bunch of medicinal ingredients from their spatial rings. With a snap of her wrists, Bai Zhiqui sent all the herbs into the ny six pill fires that were created around her furnace. One by one, the herbs turned into essence, but they hovered in thin air, as if they were levitating. This was by the effect of Qi, and it was probably taking all the concentration that Bai Zhiqui had. The same situation was seen in the case of the man from Handu, but it was just a lesser load. Liu Feng could only see one use case of this type of pill refining that was for sheer speed. If an alchemist was managing a whole force of his own, then he would use this pill refining technique. All of a sudden, sounds appeared. These wereing from the alchemist from Handu. He was finishing his pill refinement much quicker than Bai Zhiqui. One by one, pills from the pill fires started flying into his furnace. Soon, the fires dimmed down, and thirty one pills flew into his furnace. One of them was not condensed, and had burned too much, causing it to be a failure. Still, it was amendable achievement. "I did not think that Handu had so many pill geniuses. I thought that Han Dingsun was their biggest pill genius, but it looks like they have geniuses who match the pill genius. If only our own was not so arrogant as to think that she could pull ny six refinements at once." one experienced alchemist from the audience sighed and said. Bai Zhiqui could probably hear all of this, but she just did not pay any attention to it. In fact, if she was paying attention to it, then she would have failed all of these refinements already. Sweat was dripping from her face as she carefully made a few hand signs. Liu Feng could see that many of the pills were forming inside the pill fires. Both of them were making the Qi Supplement pill, truly the easiest pill to make. It was probably the first pill that humans knew how to make. The ingredients used to make them were verymon, and any alchemist could just perform its alchemy with ease. It was clear that the difficulty level rose sharply here because of the number of pills they were trying to make at once. "Doing it like this is just stupid. The best number of pill fires is definitely three. That way, the medicinal essence will not be wasted, and every pill fire will have a yield of three pills or even more with less than a tenth of the time that they took." Liu Feng noted, deciding that if he was ever in a situation where he wanted to take in arge group of people, this was what he would do. Ding! Ding! Sessively, the pill fires around Bai Zhiqui started disappearing, and pills were flying from them into her furnace. Liu Feng counted the pills that wereing in, and in a minute, they crossed thirty two. Bai Zhiqui definitely defeated her opponent with that now. But she was not done yet. The pills kepting in, and all the alchemists who hadined before all shut their mouths. That was because with this now, they had no reason to say anything. She had proven that she was the better alchemist by a whole mile. Thest pill fire remained, but it did not just disappear. Bai Zhiqui rose her arm, and the pill fire slowly moved to the furnace, where she started performing a few hand seals. The runes on the pill furnace started lighting up, and someone stood up in shock. "That furnace, that furnace is definitely a treasure! Master Mu is definitely exorbitant with his disciples." the alchemist who stood up said. Liu Feng was a little intrigued by this. Bai Zhiqui definitely recognized the furnace that he had, which was apparently quite precious and she left it because she had another that was fated for her. Ding! Thest sound was crisp and gave a clear sound of victory. The pill that came out shone with a dazzling light, and everyone who looked at it nodded with appreciation. "An eighty percent purity, Master Mu raised a good disciple." someone nodded. "Such a disy. It is not a shame to lose against such an alchemist. I am astonished that Master Mu has such a personal disciple." the middle aged man stood up and smiled. Once again, his words were tactful and simple. He made light of the victory of Tiandu by stating that Bai Zhiqui was just too talented, and that the loss of Handu meant nothing. But who could do anything about it? While the young geniuses from Tiandu had the support of the entire kingdom which came for this, the Handu kingdom had nothing at all. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 212 The Third Battle With that, Bai Zhiqui nodded and she collected her furnace to step back to her ce. The entire arena was reeling with shock at what they had observed just now. What took ce was no longer a simple showdown between to young alchemists. It was just a show is simple domination. Not even an experienced alchemist dared to say that he or she could perform ny six refinements at once. Forgetpleting all of them perfectly, having a yield of half was considered excellent before this battle. But Bai Zhiqui just stepped up, and in this bustling ce with a lot of distraction in front of her, she was able to do exactly that, and with perfect yield. And at the end, the final pill that came out was even a pill of such great purity! This was the show of a genius who wanted to tell everyone that she was not to be trifled with. After her loss in the pill meet a few days ago, people were beginning to doubt that the title of the three pill geniuses even had a reason to stand anymore. With this, she just proved that she was a genius like no other. Even Liu Feng had to nod with appreciation to what he just saw. She did something that even he probably couldn''t do. Liu Feng had never tried toy his concentration thin during pill refinement on purpose! Now, he wanted to try this immediately, but the circumstances forced him to stop. He nced at Han Dingsun to see if he had any reaction. But Han Dingsun just stood there emotionless, ring at the pill meet. In his eyes though, Liu Feng saw a hint of emotion. Was it surprise? No, it was not something like that. There was anger, and rage. He was fuming with anger, because his fellow teammates could notplete a perfect win. Liu Feng could understand what Han Dingsun was feeling. Although he himself was not arrogant enough to expect a perfect win out of apetition like this, he knew that having to depend on teammates who were unreliable was a pain. Seeing Gu Hua, that wretch, losing, made him want to kill her a little more. But then again, the best way to make her suffer was to win next. By winning, she would be the one to lose and disgrace the Tiandu Kingdom. "For that to happen, that Ding Yan should win. I certainly hope that he wins. If only his capabilities are as good as his stupid words." Liu Feng thought inside as he looked on, leaning to the walls on the side. "For the next round, which is extracting medicinal essences, please step forward, contestants from both kingdoms." the middle aged man said, but he could only wryly smile. At this moment, it became painfully aware that the two biggest alchemists on either side were missing. They had skipped this meeting in the eyes of all the audience, and that only med spection. "Maybe they think that this pill meet is too boring. You see how arrogant alchemists are these days. They won''t even care for the reputation of the kingdom that they are a part of." one of the cultivators who hade to watch thispetition voiced his opinion. This only helped enrage the alchemists who were sitting around him. "We are growing too arrogant? What is cultivation without alchemy. If it weren''t for the pills that you had taken, you wouldn''t be so strong." one alchemist scoffed. "And you were only able to make these pills because of your attainment in cultivation. Alchemy is just a side branch of cultivation." "Take that back!" Seeing the discussion of themselves turning into a fight and debate of martial and alchemy paths, Liu Feng shook his head with disappointment. It embarrassed him that he was a part of the same kingdom as those muscle heads. "Please calm down as the third round is starting." the middle aged man hastily said, stopping the fight before it went any further. Ding Yan and thest man from the Handu Kingdom stepped up. They took out each other''s alchemy furnaces and put on their pill fires. The furnace of the man from Handu was already heated, because of the preparations that they had done beforehand. Liu Feng frowned for a bit. "Apetition like this, shouldn''t it be of speed? Why didn''t Ding Yan do all of this before hand?" Liu Feng wondered. "He should just be happy that our member is just too arrogant that he won''t start until your member is done heating the furnace. This is a battle of face, not of true capabilities." Han Dingsun said. "I said that out loud?" Liu Feng quickly put his mouth closed. He did not realise that he was thinking out loud. And in the meantime, Ding Yan was ready. In both the opponents hands, there was a spatial ring with the impurities. "I wonder, why do they have to do this? Why do they have to go through all of this? They can just do a one versus one, a battle of the best of each kingdom. Why else did they have a pill meeting a few days ago?" Han Dingsun sighed as he said. "Your kingdom is full of cowards." Liu Feng did not even refute that im. He no longer had any good thoughts towards this Master Mu who tried to poison him with that vicious pill. The pill ingredients flew into the furnace, and both the alchemists started performing a few hand signs to activate the runes on the side of the furnace from the get go. No alchemist would do this normally, as it required a lot of qi, and it was only suitable to do this when the pill formation was ending so as to conserve Qi. But as the goal of thispetition was not to make a pill, but a battle of speed, they went ahead and did it anyway. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 213 One Final Battle "What! How is this possible? I lost?" Two minutester, the man from Handu fell on the ground to his knees with utter shock. Meanwhile, Han Dingsun cracked his knuckles. "So this is how the Tiandu kingdom wants to y this. You want to win just based on a good furnace? Fine then. I will show all of you how a good pill is made." Han Dingsun said. "Don''t me me for it. It is not like he was told to use his best furnace or something. It just so happened that he was a part of one of the richer families, and that got him a good furnace. Why do you want to me all of us for that?" Liu Feng chuckled. With this, thepetition was in favor of the Tiandu Kingdom, and even if thest match was a loss, they would tie. It was the second best position for the kingdom to be in, and the entire arena was feeling it. "The third round has ended, and the Tiandu Kingdom now has two rounds while Handu has won one. Thisst round is the decider. But it looks like the alchemists from both sides are missing." the middle aged man said. "It is time for us to enter now." Liu Feng said. "I have very high expectations for you. This is the first time that I am going against another system user. Until now, it has all been flowery and rosy. But I expect great thingsing from another alchemy based system user." Han Dingsunughed. Liu Feng did not what to say. This match was not an even ying field. This world was not an even ying field for him anymore. Every single one of the system users had their own specialty, while his own system seemed like a jack of all trades master of none. And the fact that his opponent had an alchemy system only tensed him a little bit more. Thest person he saw with an alchemy system was You Feng. And Liu Feng still had not seen that person perform alchemy, but it was safe to say that he was a master considering that he became a branch leader of a pill tower. That was not an easy thing to do, especially for someone that young. For Liu Feng to match someone who was going to be of that realm in making pills, he would need to bring in his A-game. Both of them jumped from where they stood and hovered in the air for a few moments so that everyone could see them. Then, theynded in the center of the arena for everyone to see them. "That is Liu Tian! He is here!" "And is the person next to him Han Dingsun? Why are they together?" "Could it be that they actually know each other? That is why they were missing right now?" "They were at the same ce talking to each other. I did not think that they were Han Dingsun and Liu Tian but they were definitely talking to each other in the corner!" The entrance of these two shook the entire arena. They roared at the entry of the supposed best of each kingdom, looking forward to what was going to happen next. Liu Feng smiled as he faced the Tiandu delegation. In particr, he looked at Gu Hua. "So then, it looks like our previous conversation was cut short. You just disappeared all of a sudden. Did you run away? What happened to that person that you brought with you? I wonder how you can exin why you just left him and ran." Liu Fengughed as he started taunting her. "The first elder! What happened to him? Don''t tell me! Did you dare do anything to him?" Gu Hua''s face was drained of any blood. She went out of her way and asked the Gu family to bring a big shot like the first elder because she wanted to deal with the person who dared embarrass her and drop her down from one of the three geniuses to just number four in the entire kingdom. But things did not go as nned. When the first elder tried to scour through the memories of Liu Feng, a roar shook her, and she ran from that ce, leaving them immobile and defenseless bodies of both Liu Feng and the first elder to anyone''s mercy. Now, seeing one had survived, it was obvious that the other one had not. "Me? What did I do? I was just in my room when someone happened to attack me. I defended myself, but as I was against a Xiantian realm expert, I faced a few injuries and when I woke up, he was nowhere to be seen." This was not even close to the real story, but who knew? No one could tell a different tale, and with Liu Tian saying all of this out loud, it was even audible to the rest of the arena. It was pretty clear from this exchange that the Gu family sent someone to attack Liu Tian, the apparent genius of the Tiandu Kingdom. "What is this? Gu Hua? You tried to kill Brother Tian?" Ding Yan stood up and asked the question that was bothering everyone. "I- I-" Gu Hua could not even respond. What could she do? She was never in a situation like this, and always had someone next to her to help her out. Never was she faced with a situation where she could face any problem. And her Gu family could not help her this time. "What is going on here? Are we going to continue with the alchemy battle, or are we going to squabble about someone who did not even die?" Han Dingsun was irritated. "Sorry about that, but I have to exact my revenge on someone who tried to kill me. But for you, just for you, I will put that matter aside and continue with the pill battle." Liu Feng smiled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 214 Pill Battle Han Dingsun nodded and he nced at the middle aged man. Shivering a little bit, showing that he was himself afraid of this seventh prince, the middle aged man looked at the rest of the arena. "The alchemists on both sides have arrived and it is time to see who is the superior alchemist among the two of them. This will not be a specialized battle, but rather, a normal pill battle between both of them. The pill that they will make, however, will be up to their own choice, and the ingredients for that pill will be provided by the pill tower of Cairin city." the middle aged man said. "This time, will I be able to keep my pill, the pill that I made with such difficulty? If not, I will use my own ingredients to make the pill. I do not want to give the pill to someone else this time around." Liu Feng said. Now, he was not willing to be used. He trusted Master Mu, but he was backstabbed in return. He did not want to help the enemy any longer. "Of course, the pill that you create will be yours. Why would it be anything but?" the middle aged man said. Looking at the change in expression of Master Mu, it was clear that the middle aged man said this without the permission of Master Mu. Now that the pill was not the property of Cairin City, they would obviously face a huge loss. "Huge loss my foot. I gave them enough profit for them to prostate in front of me. And this one event must have brought in enough money for them that they don''t need to worry about the paltry ingredients that I use now." Liu Feng scoffed. He felt no guilt when he started scouring his memories to look for a good and extremely difficult pill to make. Right now, he could not afford to lose, and choosing the right pill would be essential. Seeing that his opponent was in the Xiantian stage, there was no doubt that Han Dingsun would choose a Xiantian stage pill to make, and that would only put Liu Feng at a disadvantage. The only way to match that pill was to make his own of the peak level in the Nascent Soul realm, as well as make it of extremely high purity. "You know what? I will risk it all. Screw the pill battle. He dared to cheat me out of the Xiantian Advancement pill, now I will make his eyes burn." Liu Feng decided and started listing down a few ingredients. But this list quickly escted, until it turned into hundreds! This one list had enough ingredients to make multiple pills, not just one type. "Master Mu. Please help me get these pills." Liu Feng smiled as he shot the paper forward to Master Mu, who was still in the arena. "And bring my ingredients too. If you can''t find one or two of them though, I wouldn''t be surprised. After all, they are difficult to find." Han Dingsun said with an arrogant look on his face as he shot his paper forward to Master Mu as well. The moment that Han Dingsun stepped onto the arena, his temperament waspletely different. He changed from a calm person to an arrogant young master who wasr ordering people around. It made Liu Feng wonder which side of him was the real him. "These ingredients... we have." Master Mu said after a huge pause. Looking at both lists, his heart bled with pain. These ingredients indeed existed inside the pill tower, but only after years of collecting and storing them. These were the most precious treasures of the tower, and seeing them used not for profit, but just giving them away, made Master Mu sigh with regret. But the moment he looked through Liu Feng''s list, he shook his head. "Why does he have to be so arrogant? He wants to make that pill? He will fail utterly without enough Qi to go forward. It looks like thepetition will end with a tie." Master Mu sighed. But he knew that that would not be the case. The entire arena knew. This battle was not a battle to see who would win or whether it would be a draw. Compared to the other battles, this one would be more important. All those other battles were just a simple test. This one, however, was a battle between the biggest geniuses of the two kingdoms. This one was a true pill battle. Whoever won this battle was the better alchemist, and whichever kingdom would win this battle, could truly im to have defeated the other. The stakes on this were too high, and Liu Feng just chose a pill that was much, much above his level of refinement in Master Mu''s opinion. Right now, the battle was lost for all intents and purposes, and the ingredients that he was sending Liu Feng''s way were all going to be wasted away. After a few minutes, two spatial rings appeared in the twopetitors'' hands. These contained the ingredients that were required for their pills. "I know that you are going to take a lot of time, so I suggest that you take a look at my method and widen your horizon." Han Dingsun smiled and he snapped his fingers. A golden furnace appeared in front of him. Just looking at the furnace, Liu Feng felt a simr feeling. The feeling he had when he used his ethereal weapon. "This is an item from the system shop." Liu Feng understood. "Wait a minute. The etheral weapon, shouldn''t it be able to change into anything? What would happen if I try and change it to a furnace?" Liu Feng wondered, but he put that thought away. Maybe he would try thatter, but for now, he had to do what he already knew. He took out the furnace he used for thest few weeks. He took out the furnace of the Medicine Spirit Sect. One of the nine furnaces. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 215 The Surprising Outcome Two people, two furnaces faced each other. The wind blew amidst them, and the two system users looked at each other with bated breaths. No one knew what the other was going to prepare, and no one knew what woulde next. But, they had to prepare for the worst toe. Thest time when Liu Feng had a story quest, the penalty upon failure was death. And before that, when he actually failed a story quest, he lost a level, which could have been put to a better task. "Let the match, begin!" the middle aged man dered, and the two furnaces opened immediately. Spirit fires burned fiercely and the furnaces were heated up. Liu Feng had no reason to look at the way that Han Dingsun performed his alchemy. In fact, he did not even want to. He cut off all his senses and just focused on what he was doing, because he did not want to lose even an ounce of concentration. Right now, he was about to make a pill that would help himter in the future as well, and it would also give him the win if he was able toplete it. He took the subsidiary herbs and ingredients and tossed them into the furnace. With his rudimentary control over divine sense, he was able to separate them all with rtive ease. It appeared that ever since that incident with the old man in the Xiantian Realm who had attacked his spirit sea, his divine sense had gotten much stronger than before. Now, he was able to control small objects, and here was a clear use of that feature. The herbs vaporized and formed their medicinal essences almost immediately. But the refinement process did not even count as getting started yet. He was still in the very beginning. There were a hundred ingredients in this one refinement, and to make sure that all of them were separated in their essence form was almost impossible. No alchemist had enough Qi to separate them all unless they were in the Xiantian stage or above. Although divine sense could work, and it was indeed more efficient, no one had a divine sense strong enough to control a hundred different ingredients. No one beneath the Xiantian realm, at least. Except for Liu Feng. One by one, the medicinal essences were taking up a lot of space, but they were neatly separated by Liu Feng''s divine sense, which carefully made every division just right. With each passing minute, the number of herbs he was controlling at once was increasing, and the number of herbs he had left was decreasing. But at the ending, Liu Feng knew that the final struggle of the first leg woulde. It was time to add the main ingredients. In the case of the pill that Liu Feng was making, the main ingredient was a monster core of a Xiantian realm monster: the silver backed tyrant tiger. A rare beast that was almost never found, and almost always a menace when cultivators faced it. But now, the core of that Silver Backed Tyrant Tiger was sitting in Liu Feng''s palm. He threw it into the furnace, and the furnace roared. The remainder of the tiger''s will tried to strike at Liu Feng. Prepared for this, Liu Feng immediately snapped his hands and the Yuan Principle started suppressing the remnant will. This was very consuming, and beads of sweat were already forming on Liu Feng''s face. That was even before the main refinement even started. But just when it seemed like Liu Feng was about to just fail the refinement here and now, the spiritual root deep within the spirit sea started stirring. Liu Feng felt a rejuvenating flow of energy throughout his entire body, and the monster core of the silver backed tyrant tiger was slowly removed of its impurities. The gray colored monster core had turned into a lustrous silver, and it shone inside the furnace. Pity that there was no audience to witness this spectacle. And with this monster corepletely purified, Liu Feng started preparing himself for the refinement process. The essences all around the furnace started gravitating towards the monster core, and merging with it, forming one whole. Meanwhile, on Han Dingsun''s end, he was leisurely going about his pill refinement process. Without a doubt, he was refining a pill that was meant for a Xiantian Stage expert. Just by refining this pill alone, he would be considered a seven star pill elder, on the cusp of bing a pill king. But that was not the point. He needed to win. Just thinking back to the time that he identally lost a battle before because he was overconfident, he shuddered. That time, when he failed that story quest, the bacsh that he faced was frightening. Now, he could no longer afford to do that. His first stage was alreadyplete, and he was entering the second stage of the pill refinement, just like Liu Feng. At this moment, he did something that got him his reputation as the genius that was capable of going to the Ancient Realms. "System, activate pill refinement process." he whispered. Immediatley, the essences within his furnace started dancing, and they escaped the furnace to fly up. They made a cylindrical column around the furnace, with the chief ingredient hovering right above the furnace. Then, all the essences started fluttering towards the chief ingredient and merged with it. Slowly the color of the pill was changing, but one thing was certain, the pill was being made. "What is this sorcery? Is this even alchemy anymore?" one alchemist looked at this with shock. After all, this was just not humanely possible! Even the one who was doing this was the system, not Han Dingsun. Liu Feng heard all these shouts, but his eyes did not waver. He was not going to get distracted. Rumble! Or so he thought. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 216 Pill Tribulation Liu Feng''s eyes shook a little, but he still put his head down and concentrated on his furnace. But no longer did he let the progress of his opponent evade him. The pill formation of Han Dingsun was already over! And the pill that was made was so advanced that the heavens themselves did not approve of such a pill to exist. Hence, the heavens decided to send down lightning to strike down and destroy the pill. The skies grew dark, and lightning was visible from the ground. Han Dingsun smiled as he looked up. "I am done. Now, all that is left is the final stretch. Come. I will show you that I am not afraid of you!" he shouted at the clouds. Meanwhile, the audience was already blown away but the incredible show that Han Dingsun had put on with his unorthodox and heaven defying method of pill refinement, now they were even more shocked that the pill was capable of bringing forth a tribtion! p! A bright sh of light, followed by a thunderous roar echoed in the surroundings when the lightning hit the pill that was hovering over the furnace of Han Dingsun. That impact would be enough to injure many cultivators, let alone a simple pill that had no protection at all. It would disintergrate into nothingness unless someone protected the pill. "Haha! You viinous heaven! Did you think that something as small as that would be able to destroy a pill that I made?" Han Dingsunughed out loud with arrogance as he red at the clouds. But the clouds began to part. Just one striketer, the heavens decided that the pill was allowed to exist. Han Dingsun grabbed the pill and put it inside a jade bottle, before ncing at Liu Feng. "You should just give up at this point. After hearing the lighting, you should know what you are up against. Just when he was about to say something else, the sky turned dark again. "What happened? I thought that the heavens allowed the pill to exist? I thought that he passed the tribtion?" someone shouted from the audience. "Never in my life have I heard about the heavens sending a second tribtion. Something must be wrong." Even Han Dingsun was shocked. That was because he knew this tribtion was not for him. This tribtion was for Liu Feng''s pill! "System. Equip title, Child of Dao." Liu Feng whispered. The sky rumbled. Liu Feng looked up for the first time to see that the dark clouds had covered the sky till his eyes could see! The entire city was covered in these tribution clouds. It looked like the heavens were not joking around. They did not want this pill to exist at all. And he totally understood that. Because the pill that was in his hands, it was something that was too precious and heaven defying to be allowed to exist. He popped a few pills into his mouth immediately, because he needed as much Qi as possible to resist what wasing. Sparks of lightning were visible on the tribtion clouds, dancing among them like dragons and phoenixes. The entire sky, dark as it was, had brief shes of light that threatened tosh out. Liu Feng''s face was solemn, and he closed the furnace. This was the final level of defence that he would have. "Come. I am ready!" he whispered. And as if the clouds themselves heard that, a pir of lightning, about the thickness of an arm, suddenly struck down towards the furnace. But before it could even reach the pill, Liu Feng intercepted it with his own attack. The flowing cloud spear tried to divert this mass of energy. However, he had seriously underestimated this single attack. This was something that was meant to be taken care of Xiantian level alchemists. Even though he was a cultivator, that did not mean that he was stronger than a Xiantian realm alchemist! His arms felt numb as the spear that appeared in his hands started shaking. Although it remained intact, the lightning strike just refused to get deflected away. "Third form!" The bolt finally bulged, and it darted to the side, vaporizing into nothingness. "Thank god! I am done." Liu Feng was about to sigh with relief, when he noticed something. Unlike before, when the tribtion clouds had simply parted away after one strike, the clouds still remained. There were still sparks of lightning that were visible. Everyone looked at this, and they lost their minds. An alchemist at the Nascent Soul realm being able to create a pill that was going through a tribtion was already shocking enough. Now, it already went through one strike, and the tribtion hadn''t ended yet? That meant something very clear. The pill that Liu Feng made was better than the one that Han Dingsun made. "How can this be? I thought that Han Dingsun was a monster in himself, but it looks like there was a slumbering dragon amidst us that we didn''t notice!" "More than one strike? Can he withstand it?" another said with a worry. Liu Feng also looked up with worry. Layers of ice barriers formed above the furnace, forming make shift shields. His ethereal spear also changed into a shield without anyone noticing. They just thought that he had one lying around. The clouds shed brighter, as if signaling to Liu Feng that they were going to strike again. "Ethereal Shield Art! Fifth Form! Undying Barrier!" A lightning bolt the thickness of a steel beam this time crushed the ice barriers with ease and struck the shield that Liu Feng was forming. The defensive power was all concentrated on one point in the shield, unlike the other forms in the shield art. This was a form designed to defend against swift pierces like this one. Liu Feng''s heels dug to the ground, but the lightning bolt also swiftly disappeared, as if it was giving way to him. "Thank god! It has to be done now." Liu Feng sighed with relief as he looked at the sky. But the clouds did not bulge. This time, the sparks in the sky only grew in intensity. "You have got to be kidding me." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 217 The Third Strike "What?!!!" Everyone in the arena unanimously shouted with shock and disbelief. A young generation alchemist had just created a pill that hadsted two strikes of the tribtion, and the tribtion was not even over yet. Han Dingsun had an ugly look on his face. He knew that he lost this fight, and it was no longer even close. He thought that he seeded when he saw the tribtion approach, but who would think that such a thing would happen? "The heavens hate me. I thought that the child of dao meant something, but to think that they want to mercilessly cut down what I painstakingly tried to create." Liu Feng sighed. But he had to intention to resign. His shield up, he was ready for this third strike. The furnace also rumbled beneath him, as if it also wanted to try and withstand this tribtion lightning. [System advises Host to let the furnacepletely take the tribtion lighting, as it would be helpful to the furnace to recoverpletely.] "Wait, what?" Liu Feng waspletely surprised and confused about this sudden suggestion from the system. But since it was the system that said this, and not anyone else, he decided to go with it. He lowered his shield, and the furnace was left wide open for the lightning to hit. p! The lightning struck down. This time, it was not evenparable to the previous two strikes of lightning. This time, the lightning was as thick as the huge furnace itself. And seeing that huge power hit the furnace, all the bystanders were also shocked that Liu Feng did not try to defend this strike. "Well, what can we do. He is just in the Nascent soul realm. He must be exhausted already for creating a pill of that caliber. It is a pity that it cannot be salvaged anymore. This is the true pill genius of this generation. Han Dingsun maybe a once in a millennium genius, but this Liu Tian is certainly bigger than that." someone sighed andmented. But Liu Feng looked at the furnace, letting the dust settle down. He waited to see what the state of the furnace was, after it took a straight attack of lightning. The furnace was finally visible after a few moments, and seeing the furnace still intact, and evenpletely unharmed, the audience, and everyone in the entire arena, in fact, were surprised for the fifth time that day. "How the hell did that happen? A furnace can resist a lightning strike? How is that possible?" one of them shouted with shock. "This cannot be possible! Wait a minute! Doesn''t that mean that the pill is still intact? Show us the pill! What pill did you make?" "Show us the pill!" "Yeah! That''s right! Show us the pill!" Everyone was shouting, curious to see what pill Liu Feng could possibly make to cause a tribtion like that. To that, Liu Feng smiled and nced at Han Dingsun. Ping! [Story questplete. Host will be rewarded with one level of cultivation.] "You lost. I wonder what kind of penalty you got." Liu Feng said. "I lost. It appears that I was overconfident this time around. But I wonder how your alchemy system is so much different than mine. How is it that you have to manually perform the alchemy?" Han Dingsun asked. "Who said that my system was an alchemy system?" Liu Feng smiled and looked at his furnace. Opening it, he took out a single pill. The single pill shone though. It shone bright enough for it to be the center of attraction for everyone around. In the dark sky, with the clouds slowly parting away, everyone could see the pill that Liu Feng was holding up. "It is the Xiantian Advancement Pill! The pill that Master Mu showed us all that day!" someone shouted. "Indeed. It is that very day. But it seems like my pill is just a little better than the others. So I will auction the pill that Master Mu gave me. Whoever is fated to have this pill, will have it." Liu Feng beamed. This was his final n. With this, whoever would take this pill would now hate Master Mu. And anyone who had the capability of buying this pill would have huge backing. Master Mu''s face was drained of any blood. Liu Feng noticed this and shook his head. He reaped what he sow. Putting that golden pill in a jade box, he closed the furnace and looked at the middle aged man, who was also in shock. When the delegation from Handu came here, they were not sure if they would win thispetition. But they were sure that whatever would happen, Han Dingsun would win the pill battle, the most important battle out of them all. But who could have expected that a monster like Liu Feng would havee out of nowhere? "So, are you going to announce the results?" Liu Feng asked. "Yes. Yes. The results. Liu Tian wins this round. Tiandu Kingdom has won thepetition. Tiandu is lucky to have this genius." he nodded quickly and tried to escape from the embarrassing limelight. "The Tiandu kingdom won!" "We won!" p "Forget the three pill geniuses. We just need the one true genius. The one alchemy genius of the Tiandu Kingdom. Liu Tian!" "Liu Tian!" "Liu Tian!" As the entire crowd chanted his name, Liu Feng collected his furnace and calmly turned to look at his own side of thepetition. Even though he was facing Handu in this pillpetition, his true enemies were still behind him. He nced at Gu Hua, who was still struck with shock upon looking at this scene. "So then. Should we settle the score?" Liu Feng smiled as he cracked his knuckles. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 218 Incite The Crowd "What-What are you nning to do?" Gu Hua stepped back with fear. Her petite hands trembled as she thought about the terrible things that he would do to him. But he did something else entirely. He turned to the crowd. "I decided. I will gift this Xiantian Advancement Pill that Master Mu gave me to anyone or any power that will allow me to help get justice from the Gu family. This despicable family tried to kill me right after the pill meet had ended. Imagine what would have happened if I lost? Keep in mind that the only reason that we did not win perfectly was because of Gu Hua. Could it be, that the Gu family is actually working for the Handu Kingdom? Are they all traitors?" Liu Feng started weaving a story of his own. He made absolute sure that everyone heard this pill was made by Master Mu. And as gullible and already incensed as the members in the arena were, they believed it. And who would say no to a Xiantian Advancement Pill? Even the bigger powers could not find one, because it was just too difficult to find an alchemist who could make one. "And, for whoever gets me justice, I will be in their debt, and I will make one or two pills for them as long as they are in my realm of capability. This can be now, or even when I will have crossed the Xiantian realm muchter. Maybe when I cross that realm as well. I am absolutely confident that at time, I will be able to make any pill given the ingredients." Liu Feng started pitching himself to the entire world. As Liu Tian, he had no care. But he was still attacked by the Gu family, and that pissed him off. So, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Gu Hua had to pay the price. "What are you doing? The Gu family is not someone you can afford to offend. Even if you n to bring so many people." Gu Hua stammered. "Not everyone is untouchable, Gu Hua. For one, I am interested in the debt that brother Tian will owe me. If the Ding family swoops in, then will brother Tian considering to our family?" Ding Yan smiled. "No chance. You know that I am a part of the Sky Heavens sect, don''t you? I have a master as well. But, I will owe you one, like I said." Liu Feng refused immediately. "Young Alchemist Tian! I know that you are angry at the Gu family, but calling them a traitor is a bit much, isn''t it? I hope that you can reconsider your offer. In fact, if you don''t need the Xiantian Advancement Pill, then the Pill Tower will be happy to buy it off of you." Master Mu stepped in. "Fine then. I want an Imperial Ranked weapon of my choice, as well as a few ingredients." Liu Feng asked without a flick of hesitation. He was ready with this. He knew that Master Mu would try and buy back the pill somehow, so he had to make then outrageous enough that even if Master Mu bought it back, he would profit immensely off of it. "An Imperial Ranked Weapon? That is a bit out of my reach, isn''t it? And a Xiantian Advancement Pill isn''t worth that much." Master Mu smiled wryly. "Then if you can stomp on the Gu family, the pill is yours. As I said, I need to teach them a lesson. They tried to kill me. I will not sit silently when someone tried to kill me. If someone tried to kill you, Master Mu, will you just let them go?" Liu Feng turned back to Ding Yan. "Brother Yan, do you wish to help me out? I am sure that something like the Gu family is nothing in the eyes of the Ding family. I am also sure that I can help bring you another helper that can take care of the Hong family and put them in check." Liu Feng smiled. "The Hong family? Why would I be worried about them? The tiger from the south is suppressing them so hard that they don''t dare make noise when they breath! They will note out of that tortoise shell that they call a home." Ding Yanughed. Beside them all, seeing a spectacle where everyone was talking about killing her and her family, Gu Hua was almost moved to tears. Liu Feng noticed this and beamed. "If someone else saw this, they would think that I bullied you. I guess you are quite the actor, aren''t you? But do not worry. I will make sure that you die in the worst way possible. The family that you are so proud of, the family that made you so arrogant, I will make sure that I will destroy it somehow." Liu Feng snarled. A white shadow appeared next to Gu Hua and looked at Liu Feng with fear. "Your Uncle Gi. Last time he tried to force me to get up, I think he understood he was no match for me? I still haven''t returned the favor though. I wonder with what confidence you can actually try and face me, especially when I am sure that I became a little stronger than before." Liu Feng started cracking his knuckles once more and stepped forward. "Forgive us, Young Noble. Our youngdy was misguided and wrong in trying to kill you. The elder that had supported her is also dead, and the entire family is aghast that something like this happened without the permission of the sect leader. Please forgive us. We willpensate you for this incident." Uncle Gi knelt on the ground and prostated in front of Liu Feng, to the shock of everyone, especially Gu Hua. "What happened, Uncle Gi? What are you doing?" Gu Hua shrieked. "Shut up and kneel first!" Uncle Gi shouted at Gu Hua. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 219 Give It Back "What are you saying, Uncle Gi? Why would I kneel to this bastard? Someone who dared to disrespect me so much?" Gu Hua clenched the edges of her dress with indignation. "You fool! I knew that I shouldn''t have spoilt you so much! This is the order of the family head! Stop acting spoilt and do what I say!" Uncle Gi grit his teeth. "I see! The family head himself knows that the family was in the wrong. That is good to hear. I would be disappointed if a family like the Gi family had some idiot at the helm. However, they really need to raise the kids properly. Or else, they will turn out like this stupid one, offending the wrong people." Liu Feng smiled and red at Gu Hua. "What can you do? All show. No one will dare do anything to the Gu family. The Gu family has hundreds of alchemists. No one would offend those many alchemists for just you." Gu Hua sneered. "It looks like this girl is out of control." Liu Feng nced at Uncle Gi. Nodding, Uncle Gi stood up. And in front of the thousands of people enjoying the spectacle, he raised his hand. Smack! His hand went through a wide arc and splendidlynded on the right cheek of Gu Hua. Gu Hua stumbled and fell on the ground, right on her knees. "She is apologizing, Young Noble. Please forgive her." Uncle Gi pleaded by putting both his hands together. "Thepensation. What is mypensation." Liu Feng nonchntly asked. "The Gu family has one of the most extensive collections of rare and precious herbs. You can take your pick of them in the family''s treasury." Uncle Gi hastily said. "Do you think that I am a fool? Do you think that I will walk into your den so easily? Fine. Both of your spatial rings, I will be content with those for now." he sighed and said, acting like he was doing them a favor. "Our- our spatial rings?" Uncle Gi stammered. He nced fearfully at Gu Hua, and this one look told Liu Feng that whatever was in Gu Hua''s spatial ring was certainly worth more than those precious herbs. "I will settle for your spatial rings. Hand them over, or I will do my best to rally support against the Gu family." Liu Feng said. "Young Noble. Do not push things too far. There are many watching the injustice that you are putting us through." Uncle Gi said. "Injustice?" Liu Feng raised his voice. "What injustice? Everyone here knows after that stupid bastard that you call youngdy confirmed it. The Gu family tried to kill me. Without me, the Tiandu Kingdom wouldn''t have won thepetition. Not only did it try and kill me, but it also tried to tarnish the reputation of the kingdom. What injustice? Even if she is tortured in front of everyone, made to lose all her face, and then killed in front of the world, it would be fair." Liu Feng dered. There were murmurs among the entire crowd, but the excitement had long died down. Everyone was trying to think calmly now. "Brother Yan. I think that I will take you up on your offer. Here is the pill that Master Mu has given me. As you know, Master Mu has given me a Xiantian Advancement Pill for winning the pill meet. Now, it is yours." Liu Feng emphasised on thest part once more, and he handed a jade box to Ding Yan. "Thank you so much, brother Tian. Thank you so much, Master Mu. With this, I will have an easier time to get to the Xiantian stage. And anyways, the disrespect that the Gu family has shown me has already remained. It seems like they think they are unparalleled in this world. The Gu family is not the only alchemy family in the kingdom, yet they dare to act like the biggest." Ding Yan said as he pocketed the pill. "We should calm down here. Why are we fighting so much? We can resolve things peacefully." Master Mu intervened once more. "I tried to resolve things peacefully, Master Mu. But they refused my offer. So why should I show them any face, Master Mu? Like I said. I can drop all of this as long as I getpensation. And this is my life, so I do not value it cheaply." Liu Feng said. "What do you want then? Something that I can give." Master Mu sighed. "It is just that... I have been feeling a little remorsefultely that after so much effort, I have to part with the pill that I made so desperately. The Sage Nine Pill, I mean. If possible, I would like to get that pill back." Liu Feng smiled. The audience nodded. This was not unreasonable at all. In fact, it was quite tamepared to the other request he had till now. And what would the pill tower lose? Nothing at all! "This is a good request, Master Mu! You should give him the pill!" someone shouted from the stands. No one wanted to see a genius lose his life, and no one wanted this to extend any further. "Yes, Master Mu. Let us end this right now!" someone else shouted. "Master Mu. The Gu family will be in debt to you if you can just return the Sage Nine pill to Liu Tian. That is the best ending for all of us. Even Cairin city would not want to see a full on fight, would it?" Uncle Gi looked at Master Mu. Passively, he was threatening that if this was not done, then Cairin City would face a problem. Master Mu wryly smiled at Liu Feng. "You know what this pill is for right? Why do you want to take it from me?" his voice appeared in Liu Feng''s head all of a sudden. "Maybe I''ll give it to them myself?" he smiled and said out loud. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 220 Ive Had Enough "This is it. I have had enough." Master Mu''s cordial smile vanished. Recing it was a serious, and cold look that froze the blood of anyone who looked at him. Master Mu looked at the horizon momentarily, and sighed. "So many vultures are waiting here, trying to take a cut of the meat. Why don''t all of you juste out now? I will show you what it means to be the greatest pill master of Tiandu!" he shouted. But there was no response. Everyone looked at Master Mu like he had gone crazy. Why would someone talk to seemingly thin air? "The Sage Nine Pill is ready. It is time for us to bring back from the dead. Screw all of this. I am not going to bow down to this pitiful crowd anymore. Let the world know exactly what the Heaven Extermination Net really meant back in the day!" Master Mu shouted once more, but this time, his words caused everyone''s eyes to dte. While it was still not clear who he was shouting at, the one phrase he said, ''Heaven Extermination Net'', was something that everyone knew about. Everyone except Liu Feng of course. But seeing Master Mu, who was acting so wierdly, he knew that something was going to happen. Something dangerous. He slowly started inching back, trying to make some distance between him and Master Mu. "Hahaha! You are finally done with your preparations, youzy buffoon! I have been waiting for this for far too long!" a thundering voice suddenly responded. Ping! [Alert! Danger! Hostile element much stronger than you is approaching!] "And of course this man had to be hostile." Liu Feng cursed as he started retreating faster now. He could no longer dy. Although he wanted to see what was happening, he did not want to lose his life. "Where do you think you are going? You are themb that we are offering to the gods today!" Master Mu red at Liu Feng and smiled. Just looking at those frightening teeth, Liu Feng felt shivers all throughout his body. "Master? Is that you? Why are you behaving like this?" Bai Zhiqui looked at her master and she was also shook by this sudden change that overtook her master. "Do you really think that old man is still alive, you stupid girl? Don''t worry. You will live. After all, such a high quality ything won''t be avable just everywhere." Master Mu smiled. Well, calling him Master Mu any longer would be a misdirection. It would just be right to call him the viin here. Until now, Liu Feng skimped on the use of Mind Eye because he just thought that this was Master Mu. But he finally decided to use it. [Level - ?? Name - Go Haizing Cultivation - Xiantian Stage Ninth Layer] "That goddamn bastard." Liu Feng cursed again, but he could not move. He felt a pressure locking down on him, but this pressure was noting from this Go Haizing. It wasing from behind. "So this is his son. This is his son. The one that he was so desperate to protect that he was willing to throw the towel." he heard a frightening voice in his right year. This man was right next to him. "He must be my real father''s enemy." Liu Feng understood. "Now then. I will take my time with you. I will enjoy this spectacle, with everyone here looking at this." the same voice said, and the man slowly walked up so that Liu Feng could see his face. And when he saw the man''s face, Liu Feng almost gasped with shock. The man''s left half was non existant. Half of his face looked like it was eaten right off, and it just stopped at the center of his face, giving him a frightening look. "I see you are admiring your father''s art. Why don''t you try and emte it as well? I have some nice corpse poison that I can try on you as well." the man smiled. Liu Feng quickly tried to use Mind Eye, but it didn''t work. [Lvl - ??? Name - ??? Cultivation - ???] Ping! [Host is in extreme danger! Host is in extreme danger!] "He might be stronger than even master and Min Wan." Liu Feng thought. "What is going on?" "That isn''t Master Mu? Then who is he? Who is that man?" "Are they attackers?" The audience was also freaking out. They only stayed this long because of the drama that unfolded immediately. Even the delegation from Handu had stayed back to see what was going on. But never did anyone expect that someone so strong would suddenlye here, and would attack the true winner of the pill meet. "All these pests. Why do they talk so much?" the man in front of Liu Feng murmured and nced above his shoulder. Then his right eye expanded ever so slightly, and a pressure sted through the entire arena. Liu Feng fell to the ground immediately and he struggled to even breathe. As the closest to this man, he was facing the strongest pressure. "Don''t worry. You will not die just yet. You will not die until I say so." the man smiled, and Liu Feng felt shivers all through his body once more. "This is an internal matter of the Tiandu Kingdom. I think it is only fair that we leave," the middle aged man from Handu said as he nced at the precious alchemy disciples that he brought. They were the future of the kingdom. He could not afford to let anything happen to them. And more importantly, the prince was also here. "You will all stay here and witness the execution of this Liu Feng. Do not worry. Now then, where is the Sage Nine Pill? One that is made by someone who has Ancient Blood in them." the man nced at Go Haizang. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 221 The True Tribulation "We have it. And ironically, it is his son that made the pill. I am sure that it will be up to your satisfaction." Go Haizing handed a jade box to the man in front of Liu Feng. "Ah! I can see the look on his face when I show him his dear son''s head. He will be too stunned to even fight." the manughed as he grabbed the pill in the box and tossed it into his mouth without even hesitating. All of a sudden, Liu Feng could see frost starting to build up on the left side of his face, where there was no skin at all. The ice was forming a makeshiftyer. Soon, his face turned from one of a terrifying sociopath to one who seemed like he was wearing an ice mask. "Finally. After so long, I can feel some quiet. The sound of those goddamn bugs was deafening. Thank god they are finally gone." the man said and then locked his eyes on Liu Feng. "You made quite the pill, boy. I should really thank you. But I wonder, how do you feel now that you have given your father''s enemy something your father also desperately needs?" the manughed. Then, he looked at the audience. "Twenty years ago, I came to this rundown kingdom that you call home. Such rats you all are. This stench so unbearable that I wanted to vomit. But this boy''s father here dragged me to this hole. And I will make sure you will regret it all. I should get rid of thistrine pit of a kingdom." the man dered and he stepped closer to Liu Feng. For a moment, Liu Feng could not feel anything at all. His mind went nk. And then, he saw that his position changed. His arms were not moving, his body felt like it had just gone through a grinder, and he was at the edge of the arena. With one small punch, that man almost killed Liu Feng. In fact, that punch would be enough to cripple his dantian if it weren''t for the robe that was protecting him. The robe that was given to him by Min Wan. Cough! Liu Feng spit out blood and looked at the slowly approaching man. His heart was filled with terror. This was not an opponent that he could face. "System, are there any things that I can buy which can teleport me the hell out of here?" he desperately asked. [No such item avable in the shop. Please level up to avail more items.] "I know that I have to level up, you goddamn- I need the get out of here." Liu Feng stopped himself and started focusing on the situation at hand. Liu Man was not with him because he did not want the whole world to know that a tiger cub was with Liu Feng. Even if most could not recognize the fact that this was the white tiger, there could be some, and that would only bring trouble. "I should have known that this would happen." Liu Feng looked past the man and at Go Haizang. Now, Go Haizang no longer had his disguise on. He no longer looked like Master Mu. He was someone else entirely. With a bald face, and scars all over them, he looked like a ssic goon. "And what is with that ancient blood requirement? I wonder what all that is about." Liu Feng thought back to what had happened a few minutes ago. "No. I need to think straight. What can I do now." Liu Feng snapped back to reality. With the system reward, he was now in the eighthyer of the Nascent Soul realm. If he was just in one higheryer, then he could have tried to make himself a suicide bomb by doing the impossible: trying to attempt a tribtion here. But that would not be possible because he needed to get to the ninthyer to try and break through to the Xiantian Realm. "Damn it. Wait, system, do you have any items that can increase my cultivation by oneyer?" he asked once more, desperately. The man was nearing him, but the theatrics that he had disyed were slowly dying Liu Feng''s own death by a few minutes. Ping! [Host has been loaned one fruit of despair by the system on the condition that hostpletes story quest.] [Story quest: Survive] Liu Feng saw this and smiled. In his hand, a fruit and a jade box appeared. "Haha! I also want to see what you can do by recovering a little bit." the manughed him off. As someone much stronger than Liu Feng, he did not see Liu Feng as a threat. "Thank god he is arrogant." Liu Feng did not dy any longer and he gulped the fruit first. Ping! [Host has reached peak of Nascent Soul Stage.] And then, he opened the jade box. The golden brilliance of the pill shone throughout the arena, and everyone could see what he was doing. "A pity, he thinks that he can use the Xiantian Advancement Pill now." someone sighed. Even the man sneered. This pill would only work on those in the peak of the Xiantian Stage. Why would it work on someone who was at the seventhyer of the Nascent Soul stage? "Wait a minute. Why is he in the eighthyer? No! His cultivation increased again. He is at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage? Wait a minute! He will undergo tribtion now? Don''t you dare-" The man did not understand what happened, but he knew that Liu Feng suddenly reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. He could not dally any longer. He disappeared and stood in front of Liu Feng holding his neck. "Spit it out, you son of a bitch!" the man spat out. "Toote." Liu Feng smiled. Rumble. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 222 Advancing Rumble! The light from the sun dimmed immediately, and the sky turned dark. ck clouds filled the sky, and the sound of thunder reverberated in everyone''s ears. The tribtion had returned for the third time today. Liu Feng looked up. He could feel it. Someone up there was enraged at him. After all, cultivation was to try and go against the heavens themselves. And to reach the Xiantian stage was something that the heavens would not tolerate. The man who as holding Liu Feng''s neck let go and retreated immediately. He did not dare do a thing to Liu Feng now. Liu Feng had been marked by the heavens. The heavens wanted to kill him. Anyone who would try and get involved would face the heavens'' wrath and that would be something that this man could not afford to defend, even though he seemed to powerful. The heavens were all-powerful, and no matter how strong a cultivator got, the tribtion would be hard for them to ovee. With every passing step, it would get harder and harder. Liu Feng took a few healing pills and stuffed them in his mouth. He could see a marginal improvement, but nothing more. Rumble! Sparks of lightning were visible for miles. The tribtion clouds had taken up the whole city this time, and all of them were locked onto Liu Feng. He could feel it. The fact that lightning would strike anytime soon. And this lightning felt different whenpared to the pill lightning that he had faced. This lightning felt like it would destroy him if he could touch it. It felt more destructive. p! A sh of light appeared, and the lightning bolt arced towards Liu Feng''s head, going for the kill immediately. Liu Feng''s ethereal shield had appeared in his hands by this point, and he used it to try and defend this strike. The moment that the lightning hit the shield, Liu Feng was forced onto the ground on his knees. Even though the lightning wasn''t passing through the shield, it was more force than what Liu Feng could handle. And he could feel some strange presenceing from this lightning. As if some of the energy of this lightning was entering his body. But this energy was not killing him. It felt like it was changing him, and changing his dantian. His core was revolving, and it seemed to be taking the shape of something. Something that he could not understand, but whatever the tribtion was, it was essential for his advancement to the Xiantian Realm. p! Without giving him a break, the second bolt of lightning struck down as well. It had no mercy at all, and Liu Feng could feel a wisp of killing intent within it. But with his slightly strengthened body, he felt like the second lightning bolt was something that he could handle. Again, when he was defending it, he could feel that something was changing his dantian. He looked up at the heavens, and his resolute expression seemed to make it even more enraged. Another bolt of lightning struck down, and this time, it felt a little bit stronger than the first two. More than a little bit, actually. Liu Feng was forced to his knees once more, but this time, his knees dug into the ground. They were all bloodied up, and Liu Feng''s breathing became a bit haggard. "So that is what they meant when they told me to beware the threes. So there is an increase in power every three lightning bolts." Liu Feng realized and he got back up. He popped a few recovery pills into his mouth. Until now, he was only defending. The Ethereal Shield arts were very handy in this regard. But he knew that they wouldn''tst until the end. His proficiency of the skill wasn''t enough, and it would be utterly destroyed by the lightning bolts that were increasing in power. The next bolt did not appear as quickly as Liu Feng had expected. The clouds started humming in a rhythm and they seemed to be biding their time. Then, the sh of lightning became visible, hurtling towards him. And along with the white sh, there was another color. A blue tint to the bolt. "A colored lighting tribtion! What did he do to make the heavens so enraged?" there were gasps along the arena, but Liu Feng could not hear them. Why would he, with the deafening sound of the lightning that was raging around him? The moment that his shield had any contact with the lightning, he could feel what was different about the bolt of lightning. This was a true attack from the heavens, one that had dao within it. And ironically, the heavens decided to use the dao of ice, to show him that they were the true rulers of the dao. His shield had a cover of frost that was appearing, and it was not the good kind. The frost was trying to eat away at the shield, and destroy it. "Scram!" A st of Qi from Liu Feng disintegrated the ice, along with the lightning bolt. Liu Feng looked within, afraid that this ice would make its way back to his dantian. But it didn''t, thankfully. Still, he saw the changes and was surprised. The dantian was changing slowly, and the core had taken the form of a man. And this man was oddly familiar to him. "Not now. Later." Liu Feng quickly focused on the tribtion once more. With thest bolt of lightning, Liu Feng had used too much Qi. He had to take a few Qi supplement pills, but there was clearly no time. If he was caughtcking, and the lightning bolt struck at that time, it would be game set and death right there. And the situation of his body wasn''t great. That attack from the man had shaken all of his bones and internal organs. This was not a great ce to be in. Rumble! Once more, the clouds above started looking threateningly at Liu Feng, but also as if they were taunting him. "Fine then. Do you think I am afraid of you? Come on!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 223 The Fight Isnt Over One more bolt of lightning. And another, and another. Even after the sixth bolt, Liu Feng stood strong, but his body was all bloodied up. He could feel his consciousness slipping, but if he lost now, the only step was death. And then, the seventh bolt of lightning arrived. This bolt was not like the previous ones. The previous ones felt like simple bolts of lightning. This one bolt though, was not. It had three colors, and it no longer was in the form of a bolt of lightning. Rather, it was like a serpent, trying to lunge at Liu Feng. Liu Feng changed the form of the ethereal weapon at will and held the spear in his hands. While there were a few gasps around him, he did not care. His life was more important, and he could not afford to be caughtcking. He was basically facing a beast of its own right, and to go against a beast, he had to fight, not defend. The serpent was about to reach him, when his own spear started sparkling. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Blue Dragon Breaks through Hell!" A blue dragon roared as the spear met the serpent. The two scaled beasts started fighting fiercly, seeing which one was superior. And Liu Feng felt a huge drain of his Qi at this point. And as if the heavens sensed that he was at his peak, another bolt of lighting came down in the form of a wolf. Two beasts, asrge as houses themselves, faced one small dragon inparison. The dragon was torn apart immediately. "Two at once? This is too unfair." Liu Feng cursed, but he had no one toin to. Someone wanted him dead, what could he do? He mustered all the Qi that was within him. "Flowing Cloud Spear Art, Seventh Form! Petals of fury!" Liu Feng felt his dantian empty. His spear started furiously piercing through the lightning beasts. Afterimages of the spear could be visible to everyone. Soon, riddled with holes, the two lightning beasts roared with pain as if they were real, sentient beings, and fell towards Liu Feng. Before they could reach him, they dissolved into runes, and all these runes merged with Liu Feng. He could feel something crucial was missing though. The fight was not over. He looked up at the clouds, gearing together for one final fight. This was going to be the final strike, he just knew it. But he had no Qi to face it. He used up all his Qi to face the two beasts that hade at him together. And now, he was going to face his impending doom. He had no time now. If he was taking a pill, he would be left defenceless. In his hands, his weapon was no longer a spear, but a shield. He had no Qi to attack. He could only hope to defend. The clouds rumbled, as ifughing at him, and then, the blinding light came shing down. Liu Feng took one look and he knew that he couldn''t defend it with his shield. He could feel his life shing by him. But then, his memories slowed down, and he remembered his time in the cave. "The heaven devouring art, if it can''t devour an attack from the heavens themselves, what use is it?" heughed. Then, to everyone''s dismay, he started moving his body rhythmically, as if he was going to ept thising bolt of lightning. By the time the bolt of lightning reached him, he was in the final stance of the heaven devouring art, and he held both of his hands forward. The bolt of lightning struck him, and he held the bolt forcefully with his arms. Aaaargh! He screamed with pain as he felt the skin on his hands tear off. But he could feel it. The heaven devouring art worked its magic. He could feel the will of the heavens above weaken. Whatever was happening, he was taking their energy from them, and that was making their will weaker. The bolt of lightning dimmed, and he felt runes of lightning fill his body. He could see inside his body, the same sparks of lightning that he saw on those clouds. This was simply too terrifying! Tribtion lightning was something that no one could control. To control it was to im that they were greater than the heavens themselves, to im that they were gods. And who would? The bolt of lighting finally dimmed, and Liu Feng could see it clearly. Inside his dantian, was no longer a core. In its stead was a calm looking man. But this man felt so familiar. Looking at his face, Liu Feng felt like he was looking at a mirror, and yet he was not. "He looks so simr to me as Gray, and me as Feng." he realized. But he felt something else. As the clouds above him retreated, he could feel a strange power fill his body. He felt like he was powerful, much more powerful than before. He felt like he could scale the great skies and actually trample mountains. Yet, he knew that this was not the ce for him to start looking at his new powers. After all, even though he had grown so strong, and finally entered the fabled Xiantian Stage, he was still not safe yet. If this man he was facing was past the Xiantian realm, stronger than even his master, then this man could destroy him in seconds. He used mind eye on the man who was standing on the other side of the arena. "Level - ??? Name - Long Xian Cultivation - ???" "I still can''t see his cultivation. How powerful is he?" Liu Feng wondered with shock. Ping! [Host has reached Soul Formation Stage, Firstyer.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 224 Still Trashed He felt something fundamentally in his body. It was like he was immortal. He could feel all of his flesh wounds heal in an instant, at the expense of the little Qi that was gathered into his body from the cycle of the Heaven Devouring Art. Inside his body itself, among all the sparks and runes of lightning, that little man was sitting cross legged, as if meditating. Liu Feng needed no exnation. This was the soul that he had formed during this tribtion. No wonder it was called the Soul Formation Realm. But one thing was certain, this soul had more significance than just shape. The face that it took, abination of Liu Feng, and Gray, meant that it was abination of both. A soul represented him as a person. But he was still solemn, and looked at Long Xian, who was approaching him slowly. "You reached the Xiantian realm already? I am shocked. If I am not wrong, when someone first saw you a year ago, you were still in the Foundation Establishment stage? To think that you climbed the ranks so fast! You even matched your father''s speed in cultivation!" Long Xian said. "But today is where your road ends. Too bad, a genius like you has to die like this. me the heavens for giving you a terrible father." He raised his hand, and a scythe appeared in Long Xian''s hands. This was a weapon that Liu Feng had never see someone use in this world, but also knew that the moment he made any contact with this scythe, he would die. He took out a few pills and stuffed them in his mouth, but again, Long Xian just stood there and did not stop him. It was like a tiger looking at a rabbit''sst attempts at an escape. "What can a Xiantian stage brat possible do?" he sneered. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fourth Form! Blue Dragon Soars through the heavens!" Liu Feng started forcing all the runes and sparks of lightning that littered his body after the stunt that he had just pulled off. All the lightning started gathering around his spear, and it gave the ethereal spear a colorful glow. After all, the final bolt of lightning had three colors within! That meant that it had three daos within it. Soon, the spear shone with the same brilliance that the lightning bolt did, and some people started to notice the simrities to the tribtion that they just saw, and the lightning that Liu Feng was summoning. Even Long Xian''s eyes widened with shock, because for the first time in his life, he saw someone use the lightning of the heavens themselves. The lightning on the spear roared, and took the form of a dragon to soar towards Long Xian. This time, Long Xian could not afford to becent. This was not a tribtion, and outside a tribtion, anyone who epted the lightning from the heavens meant that they were epting their wrath. He tried to dodge, but the dragon followed him everywhere. "You damned beast!" Long Xian roared and he started changing shape all of a sudden. His body started bulging, and in a few blinks of an eye, Long Xian''splete makeover had changed. His face no longer looked human anymore. With scales all over his body, and wings that spread apart, it felt like he was half a beast. Long Xian roared, and at that moment, Liu Feng was reminded by the time he spent in that forest with Min Wan. The flood dragon also had a simr roar. "This guy is half dragon?" he realized. Long Xian looked terrifying. His eyes yellowed, and his pupils dted, but still looked terrifying. His arms were elongated, but the red scales on top of them like an armor, gave his arms a feeling of an armament rather than a limb. And the scythe that was held by these long arms meant that even though he was holding a scythe, which was a weapon ofbat, it felt like he could reach anyone anywhere. "To think that there are half dragons in this world. I should have known, I should have expected this by looking at his surname." Liu Feng gasped. Every time he looked at any books, in this world or thest, the surname Long had always been attributed to dragons, and now, he saw this clearly. The two dragons collided, and this time, Liu Feng''s own dragon felt like it was losing. Although Liu Feng did not have to supply Qi to the monster he created, he still had a connection to this dragon, and when it wailed with pain, Liu Feng understood that the fight had almost been lost. Wings appeared behind his back, ready to flee. But at that moment, he hesistated. He looked around for some reason, as if someone was here, someone was watching him. "You do not have the time to get distracted when you are facing with an opponent like me, you brat!" Long Xian''s voice resounded. Liu Feng hastily looked back and saw that Long Xian was right in front of him, and the scythe was just about to hit him... He closed his eyes. Just a moment of distraction, and he was going to lose his life. He was going to fail everything. He spent a year here, trying to get stronger and stronger, but in the end, although he got all the way to the Xiantian stage, it was still not enough. ng! Liu Feng heard a resounding sound. The scythe had connected. And yet he felt no pain? There was no way that this mad man would give him a painless death. He opened his eyes to see what happened. "Don''t tell me that you have given up? No disciple of mine will ever give up." a cheerful and yful voice smiled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 225 Arrival "Don''t tell me that you have given up? No disciple of mine will ever give up." a cheerful and yful voice smiled. Liu Feng looked forward and his mouth also curved upwards. "Master. You are finally here." he said. "Long Xian. You should leave the fight to the older generation. Why pick on the young ones? Can you just not take it when everyone has a better life then you?" Li Tian chucked as he stepped forward. In his hands, the humongous sword that signified that he was the sect leader, pointed towards Long Xian. "Heavenly Punishment. Zeze, to think that you would bring out an exotic artifact like that? It is a pity that I cannot just go and take that Dragon gate of yours, or I would. But I think that I will have to satisfy myself with Heavenly Punishment this time around. A good sword like that will do wonders in my hands." Long Xian smiled. "To think that someone from the esteemed Ancient Realms would covet a small sword from this humble sect master. How low the Long family has fallen. Then again, why else would they try to hunt down my dear brother?" Li Tianughed out loud. Then, he nced to the side. The people were stuck, unable to leave this god forsaken ce. And if they couldn''t leave soon enough, they would get caught up in this fight, and the results would be unbearable. Without a doubt, many would lose their lives. "Go Haizang. It seems like you have reced Master Mu. I wonder where he is though. It is a pity that there are already casualties in this war." Li Tian sighed. "Haha, that old man? He begged for his life. You should have seen his face." Go Haizingughed. "You should stop lying, you piece of shit. Unlike you, I know Master Mu. Such a respectable man would have put up a fight, and I am surprised that you are here, still standing. And you, bastard. It looks like you were able to get a sage nine pill before us." Li Tian looked at the ice mask that Long Xian donned. "Haha! It was his very own son that made this. Ironic, isn''t it? And all this time, I made sure that not a single frozen heart was found. Best of luck trying to make your own sage nine pill." Long Xianughed. Liu Feng was at the perfect situation where he didn''t know whether tough or cry. Although he was happy that he had saved another two sage nine pills, doing the right thing, he also knew that the current situation was his fault. The Sage Nine Pill that helped Long Xian was made by him. It made him angry as well. He had fallen right in the trap that Go Haizing put for him. Li Tian nced at Liu Feng. "You were able to make a Sage Nine pill? Interesting. Too bad, I sent you here thinking that Master Mu was still here. I did not think that such a thing would happen." Li Tian did not me him one bit. In fact, he also felt a pang of pain because he sent Liu Feng to this dangerous ce. If he had arrived a few minutes more, then he would have to hold Liu Feng''s dead corpse in his hands. "And to think that you actually are in the Xiantain realm! I need to listen to the whole story of what happenedter. This is just too interesting for me to put away." Liu Feng nodded, but he looked at Long Xian with fear. Until now, this man had been easily toying with him. Around them, the arena was slowly emptying. With the standstill that was created, people took the opportunity to get the hell out of here. However, the people ON the arena could not. The delegation from Handu, and the three pill geniuses were still here, looking at the current scenario with bated breaths. Any small fight that would break out between them would be catastrophic. The sh would give waves that could injure them. "Shouldn''t we keep this fight between us, Long Xian? Why not go somewhere else?" Li Tian said. "You all are so kind. Even now, you think about the people around you. That is what makes ying with all of you so easy." Long Xian shook his head as he hovered slightly above the ground. "Do not think that you have the upper hand here. You have just barely suppressed those critters in your face. It will take you a few years to get back to top shape. If I want to, then I can kill you right here." Li Tian''s yful smiled disappeared now, and Heavenly Punishment started shining. "With just you? Don''t joke around. Even if you had another hundred years, you wouldn''t be able to surpass me." Long Xian chuckled. "That is true. But do you think that the sect master of a whole sect woulde alone?" an old voice resounded. Liu Feng felt the presence of multiple strong people enter the arena floor. He looked at these people, and instantly recognized them. These were the elders of the Sky Heavens sect. "One, two, three, four, five elders?" Liu Feng was shocked. "Five elders for me? I am honored. To think that you would leave your sect defenseless just to deal with me. You knew that I would appear here?" Long Xian roared. "Why wouldn''t I? The moment that Master Mu called Liu Feng to this ce, when he was in danger, I knew something was wrong. But to think that he was reced. It shocks me." Li Tian said. "Do you really think that you are the only one who came here with reinforcements? I have my whole n behind me!" Long Xian roared. Instantly, shadows appeared on the floor. Something, or rather someone, was blocking the sun itself! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 226 Hesitant Liu Feng looked up to see what was covering the sun itself, and he understood what Long Xian meant by reinforcements. In the sky, five huge blots covering the sun itself looked down threateningly. These were five dragons, coincidentally the number of elders that Li Tian had brought here. "Haha! You might be able to hold your ground against me, Li Tian, but will your elders be able to hold even a candle to my men? I also want to see your face when this fight wille to an end." Long Xianughed. Tap! Tap! Liu Feng heard the sound of a wooden cane hitting the ground. He nced at the source of the sound. It wasing from one of the elders. He recognized the first, third and fourth elders, but two of these elders were people he had never seen before. Not even during thatpetition. And one of those elders was tapping a wooden stick on the ground. Looking at his closed eyes, a terrible thought urred to Liu Feng. "Could it be? He is actually blind? No, there is no way that he is blind. A fighter, a cultivator would not survive if he was blind, was he?" Liu Feng shook that thought, but deep inside, he just knew. The old man who had his eyes closed looked up at the sky. "So much noise they make. I wonder why the emperor tolerates this stupid fight in thesends anymore." the old man sighed and he raised his cane to the sky. A thin light appeared from the cane. It was as thin as a string from a zither, as if it was taken from one. The light extended all the way to one of the dragons. Liu Feng could see clearly what was happening even though he was much below the dragons. He could see that the thin light approached the leg of one of the dragons, and before the dragon could resist, the old man yanked on it. st! In a mere second, a dragon the size of an elephantnded on the arena, caving in the entire floor. Looking closely now, Liu Feng noticed that these dragons did not seem like dragons. They had a few simrities to Flood dragons, and yet they didn''t. They weren''t actual dragons, but rather other beasts with the blood of a dragon within them. The dragon on the arena groaned with pain, and started decreasing in size. Soon enough, it changed to the appearance of a normal woman, all battered up. "No pity for a woman even. To think that you would be so heartless, brother." the other old man that Liu Feng did not recognizeughed. He seemed to have a perfect vision, and he jumped this time. He went all the way up andnded on one of the dragons. Roaring, the four dragons in the sky started lounging at this one man, but it was toote. With one simple kick of his leg, the dragon that hended on fell straight to the ground, right on top of the woman who used to be one of these dragons. "So these are the reinforcements that you brought, outsider? You really look down upon these normalnds, but do not forget. While you im to be the Ancient Lands, all that thends are is a barrier that was made to stop one ce frommunicating with another. Even though we have fewer resources here, and are cursed to never cross the Soul Evolution realm, do not worry. You people are cursed to that standard here as well." the old man who was blind looked at Long Xian. "Goddamn it. You want to fight? We will fight. We will fight to the death. I will make sure that all of you learn what a family of the ancient realms is capable of." Long Xian grit his teeth as he dashed forward towards Li Tian. ng! His scythe and Li Tian''s Heavenly Punishment collided. Immediately, a wave swept everyone standing away. The alchemists especially so. They were taken to the edge of the arena, while Liu Feng was blown to the exact opposite end. Meanwhile, the main fighters stood absolutely still, unfazed by this attack. "I thought that the Xiantian stage was strong. But even in the Xiantian stage, there are too many distinctions. Eachyer is clearly much, much stronger than the rest." Liu Feng thought to himself as he dusted himself off and stood tall. Then, he stood cross-legged. This wasn''t his fight to participate in. But he did have one mission that he had toplete, and that was to survive. He took a few pills and chewed them. But these weren''t enough. Not nearly enough. In the Xiantian realm, none of the pills that Liu Feng had many any impact. They just didn''t give him enough Qi. So he took out something that he didn''t expect to use so soon. He started sucking the Qi out of a low level spirit stone that he had a couple thousand of. The Qi in the spirit stone was not a lot, but it was enough for his body to use to heal all of the injuries that he did have left. Slowly, he started going through Low level spirit stones. Inside his body, the soul started shining bright. As it was the dantian, all the Qi went in that. The soul form absorbed all this Qi, and started bing golden in color. "There are far too many mysteries of the Xiantian realm that I have yet to uncover." Liu Feng made a note to himself. Meanwhile, he still had to defend himself a little from the repercussions of the fight between Li Tian and Long Xian. He was not as pitiful as he was a few months ago when Li Tian fought with the second elder. But still, this fight was way beyond his league, and clearly had something to do with the Soul Evolution Stage. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ? Chapter 227 Withdraw Huff! Li Tian looked at Long Xian with a hint of anger in his eyes. Both of them were bloodied up. After several bouts, they had taken several injuries, and were on the defensive. Meanwhile, although two of theirpanions were gone, the other three dragons did not hesitate in trying to keep the elders in bay. But as righteous sect elders, they did not even have an intention to get involved with the fight that was going on. They were just spectators, making sure that nothing went wrong outside this fight. "Haha, you are going to lose first if this keeps going. You know that you are injured and have not recovered yet." Li Tian said. "Speak for yourself. If I am about to die, then I will take you with me. If anything happens to me, then forget you, your entire sect will be razed down to the ground." Long Xian said. "You and your entitled ass. How will you even do anything to me when the portal will not open until two yearster?" Li Tian smirked. Liu Feng''s ears perked up. Two yearster? That was when everything was supposed to go down. That was the deadline that everyone had given him to enter the Xiantian realm. It was definitely not a coincidence that this portal would open two yearster. For sure, that date was important because of this very reason. "A portal? Could it be? A portal from the Ancient Realms? Are people from the Ancient Realms going to enter this ce?" Liu Feng wondered. He had recovered substantially whenpared to before. At the least, he was able to fight someone in the firstyer of the Xiantian realm and not lose. But it would take a while for him to stabilize his cultivation and be able to defeat cultivators with a higher cultivation base than his. And it would take a while for him to learn all the benefits of being in the Xiantian stage. One thing he learnt was that if he had Qi, then no matter how many attacks he took, he would be able to recover with ease. He would be able to even heal a severed hand as long as he had enough Qi. And that raised more questions than it answered. Like the old man who seemed blind. He was clearly in a realm higher than Liu Feng''s own. And yet, he had faulty eyes that he did not choose to heal. Why would anyone choose to remain blind? Li Tian looked around. The fight was not going anywhere. Even though both of them had the ability to kill each other, that was a step that they were not willing to take. It was just not worth it. They locked eyes, and sighed. "Give me his life, and I will leave Sky Heavens forever. It will be the number one sect in the kingdom if you want." Long Xian proposed. Liu Feng looked at this. It was important now. This was his life they were haggling with. And the deal that Long Xian had put forward was not a bad one, which made Liu Feng worry. "He is a sect leader. He might actually take this." Liu Feng''s face was dripping with sweat. "You want me to give you a disciple of the sect just for some small benefit like that? Do you think I am like you? Within just a year, the sky heavens sect will be the number one sect regardless. It seems like your brain is full of tofu." Li Tian scoffed. "Thank god he did not say yes." Liu Feng sighed with relief. "Give me the boy and I will promise that the battlefield will be taken away from the kingdom." Li Tian just shook his head. ,m "What do you even want? Just give me the boy!" Long Xian''s eyes turned red. "Do you think that I do not see what you are doing? My disciple here is the only one who can make a Sage Nine pill that will allow his father to recover, and you just realized that. You should have killed him when you had the chance, but this is a fight you are going to lose now because of your arrogance." Li Tian said. Long Xian scowled and he raised his scythe to continue the attack, but one of the dragons dove to Long Xian''s side. "So you are finally going to use the help you have? I was waiting for this toe. Why else would I throw my dignity away and beg two grand elders toe out for this?" Li Tian smiled and looked at the two old men that Liu Feng did not recognize. The dragon started morphing, until eventually, and old woman stepped out. "Young Lord. We have orders from master. Please retreat until the dayes. We havepleted our goal for the time being, and you have recovered. It is not safe to stay here any longer." the old woman said in a way that everyone heard her. This was as deration of surrender. They were willing to leave. "Leave? Fine. This is not the time for a fight. But you have to leave something behind." Li Tian stopped them by raising Heavenly Punishment. "Do not push things too much, sect leader of the sky heavens sect." the old woman red at him. "Push things too much? You killed Master Mu! Do you think that this is something that I will allow? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." Li Tian immediately disappeared. The two dragons fighting the elders flew to Long Xian''s side as if trying to protect him from the sneak attack that they were expecting. Aaargh! To everyone''s dismay though, the attack went through. But the recipient was not Long Xian. It was Go Haizang. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 228 Standstill "You-" Blood spurted from his mouth and Go Haizang looked at Li Tian with dismay and shock. "A life for a life. With this, I can only hope that Master Mu will be appeased for a bit." Li Tian sighed and grabbed the spatial ring from a falling Go Haizang. Even in death, his face was filled with disbelief. He did not want to die. He went to so many lengths just to prolong his life. He sucked up to all the right people, and betrayed so many to survive till now, only to lose his life like this. Long Xian looked at the scene and frowned. "Fine. His life was worthless anyways now that he did what he had to. Let us go." Long Xian did not even appear enraged that one of his subordinates was killed. It was like he had no empathy for his own men! "As you wish, young master." the dragons around Long Tian started flying up with Long Xian in the center, forming a protective circle around him to take him away. Although Liu Feng did not know why they left him even though this was a close fight, and they could try and kill him, he knew that he had no right to ask. It was Li Tian''s choice, as the strongest here, to leave him. But someone else did have this question, and they voiced it. "I can sense his breathing. He is critically injured. Why would you leave an enemy like that and let him recover?" the blind grand elder asked. "When the portal from the ancient realms opens, we do not want the entire Long family to descend here. That is just stupid. If he is alive, then they will send at best three or four Soul Transformation Experts. But the moment that his soulmp is extinguished, his father will descend, and the whole kingdom will face his wrath." Li Tian said. "That is why we did not want the Sky Heavens sect to be a part of this fight. We should let those families fight it out. So what if he is your sworn brother? That doesn''t mean that the entire sect should pay for that." the second grand elder said. "The winner of this fight will be the king. The loser will vanish into the annals of history. For a long time, the Sky Heavens sect was always deadst, one of the least powerful among the powers of the kingdom. And because of the first sh of the fight, we became one of the most powerful. And that was just by backing one side. Imagine what would happen if the side we back wins?" Li Tian said. All of this was very interesting to Liu Feng, but he had no context. Cough! Liu Feng suddenly coughed out some ck blood. These were the remainder of the injuries that he did have. Everyone turned to look at him instantly, making him ufortable. "Thank you for saving me?" he said awkwardly. "To think that this child not only broke the record that Liu Qian set, but also is such a genius in alchemy. Truly inconceivable." the blind elder sighed and shook his head. Liu Feng looked at the other side of the arena for a bit. While the Handu delegation was quite alright with the middle aged man protecting the young generation from the brunt of the attacks, the same could not be said about the Tiandu delegation. All of them were below the Xiantian stage, and they did not have a protecting figure. Master Mu, who everyone believed, was proven to be some one else, and the moment it happened, he no longer bothered to protect these alchemists. Looking at their pale faces, it was clear that they had suffered a few injuries. The arena was empty by now, because of the distraction that Li Tian had provided. "You all should go back to your families now. This fight will be difficult to recover from." Li Tian told the alchemists. "Forgive me, master, but there is something that I must do." Liu Feng stood up and disappeared. Li Tian looked in the direction of the alchemists. At his stage, he could easily see where Liu Feng was going. "Give me your spatial ring." Liu Feng said coldly to Gu Hua. Gu Hua looked at Liu Feng with fear apparent in her eyes. Right now, the man in front of her was no longer just another alchemist. He was also in the Xiantian stage, and had the backing of the entire sky heavens sect, for them toe all the way here to protect him. Still, she hesitated. "If you do not give it to me kindly, then I will have to cut the hand itself. I will not show mercy to a heartless witch like you." Liu Feng said with no emotion whatsoever. She nodded and took off her spatial ring, handing it to Liu Feng. Without even looking at it, he put it inside. "Yours as well." he looked at Uncle Gi. "Please show some mercy, young noble. The Gu family will promise to pay you handsomely if you return the spatial ring." Uncle Gi said. "You should want to stay alive. A young girl this beautiful walking around without any protection would be quite terrifying, wouldn''t it?" Liu Feng said. p Not able to counter, Uncle Gi quietly handed his spatial ring to Liu Feng as well. "I do hope that we will see each other again, Brother Yan. Sister Zhiqui. But there are some things that I have to do right now." Liu Feng quickly disappeared again and went back to the elders. "Forgive me for my impudence, elders, but I had to exact my payment on those who tried to kill me." Liu Feng knelt on the ground. Meanwhile, Ding Yan was just staring at Liu Feng with astonishment. "Just who is that man?" "Liu Feng. The son of the man who shook the capital city seventeen years ago." Bai Zhiqui whispered. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 229 The Real Truth The Sky Heavens sect, "So then. How the hell did you get to the Xiantian realm all of a sudden?" Li Tian asked. "And how the hell is the white tiger almost there already?" he nced at Liu Feng''s chest. They were back in the same room that Liu Feng broke through all that time ago. It was fixed now though. "I am a constetion beast, human. What did you expect?" Liu Man jumped out of Liu Feng''s robes. He seemed bigger now. That was growth that had surprised Liu Feng already. "And as for the level up? I am never going to let that go. How did you level up so fast?" Li Tian asked. "Well, I took a few pills, and I think I got lucky. I don''t know what else to say." Liu Feng could not exactly exin the existence of the system, could he? "You just don''t want to tell me. But that aside, there are more important things that we need to address right now. You are in the Xiantian stage now. You are officially a part of the war that ising, whether you like it or not. So I think it is time you understand some things about this fight that your father is a part of." Li Tian sighed. "I am finally going to understand the real story." Liu Feng sighed and looked forward with bright eyes of curiosity. "The Ancient realms. We have to start there, right? The mythical ce where people think miracles are made. Well all of that is bull shit. There is only one thing true about that world. The heavens decided to make that ce a little bit more fierce. In here, cultivators are restricted to the Soul Evolution Stage. But in the Ancient Realms, we can go further. Our soul itself can transform, entering the Soul Transformation and beyond." "What about here? If those are called the Ancient Realms, what do they call us? We are weaker than them, aren''t we?" Liu Feng asked. "That is true. Everyone thinks that this ce is backward, for everyone are weaker than whenpared to the Ancient Realms. The general public there call our homnd the Nethers, devoid of all resources. Every few years, when the portal between the two realms open, many cultivators from our side go there. But even then, they are treated as the bottom feedeers. Truly a pitiful stage, But never mind that. That is what the public calls this ce. But the true name of this ce... is the Realm of beginnings." Li Tian whispered at the end. "The realm of beginnings?" Liu Feng was curious now. "Yes. It is said that the gods themselves climbed to this ce, and settled at one of the edges. No one knows where this ce was, but apparently a city existed where the gods themselves resided. And from there, they ruled over the humans. This ce is the beginning of our race, and probably all life in the world. That is why it is called the Realm of Beginnings." Li Tian said. At this moment, it all made sense to Liu Feng. Unlike everyone else, he was at the staircase of heavens. He was at the city of heavens. And now, all of it clicked. "Ah, I am derailing too much. This is not the true story. We need to get to the main part. The two families, yes. The two families of the Ancient Realms. Well, there are more than two families, obviously, but these two are big ones. They control two big regions of their own, and have been rivals for a while. One of them was the Long family, which you just faced, while the other, the other was the Liu family." he then looked at Liu Feng meaningfully. "The Liu Family? I thought that my surname came from the Liu Family in Kaishi city." Liu Feng was confused now. He did not think that his real father would be surnamed Liu as well. "Liu, now that is amon surname, is it not? There are more than one Liu Families in this kingdom alone, but you only know of yours. It was quite the surprise, actually, when your father met Liu Qian." Li Tian nodded. "Anyways, the Liu and the Long families. Yes, two families against each other. One of them had the bloodline of dragons. They thought themselves the greatest n of all time. And that dragon blood made them oh so haughty. But then, they did something stupid. Because of his lust, Long Xian went over to the Liu Family andid his hands on your father''s sister. And that tipped it. Both families went to war, and your father took it upon himself to kill Long Xian. But then, Long Xian escaped to here, to the Nethers. And your father, the hot blooded fool he is, rushed in as well. But he had no help like Long Xian did. And because of the suppression of the heavens, everyone was suppressed to the Soul Evolution stage, and then the fight happened." Li Tian stopped for a moment and looked past Liu Feng, with a hollow look on his face. "Oh well. Things happened, and the first fight stopped at a draw. While Long Xian convinced the royal family that they would get immense benefits if they helped him, your father went around, with no purpose in life but to kill Long Xian. On the way, he met us. Me, Liu Qian, and your father. And someone else, but I know he wants to seclude himself, so I will exclude him for now." Liu Feng thought about the white robed man who had stepped in to save him so many times. That man was definitely the someone else. "Wait. My father. You have been referring him as my father all this time. Why haven''t you said his name?" Liu Feng asked. "Because only he can say his name in the Realm of Beginnings! Only he can say it without the heavens being enraged! After all, his name means the ruler of the heavens! I do not want to go through that retaliation from the heavens now that I am so injured." Li Tian chuckled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 230 The Real Truth (Part 2) "What? His name cannot be spoken?" "The heavens here are much, much stronger than in the Ancient Realms. They will not tolerate any dissent, and so his name is also taboo." Li Tian said. "And what of me? Everyone said that they could not tell me the truth about my parents. Everyone said that it was rted to some sort of taboo. What taboo?" Liu Feng asked. "The imperial family forbade you from knowing the truth after Liu Qian proved to everyone that you were crippled. Although it was a pity, what had happened to you, it was necessary. Without this, you would have died years ago." Li Tian sighed. "This is too much to digest. So they fought once, and they retreated and formed allies. But everyone talks about the fight in the capital city. When did that happen?" "Well that happened seventeen years ago, right around the time that you were born. Your mother was taken captive by the royal family. Although Long Xian wanted to kill her, the royal family did not let him, for she was their own blood. However, they did imprison her. Your father was enraged, so he rushed to the capital city, but it was a trap. Him, me, your father, and our fourth brother all fought our way in, when something unexpected happened. Some third party intervened, and both your father and Long Xian were injured heavily. It was a poison that no one knew. It ate away at the body. Both your father and Long Xian retreated, trying to suppress this poison. And now, Long Xian has the Sage Nine pill that you made, which seems to be the cure." "So the Sage Nine pill is the cure." Liu Feng nodded and took out a jade box. At this point, if even Li Tian was against him, then he could just give up. If even someone who saved him from certain death was not his friend, then he had no allies. "Then can you get this to my father?" he asked. "You have another Sage Nine pill?" Li Tian''s eyes widened with shock. "No good alchemist would waste such precious materials to make only one pill. Only the useless ones would. I obviously had to make a few more pills for myself." Liu Feng smiled. "Truly, you are your father''s son." Li Tian smiled. "This one should help him recover much faster than Long Xian. After all, it is much purer. It has a ny percent purity." Liu Feng said. Li Tian was shocked at this. He looked at Liu Feng with amazement. "You do not want to meet him? Your father? I am sure that you are curious about him." he asked. "I will wait. I waited so long, I can wait a little more. He should heal, and I should get stronger. Even after getting to the Soul Formation Stage, all I understood was that I am not strong enough. But this time, I am getting close. Just one major realm, and I will be able to participate in this war that ising." Liu Feng said. "It is true. But until now, all you have been doing, with your incredible cultivation speed, it is not going to be the same now that you are in the Soul Formation stage. I am going to warn you, some have taken years to get from the firstyer to the second. Do not expect to get to the peak that quickly. Your disappointment will form a heart demon." Li Tian said. Liu Feng nodded, but he knew that he was not the same. While everyone had to painstakingly cultivate, his Heaven Devouring art clearly had more effect than the other cultivation methods, his spiritual root was passively cultivating for him, and his system kept giving him freebies that let him increase his cultivation massively. "I think that I should rest for a while. There are a lot of things that I need to understand right now. And the Xiantian realm has so many mysteries that I need to uncover." Liu Feng said. "Well, it is too bad. You can''t go back to the Inner sect. After all, you are a core sect disciple now, because you are now in the Xiantian realm." he smiled. "I am in the Core sect right now? Wait a minute. Does that mean that I can use the Dragon Gate?" Liu Feng''s eyes sparkled with intent. "I can finally enter the Dragon gate?" Liu Man, who wasying down right now, perked his ears. "You also went to enter? I thought that the dragon''s gate had something to do with dragons, not tigers." Li Tian frowned. "Don''t act so foolish. I wouldn''t need some stupid relic that Blue Dragon left behind if I didn''t want to advance so quickly. But the energy within the Dragon Gate will let me grow a little faster, and maybe unlock one of my many forms." Liu Man said. "If I am a part of the Core sect, then where can I stay?" "The core sect, of course. There is a lot of ce in the core sect for you." Li Tian smiled. "You threw me in the sky once, remember? I looked at the sect itself. I saw every bit of the sect. There just isn''t a core sect. There is an inner sect and an outer sect. Is the Core sect hidden or something?" "You have keen eyes." Li Tian nodded and walked towards Liu Feng. "Let us go there." he said holding him. Liu Man jumped onto Liu Feng''s sleeve and dug in. And then they moved. Liu Feng could see clearly how they were going. Now in the Xiantian stage, he could see it so clearly. It was no longer just instant teleportation to him. It was just fast movement. In seconds, they appeared in front of a valley that Liu Feng had neverid his eyes on before. "Wee to the Core sect." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 231 Getting Things Together With his own residence, he started gathering all of his thoughts. Meanwhile, Liu Man was munching calmy on a few herbs that Liu Feng had no use for as he had increased to the Xiantian stage. "Ah! Xiantian experts are really too rich." Liu Feng smiled as he looked through the spatial ring of the old man from the Gu family. There was truly too much in this spatial ring. With low grade spirit stones numbering in the ten thousands, while there were also hundreds of middle grade spirit stones. Even in the city of heavens, he did not get that many middle grade spirit stones. And that was when the city lord had given him all the resources that she could spare. Along with all that, there were hundreds of pills, and spirit herbs that he could use. "All these pills, such a waste of herbs. If only this was given to a good alchemist, then these pills would bee so much better." Liu Feng sighed. "What about the Hong family expert? You have his spatial ring right? He should have more stuff, seeing that the Hong family is much better than the Gu family. You could kill the old man in the Gu family somehow, but the green gale tiger was the one that killed that Hong Yi." Liu Man reminded Liu Feng about the other spatial ring. Taking it out of his robes, he looked into that as well. "You are right, Liu Man. You are the best. This has so many more treasures than the previous spatial ring." Liu Feng eximed with surprise. In this ring, there was really treasure! Piles of low spirit stones on one side that were so many that he did not even want to count. And on another side, there were so many medium grade spirit stones that he could start using spirit stones alone to start cultivating. And then, there were treasures, pills, tokens, and so many cards filled with spirit coins from major auction houses. And then, there were the medicinal herbs, most of them at the Xiantian Stage. "With this much money, I can buy any thing that I want!" Liu Feng smiled. There were so many treasures in here as well, but he had no reason for them. With the ethreal weapon, and the defensive robe that he got from Min Wan a few weeks ago, he had no need for anything else. All these treasures, be it the weapons, or the many misceneous items there were, he had no need for them at the moment. He put all of those aside and perused through the books that happened to be in the ring as well. And looking through them, he raised his eyebrows with shock. "So many skill books? And such good ones as well? It seems like he is a big person in the Hong family. I guess that Soul Evolution Stage members are so far and few in this ce. I guess that getting to the peak of the Xiantian stage is also great." Liu Feng sighed and put the skill books aside as well. Then, he took out the final spatial ring that he had gotten. This was clearly better than the one from the old man in the Gu family. It was good enough for someone so haughty to bend the knee. Anything that a big family wanted so desperately had to be something truly good. Liu Feng looked through the spatial ring. There were the usual suspects. Piles of spirit stones in the low and medium grades, medicinal herbs in the Nascent Soul stage as well as the Xiantian stage. But at one side separate from the rest was a single box, and a furnace. The furnace was the furnace that Gu Hua had used. It was a pretty good furnace indeed, but Liu Feng had the suspicion that it wasn''t as good as his own. Still, it was probably really good. ,m It was understandable why a family would want to keep this furnace. After all, it was still a furnace that was good enough for many to salivate. Whereas, Liu Feng''s own furnace wasparable to Go Haizang in disguise as Master Mu. Well, that furnace was probably Master Mu''s, but Go Haizang took it away. "This box, it is probably precious as well, for it to be ced at the same side as this furnace." Liu Feng took the box and opened it. A bright light shone on his face, but one whiff and he knew exactly what this was. "A high grade spirit stone? Deja Vu!" This was the same thing that happened when he opened the Bandit Leader''s ring. Back then, even a spirit stone alone felt like it as extravagant. And at that time, he got the medium grade spirit stone, which made him feel so rich. Immediately after that though, he was taken to the staircase of heavens, and the city of heavens after that, where he could get his hands on many spirit stones with ease. So after that, he never got to the spirit stone that he got from the Bandit leader. But this time was bound to be different. Just looking at the high grade spirit stone, he just knew that this was something he should save forter, if he was going to break through to the Soul Evolution stage and the system didn''t help him at that time. "What about that story quest that Ipleted?" Liu Feng wondered. "System homepage." Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Child of Dao Level - 15 Strength - 90 Stamina - 37 Agility - 87 Cultivation - Soul Formation Stage First Layer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Expert Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Basic Proficiency - Xiantian level) Kun Peng Movement Arts (Medium Proficiency) Mind Eye(Active) Dao of Transformation(0.1%) Dao of Ice(15.5%) Dao of Lightning(1.0%) Flowing Cloud Spear (Medium Proficiency) Undefeatable Dao(0.6%) Skill points - 11 Stat Points - 6 "Wait a minute. What the hell? When did my Dao of Ice increase so much?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 232 Changing Too many things had changed on the system homepage. He was at the Soul Formation Stage, obviously. But along with that, his alchemy had clearly progressed, along with a few of his skills. More importantly, his Dao of Ice had increased substantially. He felt it had something to do with his tribtion when the lightning itself had the dao of ice when it attacked. "I got the Dao of thunder?" Liu Feng was a little surprised by this development as well. But he understood it because he had devoured that thunder through the Heaven Devouring art. "With the heaven devouring art, I should be able to take care of any tribtion thates my way. But the next tribtion shoulde all the way when I am at the peak of the Soul Formation stage, so that is going to be a whileter." Liu Feng decided. Still, he could find nothing about his story quest anywhere. This story quest was the reason that he had survived after all. At the heat of the moment, the system, gave him something that allowed him to increase his cultivation. And now, he had no idea what to do about it? There was a story quest, and he wanted toplete it so that he would be ready for whatever he had to do to clear this debt that he made. "Well, clearly, the system forgot about it. It keeps forgetting about stuff. I wonder why. It also forgot about my rewards that time. It really acts likea normal human." Liu Feng thought to himself. Right now, he did not want to cultivate. Right now, it was a time of healing. For one day, he needed to clear his mind and bring his thoughts together. After all, he had too many things in his hands, and he wanted to make use of them better. "Wait. Should I do something with the rest of the Flood Dragon''s body? The scales should make an excellent armor, and the bones should make good weapons. Should I go contact a master cksmith or someone to get this done?" he wondered out loud. "There are few cksmiths that can work with a Flood Dragon which is as strong as the one you have right now. And, they are going to be in the Xiantian realm at the least." Liu Man said. "Give me a few Nascent Soul stage herbs, will you? I like those much better." he added. "Fine. What is with you though? Are you not going to take any time to digest all this? You should not let all this energy run around so easily." Liu Feng warned. "My body can take it. And, these herbs are of a low level. Your Xiantian stage herbs are going to be much, much harder to digest in one go, but even that is not impossible to me once I grow stronger. Still, I need to up my reserves to the maximum before I enter the dragon gate." Liu Man said, his eyes betraying his intention and joy over the fact that he is going to the dragon gate. "Just what is it about this dragon gate that you love so much? You said something about a form that you can unlock? What is that about?" Liu Feng asked. "Well, do you really think that a constetion beast that the whole world should be terrified about walkes around like a puppy? As I grow, I be bigger, but I can also change my form at will. But all thates when I am at the Soul Transformation stage, which will definitely take me a year or two. Until then, I need an attacking form, which the Dragon gate can give me." Liu Man exined. "Wow. After you pass through the dragon gate, you are going to enter the Xiantian realm then?" "Of course, the fact that I am not there yet is humiliating already." Liu Man said. "Then you are not going to prepare for the tribtion? I would have prepared if it weren''t for the sudden circumstance that brought it here so fast." Liu Feng said. "Why would I prepare for something that will nevere? Who do you think I am? Where do you think the constetionse from? I am an integral part of the heavens. Why would the heavens attack someone who they sent here?" Liu Man chuckled as he shook his head. "What? You won''t have to pass through a tribtion? That is so unfair." Liu Feng whined. "Unfair? The human race is what is unfair. With such incredible reproduction rate, and so many geniuses who can get to the Soul Formation stage and beyond, the humans are the most unfair race to have been created. Never forget that." Liu Man shook his head almost instantly. It appeared as though he had received this same question multiple times ago, by humans again and again. "I see. Then I willpletely fill my dantian with Qi and then we will go to the dragon gate?" Liu Feng proposed. "Be prepared. You can only enter the dragon gate once. After that, no matter how many times you pass through it, you will feel no change and there will be no change. It is a chance that you will only get once topletely change your body." Liu Man warned. To this, Liu Feng only nodded, because he had no idea what to expect from a dragon gate. He was going to ask his master for more details and on what to do as well. He was sure that there was some procedure to be followed once he was in the dragon gate as well. Putting all that aside, he continued to sit down and look through the multiple treasures that the found in the spatial rings of all these experts. Surely, he would find something interesting. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 233 Dragon Gate The next day, Outer Sect, Sky Heavens sect, Liu Feng, Liu Man, and Li Tian stood in front of the one and only dragon gate that towered in front of them. ording to all that he heard, the dragons that he saw on this gate were real ones. They gave it the power that they had, the power to transform. Just looking at it, he remembered the time when he thought that the dragon gate was just metaphorical, and that he could just transform like the kun peng did. And while it was probably metaphorical as well, this was also something that could exist. And this was one of the biggest reasons that the Sky Heavens sect was the second strongest sect, rising all the way from deadst. Liu Feng quivered with excitement as he looked at Li Tian. "Well, what are you waiting for? Just pass through." Li Tian said. "What? There is no procedure to be followed? Some mantra, or some process to be done?" Liu Feng asked. "Nope. You just need to pass through and hope that your body will be changed for the better." Li Tian shook his head. Liu Man seemed to know this, and he jumped past Liu Feng to trot onto the dragon gate. He jumped through the sides, and then suddenly disappeared. "Where did he go?" Liu Feng looked around, but Liu Man was nowhere to be seen. For a second, he was terrified about the possibility that he was gone forever. "He is a constetion beast. He should know about the dragon gate. You are overacting too much." Liu Feng calmed himself and looked at the dragon gate intently. But nothing seemed to being out. "Master? Something seems to be wrong. How long does this transformation take?" Liu Feng asked. "I don''t know. How would I know? It depends on the transformation that is urring. Why would I know what the transformation taking ce is?" Li Tian just shrugged. "Goddamn this." Liu Feng sat on the floor, cross legged. He had a feeling that it was going to take a while for this to be over. And he did not want to pass through the dragon gate while Liu Man was in, afraid that he might mess things up for both of them. Minutes passed, and then an hour. Still, there was no sign of where Liu Man was. Although Li Tian was perfectly calm, Liu Feng was at his wits'' end. Hispanion was gone for a whole hour to some mysterious ce that he had no idea about. "Hmmm. This is interesting. It has been an hour already. I have never seen a transformation take this long." Li Tian finally said something, and even that made Liu Feng all the more stressed. Roar! And just in cue, a terrifying roar that froze his blood brought life back to Liu Feng''s face. He knew that this was Liu Man. Just the intensity of the roar told him that this was a beast that could tear him apart in seconds. He looked beyond the dragon gate to see a white tiger. This was no longer a cub. It was a full grown white tiger. It red at Liu Feng, and Liu Feng could recognize Liu Man''s face even though he was all grown up now. Poof! The tiger disappeared in white smoke and appeared next to Liu Feng with lightning speed. "Now this, both of you should see. It can help you guys a little." Liu Man said, back in the previous form that he sported before entering the dragon gate. Then, Liu Man looked up at the sky. It seemed like he was looking at the heavens, waiting for something. Just feeling the Qi that was emanating from Liu Man, Liu Feng knew immediately that Liu Man was at the Xiantian level. But it only made sense that the heavens had to give a tribtion to face. And yet, the clouds above weren''t darkening. If anything, they were only glowing brighter. A white halo appeared in the sky, with the clouds around it bing golden in color. This white light started slowly emanating downward and the target was Liu Man. Standing in the center of this clear blessing from the heavens, he enjoyed its warmth. Liu Feng could visibly see the growth of the tiny cub that was Liu Man. Slowly, step by step, he started growingrger andrger, until he reached the size of the white tiger that Liu Feng had seen before through the dragon gate. "This is just unfair. I don''t care what Liu Man says about it. To think that the heavens would wee him into the Xiantian realm, while it attacks me for daring to enter it." Liu Feng shook his head. Then, the clouds parted, and the light disappeared. Liu Man was no longer a cub. He was a tiger, one that was stronger than Liu Feng, that much was sure. ncing at Liu Feng, he growled. "I think that this form is no longer appropriate?" he said, and he started transforming again. In the blink of an eye, in front of Liu Feng, another man stood. There was no white tiger anymore. This young man was Liu Man. He looked about sixteen years old, and had chiseling features. Surely, women would go crazy looking at this perfect face. "So you can transform into human form now." Liu Feng asked. "Indeed, I can. And I think that I will keep this form for now, because having the form of a beast cub is not the most convenient. I am having to clutch your sleeve all the time. I would rather just stand next to you as a human." Liu Man smiled. "Alright then. One of you is done. Time for the next one. I don''t have all day. You can enter, Liu Feng." Li Tian said, looking at Liu Feng. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 234 Entering Liu Feng steeled his nerves and put everything aside. He couldn''t afford to lose anything when he entered this ce. Without any defenses and weapons, this was the time he was most vulnerable. He walked up to the dragon gate and looked up. There were dragons all over, as if they were carved onto the bronze hull. Their eyes seemed to follow wherever Liu Feng was walking. He knew that they couldn''t possibly be alive right now, but their wills could. And these wills were also dangerous. If only the will of a Snow Ape King could almost injure him, then surely the will of a true dragon, something that was much stronger than even a Soul Evolution expert, could be the cause of his death. "Stop backing down. Just go through it." he steeled himself and walked in. ? The whit light disappeared immediately, and all that remained was him, and him alone. He was in the darkness, but he felt the ufortable shuffling of someone who was here along with him. This energy that existed in the dragon gate started permeating his skin and entering it. Liu Feng closed his eyes. For a second, he thought about how the Kun Peng must have felt like, going through the same process. How Liu Man was able to change his form. He felt his own muscles tighten, and his back started squirming. His feet started wiggling, and his arms tingling. His whole body was vibrating, and it didn''t settle right with him, but he decided to give in. He decided to let what happens happen. Slowly, his body felt like it was growing, and yet it was not. He could not see himself though, in all this darkness. He could not even move. He was frozen in ce, and all he felt was that something wrong was happening to his body. All off a sudden, his mind started understanding something about the dragon gate. "Refine the body, Transform with true Qi, and change at will!" He no longer felt small and weak in this world. He felt like something had fundamentally changed. He was no longer constrained with the form that he was given. Roar! Unknowingly, he shouted with excitement, but then realized something terrifying. This roar was not something a human was capable of giving. It was the roar of something else entirely. "I... transformed into a Kun Peng?" he paused for a moment, shocked. He stopped at that moment, and controlled his body. He shrunk it at will, reverting back to the form that he was most acquainted with, the human form. But still, he couldn''t forget the experience that he had a few moments prior. He was a kun peng, and when he roared, he felt like he was the fastest being in the entire world! Ping! [Kun Peng Movement Arts has evolved into Kun Peng Transformation Arts] Liu Feng was not surprised that the system could enter this seemingly mysterious ce. "System homepage." He called out. Username - Gray Holton Cultivation name - Liu Feng Title - Child of Dao Level - 15 Strength - 90 Stamina - 37 Agility - 87 Cultivation - Soul Formation Stage First Layer Luck - 20 Skills - Heaven Devouring (Expert Proficiency) Blue Dragon Spear (Expert Proficiency) Iron Body (Medium Proficiency) Ethereal Weapon Arts (Basic Proficiency) Alchemy(Basic Proficiency - Xiantian level) Kun Peng Transformation Arts (Basic Proficiency) Mind Eye(Active) Dao of Transformation(9.1%) Dao of Ice(15.5%) Dao of Lightning(1.0%) Flowing Cloud Spear (Medium Proficiency) Undefeatable Dao(0.6%) Skill points - 31 Stat Points - 6 "I got twenty skill points because of that change? And my Dao of transformation has clearly changed for the better." Liu Feng saw all these changes, and he was escatic. He looked forward. The darkness was diminishing slowly, and he was going back to the real world. He finally regained control over his body, so he floated towards the light as well. Then, the darknesspletely disappeared, and he knew that he would never be able to enter that ce again. But this was a fruitful experience. He looked at Li Tian and Liu Man, who were on the other side of the dragon gate. They had weird expressions on their faces. At that point, he felt a cold air hitting his body, a feeling that he shouldn''t be feeling in some ces. "Wait a moment. I am naked?" Liu Feng jumped up with fright. He quickly ran to his spatial ring, which was on the other side of the dragon gate and took a few clothes to put on. Then, heposed himself, but the embarrassment was quite visible. "Don''t worry. Many peoplee out naked. But that is because they transform into something different. I wonder what your transformation was." Li Tian asked. Liu Feng smiled, and said, "Follow my steps." All of a sudden, he disappeared, reappearing a few meters away with shocking speed. Then, he disappeared, reappearing right in front of Li Tian. "What do you think?" he asked. "This is - wow. To think that I would not be able to follow the speed of a junior who is just in the Soul Formation stage." the shock was apparent in Li Tian''s eyes. "Did you transform into the Kun Peng in the dragon gate?" Liu Man asked. Liu Feng nodded and quickly looked into his own body, trying to look at differences that might have arisen because of his transformation within the gate. "You transformed into a Kun Peng? That is indeed, a first for me. I have never seen that before." Li Tian nodded. "With this, I finally have figured out one of my weaknesses. Speed. My defense is also fine. I should focus on my offense now. I need a proper attack that is able to pierce through even the toughest armors." Liu Feng said. "Ah! You should have told me this before. You need a good skill book?" Li Tian asked. "You can help me with that?" "What happened to you? Did you hit your head or something? What is this? A sect. We have the best skills in the entire region. And probably the best collection in the entire kingdom when ites to offense skills." Li Tian smiled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 235 Skill Hall They arrived at a quite popr building. There were people going in anding out. This was very simr to when Liu Feng went to the building in the training grounds back in the Liu Family estate. The building there had all the skills and treasures of the family. Although Liu Feng never had the opportunity toe to the same ce here, where he should have collected a good weapon for himself as the reward for when he first came to the sect, he didn''t because of the second elder fiasco that ensued. And hence, he never came to this building that was one of the most popr ones in the sect. Since he had the system, he never used any other ce for skills. He just assumed that the skills in the system were going to be the best. But he also understood that using only the system wouldn''t work in the long run. He had a limited number of skill points, and using them for items that were only avable through the system would be much better. "Alright. Give me your identity token." Li Tian said, putting his hand forward. Liu Feng took out his identity token from a corner of his spatial ring. The moment Li Tian touched it though, it glowed with a right radiance and attracted the attention of everyone around them. All the disciples walking inside looked at this brilliance and immediately recognized the VIP that was the reason for this. "The sect leader! The sect leader is here!" someone shouted. Immediately, everyone knelt down in reverence to the man that was above so many others. "Wow. To think that they respect him so much." Liu Feng nodded with surprise. "What respect? You should be kneeling down too." Li Tian knocked Liu Feng with the identity token and threw it back to him. "Take this. With this, you are now officially thetest Core disciple. I don''t know the exact number, but you should be the weakest. After all, thest core disciple was taken in a whole two years ago while you entered the Xiantian realm two days ago." Li Tian chuckled. His words did not escape the disciples around him. "What? There is a new Core Sect Disciple? This is breaking news! To think that there is a new core sect Disciple!" everyone was shocked at this development. "Are there any benefits that I get by bing a Core sect disciple?" Liu Feng asked. "Unlimited ess to all of the training grounds, and you can enter the third level of the skill hall that you see in front of you." Li Tian said. "Third level? I see only one here." Liu Feng pointed to the one massive hall that was the Skill hall. There was no second floor that stood above it. It was just one floor. "Go inside, you will understand." Li Tian smiled. Shaking his head, Liu Fengplied and walked into the Skill Hall. Immedaitley, he was stopped by an old man. "Identity token." he asked. Liu Feng gave the elder the identity token, but silently scanned him with his divine sense. He knew that this man was clearly stronger than him. "It is very rude to scan someone with your divine sense. You are a junior, so I will leave it be. Don''t try it again." the old man said calmly. "Forgive me, elder. My curiosity got the best of me." Liu Feng hastily bowed. "Who are you? I don''t think that I have ever seen you before. I know all the disciples who passed through these doors before, and you have nevere here. Yet you are in the Xiantian realm." the old man asked. "I am a new disciple, elder. It has been around six months since I have gotten here, is why you may have never seen me." Liu Feng smiled. "Here. I didn''t think that a core sect disciple would not be using sect arts. How the sect has changed." the old man sighed as he handed back the identity token. "You can go to the third floor. Since it is your first time here, go straight and you will see a staircase. Go down it." the old man said and looked forward at the next arrival. "Your identity token." "....." Liu Feng walked forward and finally understood what they meant by three levels. This was no floor above, they were all below! "Well, I should have expected that. If they have cultivation, they should be able to build basements." Liu Feng sighed as he walked down. There was no guard though, which seemed odd. If there was no guard, then wouldn''t anyone be able toe through this staircase? He walked downwards, but the staircase seemed to never end. He could not even see the bottom, because it was so dark at the end. Walking slowly, it took him about a minute for his feet to touch the bottom. "Take out your identity token." a silent voice said. "So there are guards." he realized as he took out his identity token. In the darkness, it gave a golden glow. "A core sect disciple that I don''t recognize? When did someone new enter the ranks? Boy, when did you join the sect and when did you enter the Xiantian realm?" the silent voice rose its volume. "I joined the sect six months ago, and I entered the Xiantian Realm two days ago." having to repeat the same information again and again irritated Liu Feng, but he would rather stay on the good books of the elders of the sect, considering that they saved him once before. "Wait a minute, my old mind fails me. So you are the Liu Feng that those two old geezers went out for the day before. To think that you would be so young." the voice suddenly brightened up a bit, but Liu Feng could still see nothing. "Fine then. You should take your time. You can peruse through this floor, or go to the floor below. I mean, there are good options everywhere, but I think that the best are below." the voice said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 236 The Third Floor The moment that the voice said that, light returned to the world. Liu Feng could see shelves and shelves of books that filled a vast expanse that was probably bigger than the hall up above. The number of books here was probably in the hundreds of thousands! "How the hell do they have more books for the higher level than for the lower level? This makes no sense? Shouldn''t they have like a million low level books for the newbies and fewer books for the inner sect disciples?" Liu Feng was truly confused by this. Still, though, it wasn''t the time to be debating about this, and he needed to go enter thest floor. He walked straight through, expecting the staircase to be quite visible, and yet it wasn''t. Frustrated, he just used his divine sense to scan his surroundings. At the moment, his divine sense could travel a radius of a hundred meters! He could easily scan through all the ce off this floor, and saw that there was no staircase at all. He was just met by a wall on all sides, including the one that he was facing here. "This seems odd." he mused and let his divine sense go further, prating the wall. And indeed, he understood that there was something beyond the wall that he was looking at. He walked forward and touched the wall, which seemed like it was made of some sort of membrane. He could pass through it, but it would make sense if people who were not a part of the core sect wouldn''t. He passed through this membrane toe to another ce that was devoid of any light. "A new Xiantian disciple? You must be the one that Old Xia De went to save a few days ago. Indeed, Liu Qian raised a good kid." a more lively voice was the guard this time. "Three strong experts for just a skill hall? That seems kind of overboard, doesn''t it?" he wondered as he took out his identity token. "No need for that. You were verified as an Inner Sect disciple already. Any inner sect disciple who enters the Xiantian Stage is automatically a core sect disciple. You should know that right?" the voice chuckled. Liu Feng smiled wryly and nodded. He then walked forward, half expecting the light to return. And yet it didn''t. It remained pitch dark, and he could not see a thing if it weren''t for his divine sense. "Right. It is your first time here, isn''t it? You should use only your divine sense to scan through the books. These are special ones. Once you scan through the books, you will be in for a surprise." the voice said and then went quiet once more. There was absolute silence here. Liu Feng slowly released his divine sense throughout the whole floor and could see that it was much, much smaller than the one behind him. It was the third floor only in name sake. It was a part of the second floor, after all. There were probably a thousand books on this floor. And each of them was bound to be a good one in Liu Feng''s head. He walked to one of the aisles and looked through the books and shook his head. "Defensive arts. I have the iron body for that. I need to practice it a little more though. I have been neglecting it as ofte." Liu Feng made a note. However, because the Iron Body passively shielded his body, it didn''t have any special moves. It just made his skin as tough as iron when absolutely necessary. And along with the Ethereal Shield Arts, his defensive front was covered. His defense was soplete that he could protect himself from the tribtion with only his shield arts. Well, thest strike couldn''t be defended because of ack of Qi, but that could only be attributed to the fight that happened before that. He walked away from this aisle to go to another one. "This one is all movement skills." he shook his head. Right now, his agility was at a peak that it was never at before. He was fast alright. With the help that the dragon gate provided, he transformed into a full fledged Kun Peng! He was probably the fastest Core Sect Disciple for all that he knew. Walking to another aisle, it was still movement skills and another which had defense. He had to walk to the east wing to get to the offense skills and get to the good ones. "Hmmm. Should I choose a spear art this time, or should I switch it up a little and take a sword art?" he wondered. "No. I am too used to the spear. Even if the ethereal arts gave me some proficiency with the sword and other weapons, I should just stick with the spear." he decided to went through the manuals. "Nine Transformation Spear." "Hujin Spear Art" "Death Seal" "Sun Arts" "Seal of Divine" ,m "All these sound powerful enough." Liu Feng shrugged as he looked through these books. He nced through every one of these books, and the only one that seemed to be remotely useful was the Seal of Divine. And that was because it could seal someone who was higher ranked than him. But for sealing or suppressing, he had the Yuan Principle. He wanted an offensive art now. "Urgh! How is it so hard to just find a goddamn offensive art? I thought that they were going to be everywhere." Liu Feng grumbled with irritation as he walked further right. He was faced with the end of the floor, and two final shelves to look through. "Twelve Sun Lock" "Pierce the heavens" "Heaven Suppressing Art" Looking at the final one, he felt something react inside him. He felt that this art was something thatpleted him. "Don''t tell me, is it rted to the Heaven Devouring Art?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 237 Heaven Suppressing Art: A Long Lost Brother Liu Feng picked the skill book up. It was dusty, clearly different from the many other books here which have been picked up once or twice before, This book here was never adopted. Probably no one in the entire sect would dare to touch a book that dared to im that it suppressed the heavens itself. Liu Feng scrolled through the book. It did not seem to be a spear art of any kind. Rather, it didn''t seem to be an art of any weapon. This was a principle that could be applied to any weapon. Immediately, Liu Feng felt something strange happen to him. He scanned the book with divine sense once more, and all of a sudden, an input of information barraged him. It was simr to what always happened when he used the system for his skills. And so, he did not react adversely to it, and calmly epted all of this information. Scanning through his memories, he could clearly understand what the art was. it was something that one could perform with even a spear. After all, it had only one goal: To suppress! He needed an offensive weapon at this time, but even though this seemed like it could only suppress, something deep inside him disagreed with him. Another set of memories that seemed to be locked, suddenly started unfolding. He understood that the Heaven Devouring art and the Heaven Suppressing art could be used hand in hand. While one would suppress, the other would attack. One could devour the heavens while the other was making sure that the heavens couldn''t do anything about it. These two arts were long lost brothers. "No. This doesn''t make any sense. The Heaven Devouring Art. It isn''t some cultivation art. It is a full fledged offensive art that has been capped much below its potential." Liu Feng said to himself as he sat on the floor, cross legged. Trying to digest all this new information was going to take a while, and there was clearly no time limit to how long he could stay in here, which was surprising. In the silence, he started understanding the profundities of the two skills involved. How they were simr to each other, and yet different in many ways. He looked deep within, and when these two Arts came together, there was only one feeling that arose within him. Anger. Anger towards the heavens that seemed to lord over everything. Anger towards the heavens that decided to control the fate of everything in the world. These arts were created by a person who had immense hatred for the heavens, and one that could go against the heavens themselves! And they were powerful alright. That was already apparent when the heaven devouring art did the impossible during the tribtion: it devoured the wrath of the heavens itself. Slowly, he felt like he was walking a path where the only two possible oues that coulde out of it were either him dying to the heavens, or him destroying the heavens at the end. "I need to test this out in the field." he decide and disappeared from where he stood. He rushed out of the skill hall, and none of the guards stopped him. There was only a restriction on entry, and not on exit. "Hmmm... interesting. Truly interesting. It is his first time here and he did not even flinch when the information overloaded him? That is fascinating. And to think that the one book that he would touch is that book. He truly is his father''s son." a voice said, breaking the silence that existed on the third floor. Meanwhile, in an instant, Liu Feng was out of the skill hall, and looked at the crowd that gathered at the entrance. Li Tian was still in front of the skill hall. Although Liu Feng did not dare presume that Li Tian stayed here for him, it was still nice to see that he was there. The moment that Liu Feng came out, Li Tian looked at him and nodded. He walked up to him, and all of the disciple slowly gravitated towards Liu Feng as well. "Are you done?" he asked. Liu Feng just nodded in response, unwilling to disclose the skill that he chose in front of so many people. Something like that was meant to be a trump card to be used at thest moment. "I see. That was quite quick. I am interested in seeing what you have chosen." Li Tian smiled. "Is there any ce that I can train this skill, sect master?" Liu Feng chose his words wisely seeing so many people around him. After all, the first condition that Li Tian put when he became Liu Feng''s master was that Liu Feng could not disclose to anyone that he was the disciple of Li Tian. "Indeed. Follow me." Li Tian''s figure disappeared and so did Liu Feng''s. After the transformation, he felt like his speed had inherently changed. Although his stats didn''t change as much, he felt his change doubled almost. And it was apparent, seeing that he could match up with Li Tian''s speed himself. Granted that Li Tian was probably not going at full speed, but it was stillmendable for someone who was barely using any Qi, and was just in the firstyer of the Xiantian Realm. Soon, they arrived back at the Core Sect. The valley was vast, and they entered it. Liu Feng had long noticed that there was not a single disciple in sight. Everyone was probably inside cultivation, or outside,pleting the real and big missions of the sect. It was obvious from thest time, when Cai Yun''er came to the Pill Tower. It was to take care of the psuedo Xiantian realm bandit leader. "I am probably the least dedicated out of all of these people." Liu Feng chuckled as he kept following Li Tian. And soon enough, they stopped at arge training ground the size of a football field. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 238 Second Senior Brother Liu Feng''s eyes drifted to the edge of the training field, where another man was also practising his skills. Although he was not using his full power, Liu Feng knew the moment that he looked at that man, that this was someone powerful. "That is your second senior brother. You shouldn''t care about him now. You should focus on your own practice. That is what this giant field is for anyway. So then, I will leave you to it." Li Tian disappeared and this time, Liu Feng could not follow his disappearing figure. Putting everything aside, he focused inward. He needed to try out the two arts that hadbined together. They seemed to be too simr to each other. Slowly, he moved his body while also making a few signs with his hands. Qi started flowing in though the heaven devouring art, and it immediately left its body, making those signse to life. All of a sudden, some inscription seemed to be forming deep inside him that seemed to give him some authority to use this skill. Deep inside his spirit sea, at one corner, a rune was forming. The moment it appeared, the spiritual root trembled. "What is this? Who is entering this ce?" a loud voice came from the spiritual root, but there was no response. And then, the spirit sea went quiet again, with the runeplete. Liu Feng looked up in the heavens, and the same rune could be seen on both his eyes. He saw this world in a different light. Everything appeared to be a mass of Qi in his eyes, and everything seemed like it was just an object, not living anymore. When he saw his second senior brother, he could just see more Qi than other ces. So he decided to look up. To see how much Qi the heavens itself was made of. He looked at the sky, but he saw nothing. All off a sudden though, the ce changed. His surroundings were rapidly changing. The earth and sky itself were turning, and the entire world was on its heels. He was ascending rapidly, and flew to the sky! He had no control over his body, and when he looked down, he could see the diminishing figures of the people in the world. Then, everything became dark, except for bright spots that clustered his surroundings. Looking around, this ce felt all too familiar. This was the night sky. He was up in the night sky, looking at nothingness. "Hmmmm" A loud voice froze his body over and over. He could not turn his body, nothing. All he could do was look forward. "No. To think that the person who wants to inherit my art would be so weak. This is not right." the same voice said, and this time, it was like the voice was right next to his ear. "I will wait then. This skill is not something that you can handle without leaving the ce that you are stuck at. You should leave the Realm of Beginnings unless you want to die before you have lived. Two years, huh? Two years and you can go back to the real world. I will see if you can grow strong enough there." the voice said, and then, Liu Feng felt someone tap his body. All of a sudden, everything that happened a few moments before, happened again, but in reverse. The world tumbled again, and he could see the heavens and earth overturn before he returned back to where he started: the training field. Gasp! Liu Feng took a breath and shook his head. He could not believe what had just happened. This was definitely the creator of this skill. It had something to do with the two skill that the had in hand. "Are you okay?" A sound jolted Liu Feng from behind. Jumping with fright, he looked back. He was already very sensitive because of what had just happened, and he did not need any new surprises. "Second senior brother?" he was the one who was supposed to be on the other end of the field, training. "Are you okay? You just fell on the ground all of a sudden, like your soul left your body. And you just did not move for a while." second senior brother asked. "How long was I out?" Liu Feng asked. "About ten minutes." "Ten minutes?" Liu Feng shouted with shock, but he looked around and lowered his voice. "Ten minutes? I can''t believe it. Ten minutes, it felt like so much lower." Liu Feng said. "Well then, you are alive, so I will not disturb you any further. But be careful. Do not practice any skill that can cause harm to yourself." second senior brother said and went to the other side of the field to continue training. "Just.... who was that terrifying man? He was stronger than anyone that I have ever met before. Forget the people in the kingdom, he is probably stronger than everyone in the entire Realm of Beginnings. Maybe even the Ancient Realm." he was shaken by what happened. Sitting down, he looked deep within himself. He went to the spirit sea as well, where he found the rune that had imnted itself within the sea itself. Looking at it, Liu Feng felt power. Just pouring Qi and spiritual energy into it, he knew that he would be able to use the Heaven Suppressing Art and the Heaven Devouring Art together. But he wouldn''t. The words that that mysterious person said still echoed inside him. He was not strong enough to use this skill. If he did, there would be consequences. He could not use it in this realm, but in the ancient realm. So that could only mean that it had to do with the difference, the strength of the heavens. If he did use this skill here, the heavens would no longer tolerate him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 239 Thunder Valley Liu Feng could not exactly practice a move that would cause the heavens to show their wrath to him. He put that project aside and just decided to cultivate for a while. The air around him was richer in Qi than usual, and he had a lot of medium and low grade spirit stones that he could use to start cultivating. He continued using the heaven devouring art to take in Qi from the world around him. But unbeknownst to him, the rune in his spirit sea started glowing brighter every time he used the Heaven Devouring Art. And what that was doing, no one could tell. Maybe it was growing stronger, or maybe it was just storing that energy for something that woulde muchter. The sun fell and darkness pervaded. Liu Feng returned home and continued to meditated. At his stage, cultivators did not need sleep at all anymore. The Xiantian Stage was a turning point. It was where humans could no longer be called mortal anymore. They were something else. They were being that were trying to be gods themselves! Liu Feng continued reflecting unto himself, trying to understand the profound nature of the world around him. Then, his eyes fluttered open. "Wait a minute, why am I wasting my time here when I can be going to the training grounds around the sect? I am allowed unlimited ess right?" he realized. Getting up, he disappeared and travelled back to the inner sect. The night life in the inner sect was quite rigid. Liu Feng could see quite a lot of people moving around, talking, and discussing about things that were happening around them. "Did you listen to what happened to the Pill Tower in the capital city? Apparently, they are the major pill tower now. I wonder what happened in Cairin." "Forget all that. The Ding family did it. They dered that the Hong family and anyone affiliated to it were going to be their enemies." "I know. I heard that the Gu family did something to offend them or something." "Yeah, they are trying to curry favor of Liu Tian, that alchemist who is apparently from our sect?" "And what about that fight that sect leader was a part of? I am sure that Liu Tian is his long lost son or a disciple or something." "Defly. I was wondering why the sect leader himself wouldn''t have a disciple." "Only the sect leader could raise a disciple like that, undergoing his Xiantian tribtion while being injured! And with so many distractions at that!" Liu Feng smiled listening to all of this and kept walking, until he stopped in front of a stunningdy who was surrounding by men left and right. All these men wooing her, and she stared at the man who just arrived. "Senior sister Huan." Liu Feng nodded. "Senior sister? I don''t think that you can call me that anymore. You are a core sect disciple now." Li Huan pointed to the identity token that was strapped on to Liu Feng''s waist. After taking out his identity token too many times, he just decided it was easier if he put it on his waist, for those who needed to see it. "I was just lucky." Liu Fengughed as he scratched the back of his head. "Lucky my ass. Something like that does note out of luck. And if he had so many resources, enough to make you enter the Xiantian realm, then I would be the first one to receive them." Li Huan snorted. Liu Feng did not know how to respond to this. "I... am going to thunder valley to try andprehend the Dao of lightning." he finally said. "I thought that you were an expert of the Dao of ice." Li Huan asked. "I have been branching out. There are so many questions that I just want to answer, and hopefully, this will all help me." Liu Feng said. Li Huan shook her head and turned around to walk away. Meanwhile, the men around her looked at Liu Feng with jealousy and fear. A core sect disciple this young was never heard of. And someone who could make the ice princess of Sky Heavens, the daughter of the sect leader himself, initiate a conversation was someone that the entire sect wanted to know. Liu Feng went to the Thunder Valley, where even in the night, it was glowing with a purple hue. There was a deacon at the entrance, making sure that everyone who was entering, was allowed to. When Liu Feng was about to enter though, the deacon stopped him. "Who are you? I have never seen you here before." he said. Liu Feng sighed and showed his badge to the deacon. "A new core sect disciple? I would have heard about this. Who are you? There is no way that a disciple that I have never heard off became a core sect disciple. Are you impersonating someone boy?" the deacon asked. Liu Feng sighed. "I am Liu Feng. I have been on the top of the Silver rankings once, I think?" Liu Feng said. "How do I know that you are not impersonating him?" the deacon asked, raising his voice. "Fine. Every Xiantian expert is automatically made a core sect disciple, right?" Liu Feng asked. "Then what is something that only a Xiantian realm expert can do?" he mused, and then did something that was absolutely shocking. Taking out a sword that was lying in his spatial ring, he cut off his hand clean off. "What did you just do?" even the deacon was surprised. But before he couldplete reacting, the hand magically grew back because of the Qi that Liu Feng was putting in. He cut his own hand off, so there was no conflicting Qi and he could heal his wound immediately. "A new core sect disciple? Are you the one who went to Skill hall earlier today with the sect leader?" the deacon put things together. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 240 The Man Of The Hour Kaishi City, Liu Family Estate, "What are you doing here, Third brother?" a chuckle came out of a man sitting calmly in the sun, bathing in all the light. "What do you think I am doing? I came here for you." someone came out of the shadows. "I wonder what forced even you toe all the way from the sect." "Long Xian is cured." Immediatley, the calmness on the man''s face disappeared, and he looked at this third brother with shock. "He is cured? How can that be? I thought that the cure was a Sage Nine pill that someone from MY family could make. Who the hell did he get?" "Your son." Veins popped on the man''s forehead. He stood up with anger. "I thought that he was protected. Please tell me that he is okay. Or else, this will be a war that will turn the entire world upside down." "He is safe. I got to him before Long Xian could do anything. And, he even sent you a gift." the third brother smiled and threw a jade box towards the man. Catching it, he looked inside. "Wait, what? A Sage Nine Pill of this purity? How did he make it?" "He made two of these that day, apparently. The worse one went to Long Xian, while the better one is going to you." the third brother said. "What the hell are the both of you talking about, Li Tian, Liu Ling Tian?" a sound came from inside the house that they were right next to. "Liu Qian, you really are the only one in this world who dares say his name so boldly." Li Tian shook his head. "Why would I be afraid to say his name? The heavens won''t touch me for something so silly, will they?" Liu Qian chuckled as he came out of the house. Looking at him though, Li Tian''s face changed. "What did you do? You broke the seal?" "He is in the Xiantian realm now, isn''t he? That means that he no longer needs me to protect him. I do not need to be a sacrifice anymore. The war ising upon us and we need to be in full capacity." "How long will it take you to recover, first brother?" Li Tian asked. "With a pill like this? A year at best. Two years if I am stretching it. But once I am done, Long Xian will not be an issue. Should we send for reinforcements from my family when the portal opens?" "Let us see how things will go. Your family should be monitoring the Long family and making sure that no force is being amassed near the portal." Liu Qian said. "Indeed. And what about the n? Is is still in y?" Li Tian asked. "Of course it is. Nothing has changed. The only factor is that Feng''er has reached the Xiantian stage a little earlier than expected, so he can protect himself. Still, we have two years. We need to make sure that everything is perfect." Liu Qian nodded. "Liu Feng can''t stay in Tiandu. That will make things too tensed. We need to send him away for a while, that way we can focus on the problem at hand." Liu Ling Tian suggested "Why don''t we send him to the front lines? The army is separate from the royal family in many ways. They wouldn''t touch Liu Feng." Li Tian said. "Too risky. We need to send him out of the kingdom." Liu Qian said. "Handu?" Li Tian asked. "Not Handu. Liu Tian, the persona you just made up, humiliated them didn''t he? And now you want to send that very same person to Handu? Do you want to sign his death warrant?" Liu Qian rejected immediately. "Then where else do we send him. There are not a lot of ces that he can go." "How about we send him to the Mysterious Forest? No one here will ever dare go there, and I know a few friends in the Mysterious Kingdom. They will surely help him enter." "We can send him to the Lush Emerald Sect there. I mean, she will definitely allow it, as long as our pretty boy here asks." both of them looked at Liu Ling Tian. "Just... do something to get him somewhere safe. I don''t want him anywhere near Tiandu for the next year or two. Things are going to get bloody." he said. "And what of Feng Wang? He said that he will take care of the Hong Family, did he not? When will he do that?" "He will, eventually. The Cai family is taking a neutral stance, while the Ding family supports us as long as they will see benefits. But the major problem will be the other six sects. Mostly the Tiandu Sect, obviously. I might be stronger than that petty old man, but he has more Soul Evolution Stage members than we do." "We can figure things outter. All we need to do is start getting people together." Liu Ling Tian said as he took out the Sage Nine pill and swallowed it. He then looked down at his abdomen, which was where he had sustained the injury. He could feel the frost taking down the poison that was gnawing at him. And then, everything was silent. "Ah! That peace and quiet. It was what, sixteen years since I had to stay awake for every moment trying to fight this poison off?" Liu Ling Tian chuckled. "Go get some rest. You are going to need it. Li Tian, you should send him to the Mysterious Kingdom right away. Contact Bing Yuxin. And just use an array. The faster he is out of the kingdom, the better. Li Tian nodded, and he disappeared. "So then, what do we do now? You want to wish him a good bye?" Liu Qian asked. "It''s okay. It would be weird for him to see his own mother in this form. He would recognize me in my disguise within minutes anyway." "I still think that that was a messed up idea, and for the record, I was always against it." Liu Qian said as he walked back in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 241 Mysterious Kingdom "You want to send me to the mysterious kingdom? What for?" Liu Feng knit his eyebrows. This was a bit sudden for him, after all. "This is an exchange program. There are very few people who we can actually send there. The inner sect disciple are too weak and cannot protect themselves there, while most core sect disciple are too strong that sending them would be more threatening than an exchange." "So you want to send me there and bring someone from the mysterious kingdom to your sect. An exchange program? Just who are you taking hostage?" Liu Feng looked at a very nervous looking Li Tian. "Just... this is not up for discussion. I have more things to do. You are going to the mysterious kingdom. Many would kill for this opportunity, but here you are, refusing it. I am going to send you to the Lush Emerald Sect. And in turn, we get one of their core disciples here. It will be a nice and refreshing change, letting both sects learn from each other." Li Tian said. "When do you want me to leave then?" Liu Feng asked. "Immediately. I know that you have all of your things in your spatial ring, and that white tiger of yours cane as well. He can also act as a Xiantian expert from our side. You can leave right now." Li Tian looked to the side, where Liu Man was standing. "It seems to me that all of this is very rushed. Very rushed." Liu Man asked with narrowed eye slits. "We can leave now. I will also show you one of the benefits of being a part of the core sect. A treasure that not many in Tiandu can im to operate. I will let you enter the Ancient Portal." Li Tian smiled and said. "The ancient portal? You mean a teleportaion portal of arge scale? Why would you call it ancient?" Liu Man asked. "The knowledge on how to make the portal is long gone. Now, we can only use the portals that exist as of right now. There are more reasons that the sky heavens sect is located here, than just the forest that surrounds it." Li Tian said as he walked deeper into the Core Sect Valley. Liu Feng had no choice but to follow as well, and they came to a ce that Liu Feng never came to before. This was a small hill, not a peak or a valley. And on this slightly elevated tform, something simr to the dragon gate stood tall. But it wasn''t as mysterious, and it had runes all over the edge of the portal. Just looking at it, Liu Feng could see that it was made from a metal, not iron, but something much stronger. It also had the runes carved into it, but which could only be activated with Qi. "This portal has its constraints. It can only take you to somewhere who has activated the portal at the same time. You can only go there if youmunicate with the other person properly." Liu Man pointed out. "And what if you don''t?" Liu Feng raised his eyebrows. "You will be lost in all space. Now shut up. I need to use a lot of spirit stones for this, and my heart bleeds for this." Li Tian said as he snapped his hands. Piles and piles of intermediate grade spirit stones started appearing around this portal, and all of them became mist that fed this portal that was twenty feet tall and wide. Slowly, a whirlpool of ck and white colored lines started forming. It took over the entire portal, and gave it a mysterious feeling. But just looking at it, Liu Feng shivered. This seemed insanely dangerous. It felt like he would die if he entered. He looked at Li Tian, who was still looking at the portal with all seriousness, and was not bothered to look at Liu Feng. All this Qi was still not enough. He had to make sure that the Qi could sustain the portal, and any shortages and he would give the Qi himself. "Fine. The coordinates have finally locked onto to themselves." Li Tian said. The white stripes slowly engulfed the ck ones, and the portal became a swirling and glowing white light that seemed much safer to enter. The ck light seemed to be the endless void itself, something that he could not even hope to touch, or he would be ripped apart into shreds. Even Li Tian could not touch the void. It was a ce that terrified even the strongest of cultivators. "What are you waiting for? Every second you waste, I am losing spirit stones. Go in." Li Tian snarked. Liu Feng shook back to reality and nodded at Liu Man. Both of them jumped at the portal, and walked through. The moment that they walked through though, Li Tian''s nervous expression finally vanished. He sighed and looked at the portal again, but this time with a more rxed expression. The portal brightened, and a hand came out of it. A slender hand that seemed like it was carved out of jade. Soon, the hand and the woman that apanied it came out of the portal and looked at Li Tian. "I pay my respect to the sect leader of the Sky Heavens sect." she bowed down instantly. The portal shined again, and another gracefuldy floated out, and nced at Li Tian. "It is my honor to be in the presence of the savior of the Lush Green Sect." the second woman said. "Aizz, is Bing Yuxin well and good? She should be, after all, there is no one in this world who has more vitality than she does. She really has such ridiculous expectations when she takes in disciples. To think that she took two kingdom toppling beauties in." Li Tian chuckled as he snapped his fingers. The portal instantly dimmed down, and the white light disappeared. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 242 Bing Yuxin The moment that he stepped into the portal, Liu Feng could feel the air brush his face. He could see a different world altogether. And it did not feel any different from just walking normally. He did not get the weird turbulence that he was half expecting. "We are lucky. We did not get any problems. I did not think that this would be such a stable channel." Liu Man stepped out of the portal and looked around. The ce theynded was different. It was definitely different from the Sky Heavens sect. In the sky heavens sect, there were a lot of trees, but those trees seemed dead and lifeless. But the moment they entered this new ce, the mysterious kingdom, there were trees everywhere, and with a light green glow, they felt like treasure trees that spewed vitality out. And in front of them, manning this portal, was a kingdom toppling beauty. Just looking at this person, Liu Feng felt a heat generate in his body. She looked like she was wless, but her eyes told a different story. Beneath those eyes, were a few wrinkles of time, and it was apparent that she was not of the same generation. And behind this woman stood ten more, all women, staring at the new arrival. "So you are his son. The simrities are striking." the woman in front stepped forward and looked at Liu Feng intently. Liu Feng did not dare use his divine sense here. He used mind eye instead. "Level - ??? Name - Bing Yuxin Cultivation- ???" "I still cannot see the cultivation. I should have known." he thought to himself as he made a note of this name. "And the other person that Li Tian sends is also a Xiantian boy that I have never seen before." she looked at the human form of Liu Man. "I... joined the sect very recently." Liu Man forced a smile. "Well then, you are here at the Mysterious Kingdom. We are nothing like your stupid kingdom, riddled with war and conflict. Here, we are much more peaceful. Now then, Li Tian told me that you are a seven star alchemist? That you have made the Xiantian Advancement Pill in front of everyone?" Bing Yuxin asked. "I am not sure about the ssification, but yes, I did make the Xiantian Advancement Pill." Liu Feng nodded. "Incredible. I would think that his son would be a martial art master, but to think that he is a pill genius as well." Bing Yuxin shook her head. "Do you... know my father?" Liu Feng finally asked. "Of course. Who didn''t in my generation? Ah, who didn''t?" she looked up at the sky, and Liu Feng could see traces of longing in them. "But then again, the time has passed. It is time to move on. So then, he wants you to stay in the mysterious kingdom and learn a little. I am sure that we can teach you a lot." "I wish to advance in my cultivation a little more. I think I need to travel a little and maybe increase my experiences. I was forced toe here by... the sect leader though. So if it is okay with you, we will not burden you." Liu Feng smiled. "Do you want me to get in trouble? He has two of my disciples there. Until theye back, you are going to stay a guest in our sect. There are many resources that we can provide." Bing Yuxin shot him down instantly. Liu Feng smiled wryly and nodded. "Then shall we get to the sect?" Bing Yuxin smiled and turned around. "These are my disciples. My youngest will help you two settle down in the sect, and teach you the rules that you must follow." Bing Yuxin pointed to the one on the left end. She then walked forward, and all of the disciples except the youngest one disappeared. The youngest disciple was not that young, even. She was around Liu Feng''s age, and her bright, blue eyes set her apart from most. And her blue hair, petite figure, and perfect face made her a definite head turner. She came to Liu Feng and nodded. "I am Jin Ki''er. I will be in charge of escorting you today. But please be sure that you are next to me at all times. If you are caught here, alone, then you might be in for a bit of trouble." she said. "Why is that so?" "The Lush Green Sect is an all female sect. You two are among the males that have stepped foot on thisnd." Jin Ki''er said. "Wait, what? He sent me to an all girl sect? This must be a sick joke that he is ying." Liu Feng cursed. "You didn''t know about the Lush Green sect before?" Jin Ki''er asked curiously. "Why would I know about a sect in another kingdom? I don''t even know all the sects in my own." Liu Feng shook his head. "Well, senior sisters told me that all boys knew about the Lush Green sect, and they all want to enter this ce because their mind is perverted," she said innocently. Liu Man sighed. "Let us continue. I think that we should finish this so that we can enter a training ground and start cultivating," he said. "Indeed. Let us enter the sect." Ji Ki''er nodded and led the two along the straight path that led them from the ancient portal to the sect itself. Just like in the Sky Heavens sect, the ancient portal was located deep within the Lush Green Sect, so in a way, they were not entering the sect, but rather exploring it. "I wonder, what is the rank of the Lush Green Sect among the other sects in the Mysterious kingdom?" Liu Feng asked. If they had an ancient portal themselves, they had to be strong. "The Lush Green sect is first, without a doubt. We are the strongest." Ji Ki''er said without hesitation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 243 Great Elder This truly was a heaven for any man who fell here. There were beauties left and right, and Liu Feng could barely control the nosebleed that he did have. Any woman here outside would be wooed by hundreds of suitors, and all of them had gathered in one spot. And not a single one of these women were used to seeing a man walk around in their sect. So when Ji Ki''er brought Liu Feng and Liu Man around the sect to show them where they would be living for an indefinite period of time, the women were shocked. "Who is that man that senior sister Ki''er is bringing?" "Are they the sons of bigshots or something? For them to be allowed to enter the sect? It seems like the rules are beingxed a lot for men to be allowed into the sect." "Well, they will be gone after a day or two, we just have to bear it till then." Liu Feng could clearly hear all of these women talk about him. And while some were quite rude and clear that they did not want him and Liu Man to continue their journey of the sect, there were a few tteringments as well. "Doesnt he look quite good? Too bad, he is with the ice queen. If only he falls into one of our hands. Maybe we can explore the yin and yang." "Nope. Not ttering at all. I do not want anything to do with them." Liu Feng put that thought away from his mind immediately. He continued to admire the scenery and the people that apanied it. The Lush Green Sect had a different atmosphere about it. It didn''t seem like everyone was trying to kill each other. It felt calm and peaceful, like Bing Yuxin had said before. Just calmly breathing the air in, Liu Feng could feel a block in his chest release. Ping! [Story Quest Complete.] [Congrattions to Host on sessfully surviving the ordeal. Host has reached safety now.] "What? I was not safe until I left the entire kingdom? Is that why he sent me out? To protect me? You have got to be kidding me." Liu Feng clenched his fists, but he did not want to make a scene or any sort. Ping! [New Story Quest: Defeat Jun Ming in battle] "Jun Ming? Who the hell is that?" Liu Feng wondered. At that moment, Liu Feng heard a voice. This was not the voice of a female, but rather the coarse voice of a man. There was another man in Lush Green, even though Liu Feng thought of himself and Liu Man as the exceptions. And he could see that Ji Ki''er expression had changedpletely. She looked a little lively before, but hearing this voice, her face was as frigid as ice. The source of the voice came into view soon enough. It was a young man, about Liu Feng''s and Ji Ki''er''s age. And this man was apanied by an old woman who seemed tomand some power in the sect, seeing that no one dared to say anything while she was here. "Ji Ki''er greets the Great Elder." Ji Ki''er bowed. "Great elder? She is quite the powerful person. And I cannot even see her cultivation, so she must be in the Soul Evolution Stage." Liu Feng understood. "Who are these two men that are next to you? Do you have any idea what you are doing? Two men in Lush Green? How dare you, without any permission?" the great elder barked at Ji Ki''er. "These two young men are the guests of the sect leader, and I have been tasked with settling them in the sect until the sect leader can take this matter into her own hands." Ji Ki''er said. "Two men staying at Lush Green? Don''t tell me, Great Elder, that you have been refusing me so many times, but then going behind my back and allowing two upstarts to stay here? Hypocrisy!" the young man cried out. Liu Feng and Liu Man frowned, and Liu Feng decided to use his mind eye on this young man, because he felt like this man was probably rted to his story quest. ? [Level - 17 Name - Jun Ming Cultivation - Psuedo Xiantian Stage] "So he is not even as strong as me, and yet he lets his mouth run wild." Liu Feng shook his head. "Guests of the sect leader? Is the sect leader disobeying every rule that she learned as a disciple? These are the anscestral teachings of the sect!" the great elder said coldly, and a pressure was released by her. Ji Ki''er herself was not in the Xiantian Realm either. She was in the Nascent Soul stage fifthyer, and she could not withstand a force like this. Seeing her stand up to him, Liu Feng could not let her go through this on her own. He silently stood in front of her, taking in the brunt of the pressure that was being released. The great elder raised her eyebrows and looked at Liu Feng with interest. "Which power is capable of raising a Xiantian Realm expert at such a young age? I don''t think that I have heard of someone like you in any of the sects of families." she asked. "The Sky Heavens sect." Liu Feng calmly said. "You are from Tiandu? Bing Yuxin allowed someone from that war riddled kingdom to enter this haven of peace?" "This is going too far, great elder. I don''t think that this is the exterior that we must present when there are guests about us." a calm voice disrupted this conversation. Liu Feng looked up to see who it was, but even without, he had a winning guess. This was Bing Yuxin, and she came to their rescue. "Bing Yuxin. You have grown too unfiliar. Not paying respects to your elders, and disobeying the rules of the sect." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 244 Savior "I am the one who is disobeying the rules of the sect? Who is the one that brought this young man into the sect?" she pointed to Jun Ming. "The Jun family has long been an ally of the Lush Green sect. Do you want to make our allies our enemies?" the great elder spat. "And do you want to disrespect the son of the man who has saved our entire sect? Do not forget what happened eighteen years ago, when you almost died in the very spot, while that bastard and his family was ready to take the entire sect to hell. If it weren''t for that man, you wouldn''t be standing here." Bing Yuxin shouted, and with that voice, waves of pressure made everyone take a few steps back. "What are you saying? He is that man''s son?" the great elder''s face changed. "Why else do you think that I would make an exception? For that damned Li Tian?" Bing Yuxin scoffed. "This is a matter that must be discussed in the privacy of the sect. Jun Ming, go back to your family. Tell your father that more important things havee up at this time." the great elder said. Liu Feng was surprised. Seeing the sudden change in the great elder''s temperament just on hearing his father''s involvement told him how great his father was. "This is ridiculous. What is this charade? I came here to have a nice exchange with all my fellow sisters, and you create some story of some person and I have to go back home? Do not forget, sect leader, that I am the next family leader of the Jun Family. And without the Jun Family, there are many vultures that will want to tear your sect apart and harvest everything that you have," saying this, hesciviously looked at Ji Ki''er. "Leave, now. And tell your father that he can stop being our ally if he thinks that he is the one who is providing the protection. Just tell him to remember that we now have the favor of the one who destroyed the Sky Devil Sect." Bing Yuxin scoffed and looked at Liu Feng. "It looks like you have quite the bad luck. I heard that you have already met Long Xian and saw death''s door before?" she chuckled. But Liu Feng was not listening to her. He was looking at the reeling Jun Ming. "Brother Ming! It seems like you came here for an exchange of pointers? It seems unfair that you are being driven away, isn''t it?" he called out. Jun Ming looked at Liu Feng, surprised by this sudden help from a stranger that he thought would be opposing him. "Then why don''t we have a set of pointers between us? I think that it is only fair that you leave after you are satisfied and learn something. We can exchange pointers and learn from the experience." Liu Feng smiled. Liu Man seemed to understand why Liu Feng wanted to fight with someone who was ranked below him in cultivation, but the great elder and Bing Yuxin didn''t. They didn''t know about his system, obviously, so they thought that this was Liu Feng trying to bully Jun Ming. "Interesting. So you want to offer yourself to me. Fine. I want to have some fun anyways. Let us get this over with. Come at me." Jun Ming nodded. Amongst all the disciples of the Lush Green sect, the sect leader, and the great elder, Jun Ming knew that he could not mess this up. The disciples of the Lush Green sect were talented, and also the most stunningly beautiful. Anyone would be lucky if they could gain the admiration and the favor of one of these disciples. And even a personal disciple of the sect leader was here. But one thing that he seemed to misunderstand was that he thought that Liu Feng was also in the same realm as he was. The pseudo Xiantian Realm. This was not the Xiantian stage at all. Instead, it was a transition between the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage and the Soul Formation stage, where one could temporarily elevate their cultivation with treasures without undergoing any tribtion of any sort. And that meant that he was not nearly as strong as Liu Feng, who actually went through this tribtion and had a full fledged soul that was formed out of the lighting from the heavens. "I was the one who rmended this fight, so I think it is only right for me to allow you to take the first attack." Liu Feng shook his head, smiling. Only two here knew that he was in the Xiantian Stagepletely, and not in the psuedo state like Jun Ming assumed. So when Jun Ming rushed forward towards Liu Feng, Ji Ki''er closed her eyes with the fear that she might witness him lose. st! A loud noise ensued, and the dust on the ground rose up, constructing the view of everyone except those who had a strong enough divine sense to look into the cloud of dust. The great elder and Bing Yuxin already knew what the oue of the battle would be like. Unless Liu Feng was absolutely useless, he could not lose this match. No one in the Xiantian realm would lose against those below them in cultivation, because the gap was just that big! Slowly, the dust settled. Ping! [Story Quest Complete: Host has defeated Jun Ming.] Ping! [New Story Quest: Survive the onught of the Jun Family.] "Say what now? You gave me the story quest so that I would get in trouble? You..." veins popped on Liu Feng''s head. The system basically got him in trouble. Li Tian may have had the intention of sending Liu Feng here to keep him safe, but the system had no intention of doing that. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 245 Escaping Liu Feng was the talk of the sect. Everyone was interested in the man who could easily take care of Jun Ming, the one who would be a family leader of one of the biggest powers in the kingdom. But the sect itself was obviously not so happy about what had happened. Sending him away without any respect was one thing. But beating him up and sending him back injured was anotherpletely. The Jun family would be furious, and would definitely demand that Liu Feng should be given to them. No one would allow such a blot on their reputation, so they would go after the person who caused the problem. "Your master sent you here for one reason. One reason!" Bing Yuxin was enraged. She, Liu Feng, and Liu Man were in a room. While Liu Man and Liu Feng were sitting quietly not daring to make a peep, Bing Yuxin was clearly stressed. "You just had to go and piss off the one family that is led by a hot headed fool. You signed your own death warrant. And I can''t even open the goddamn portal because it takes a whole month to recharge." Bing Yuxin said. "Well, you can just send me away. I am not a part of the Lush Green sect, I am a part of the Sky Heavens sect. They surely will not go to another kingdom for a small beef like this where no one died. They just want me. If I am gone, then they will have no one." Liu Feng smiled. "Do you think that this is a joke? You were brought here because it was safe. And now, this is also as dangerous as Tiandu for you. To think that he gave birth to such a fool!" Liu Feng had it all nned out, but Bing Yuxin was clearly not ready to listen to him. He just wanted to leave the sect. Staying in one ce and calmly cultivating was not his style. He had to go to different ces and find new opportunities. That was how he found the Yuan principle and the City of heavens, and that was how he intended to advance in the Xiantian realm. He also hoped that the system would grace him with another story quest where he would probably advance a fewyers as well. "We are in the Xiantian realm. We can protect ourselves. In fact, leaving us will be better than forcing us to stay here." Liu Man finally spoke. "Do you really think that a firstyer Xiantian realm brat can fight against even a veteran in the secondyer? You are not experienced enough. And the Jun family has dozens of experts in the Xiantian realm, while there are only two of you." Bing Yuxin said. "We are not going to walk around in these faces. We will disguise ourselves, obviously. You should just leave us be." Liu Feng said. Bing Yuxin froze on the spot and looked at a direction. There seemed to be something happening elsewhere. "Stay right here, I will take care of this matterter. But I am warning you, I will be back." Bing Yuxin snapped at them and disappeared. Liu Feng and Liu Man looked at each other. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Liu Feng asked. Without even responding, Liu Man stood up, and visibly shrunk until he was the small cub that he once was. He then jumped onto Liu Feng''s robes. "Let us get out of here. Staying in one ce will not get me the monster cores I need or the opportunities you need. I know where we are, and I think that I will take you to a wonderful ce." Liu Man smiled. He then touched Liu Feng''s forehead. A multitude of information rushed into Liu Feng''s mind, and he could see a location on a map, as well as his current position. He could see the route he had to take as well. "What is this ce? How did you do that?" "This is another feature of the Xiantian realm. You just haven''t explored it yet." Liu Man said. Liu Feng nodded, and he disappeared. He was no longer in human form. His entire body started morphing, growing thinner, and sharper. There were wings on his back, his entire body no longer resembled anything that existed in the mortal world. This was no Kun Peng, but this was a form that Liu Feng took on. It was so fast that no one could even see that something was passing by. No one could even see a blur. At a distance away from the room that Liu Feng and Liu Man were once in, Bing Yuxin looked at three old men with eyebrows and frowned. "It was just a spar between two people in the younger generation. Why are we taking things so far?" she asked. "He humiliated our young lord. Hand him over to us and this will all be over rtively quickly. The family head will even forget that this even took ce." the old men said. "He is a part of the Sky Heavens sect. Do you want to touch that crazy guy''s disciples?" she said. "We can handle one Li Tian. That is not an issue. Now hand him over." the old man in front said. "I am afraid that I cannot do that. I promised that I would keep him safe." Bing Yuxin shook her head. "Then I am afraid that this is where our conversation ends." the old man stepped forward when they were interrupted by the cry of a young woman. "Master! They are gone! They are gone!" Ji Ki''er came rushing to Bing Yuxin. "Who is gone?" Bing Yuxin asked, a bad premonition filling her heart. "The two guests that you told me to look after. They are gone! I didn''t see them leave, but they were just gone. I thought that they left through the window, but it didn''t make any sense. I couldn''t see them or hear them!" Ji Ki''er said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 246 Mountains "Where are we going?" Liu Feng asked. They were in the air, moving at speeds that were just superhuman. This was a speed that was at the peak of what a Xiantian realm expert could achieve, and Liu Feng was able to do it effortlessly. "Surprises should remain surprises. Don''t worry. Why would I do anything that is detrimental to you?" Liu Man said, They left the sect hours ago, and because no one knew where they went, no one could find them at all. The sect was probably in chaos, but Liu Feng just had to leave. He needed to get stronger and stronger. He had the deadline. For two years, all of Tiandu would probably be in a standstill, with every single heavy power silently making moves. But after the two years passed, everything would probably change. And Liu Feng had to be ready by then. "You are quite lucky your master knows someone all the way here in the great ins. This ce is hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from the Han Dynasty, or that kingdom that you call it. Anyways, now that we are here, we can actually get to ces that should have withstood the river of time." Liu Man said. Liu Feng probably covered thousands of kilometers already. After so long, even if flying was not that difficult, it was draining to maintain the form that he had. But he was close to his destination. He looked at the mountains that stood in the horizon. That was where he needed to go. The information that Liu Man sent him told him that. He munched on a few Qi restoration pills that he found in one of the spatial rings he had, and kept on his journey. The mountains were closing in when he finally realized how huge they were. These mountains were bigger than any mountain that he had ever seen before. They were bigger than the Yuan Mountain, and even mountains back on earth. If Everest was almost Ten kilometers tall, then this could rival that. "How do I cross those mountains? I can''t climb to altitudes like that? And going around them is going to be a pain." Liu Feng asked. "Cross those mountains? Why would you do something so stupid? They are where you want to go in the first ce." Liu Man chuckled. "And how do you suggest I do that? Start rock climbing?" Liu Feng scoffed. "You are in the Xiantian realm and you are afraid of a little height? Don''t worry, you don''t need to go to the peak. You just need to get to the middle of the third mountain from the left." Liu Man said. Liu Feng sighed, but he had no choice but toply. He had nothing else to do, and no other option. This was the opportunity that he had to get his hands on. As he approached the mountains, he could see that there were a few people at the base of the mountain. However, they did not seem to have any cultivation whatsoever. Curious as to why mortals were near the base of a mountain this big, he descended down. Before he approached them though, he transformed back to human form, lest everyone would scream with horror. He then went to the people and looked at what they were doing. They were all bowing down at an engraving on the mountain side, arge rock that had a painting on it. "Liu Man, is that you?" Liu Feng looked at the ferocious tiger that was scrawled on the rock and he could only think of one tiger that fit that description. "It looks like some people still remember me here, even though it has been so long." Liu Man chuckled. "Alright then. I satisfied your ego quite enough. Let me go up there. I expect to see something rted to you again?" Liu Feng asked. "Yes, it is rted to me. But why spoil the surprise. Let us go in." Liu Man said. Shaking his head, Liu Feng flew up as high as he could, towards the third mountain. Below him, all the mortals looked at him with wonder. "Look! It is a cultivator!" p "A cultivator who can fly, he must be a master in the Xiantian realm!" someone elsemented. Liu Feng could not hear them though, as he reached a terrifying altitude. At this height, he could not fly any further, as the Qi required was too much. He grabbed onto the mountain itself and held on for dear life. Then, he started an arduous climb up the mountain. But he was no ordinary human. All of his senses were heightened and his physical capabilities were much beyond that of a normal human. He could climb the mountain with rtive ease, and looking down, he could see that he was covering a lot of ground. Soon, he was kilometers above the ground, and the oxygen in the air was diminishing, along with the Qi. He struggled to breath, so he stopped and punched the mountain. Rocks crumbled and he had himself a ce to sit and rest for a while. He took a few pills and recuperated for a few minutes, when Liu Man called on him. "The sun ising down soon. You want to finish this as fast as possible. Or else, the gate will close and you will not be able to enter until tomorrow. You cannot survive the mountain during the night, not at that height." Liu Man warned. Liu Feng nodded and continued upwards. He climbed and climbed and climbed, and saw a change in the color of the rock. As he climbed up, the rock became bluer and bluer, while it was also getting harder. Liu Feng could not pierce it as easily. "We are almost here. You just have to get on that huge protruding cliff over there." Liu Man crept out of the sleeve and pointed to a cliff that was a few meters away from him. Liu Feng jumped up with all of his strength. He still had the strength of a Xiantian Realm expert, and he stood on the cliff in an instant. Looking forward, his eyes narrowed. "I guess I have to go in there?" "You have to go in there." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 247 White Tiger Cave Liu Feng looked at the dark cave that stood in front of him. He stretched his divine sense forward, trying to see what was beyond him, but it was like a ckhole. Whatever divine sense went in did note out. Liu Feng had no idea what awaited him when he would enter the cave that stood in front of him. Steeling his nerves, he stepped closer to the cave. Still, afraid of what may lie ahead, a spear appeared in his hands. He carefully approached the cave, but suddenly stopped. The darkness of the cave was not darkness at all. It was a pitch ck barrier that blocked the cave, and it looke suspiciously like the barrier that existed in the skill hall back in Sky Heavens sect. He touched the ck barrier, but it rappelled him, slowly vibrating the moment he touched it. "Mind telling me how to get in?" Liu Feng asked. "I don''t know. I was not the one who put this barrier up. I guess that somethings have changed sincest I left here." Liu Man said as he jumped out of Liu Feng''s sleeve and jumped at the barrier. The moment his paws touched the barrier, he was repelled as well. "Interesting. I wonder who dares put a barrier here. Looks like someone inside needs to have a nice conversation with me." Liu Feng could hear traces of anger in Liu Man''s voice for the first time. Then, as if someone heard his voice, the barrier parted, and Liu Feng could see whaty beyond this cave. His jaw dropped. What was beyond this cave was not just some hollowed out shelter, with a few treasures in them. "Is the entire mountain hollow? How is there an entire world in this ce? This... this ce feels like it is bigger than even the mountains. It cannot be within the mountains. I can clearly see the sky itself!" Liu Feng was looking at a world of its own. There was a sun, a mountain in the horizon, trees, grass, and chirps of birds. The sun shone brightly, a sharp contrast to the bleak light behind him. "This is a pocket space that has evolved into a world. Now then, let us go in." Liu Man said. Liu Feng nodded and stepped forward. When his foot stepped on the grass in the other world, the ck door behind him closed instantly. He nced at Liu Man and looked at him confusingly. "What is this ce? Could it be some preparation you made as the white tiger?" Liu Feng asked. "Indeed. This is the only base of a constetion beast that is in the Realm of Beginning. Like I said, you are quite lucky that you came to this side of the Realm of Beginnings." Liu Man chuckled and started walking forward. "But time is indeed quite painful. This is nothing like I remember it. I remember there was a time when this entire world was just a small ball in a small cave that I dug out of the mountain in hopes that one day it would grow. It looks like some people have done what they were told." Liu Man chuckled. "Some people? Are you saying that there are people in this ce?" Liu Feng freaked. To think that there were other beings in a sealed world was frightening to hear. "Do not worry. There are civilisations here just like in the main world. But this is just a smaller scale. Thenguages remain the same, and even the cultivations are the same. In fact, I think that this is the only pocket space that is allowed to have tribtion lightning enter without damaging thews of space." Liu Man chuckled. At the moment, a loud voice interrupted both of them. "Who are you?! How dare you trespass near the area of the Hujin n?" p Liu Feng calmly turned around to look at who the person speaking was. Pffft! A half naked man was holding a spear and pointed it towards Liu Feng. But when he looked at Liu Man, his face changed. "An auspicious sign! A tiger has been spotted with fur as white as snow!" he rejoiced as if forgetting that there was a man standing right there. Liu Feng was a little confused as of what was going on, but he decided to go with it. The man he was facing was just in the Core Formation stage, and even if he wanted to attack Liu Feng, he would not do any damage. "An aboriginal. Interesting. I thought that I had given them enough to develop as normals though. Why would they choose a clothing style such as this?" Liu Man pondered. "It speaks!" the man jumped up with fright. "What happened brother? Why are you taking so long?" a woman''s voice came up. "If even a boy looks like this, then how would a girl look?" a frightening thought appeared in Liu Feng''s mind, but it was put to rest when the girl dide out. She looked a little older than Liu Feng, but a brown cloth did cover her private parts. "Clothing that covers the full body, and with so many colors, he must be a part of a noble family!" the girl gasped. "May I ask you which faction you are from?" the girl changed her tone and asked respectfully. "Tell her that we are from the White Tiger Cave." Liu Man said. Liu Fengplied, and the moment he spoke those words, the eyes of both the man and the girl widened. "You are from the esteemed White Tiger Cave? No wonder you have a noble tiger with white fur as yourpanion." the girl nodded feverously. "Just what kind of cult did you form here? Everyone is worshipping you like some god." Liu Feng chuckled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 248 Where Do We Go Next? "Where do we go now?" Liu Feng asked Liu Man, who was on his shoulder, rxing. "Just go straight, walk around, doesn''t really matter. You can see the benefits already. This is a ce rich in Qi, and there are ces with more Qi density than anywhere in the entire world." Liu Man said. "So then why aren''t we going there?" Liu Feng asked. "Because the moment we enter that ce, you will be crushed into pulp. The ce I am talking about, you need to be in the Soul Transformation Stage to even enter it." Liu Man chuckled. "Then why the hell does it even exist? The realm of beginnings doesn''t have any Soul Transformation experts." Liu Feng asked. "The restrictions that the heavens put, they have not been here forever. In fact, this was all news to me." Liu Man said. "Then you want me to follow them? In a ce with Qi density this high, being in the Core Formation stage? That is not great." Liu Fengmented. The brother and sister were gone. They had rushed back to their home to tell their n about the arrival of someone from the White Tiger Cave, because it was a huge deal for a n as small as theirs. "It is interesting though, that a n this small is in charge of guarding the entrance. I really need to go to the center. Let us do that. Let us go to the center, to White Tiger Cave." Liu Man nodded his tiny head. "Alright, give me the directions." Liu Feng asked. "I don''t know where we are." Liu Man shrugged. "What do you mean, you don''t know where we are. It is your world!" Liu Feng asked. "We are no longer in a world that is under the heavens. I can''tmunicate with the constetion memories. I do not know where we are, and things have changed a lot. The entrance keeps rotating, but in essence, this is the boundary of the world. No one can leave the boundary unless you have a boundary stone." Liu Man said. "Wait, so are you telling me that I am trapped in this ce until I have a boundary stone in my hands?" Liu Feng asked. "Don''t worry. Anyone who is above the Soul Evolution stage can easily force their way out, as long as they know the way how to." Liu Man chuckled. "So you want me to stay here until I reach the Soul Evolution Stage?" "You really underestimate this world that I have built. There are so many seeds that I put in here that must have sprouted by now. In fact, you will see a lot and lot of opportunities here, and if you can take advantage of them, then you are going to rise like aet." Liu Man said. "I''ll just ask around." Liu Feng sighed and ran towards the direction that the brother and sister went. In a few seconds, he arrived at a quite respectable town. It was in the middle of nowhere, with not a single tree in a mile radius. Liu Feng looked at the forest behind him, and then the town in front. The Hujin n that probably controlled this town has quite a big area of jurisdiction. "Just how big is this world of yours?" Liu Feng asked. "It has been a few millennia. I think it should be around the size of the Han Dynasty," Liu Manzily said. "The Han Dynasty? Are you kidding me? That is the size of Tiandu, Handu, and a few other kingdomsbined! The world is that big?" Liu Feng was shocked. "When you enter the Ancient Realm, you will understand just what it means to be a constetion beast. Now keep going. We should go to the Forest of Dreams first. That is the best way to train as well as grow." Liu Man said. "You don''t have to keep reminding me that I need to feed you. You are already in the Xiantian realm. In just a few months, you caught up to me, and you probably will cross me as well." Liu Feng sighed. "You don''t understand something, Liu Feng. The contract that I made with you, it is a contract of equals. In exchange for your protection that day, in exchange for your energy and vitality to keep me alive, I made a contract that restricts my growth. I can only be as strong as you are, and maybe just a little stronger. I can only grow stronger if you grow stronger." Liu Man said. "You did that? Just what did I do to you? That statue of that dragon? What was in it? I thought that it would help you." Liu Feng asked. "It was the residual will of an evil dragon. But it''s okay. I don''t want to talk about that anymore. Instead, we should be talking about you getting stronger. Now look ahead. There are a few Soul Formation Stage experts who areing." Liu Man said. Liu Feng looked forward at the three old men who were approaching him. He quickly used mind eye on all of them. "They are all in the thirdyer of the Xiantian Realm. They are all stronger than I am. I need to be careful." Liu Feng told himself as he prepared himself. "Young Noble. I was told that you are from White Tiger Cave!" the old man in the front brightly said. "Indeed. I am from White Tiger Cave." Liu Feng nodded. "Today is an auspicious day. For us toy our eyes on a majestic tiger with white fur. You are truly lucky to have apanion of such noble blood." the old man in the rear said. Liu Feng rolled his eyes, but he continued looking at them amicably. They were still stronger than him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 249 Forest Of Dreams "Just give me a map of the terrain and I will be on my way." Liu Feng said. The old manplied. To him, someone from the center of the world was basic royalty. For someone like, he had to do everything he could, or risk offending the power behind the young man. Liu Feng looked at the map that he was given. "We are here, right?" he pointed to the outskirts of this circr map. This was a t world, that was for sure. And the boundaries could not be crossed without a boundary stone. "Indeed, Young Noble." the old man nodded. "Good, then I''ll be on my way." Liu Feng nodded, and he immediately disappeared. "He is so fast. A legacy like that, it is only possible for someone from the White Tiger Cave. He must be a young master of one of the three controlling ns." the third old man who was quiet until now said. "Indeed. It feels like the world is going to get a little busy. Should we send our children to the gathering as well? I feel like it is only right for them to go. We shouldn''t constraint them." the old man in front spoke. "Do whatever. I am going to go back to sleep. Wake me up when something serious is happening." the third old man said as he went back to where he came from. Meanwhile, Liu Feng was zipping through the air, going towards the Forest Of Dreams. ording to what Liu Man said, this was a paradise for alchemists, and it would help him immensely. "I need to make sure that I don''t use pills too much though. From what I understand, it will weaken me down the road." Liu Fengmented. "Not for you they won''t. I don''t understand what cultivation art you use, but you can perfectly extract all the essence from a pill. That means that you do not have any harmful dregs left in your body. Your cultivation will not be unstable." Liu Man said. "Wait, really? So that means that I can keep using pills and I will just get stronger and stronger?" "I don''t rmend it though. You need to fight. Fighting experience is indeed important. And that is what I am going to give you right now." Liu Man said as he pointed to a blockade in front of them. In the vast ins, all of a sudden, there was arge forest. Liu Feng was high up in the air, but he could still see no end to this forest. It epassed arge area, and the forest was so thick that Liu Feng could not see anything within it. "Go in. There are not so many powerful beasts in there. You can handle most of them. But just be careful and guard your spirit sea." Liu Man said. Liu Feng hovered back to the ground and slowly walked into the forest. He could not see a single person in sight, and that only made him more cautious. He turned his head for every single sound that came from his surroundings, but there were too many. He spread his divine sense around, but it seemed like there was nothing around him, except for the forest itself. "A Purple Ganoderma!" Liu Feng nced at a purple herb that glowed and gave off light like no other. This was the same herb that he found in the forest a few months ago back when the system sent him to the ck Iron Forest. He looked around as well. This was not the only herb around him. He just entered the forest, but he saw hundreds of herbs that could be used. If not primary ingredients, they were auxiliary ingredients in bigger pills. Some of these ingredients could even be used for a Xiantian Advancement Pill! Liu Feng shook his head and continued inward. He already used the Purple Ganoderma once, and if he used it the second time, then he wouldn''t have the same effect. As for the other herbs, he would be thrilled if he found this treasure trove a few months ago, but now that he was in the Xiantian realm, none of them could actually help him. He hoped that inside, he would find a few good Xiantian Level herbs that he could work with. Roar! Liu Feng''s expression changed, and he immmedialtey lept upwards and summoned his spear. He hovered in the air as he looked down where he was standing. In his ce, a blue colored tiger with streaks of yellow was staring right back at him. "A tiger with the lightning attribute. It is going to be fast." Liu Feng realised. "Who are you human? What brings you to this forbidden zone? Do you not know that humans are not allowed in here?" the tiger spoke with a gritty voice. "He can speak? Well, he should be in the Xiantian realm, so that is not surprising." Liu Feng understood. "Humans are not allowed here? I didn''t know that." he dered. "Now, you do. Get out of this ce before you anger the bigger beasts that are slumbering inside. I am feeling benevolent today, so I will let you go." the blue tiger said. "Liu Man, some help here?" Liu Feng whispered to his sleeve, where Liu Man was nesting. "Take care of this one on your own. You can handle this tiger. But when the bigger onese out, I will appear, and help you out." Liu Man said. Liu Feng''s face fell, but he still gripped his spear. "I think that I''ll take my chances. After all, there is not a single alchemist who would want to leave a trove like this untouched. Do not worry, I won''t over pick it." Liu Feng smiled. "Impudence!" the tiger roared and it dashed forward leaving a light yellow streak of light behind it. "I am faster than you. Do you really think that you can beat me in a game of speed?" Liu Feng smiled and he also disappeared." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 250 Blue Lightning Tiger One streak of light and one gust of wind battled each other in a speed of race that no one in the Xiantian realm could hope to win. Liu Feng panted as he swung his spear down, but his opponent was too fast. In this fight, not a single person had been injured yet. The speed of the fight was so terrifying that no one was fast enough tond an attack. "Equip Title Cultivator" [Equiping title Cultivator. Title Equipped.] The fractional increase in strength was not what Liu Feng wanted. It was the increase in speed. His speed from transformation seemed to being from the base stat that he did have. And that stat was multiplied by the factor of his transformation. With the new title, his speed would increase by just one, but he knew that his true increase in speed would be much more. The tiger in front of him was much slower in his eyes now. He could clearly see the movement of the blue streak and could see the tiger stop momentarily to attack him. He quickly avoided the attack and counted with a speed that was faster than before. The tiger winced back, and barely avoided the attack to its belly, but it still got scratched around the shoulder of its foreleg. Liu Feng smiled and he started rushing forward. This fight was going to be easy now. Although the injury that he had inflicted had healed within moments, the capability of giving those injures was solely in Liu Feng''s hands. He stopped, perched on one of the trees, and had a pill dancing in his hands. "You despicable human. So this is how you fight your battles? By cheating?" the tiger roared at Liu Feng, but Liu Feng only smiled in response. "Do you think that this fight is even fair? This is your terrain. I have never been here. In your territory, you will obviously have the advantage." Liu Feng rushed forward and he struck the tiger with his spear before it could even react. His rush in speed was propelled by the form that he had taken suddenly, as well as the Kun Peng Transformation Arts that he had just activated. The tiger coughed out blood andy on the floor, wounded. It frantically tried to circte its Qi to recover, but it looked at Liu Feng with eyes filled with hate. But instead of rushing to attack, Liu Feng just stood there, calmly, leaning on a tree. "Don''t worry. You can just recover. I am not here to kill you. In fact, you helped me out by telling me to leave, warning me that there are other existences here. Why would I want to kill you? You know that I am faster than you, and stronger than you. As long as you know that, that is enough." Liu Feng smiled. "You are different. You don''t feel like a human. That form that you have taken isn''t a manifestation of any skill. It feels like a true transformation." the tiger suddenly morphed, and a blue haired man buck naked stood up in its ce. "Put on some clothes!" Liu Feng screeched. Instantly, an light blue haze covered the body of the tiger. "This is a transformation that is only allowed for spirit beasts. I have never seen a human copy it." the tiger mused. Liu Feng smiled and shook his head. "I can''t exin how I got this. It is a long story. Now I have to go inside and look for better herbs. Excuse me, will you?" Liu Feng chuckled. "The warning that I gave you, I will give you again. Sure, you won against me. But I entered the fifth rank just a years ago. Inside, there are monsters in the sixth rank as well, and the king in the seventh rank! You will lose your life if you go in there." the blue haired man suggested. "Thank you once again, but I trust my sources. I have someone who can get through this. But why is this ce closed off for humans? Doesnt make any sense." Liu Feng asked. "Because humans are a cause of destruction and destruction only. The cities that you create by destroying nature aren''t art. It is a butchery of it. I made that rule because I wanted to save at least one ce from certain destruction." Liu Man transmitted his voice to Liu Feng''s ears. "How did you do that? Is that another feature of the divine sense that I did not know about?" Liu Feng asked. "You know too little." Liu Man sighed. "Who are you talking to? What are you, crazy?" the blue haired man asked. "Nothing, it is nothing." "Well, you asked about the forest? What did you live under your whole life? A rock? Do you not know the significance of the Forest of Dreams? This is the habitat of the great, majestic White Tiger. It is his wish that not a single human be allowed here." the blue haired man put his chest out proudly. "It''s okay. I think that I should be fine going in then. Good bye now." Liu Feng smiled and continued in. He could see the quality of the herbs around him increase considerably. There were precious herbs everywhere. If anyone could take all of these and harvest them, then he would be one of the richest men ever. But Liu Feng had no intention of doing that. He looked around and took only one herb of each kind where there was more than one growing together, and he made sure not to over pick. As an alchemist, he knew now that any herb that he could find now was there because it was not picked before ripening. So he also was expected to do the same. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 251 The True Rulers Of The Forest Liu Feng bent down to pick up another herb that he would need for a pill that he was nning to make, when a sound startled him. "Who let you in here?" the gentle voice seemed like it was not angry, just curious. Liu Feng turned around to see who it was that had just spoken, and he came eye to eye with a middle aged woman whose face was just inches away from his. He startled back a few steps and looked at the woman who had arrived. She was d in a in white dress, but she too had blue hair and yellow eyes, like the blue haired man previously. And just looking at her, he had a feeling that she was much, much stronger than he was. He was almost sure that this woman was in the Soul Evolution Stage. "Who let you in here?" the woman asked again, as gentle as rain that was just drizzling. "I let myself in. Is that not okay?" Liu Feng put the herb that he just pluck carefully in a jade box that he already had ready, and put the box away. "I think I need you right now, Liu Man. Where are you?" he whispered, but there was no response. Liu Man was going AWOL on him right now. "Follow me. This is not somewhere that you are allowed to be, but today is your lucky day. I have way too many things that I have to do, so you can just leave as long as you leave here your memory of this ce." the woman said. "I have to leave behind my memory? What request is that?" Liu Feng was confused. p "I know how greedy you humans are. You will forget the promise that you made to the great white tiger the moment that you realize that there are so many precious herbs here. Now follow me." the tone of the woman started turning cold. "So that is why not a single person has been spotted here. They don''t even know that there are herbs here. No wonder. They think that all that is in the forest is tigers." Liu Feng finally realized. "What are you talking about?" the woman frowned. "Come on, Liu Man. Now is not the time to joke around. I need you." Liu Feng nudged his chest, and he could clearly feel Liu Man, but Liu Man was not responding. Worried about what happened, he quickly retreated a few steps back and took out Liu Man from his chest, trying to see what happened to him. But seeing his calm face and closed eyes, Liu Feng understood that Liu Man was just sleeping. "You have in your possession a tiger of noble blood. Where did you find him?" the woman suddenly appeared next to Liu Feng and touched the snow white fur of Liu Man. "A tiger with fur this white and characters so simr to the great white tiger, I didn''t think that a day like this would change for the better. You are lucky to have apanion like this. If you leave him here, he will have a chance to grow much stronger than if he leaves with you. I suggest that you do that, and not drag him down." the woman said. "I am going to drag him down regardless of what he does, apparently. So I think that I am going to let him decide that for himself. At this point, I think he is faking it. In the Xiantian realm, do you really need sleep?" "Beasts are different from humans. Humans try to go against the heavens and be gods. As for us beasts, all we do is harness the power of the world to grow stronger. That is why our tribtions are less fierce, and that is why we still need sleep even after we reach the Xiantian realm. How could you now know that when you have a cub as yourpanion? And how is a cub this young in the fifth rank?" Liu Feng didn''t know how to answer this barrage of questions, when another voice interrupted them. "Interesting. Truly interesting. Bring the cub and the human to the center, Maya." a deep and sonorous voice resounded through the entire forest. Liu Feng looked at where the voice seemed toe through: the center of the forest. "You have gotten the attention of the Tiger King himself. I wonder how this will turn out." Maya smiled and started walking. "You are not fast enough. You will not be able to run. No one in the Xiantian realm can ever run from me." before Liu Feng could even consider it, Maya warned him. Liu Feng nodded and started walking behind Maya. He walked past trees, precious herbs that he could not touch, and even bamboo for some reason, but they seemed to be getting nowhere. Seeing all those previous herbs, some of them so precious that peak-Xiantian experts would fight for them, it hurt Liu Feng that he could not take them away. "And we are here. Just make sure that when you address the Tiger King, do not look at his eyes. You will not have the best end." Maya warned him. "Why must you scare the boy. He is with an esteemed guest. Let them enter." the deep voice resounded once more. Liu Feng looked at where he needed to pass through. There was a line of bamboo hiding whaty beyond, but Liu Feng knew better than to pass his divine sense through that. "Go ahead. He isn''t going to bite." Liu Man suddenly said. "It took you long enough. You slept while I was in the middle of a fight?" Liu Feng looked down at the yawning cub. "It was boring. You were practically bullying the kid. Now let us go in. I want to see who the Tiger King is as well." Liu Man said. "Alright. Whatever you say." Liu Feng took a deep sigh and entered. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 252 The Tiger King Liu Feng walked through the bamboo covering which provided no resistance at all, and found himself in a small opening in the entire forest. The bamboo seemed to create a wall around this ce, but Liu Feng suspected that even that was unnecessary. If this was the home of the tiger king, the king of the entire forest, then would dare trespass? "So you are the human who has entered this forest after so long. I wonder, is there anyone in this world who doesn''t know the rule that the great white tiger established?" the deep voice said. Liu Feng looked up, and he froze with fright. He was inches away from a yellow circle with a thin ck slit. A circle that wasrger than him! The circle slowly retreated, and it revealed itself to be just one eye of the humongous tiger that it belonged to. Standing at perhaps twenty feet tall, the tiger king was definitely arge. He looked at Liu Feng, and Liu Feng could not even more, he could not even talk. Those wide, unblinking eyes looked away for just a second, and Liu Feng finally was released from this trance. He shook himself and looked away immediately. "And the guest that you have with you. Do you have any idea who this is?" the deep voice asked. Liu Feng nodded. "This guy definitely knows that Liu Man is the white tiger." he understood. Liu Man was just standing there, perched on Liu Feng''s shoulder, starting at the tiger king. The tiger king was doing the same. "So the tiger king of this generation is someone from the dream branch. Truly fitting, is it not?" Liu Man chuckled. "It was just my luck, my lord." all of a sudden, the tiger king started bending down once more, and Liu Feng could see it crouch. Then, the entire tiger''s body suddenly became a cloud of mist, and a man walked out of the mist. "You should stop tricking him so much. Maybe if you ascend, then you can truly assume the form that you just showed us all. Now then, tell me, have there been any changes here in thest few millennia since I was in the cycle?" Liu Man asked calmly. "There have been no changes, my lord. The White Tiger Cave has fulfilled its role and maintained dominance over the mortal world, while the Forest of Dreams remains untouched. Your stone is still untouched, waiting for your arrival." the deep voice came from this man. "Good. Good. It is good to be back. But I came here not to rest. As you can see, both of us are not strong enough. If I am here, that means that I will need to get as strong as I can before catastrophe strikes. And for that, I need this boy to be as strong as he can." Liu Man pointed to Liu Feng. "Why do you wish to waste time on a mere human, my lord?" "He signed a contract with me. Well, I forced him to sign a contract with me a year ago, almost, and we are now one. He needs to grow stronger if I can grow stronger. So let us start by getting him to the Soul Evolution Stage." Liu Man said. "The Soul Evolution Stage? For a human? It will take a while, My Lord." "I have my confidence in him. He is talented. I am sure that he will be able to do whatever you put him through. You have two years. He needs to enter the Soul Evolution Stage. Beat him to near death, get him to unlock his entire potential, I don''t care. I need to be in the Soul Evolution Stage as well when I enter the Realm of the Forgotten Gods in two years." Liu Man said. Beside them, Liu Feng could only follow glimpses of this conversation. And hearing the lengths that Liu Man just allowed them to go through, he was feeling a few shivers on his spine. "You are going to enter the Realm of Forgotten Gods in two years? I think it is not wise to enter the Ancient Realm so fast, My Lord. Although we have been in this world for so long, we know that unless you are at the peak of the Soul Evolution Stage, that stage is going to be too tough topete in." "Do you think that if I am in the Soul Evolution Stage, anyone below the Soul Transformation Stage can even hope to subdue me? Do you think that I am that weak?" all of a sudden, Liu Feng felt a chilling intenting from Liu Man. "Forgive me for my impudence, My Lord. It is not that, which I mean. Please forgive me." "Then I think that I have told you what needs to be done. Liu Feng, this is a ce that ispletely separate from the Heavens as well. So you are truly lucky. You can practice that other art that you have been practicing as well, the one that you don''t want the heavens to find out about." Liu Man said. "How did you know about-" "I know things. It is what I do. Now I will go to my cave and rest for a while. You, you have a long year ahead of you now. I think that you will love what I have nned for you." Liu Feng could hear Liu Man snickering. Liu Man was gone. He left Liu Feng alone and went somewhere. Liu Feng looked at the person he was alone with. The tiger king. Even in human form, he seemed terrifying. Those yellow eyes felt like they were going toe to life and kill him. "You signed a contract with the great white tiger? So we need to make you stronger. We can do that. But you are not going to like it." the tiger king smiled, and Liu Feng had a bad premonition. [End of Season 2!] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 253 One And A Half Years One and a half yearster. It was a busy city. People talking to each other, vendors trying to poach customers, this sure was a lively ce. "Where is White Tiger Cave? I am new here, so I am not sure." a hooded man asked one of the street vendors. But the vendor looked at the hooded man with suspicion. "Who the hell are you? Who in the world doesn''t know where the great White Tiger Cave is?" the vendor asked,ughing at the hooded man. The hooded man shook his head and continued along the road. He couldn''t be bothered with someone who wouldn''t help him. He walked past this road, and saw the number of people slowly diminishing. It looked like he didn''t indeed need any directions. All the roads eventually lead here. The hooded man looked at thergepound in the center of the city. This was quite therge sect. It epassed an area of perhaps ten square kilometers. The hooded man swept what area he could with his divine sense, and continued forward. He stopped at the entrance of this sect. Again, he saw arge number of people crowded here. Not everyone was allowed in, obviously. Only those with the right connections, with money, or those who had a reason to enter were allowed in. As for the rest, those who wanted to enter this haven of cultivation, they were not allowed in. White Tiger Cave was the most secure ce in the entire world, and it was very difficult to be allowed in. There were Soul Evolution Experts everywhere, and the hooded man could see more Xiantian level experts than ever before. This was the definition of a true super power. The hooded man stopped at the end of the line that was leading to the entrance. One by one, people were getting rejected. Sometimes, the guard allowed the person to go in, as long as the guard himself received something. Soon enough, it was the turn of the hooded man. "What are you here for? And if you are here to just look around and enter the White Tiger Shrine, thene another time. The entire White Tiger Cave is busy handling the martial gathering." the guard said. The hooded man shook his head. "I am here because I want to meet an old friend. He told me that he owed you something." the hooded man took out a mid grade spirit stone that sparkled. Wherever one went, spirit stones did not lose their value. Mid grade spirit stones were very, very valuable. The eyes of the guard shone with greed. "Not one. To enter, you need three mid grade spirit stones." the guard said. He was going to milk the cow that entered for all its worth. The hooded man did not even argue. He just took out three mid grade spirit stones and was about to enter, when he was stopped by the guard. "I changed my mind. Give me five more." the guard said. The hooded man nodded and he gave the guard five more spirit stones. The guard rejoiced. He truly hit the gold mine this time. This man clearly didn''t know the worth of these spirit stones. "Actually, I lost my spatial ring recently. I can''t seem to find a good recement for it. I think that yours should do for a while. Why don''t you give me your spatial ring?" the guard looked greedily at the hooded man''s spatial ring, which clearly had more spirit stones. Now, the hooded man looked straight at the guard''s eyes. His right eye had a scar that defined his entire face. Looking at those eyes, the guard shuddered. "I think that I have given enough? I am sure that there are more guards who are willing to rat you out for a price? Don''t push it." the hooded man said coldly. "You- you may enter." the guard said, and he looked away instantly. The hooded man nodded and he started walking forward. It was pretty clear where most of these people were going. The first thing that one would do when a person entered the White Tiger Cave was go to the White Tiger Shrine. A shrine dedicated to the one and only White Tiger, and guardian, and the god of everyone in this world. The hooded man did the same. He followed all the people who were allowed in, and the majority of them were walking to the White Tiger Shrine. It was arge temple,pletely enclosed. With buddhist inscriptions, sculptures around the temple, it felt like it was more of a temple of the buddha than that of the White Tiger. The hooded man entered the temple and looked straight at the giant idol of the one and only White Tiger. A giant tiger the size of an elephant was looking fiercly at everyone who entered. Just looking straight into the eyes of the sculpture would cause them to shudder. This was the shrine of the white tiger. Thousands of years ago, it was said that the shrine was put in ce, and the white tiger decided to give the idol some spirituality. And the remaining spirituality still existed to this day! The hooded man looked straight at the white tiger, immobile. It was like he wasn''t affected by the pressure that the idol was giving. "Ah! Thousands of years. To think that the spirituality given to a mere idolsted for thousands of years. I can still feel it. It is quite strong. However, it could use some renovation, don''t you think, Liu Man?" the hooded man chuckled. "Shut up. You canment when you are able to do the same thing." azy voice came from his sleeve. Who was this, other than Liu Feng himself? A year and half passed since he was forced to go through hell in the Forest of dreams. And now, he was finally out. Back to the mortal world. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 254 White Tiger Shrine "Where do we go now? I came to your stupid shrine. You saw it. It''s over. Let us get going. I am not in the mood to look at your statue." Liu Feng said. "Wait a moment. I have to retrieve something." Liu Man jumped out of Liu Feng''s body and lept at the idol. Everyone could see the white streak that left Liu Feng''s body and headed toward the shrine. "Some maniac is attacking the shrine! Secure it!" someone shouted. Liu Feng felt many divine sense lock onto him. He looked at Liu Man with panic, but Liu Man was already on top of the idol, sitting on the head of the statue. "What did you release, you bastard?" Liu Feng heard the voice of someone behind him. It was a woman, and she sounded young. He did not need to turn to know that she was in the peak rank of the Soul Evolution stage, someone that he could not offend. "Just look there yourself. It''s not like I can contain a tiger." Liu Feng sighed and pointed. Everyone who was strong enough could see who was perching up on the idol. A white tiger was a symbol of good luck after all. And seeing this white tiger on the true white tiger''s idol seemed like something out of a fairy tale. The idol suddenly started vibrating. Liu Feng could feel the ground shake. Pieces of the idol were falling down, and the entire tiger was collpasing. ? All those around it started retreating chaotically, while a sharp object pinned Liu Feng''s neck. "What did you do? Why is the idol copsing? If you do not stop this, then you will not leave here with your neck." the woman behind him coldly said. "It''s not like I am the one doing this. That tiger is. Why does everyone me me for what he does? Liu Man, what the hell are you trying to pull here?" Liu Feng shouted at him. Liu Man jumped off of the crumbling tiger and strolled towards Liu Feng calmly. He nced behind Liu Feng and nodded. "The idol is pointless now. It is a testament to the strength of the previous white tiger. Now that I have reincarnated again, new tales must be told." Liu Man chuckled. "What impudence! To think that a tiger would let his mouth run like that. I will put you in your ce." the woman behind Liu Feng shouted and Liu Feng saw a streak of light dash towards Liu Man. But before he could even respond, the streak of light was met by a white barrier that formed right in front of Liu Man. Liu Feng looked shocked. So did everyone else in the shrine. However, the most shocked was the woman who attacked. She looked up at what had just defended her attack. This white barrier wasing from none other than the idol that was collpasing. The stream of Qi was visible to every cultivator. Why would the idol of the great white tiger, the idol which had its own will, help defend the tiger that brought down the idol itself? "It looks like my time here is done. The reincarnation is finally here. I hope that all goes ording to n." a deep voice came from within the center of the idol, which had not copsed yet. And then, all the stone that made up the idol suddenly vanished, bing dust. "What just happened? Was that the White Tiger?" someone on the sidelines asked, his voice trembling. No one dared to assume anything. They just came here to look at the idol of the White tiger, and yet the idol disappeared? And it even gave itsst words? "The prophecy has finallye to its fruition! The White Tiger has returned!" the woman who was in front of Liu Feng now spoke. Although Liu Feng could not see her, he could sense the trembling voice. She was crying? "I swear to god, the cult that he made here, it is too insane. When I grow stronger, I should do something like this as well. To think that he has people literally worshipping him for thousands of years." Liu Feng shook his head as he thought about this inside. He didn''t dare voice these thoughts to this crazed world. Liu Man did not even nce at the woman who was on the ground, looking at him with a face of worship. He looked at Liu Feng and nodded. Then, he jumped up, turning into human form, and then walked to Liu Feng. "Our work here is done. Let us go get the boundary stone, and we can leave this ce." Liu Man said. "That''s it? We are just leaving? I would think that you would hold a lot of sentiment to a ce that you call the White Tiger Cave. And because of me, you were forced to stay in the Forest of Dreams for a year and half." Liu Feng asked. "That was my previous life. If I keep dwelling on what happened in my past life, then I could spend all of my time here, reliving that life. But I am here for a reason. And to do that, I must look forward. I have been with you a long time. And never have you looked back in your previous life and delved in it too much. Why should I?" Liu Man shook his head, walking past Liu Feng. "My Lord! Is is true? You have returned to the world?" the woman who was on the ground regained her senses. Liu Man nced at her once more. "You are the shrine protector of this generation? Too bad, it looks like you failed your job. Do not worry about it. Maybe in a few decades, I will return, and the shrine can be rebuilt." Liu Man chuckled, and started walking. Liu Feng took one step, and he appeared next to Liu Man, walking next to him. "Where do we get the boundary stone? I mean, you kept at least one somewhere right? Or are all of them with the White Tiger Cave?" Liu Feng asked. "Why would I keep some of them with me? All of them are with them." Liu Man chuckled. They both left, leaving a dumbfolded shrine protector, and all the other pilgrims. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 255 Into The White Tiger Cave As they walked out from the chaotic shrine, Liu Feng could feel multiple Divine senses just scan through him. He frowned and looked at where they wereing from. There were masters at every wall, looking at the seeming perpetrators of what happened in the shrine. But seeing theme out unscathed, and the Shrine Protector doing nothing about it confused many of the guards outside. "Halt!" a loud voice shouted, and arge mannded in front of them with a huge thud. He looked down at both of them, carefully judging them. "Follow me. Master wants to know how you destroyed something an idol that even Soul Transformation Experts could not scratch." he said. "Who is your master? Is he the one above sky peak? Or is he someone below? I want to speak with the one above sky peak. I am not in the mood for all these pleasentries. This is getting a little irritating for me." Liu Man said yawning. The face of therge man changed the moment he heard Liu Man''s words. "How do you know of the Great Ancestor''s existence? It is a protected matter even within the White Tiger Cave." he asked. "I know a lot of things. Now what are we going to do? Chat here, or get things done? I wasted enough time here already. Not take me to the one above sky peak." Liu Man looked beyond therge man, and his eyes glinted. A white light suddenly emerged from his eyes, and it glowed, giving him a supreme aura about him. Qi started overflowing behind him, and it made a manifestation that stunned everyone around him. A white tiger, the exact shape of the idol that was in the shrine, stood tall and strong, ncing at everyone in this opening of the White Tiger Cave. Everyone who saw the white tiger couldn''t help but stutter. After all, a manifestation meant more than just a simple Qi drawn picture. It was the essence of a technique, and to gain the essence of a white tiger itself was impossible. No matter how much one wanted to understand the essence of the white tiger, they wouldn''t be able to manifest it, because it was not a simple technique. The true essence could only be understood by the white tiger itself. "Let hime. I need to meet him." a quiet voice whispered in the ears of therge man. "They are guests. Treat them respectfully." it added, and then disappeared into nothingness. Therge man quickly regained hisposure. "Forgive me. Please follow me. The esteemed ancestor will see you." therge man said, walking towards the center of the White Tiger Cave. The White Tiger Cave was very simple. It was a sect that was built around a singr ce: the cave that the white tiger resided in. And this cave was one ce that was off limits to everyone in the entire world. No one could enter it. Who would be able to withstand the aura of the White tiger, one of the strongest beings in the true world, not just this sealed one. They passed through buildings, and many, many disciples who looked at therge man with signs of respect and wonder. It was clear that therge man was someone who had a high status in the sect. And seeing someone with such stature actually be a greeter of guests, the disciples of the White Tiger Cave started looking at the two behind therge man with interest and curiosity. Just what was the background of a person who could force someone so powerful to attend to them? Soon, they stopped in onerge building. It dwarfed all the other around it, and it was absolutely deserted. Not a single disciple dared to approach this building. "Why are you here, junior brother? Did you forget the rules? No one is allowed to approach the White Tiger Cave. Even if you are a direct disciple of the sect leader, you are not allowed to disturb the esteemed ancestor." a man stopped them from entering the building. This man was more normal looking. His eyes darted between therge man and the two men that he was escorting. "You actually wanted to bring two foreigners to the White Tiger Cave? You are getting too impudent." the man said. "Let theme in. And both of you, stay out. Let the twoe in on their own." the same quiet voice came out once again. And this time, Liu Feng could hear it. The expression of the man who had just stopped them changed. He quickly moved aside, letting Liu Feng and Liu Man pass by him. Liu Man chuckled as he passed by them. They entered the building, leaving the two fellow disciples with each other. "Who are those two? To think that the ancestor would ask them toe inside by themselves? I have never seen the ancestor meet any foreigner!" the senior brother asked. "How would I know? The ancestor suddenly told me that they were guests, and I had to bring them to him. One of them was terrifying. He had a manifestation of a white tiger! I don''t think that anyone has done that, ever!" therge man said. Meanwhile, Liu Feng and Liu Man were walking into the building. It seemed like they were going underground, lower and lower by the minute. The entire building was hollow. There were no floors, just onerge dome, and a path that proceeded downwards. "Just what is this White Tiger Cave? I mean, it has to be a physical ce, right? If the Forest of Dreams is your home, then what is the cave for?" Liu Feng asked. "I used to stay in the cave, back when I first obtained the small world. It took few hundred years to grow to a certain extent, and it swallowed up the cave itself, with the cave at the center of the world. But at that time, I was so powerful that even my aura was strong enough to make people pass away. So it is a forbidden zone." Liu Man exined. They saw that that path that they were going on stopped. There was arge door made of iron, and it was clearly where they needed to go. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 256 Ancestor Of The White Tiger Cave "Please, enter." the same quiet voice rang, and the doors in front of them opened on their own. They revealed apletely different world within. It was like a world within a world. Liu Feng looked at this with his mouth agape. "Don''t tell me, did you manage to make another world within this one?" he asked, looking above, where the sky was visible. The sun was shining bright, and the bright blue sky shone upon this segment that seemed toe out of a forest. There were small creeks, grass, trees, pebbles, and most importantly, a cave at the other end. Liu Feng''s eyes locked on an old man who was sitting cross legged right in front of the cave, on the ground. "This is not a world. It is an illusion. A runic illusion, so it is a little hard to catch." Liu Man said. The old man looked at the two who had entered, and his mouth curved slightly. He slowly got up, and started walking towards Liu Man. "It is my honor to be the guardian of the White Tiger Cave in the generation that the White Tiger himself has descended into the world. Truly an honor." the old man bowed in front of Liu Man. "So many things have changed in this world. It looks like human greed has no bounds. As I expected, outside of the Forest of Dreams, the entirendscape has changed, and the White Tiger Cave has supremacy here." Liu Man said. "Forgive us, My Lord. I can only hope to apologize for a few decisions that the ancestors before me have taken. This cave is untouched, ready to meet its true owner." the ancestor said respectfully. "This is not the time for me to be resting in a world of my own design. There are things that I must do. Where are the boundary stones? I need two of them." Liu Man said. "The boundary stones?" the old man paused for a second, and in that momentary hesitation, Liu Feng caught a sign of guilt. "What did you do with the boundary stones? There are more than enough, and you cannot use all of them." Liu Man asked, his voice raising. "Forgive us, My Lord. We did not know that you were descending this generation. Of the ten boundary stones that we did mine this century, only three remain, but all of them were given away. They are the final rewards for the martial gathering that is underway." the ancestor said, looking away. "Good. Very good. You are giving them away. I should have expected this." Liu Man heaved. "This martial gathering. Can''t we just join it? A martial gathering is a collection for the young generation is it not? How hard will it be to win?" Liu Feng asked. "It is a collection for the young ones indeed. But only those below the age of twenty-five are allowed. I am afraid that I cannot allow the young generation to get bullied like this. I will try to talk with the sect leader and make sure that out younger generation will go in and win for your stead." the ancestor said. "That is unnecessary. I am not sure if you have a young one in the Soul Evolution Stage." Liu Man shook his head. "I can participate. I mean, I don''t look like I am twenty five, do I?" Liu Feng chuckled. "Some Xiantian experts choose to alter their appearances with Qi. In the Soul Evolution Stage, it is even more perfect. But maintaining it takes effort. Maybe this old man here mistook you for one of those people." Liu Man chuckled. "I am just eighteen, senior. I am more than qualified to enter the martial gathering of yours. And I need to get out of here at any cost. I cannot imagine staying here for whatever time you need to mine another boundary stone for us." Liu Feng shuddered. "You are just eighteen?" the ancestor jolted. "Indeed. His talent even frightens me. As for me, my bone age should say that I am less than twenty five as well. We will go fight for our boundary stones then. It will be a good experience, letting Liu Feng fight someone who isn''t a monster." Liu Man chuckled. Liu Feng inadvertently touched his right eye, where a scary. Just thinking back to what happened, he trembled. The frightening situations that he had to undergo thest year and a half were unspeakable, and he almost died many times. "It should be easy taking care of someone who is around the same age as me." Liu Feng said without hesitation. "As you wish, My Lord. I will make preparations for the two of you to enter the martial gathering. You shall be the young masters of the White Tiger Cave." the ancestor nodded. "Well then. You havepleted your task as the guardian. Leave me alone for a while. I want to go into the cave." Liu Man said. The old man nodded. He started walking towards the exit, and he stopped next to Liu Feng. "Let the lord have his privacy." the ancestor said. "Don''t worry. There is no privacy between the two of us. Too much time between us ensured it." Liu Feng chuckled. "Do you dare say that you are the same as the great White Tiger?" the ancestor clenched his fists, and Liu Feng felt a pressure build up next to him. "Leave him. He is right. There are no secrets between us. We are truly equal. Leave us alone." Liu Man said, and the old man immediately rxed his pressure. "Forgive me for the impudence, My Lord. I will make sure that it does not happen again. But to think that you would form a contract! What happened for you to take such a drastic measure?" the ancestor asked. "I had to form the contract to survive. You needn''t know more. Leave us." Liu Man waved his hands, but his eyes did not leave the cave even once. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 257 Whats Inside? Liu Feng looked into this cave as well. He was curious as to what the cave contained. For a resting ce of a constetion beast, as well as the center of an entire world, it had to have something special. "Do not enter. You are not strong enough. I told you about the zones with an incredible amount of Qi, but with pressure so strong that they might kill you. This is one of them. Only I can enter here." Liu Man stopped Liu Feng from advancing any further. Sighing, Liu Feng epted this, and looked around instead. Although he just found out that the scenery around him was just an illusion, he could not help but marvel at how real it was. He bent down to touch the grass, and it felt like real grass. But he did know now that if he tried to fly up and touch the sun, all he would touch is some barrier. Liu Man, meanwhile, was just staring at the cave. He was not entering it. He walked right in front of it, and was looking into it, to Liu Feng''s confusion. Finally, Liu Man shook his head and looked away, deciding not to go in. "So you are going to leave whatever is in it? Something rted to your past life?" Liu Feng asked. "It is nothing that can help me this time around. This is just a ce where I slept a lot. All these humans make too much of it. Like I said, I must leave the past and look at the present. The present is what matters now. I am here for a reason, and there is much to do." Liu Man shook his head. "You keep walking about a reason. What is the reason? I mean, I am going to be next to you for that reason, you know that right?" Liu Feng asked. "When we enter the Ancient Lands, we will get to know. After millennia, the heavens decided that it was time for me to descend. And every time I descend, it is for a reason." Liu Man said. "What was itst time?" Liu Feng asked. "Demons. And a few humans. This time, I don''t know what it could be. I suspect humans again." Liu Man said, shaking his head. Liu Feng understood that Liu Man didn''t want to talk about the subject anymore and nodded in understanding. They then started walking out of this ce. "So then, are we going to go to the martial gathering, get ready and see who we are up against?" Liu Feng asked. "Trust in yourself. Right now, you have grown so muchpared to your past self, and the training that you have gone through made sure that your foundation is absolutely stable. You are one of the strongest young humans I have ever seen." Liu Man said. "Thank you. But we shouldn''t becent. You remember what happened all those years ago. But times might have changed now. Maybe I am the average now." Liu Feng chuckled. "Let us just go, and you will see." shaking his head, Liu Man lead the way. Ping! [New Story Quest: Defeat everyone in battle, and win the martial gathering. Reward: One level of exp, One minor realm in cultivation] Liu Feng smiled. But he didn''t say anything. He looked at the person ahead of him, the one who was leading the way. Both of them were at the exact same cultivation, because of the cap that Liu Feng had forced on Liu Man. "Guess I will finally have my chance to try and defeat you." he smiled, thinking to himself. He didn''t want to reveal this to Liu Man. If he did that, then Liu Man would pity him and give up before the match had even started. But if Liu Man didn''t know about the story quest, then maybe the fight would take ce. They walked past the doors and saw the ancestor standing there, but there were a few more people. Arge man and a dozen others were all standing, looking dazed. The moment Liu Feng and Liu Man entered their sights, though, they all shook back to reality and stared at Liu Man. They knew that Liu Man was the white tiger, and that it wasn''t Liu Feng. "The prophecy has finallye to fruition. The great guardian of the world has finally arrived." therge man in front said with a broken voice. "Do whatever you want. I know that you humans like to celebrate every asion? Well do that after I leave. It is your fault that I have to fight for my own way out. Did you make the arrangements?" Liu Man looked at the ancestor. "I have made the arrangements, My Lord. The two of you shall be participating as disciples of the White Tiger Cave, and after this, we shall make the announcement to the world of your return. We will make sure that the boundary stones are in your hands by the end of the martial gathering." the ancestor nodded. "You said that you mined ten boundary stones in this time. Where did you mine it from?" Liu Feng asked. "The boundary cliff, located at the edge of the sect. The great lord blessed us with enough boundary stones tost lifetimes." the ancestor said. "So you sent people from this world out into the real one? I wonder how strong they all were." Liu Feng wondered. "Indeed. Many of the White Tiger Cave entered the real world, and have established a sect there as well. It is located in what you call the Ancient Realm." the ancestor nodded. "Alright. Now that this is out of the way, can you hand us the tokens that can prove that we are White Tiger Cave disciples, and we will be on our way," Liu Man asked. "You do not need any token, My Lord. No one who is not a disciple of the White Tiger Cave dares im that he is one. Everyone will be informed that you both are a part of the White Tiger Cave." therge man in front, who seemed to bear a striking resemnce to the one who escorted them here, said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 258 Martial Gathering Two dayster, In an arena much like the one that Liu Feng had been in for the pill gathering, people stuffed each other trying to find a seat for the martial gathering that was underway. In a pill gathering, the only ones interested would be alchemists, who would try and learn from the experience. And alchemists were far and few, with only the ones with talent in alchemy bing alchemists. But a martial gathering was different. In a martial gathering, cultivators, alchemists, as well as normal mortals wanted to witness who was the strongest. Strength and power spoke a universalnguage that everyone understood. It was only understandable that people were fighting for the best seats. They wanted to witness the fights that no one would be able to see elsewhere. Xiantian experts did not fight against each other just every day. Liu Feng and Liu Man were calmly sitting in the designated spot for the participants from the White Tiger Cave. There were dozens more sitting alongside them, but all of them looked at the two neers with hostile faces. They just received information that two people they had never heard of were going to take two coveted spots of the martial gathering, two spots that they fought so hard to earn, and that these two were supposed to be treated like guests. It was easy to assume that they were the sons of a bigshot, and were given preferential treatment. That was exactly what these disciples thought. And to think that they had to be treated like guests! No way was that going to happen. Why would anyone treat the arrogant young masters who took their fellow brother''s spots as guests? Seeing those looks of disgust on the disciples, Liu Feng shook his head. He empathized with the disciples. He would have felt it unjust as well. But this was a world where the strong ruled. And now, he was the bigger fish. The disciples whispered between themselves, but at the cultivation of Liu Feng, he could easily hear what they were saying, even if he didn''t want to. Meanwhile, someone entered the center of the stage. He looked at all of the audience, and the participants. "Wee to the martial gathering, the event that happens once every fifty years. As all of you know, this is the chance for you to obtain an invaluable boundary stone that will allow you to leave the world and explore the vast one outside!" the man said. The audience became silent, and started at him with bated breaths. They couldn''t fight for this boundary stone, but they sure could see who would win. "Anyone can enter the stage. Anyone can challenge the one on the stage. As long as anyone gains twenty consecutive wins, he or she will obtain a boundary stone. Now, who will be the first one on the stage?" the man looked at the participants and smiled. Now, it was just a matter of who was the fastest. Who would want to be the first one on the stage and try to get the twenty wins before the stronger ones stepped in? Liu Feng smiled. If he wanted, then he could enter the stage, but he already scanned every participant here with his divine sense. Not a single one was beyond the Xiantian realm. He did not even need to put any effort into this battle. "Cao Fang, requesting for pointers!" a bald, rugged man appeared on the stage. This was the fastest out of all the ones who moved first. Although it was not confirmed that he was the fastest among all of them, he was probably in the top five, considering the second person who appeared on the stage was a full two secondste. "Zhuan Go, requesting for pointers." the second man said. He looked like he just came here from training. His entire brow was filled with sweat, and his body glistened in the sun. "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let the battle, begin!" the announcer nodded, and he jumped off the stage. Zhuan Go and Cao Fang faced each other. One of them had a staff in his hands, while thetter had a sword. Zhuan Go rushed towards Cao Fang and his staff, as tall as he was, reached forward, almost reaching Cao Fang. But Cao Fang was swift, and he dodged the attack, bing a sharp light, dashing towards Zhaun Go''s back. Zhuan Go quickly moved his staff the intercept the iing attack. His staff trembled, but Cao Fang retreated. "Blood Sated Sword!"Cao Fang shouted, and his sword glowed with a red hue. Cao Fang released a red sword light towards Zhuan Go, and looking at it, Liu Feng nodded with some respect. "Sword Dao. But for some reason, it feels so forceful. Although it is stronger than Ji Riyal''s, it feels like it could be better." Liu Feng wondered. The battle continued for a few minutes. They ere evenly matched, but this was going to be a battle of proficiency. The attacks of Cao Fang were doing damage, while all of Zhuan Go''s attacks were avoided. Zhuan Go stopped, and he coughed out blood. "You are the better man, brother Fang. I guess I am inferior to you." he said, and retreated from the stage. "Cao Fang wins! That is one win closer to victory. Now who shall enter the stage?" the announcer said. Liu Feng felt a sharp gust of wind from right next to him. He looked to the side, and to his surprise, Liu Man was no longer there. Looking at the stage once more, he saw that Liu Man appeared there. "Come at me. I have no time for this charade." Liu Man said coldly. "He went there already? That feels hasty. I thought that he would wait for a while. But it makes sense. I mean, he wants to get out of here fast. I wonder why." Liu Feng wondered, but he stayed. He wanted to fight Liu Man, but he couldn''t afford to lose yet. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 259 One Sided Cao Fang looked at Liu Man carefully. The match had begun the moment that Liu Man stepped on the stage. The moment that Cao Feng moved, Liu Man''s figure turned illusory. Cao Feng appeared behind Liu Man, and his sword passed right through him. But Liu Man''s body was just a doppelganger created by sheer speed. Liu Man appeared behind Cao Fang, with his hand stretched to touch Cao Fang''s neck. Blood dripped down from Cao Fang''s neck from the contact with Liu Man''s nails. He was visibly shaken. "I give up!" he stuttered and fell on his knees immediately after. he was utterly terrified of what happened. Liu Man''s chilling intentpletely destroyed him. Liu Feng shuffled on his seat ufortably. He could follow the fight, but at the moment that Liu Man moved from his position to right behind Cao Fang, even Liu Feng could not follow those movements precisely. Although he was not sure, Liu Feng had the suspicion that Liu Man could very well be faster than him. "A constetion beast really is a constetion beast. I thought that I was special when I got this far in around three years, but he took a whole year less than I did!" Liu Feng shook his head and sighed. "Next." Liu Man coldly said, his voice audible to every participant around him. This was just a provocation. No one dared to say ''next'', because it was a form of looking down on everyone. The crowd was shifting as well. They started murmuring, talking about the foreigner that they had never seen before take the stage. "I''ll go." Liu Feng heard someone say behind him. Turning around, he saw a man get up. He looked hot blooded, his green hair dancing with the wind. And his eyes full of arrogance and pride told Liu Feng that this one was just getting up to show someone a lesson. "I will show this boy that sometimes, daddy is not always going to be there to help." the man snorted and jumped onto the stage. "Qin Chan, requesting battle." the man shouted, his voice reverberating through the entire arena. "Qin Chan? Isn''t he a disciple of the Qin family? One of the three controlling families? I heard that the sect leader of this generation is from the Qin family." Liu Feng heard one of the participants gossip. "So there are three major families here as well? How interesting." Liu Feng''s mouth curled up with interest. "You can go first. It won''t make too much of a difference." Liu Man did not even move, and looked at Qin Chan with arrogance. "I will knock that smirk off of your face. You will learn what true power looks like." Qin Chan roared and he took out a spear from his spatial ring. Liu Feng straightened his back with interest. He wanted to see how the spear would fare against Liu Man. Qin Chan''s spear shone, and a piercing light dashed towards Liu Man. It passed straight through him, and it looked like the battle was over before it even started. The attack was too swift. But Liu Feng wasn''t even fazed. He could see Qin Chan move in an ant''s pace. If he could see it, then so could Liu Man. And indeed, Liu Man''s body suddenly dissipated into nothingness. He was gone and nobody knew where he went. Qin Chan turned around, fearing the same move that defeated Cao Fang in mere seconds. But Liu Man was just too fast for him. After Qin Chan turned around, he left his back open for a simple attack from the front. Liu Man reappeared, his hands stretched towards Qin Chan''s neck, a few drops of blood falling down showing how sharp Liu Man''s nails, or rather, ws were. "I lose..." Qin Chan''s face was filled with disbelief. The battle was over in mere seconds. He could not even react to what happened. His opponent was just gone, and reappeared behind him. "Just who are you? Could it be, you are someone from the older generation who is posing as a young one to get the boundary stone? There is no way that someone below the age of twenty five can be so fast!" Qin Chan said, trembling. ? "Get out. Don''t embarrass yourself." Liu Man said coldly. "Next." he said, taking out a piece of cloth from his own spatial ring and wiping his hands. The disrespect was too much for these arrogant young masters to take. "He must be right! There is no way that you are from the young generation. You must be an older generation in disguise!" someone else from the White Tiger Cave shouted. Liu Feng shook his head. The whole audience was confused. They thought that this neer was from the White Tiger Cave, but the White Tiger Cave was clearly against him? "''Silence!" a loud voice filled with pressure silenced the participants. The disciples of the White Tiger Cave knew who spoke, and their faces were filled with reverence and fear. Arge man appeared on the stage, and looked at everyone with a face filled with dignity. "Who dares say something like this to someone from the White Tiger Cave? Do you think that we go against the rules that we put on our own? Do you really think that we would sabotage our own martial gathering?" therge man, who was the sect master, shouted. "Forgive us, sect master. But there is no way that he is that young! He must be in the Soul Evolution Stage!" Qin Chan said, still on the stage. "No way that he is that young? He is younger than you, you buffoon! Now get off teh stage before you humiliate yourself and the sect any longer." the sect master shouted. Qin Chan quickly ran off the stage as fast as he could, and everyone was whispering to each other. "Let the martial gathering proceed as it should." the sect leader announced. "Like I said. Next person." Liu Man said with the same cold tone like nothing even happened. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 260 Boundary Stone Two. Then three. Then four. p One by one, participant after participant was defeated within seconds. The faces of every disciple in the arena were filled with despair. Someone like this was supposed to be the final boss. Not the first one on the field. After eighteen bouts, Liu Man was obviously undefeated. He red at the participants coldly. After witnessing the massacre that had been going on, no one dared to step up to go against him. No one had the confidence to beat Liu Man, and in the process, lose their chance at winning a boundary stone. This one was sure as gone now. There was not a doubt that Liu Man was going to take it home. But there were two more to fight for. Why would anyone waste their chance on a fight that they had absolutely no chance of winning? Minutes passed by, and no one stepped up. Liu Feng obviously needed a second boundary stone, so he could not fight Liu Man for it. Regardless of the oue, they would lose out. The announcer did not know what to do. The fact that someone was so dominant was beyond him. After so many fights, anyone would be exhausted, making winning a boundary stone harder and harder. But now, it looked like someone was going to do it in just ten minutes! "It looks like no one is stepping up?" the announcer asked the participants, who looked downcast. They could just not ept the fact that they were running from this fight. "Then we shall end it here. We shall end this bout, and award this young man here with the first Boundary stone!" the announcer shouted. Absolute silence. No one let a peep escape. They were still digesting the fact that a monster like this appeared out of nowhere. Behind Liu Feng, the disciples were not saying anything anymore. They shut up instantly. This was not some person who came through connections, this was the real deal. Liu Man calmly looked at the sect leader, who was sitting on the side. It was clear that he was the one who had the boundary stone. "The rewards will be-" "Given out now, thank you." Liu Man interrupted the announcer. The sect master stood up and took out a pitch ck stone from his spatial ring. "To the winner of the first bout, the first boundary stone." he said, and the boundary stone slowly floated until it reached the hands of Liu Man. Liu Man nodded at the sect leader, and he walked down the stairs and sat next to Liu Feng. "One of them is over. It''s your turn now. It has been a long time, and I am not sure when the portal to the Ancient Realm will open. It is best if you finish this as fast as you can and return. You want to get there before the portal closes back." Liu Man said. He said it out in the open, for everyone to hear, like he had nothing to hide. Everyone looked at him wierdly. These foreigners acted like they came from outside this world. It confused everyone. "The second bout shall begin now. Those who wish to participate in the bout, pleasee to the stage." the announcer said, relieved that the monster was out of the stage now. "Go. We do not have time to waste." Liu Man said. "Don''t worry. I am going. I feel like something has changed you. You are so... impatient now. Like you need to get out of here." Liu Feng shook his head, and he disappeared, reappearing on the arena before everyone else. The speed startled the announcer. He was in the Soul Evolution Stage. Liu Feng could tell. And for a soul evolution stage cultivator to get startled, this was one fast person. And the fast person came from right beside the one who shook the confidence of every participant here. So there was reason to be wary. But people like those only came one in a million. One participant gathered the courage and stepped on to the stage. "Xue Xieren, here to exchange pointers. I hope that senior brother will show mercy on me." a frail looking young girl stepped on the stage. Liu Feng looked at her, but not for a moment did he believe the exterior that she put up. Scanning her with his Divine sense, he knew that she was in the higher levels of the Xiantian Realm. "Liu Feng. Please." Liu Feng stood still, letting her have the first move. In fact, he did not even summon his weapon, just like Liu Man. Xue Xieren did not say anything though. She took out a thin needle like sword, and pointed it towards Liu Feng. "I will start now." she said, and she suddenly became dozens of afterimages at once. Liu Feng smiled, and he raised his hand. A barrier of ice suddenly formed to his left side, and a sh could be heard. Xue Xieren was attacking from the side, but her attack was intercepted without much effort from Liu Feng. But seeing that he was not moving at an inhuman speed like Liu Man, and that he still seemed humanforted many. Xue Xieren started moving around, trying to attack Liu Feng, but every single time, her attack was blocked by Liu Feng. The ice that he used immediately dissolved into the air after. "Trampling Dignity!" Xue Xieren shouted, and Liu Feng felt a sharp change in the air pressure. A big attack wasing. Atleast, it was big in Xue Xieren''s standards. Liu Feng moved, and he appeared two meters to the side,pletely avoiding the attack. An icicle appeared in his hands, and he moved forward in what looked slow, but unavoidable. He held the icicle behind her neck. "You lost." he said softly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 261 Return For Liu Feng, the matches progressed more smoothly than for Liu Man. He did not utterly defeat the opponent. Instead, he gave them a chance. He did not look like an undefeatable monster who no one could win against. All the participants felt like they had a chance, and they were itching to try and fight. They couldn''t defeat the monster, but they could try and defeat the monster''s sidekick. Match after match passed, but no one could do a thing though. Liu Feng did not seem the least bit exhausted, while his opponent had already lost. This was number neen. The opponent left the stage, and it was going to be Liu Feng''sst match on the stage. Everyone hesitated. Whoever came on the stage now would be the reason that the second boundary stone would be lost. In the younger generation, everyone knew each other. But no one knew Liu Feng and Liu Man. And seeing them about to obtain the boundary stones that everybody coveted was not a pretty sign. Finally, one person behind at the very end of the area designated for White Tiger Cave stood up. Everyone looked at him with a degree of respect, telling Liu Feng that this was someone powerful, at least ording to them. He looked at the person who wasing and smiled. "Teng Jie, here to exchange pointers." the man said as he got on the stage. "Liu Feng." Liu Feng nodded, and he put his right hand forward, taking a defensive stance. Teng Jie took out his sword, and looked at Liu Feng wierdly. Throughout thest neen fights, not once did Liu Feng use a weapon. He won that effortlessly. "Are you not going to use a weapon?" Teng Jie asked. "If I can''t win, then I can''t win. There is nothing else to say. Please,e at me." Liu Feng smiled. Teng Jie''s expression didn''t change like the ones before him. He was calm, and carefully approached Liu Feng. But this was thest fight. Liu Feng no longer needed to wait and try and fish out opponents. His body turned illusory, and he suddenly appeared behind Teng Jie. An icicle was pressed against his neck, and just like with every single one of Liu Man''s fights, blood dripped down slightly. Any further, and Liu Feng had the chance to kill, or seriously injure Teng Jie. "You lose." Liu Feng said softly. "What?" Teng Jie''s face was filled with disbelief. He thought that he had a chance. Until now, based on what he saw, as long as he was careful, he had a chance to defeat this man. But apparently, he was just hiding his power? He was actually as strong as the monster who stood before him? "Another has reached the milestone of twenty wins! It appears as though we have another winner." the announcer called out. Ping! [Host canpleted the story quest] [Host has levelled up] [Host has gained one minor realm of cultivation] Liu Feng disregarded all of that and looked at the sect leader. He nodded at him, making it clear what he wanted. "Another winner. The reward is yours." the sect leader stood up and smiled. Another pitch ck rock appeared in Liu Feng''s hands, and Liu Feng left the stage, looking at Liu Man. "I did it. Are you happy now? So then, when do we leave? Do you want to wait till it''s all over? I am guessing not." Liu Feng asked Liu Man. "You know the answer. I need to get out of this ce. Come with me." Liu Man said, and he disappeared. Liu Feng also swiftly disappeared. Only the powerful Soul Evolution Stage cultivators here could see which direction they went in. As for the younger generation, they couldn''t even see their silhouettes! They looked around, confused. The two were gone, as if they were ghosts. And if they didn''t know any better, they would think that all of this was just a dream, and that the martial gathering was going to start right now. Miles from the city, in a in wastnd, Liu Feng and Liu Man had the two boundary stones in their hands. They were pouring an incredible amount of Qi into it, making the runes on the stone glow. The stones created a thin pir that went up to the sky, and touched it, forming a whole there as well. "Be careful. The moment you leave, take note of your surroundings, and try tond on the ground eventually. You might fall in the sky after all." Liu Feng warned. "Yes. I''ll be careful alright. I''ll be careful." Liu Feng sighed. "And the moment that you return to the real world, it signals you as a cultivator. You might have to face a few sts of tribtion again." Liu Man warned. "What? But I had to go through that in the Forest of Dreams!" Liu Feng cursed. "I don''t make the rules. The heavens do. Now then. Meet you on the other side." Liu Man smiled, and he suddenly disappeared. Liu Feng also felt a slight attraction pulling him away from the ground. He gave in, and the next moment, he was in the sky, flying towards the seeming crack that the boundary stone created. He left the crack, and the sky once again, returned back to normal, like nothing happened. Two rocks fell from the sky, and onto the ground. These rocks were absolute trash, and they had used up everything inside of them. Scrape! The sound of metal screeching on the hardnd echoed throughout this deserted wastnd. An old man with a wheelbarrow came up to the rocks and tossed them into his own. He then looked up at the sky and smiled. "He returned, has he? Looks like there is going to be turmoil then." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 262 Coming Back Wind was blowing on his face. When Liu Feng opened his eyes, all he could see was grey. And clouds. Clouds? "Where the hell am I? And why am I falling mid-air?!" Liu Feng freaked out. He looked around and try tomand his Qi to lift him up, to try and fly. But the altitude was too high. He could not fly yet. He had to descend first. He flipped around to look at where he was. The mountain to his front was something that he could not forget. The mountain range was so tall that he could not see what was past it. He started elerating downwards even more, a desperate attempt to gain back control. He transformed himself into a Kun Peng, a full fledged one, and pped his wings. Instanty, he appeared on the mountain side, and clung on to the rocks, dragging them as he fell down with his momentum. But eventually, he stopped, and could finally take a moment to breathe. Looking down, there were a few more kilometers to go through. But Liu Man was nowhere to be seen. "He warned me of this, so he should be prepared. I should just try and get to the bottom now." Liu Feng thought to himself and he let go of the mountain side. He started freefalling down, but before he elerated out of control, he clung to the mountain once more. With drops like these, he managed to slowly enter the region where he could breathe freely. Looking at the dots on the bottom, he was reminded of the mortals who came to the mountain to worship the white tiger. He jumped away from the mountain and unfurled his wings. The wind tried to pierce through his wings, but he persisted. Descending down like a con''s dive, within mere minutes, he could see a clearer view of the ground. Nothing had changed since thest time he was here, a whole two years ago. He pped his wings, and could finally control his descent properly. Landing slowly on the ground, he transformed back into a human, and popped a few Qi restoration pills that he prepared himself. One and half years was a long time, and as an alchemist in an alchemist''s dream space, he took as much advantage as he could. "You are finally here. I was wondering how long you would take to get here." Liu Feng heard a familiar voice beside him. "Yeah, your warning could have been more specific. Now then, you have to tell me now. Why the hell were you dying to get out of that world?" Liu Feng asked. "You must have noticed that over thest year, my personality has changed a little." Liu Man sighed. "No Sh!t! Yeah, I saw that. You were acting like you were the king of the world." Liu Feng said. "That was because of the aura of the previous white tiger that was influencing me. The preparations that the previous white tiger put in ce was what it thought was necessary. But some times, it is better if I remain separate from him. We should not be one and the same. Thest white tiger was feared for its killing sprees. I think that I am different. I needed to leave as fast as possible, or I would lose myself to my previous self." Liu Man exined. "And you couldn''t have told me this before because?" "The people in that world, they are the underlings of the previous white tiger. Why would they help someone who wanted to be as further from him as possible? But I am still going to need to ask you to hurry. Remember that you need to use an ancient portal to get to the Tiandu Kingdom of yours. And for that, you need to rush to the Mysterious Kingdom." Liu Man said. "I am going to get there. Are you going toe along side me, or change form and sleepfortably?" Liu Feng asked. "Better stretch my muscles. It is going to be an easier and faster journey this time though. So let us rush through." Liu Man said, and his form morphed. From his human form, he became arge tiger, with wings on his back! The wings of feathers that seemed to be impervious to any dust shone with a brilliance that Liu Feng had never seen before. "Let us get going." Liu Man said, and he moved. The moment that Liu Man pped his wings, a gust of wind blew and Liu Man disappeared. Liu Feng also moved. He transformed back, and started chasing after Liu Man at a terrifying speed. They were moving so fast that they couldn''t make anything out of their surroundings even. ins passed by, and so did the mountains. In an hour, the mountains were no longer visible, and the ins were all thaty in front of them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Is there any news on them yet? Have you heard of two people in the eastern end?" a woman sat at the end of a hall, with her hands pursed on her exhausted face. "No, master. It is like theypletely disappeared from the world. And there is no chance that they crossed the seventh sea. The distance is too much, and we will know if a vessel was inbound." a young girl said, kneeling in front of the woman. "How could someone be so reckless? They came here for protection, but instead, they ran away? Li Tian is freaking out on the other side. How the hell do I answer him?" the woman was clearly irritated. "Should we look at the mortal sites, master? They might have gone to the edge of the great ins." the girl asked. "If they did, then it will take a whole month for a messenger to go forth ande back. We cannot afford someone beyond the Xiantian level at this time. The world is too tense right now." she shook her head. "Master! Something shocking has happened! There is someone at the gate that you should see!" another young woman rushed into the hall. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 263 Small Derailment "What happened? Who is at the gate?" the woman on the elevated seat asked, her prideful eyes ring down at the new entry. "It''s the people you asked were looking for! The two men. They have returned to the sect!" the woman said. They returned? And they are at the gate?" the woman got up immediately and disappeared. The two remaining girls in the hall looked at each other. "Just who are they? For the sect leader to be so tensed. What is their background?" thetter asked the young girl who was on her knees. "I remember that when they came to the sect, Senior Sister Ki''er was with them. And they made quite the storm by offending the Jun family. I don''t know what happened after that though. I know that they are a part of the Sky Heavens sect and that is all." the young girl said. "I shouldn''t have left the sect on missions at that time. I should have stayed in the sect. I missed the most exciting thing that happened in the sect in decades. Why don''t we go there and see what is happening then," thetter smiled and she turned around to rush towards the gate. Meanwhile, at the gate of the sect, Liu Feng and Liu Man werezily sitting down, waiting for the sect leader toe. They were stopped at the gate, ording to some rule of the sect. Men weren''t let in without the permission of the sect leader, but because they were the people that the sect leader was looking for, they were allowed to wait in front of the gate. In a few minutes after their arrival, the woman from the hall appeared instantly. "Sect Leader Bing Yuxin. It has been a while since we havest met." Liu Feng beamed. "You better have a good reason for what you did, and if you do not, then I don''t care what Li Tian might say, and I don''t even care who your father is, I will break all of your bones one by one." Bing Yuxin was furious, and for good reason. For thest one and half year, her disciples were in the Sky Heavens sect as well, and although there was no doubt that they were treated properly, it was still not an ideal situation for them. "I cannot exin, sect leader, but I think that you will be pleased to know that you do not need to fear the Jun family at all. I think that I can take care of them on my own. At the least, I am confident that I can survive whatever obstacles they throw at me." Liu Feng smiled. "Wipe that stupid grin off your face. I will make sure that you will regret every stupid decision that you ever took." Bing Yuxin spat. "I think that we should be talking about thister. I think that someone is approaching." Liu Feng smiled as he turned around. "I wonder which seniors havee all the way here to meet me? I mean, it is an honor to have experts in the Soul Transformation stage and the Xiantian stagee to meet me here." Liu Feng called out. "Zeze, this young boy has quite the ear. He could feel us before we even arrived." a sinister voice changed Bing Yuxin''s expression. "The ancestor of the Jun family! Why did someone like thate out to deal with just a junior?" she asked, shocked. "Why? Because the Lush Green Sect is no longer an ally of the Jun family, and I think that it needs to understand what the consequences are of offending us. I brought a few friends if you don''t mind." an old man appeared with a few men behind him. Every single one of them looked like they were inches away from their graves. "Sound the rm. Raise the protective array. Call all the elders. I will make sure that these bastards do not enter the sect." Bing Yuxin coldly said, and the disciples behind her, within the gate, started scrambling. "Do not worry, sect leader. Once the fight is over, none of your disciples will suffer. Good, talented women are so hard to find. All the brides that we need, you collected in one ce for us." the ancestor of the Jun family smiled. "All of you, the powers of the mysterious kingdom, you want to go against us? Do you really want to go against the Lush Green sect?" Bing Yuxin looked beyond the Jun ancestor, at all the other old men. "How many Soul Evolution Stage experts could you possibly have? We are enough to tten any force on this world. Now then, which boy is the one who humiliated the Jun kid? Doesn''t matter. I''ll offer both the heads as a gift to my dear friend." the old man on the right of the Jun Ancestor said. "Both of you, go inside the sect. Just stand there and don''t do anything." Bing Yuxin said as she looked at the iing old man with a worried face. "It looks like we are finally getting into our first fight. Don''t you think it is exciting? I can finally fight someone in the Soul Evolution stage!" Liu Feng smiled at Liu Man and took out his spear,pletely disregarding Bing Yuxin. "Come on, old man. Do you only know how to talk, or do you know how to fight as well?" Liu Feng taunted the iing man. The face of Bing Yuxin changed. This young boy was just throwing away his life. She was about to step forward, when a beam of lightnded in front of her. "Your opponent is me, sect leader. That boy will die today!" the Jun ancestor smiled sinisterly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 264 True Power "Your death is today, boy." the old man sneered as he rushed towards Liu Feng. "Don''t you dare, Gao Huan! He is the son of the one who shook the entire world twenty years ago. Your entire sect will face the consequences of killing him!" Bing Yuxin shouted. "If there are no survivors, or rather, no one left to tell the tale, then who will know? Don''t worry. We will make sure that all of your girls are well kept." Gao Huanughed and two wheels appeared in his hands. These were weapons that Liu Feng had never faced before, but he was not the least bit worried. He summoned his spear, and faced the iing attack calmly. "You are not begging for your life! I am surprised. It looks like a tiger''s son can only be a tiger. Too bad, a cub is only so strong." Gao Huanughed maniacally, and he appeared right in front of Liu Feng, shing the wheels forward. They passed right through Liu Feng. "No!" Bing Yuxin was aghast, right when the Jun Ancestor attacked her, taking up all her concentration. But Gao Huan frowned. He did not feel anything. No resistance at all. "Not expecting some junior to be faster than what your eyes can see, old man?" a whisper came from behind. Before he could even react, a spear covered in frost impaled Gao Huan''s chest, piercing his dantian. From there, frost started spreading all over his body, until Gao Huan became an icy corpse. "Too bad, he underestimated me too much and left his guard down. To think that someone so old and experienced would be so dumb." Liu Feng shook his head. The Jun ancestor stopped and retreated, and the other old men looked at what happened with mouths agape. They were already down one man, and the fight had not even started yet! And putting all that aside, someone who was just supposed to be taken as coteral damage suddenly killed one of their main forces! A Soul Evolution Expert wasmon. And to think that someone like that died in mere minutes! This was just inconceivable. "What did you do, you monster? What devil arts did you use?" the Jun ancestor spat out, his eyes on fire. "Me? I did nothing much. In fact, I would say that this man killed himself. His arrogance, did not even pay attention to his surroundings." Liu Feng shrugged as he lifted the spatial ring from Gao Huan. No matter what would happen, he would not throw profit that was on the table away like that. "You have made a gross miscalction. I don''t know if these are all the Soul Evolution experts that you do have, but if they are, then you are going to lose this fight so hard. I mean, you are down to four already, and there are three of us here, with a sect behind us." Liu Fengughed. "What is happening? Could it be!" Bing Yuxin hastily tried to scan these two with her divine sense, but she was met with resistance. And that resistance would only be possible if Liu Feng and Liu Man were both in the Soul Evolution Stage! But they were just in the Xiantian stage when they arrived, and at the very beginning of it. And now, one of them could kill an ancestor of a major sect? "Just what kind of monster did he give birth to? To think that he advanced a major realm like this in just two years!" she whispered. "You brat! I will take care of you." another old man fumed, and he was about to move, when the Jun ancestor stopped him. "He is mine. Don''t let anyone interrupt. I don''t know how he entered the Soul Evolution stage in such a young age, but he is bound to die today." he said, and came forward. The moment that Bing Yuxin and Liu Man moved, pressure from the other old men stopped them. This was going to be a match between Liu Feng and the Jun ancestor. That was set in stone. A peculiar sword appeared in the Jun ancestor''s hands. It had spikes on the de ends. This was a painful weapon to be against, and it spoke a lot to the carrier''s personality and tendency towards torture. "Come!" the Jun ancestorughed, his eyes blood shot. Liu Feng was serious now. His opponent was not belittling him. Instead, he was defensive, which meant that Liu Feng could not just charge in head first. Yuan Principle! A pressure suddenly appeared with incredible force, and for a split second, the Jun ancestor fell down a few inches, losing his bnce. As he tried to get back on the ground, Liu Feng suddenly appeared right behind him. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fourth Form! Blue Dragon Soars through the heavens!" The manifestation of a giant blue dragon appeared in all its glory, and it roared at its opponent. From outside, this was a terrifying attack. And the Jun ancestor was right there, trying to receive it. st! "Hujin Sword!" A white sh tried to cut down the dragon. Roaring, it tried to move forward. The spear itself, which was at the center of the dragon, was being pushed back by the sh, but it showed no signs of faltering. The moment that the white light dimmed, the spear shot forward, and it struck the side of the Jun ancestor. Blood flowed from the wound, and the spear returned to Liu Feng''s hand. "This is a fight that you are going to lose, old man." Liu Feng smiled. "Especially if your hooligans are going to join you." he nced at the other old men who were standing aside, trying to keep Bing Yuxin in check, sneering. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 265 Truce "How are you so strong?" the Jun Ancestor''s face was filled with disbelief. "Effort. I put in a lot of effort thest year." Liu Feng said, touching the scar on his right eye. This was a scar that he could easily heal with his Qi, and make it disappear in an instant. But he didn''t. He wanted to keep it, to remind him that he still wasn''t strong enough, and that no matter how strong he got, there would always be a bigger peak ahead. The Jun ancestor retreated and looked at Liu Feng with apprehension. "To think that someone like you would fight a mere junior. Is this what the Lush Green sect does? Bully the young?" "It is clearly what you are doing. I mean, I am younger than your dear junior. So don''t be such a hypocrite. Remember, power speaks. Now that you know which one of us is stronger, why don''t we have another bout and see who cane out alive?" a golden glow about him resurfaced. This was the glow of someone who was confident in himself. This was the glow of the Undefeatable Dao. What happened during thest year was not battle. It was training. And he wasn''t defeated, technically, and hence the Undefeatable Dao festered, and only made him stronger. The Jun ancestor looked at the old men, not sure of what he was going to do now. Spark! Suddenly, a light enveloped the entire Lush Green Sect. A translucent barrier was created, and it spread to create a dome all around the sect. Three old women emerged from the sect, clearly unfazed by this barrier, and looked at their foes. "So it is true. We are being attacked." the old woman in front was someone that Liu Feng recognized. It was the great elder of the sect. As for the other two, Liu Feng did not know who they were, but they sure weren''t in the Soul Evolution Stage. Comparing this sect to his own, the Sky Heavens sect was much stronger than the Lush Green sect, and it wasn''t even number one in the kingdom of Tiandu! Liu Feng looked at the new arrivals and smiled. With this, they had four Soul Evolution Stage experts versus four of the opponents''. And one of them was clearly inferior to Liu Feng. Seeing the unfavourable situation, the old man in the very back hesitated. "I came here worried that the Lush Green sect was housing a criminal. But it feels like a simple misunderstanding. I should take my leave." he said, trying to turn around. The face of the Jun ancestor turned ugly. If even one person left, then slowly, the house of cards that he built would fall apart. This was just a temporary alliance that was quite shaky, and the only thing that kept that going was that the Lush Green sect was a piece of fat and delicious meat. But no one would risk their lives for this! "Hold on just there." Liu Feng called out. The three women who just arrived red at Liu Feng with a vengeance. Someone was about to leave, why would they stop him? They just arrived, so they didn''t know the story. "Calm down, boy. You don''t know what you are saying." one of the women that Liu Feng didn''t recognize coldly spat out. Liu Feng disregarded herpletely and red at the old man who was nning on leaving. The old man froze, looking at Liu Feng with fear. The one with the most power here wasn''t Bing Yuxin anymore. It was Liu Feng, the one who killed Gao Huan, and the one who came out ahead in the bout with the Jun ancestor. He was the one who tipped the scales, so the old man had to listen to him. "The Lush Green sect was forced to activate their protecting array, were they not? Don''t you think that it is a little unfair for them? They have to go through the expense of activating their protecting array because of you? No doubt, they used a lot of spirit stones. I think that all of you together should give them somepensation. What do you say, sect leader? How much is the right amount?" Liu Feng looked at Bing Yuxin. "To active the sect protecting array, it takes ten high grade spirit stones! I think that it is only fair that they should pay it back to us," she nodded. Liu Feng smiled. "Do you really want to risk it? If your sect loses you, then they will lose a valuable Soul Evolution expert. And now, you be vulnerable to attack. I mean, that Gao Huan. His sect should be weak now. Who can stop anyone from attacking that sect and taking their treasures away?" Liu Feng looked at the Jun ancestor separately. The sect was one thing, but a family was different. In a family, everyone was, well, family. And every member put the family above self. That was the rule they lived by. And now, if anything happened to the Jun ancestor, the Jun family would be in big trouble. "You are right, young master. This is time that wepromise. This is just apse in judgement that I made. In fact, that boy must really learn how to understand defeat." the Jun ancestor changed his attitude the whole one eighty degrees. The Great elder and her sidekicks looked at what happened with wide open mouths. They couldn''t understand what was happening in the slightest. "Then please grant the sect thepensation that it deserves. Ten spirit stones from each of you. High grade, I will not negotiate any further. Just remember, my friend with me is stronger than me in many ways." Liu Feng beamed. "We will pay!" the third old man sighed and said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 266 Return In Style (Part 1) The four men threw four spatial rings toward Liu Feng. Each of them had exactly ten high grade spirit stones, no more, no less. Liu Feng happily pocketed two of them, and threw the other two at Bing Yuxin. "With this, I will have paid my toll to use the ancient portal, I guess? It should cover it. And the other spatial ring should cover the expense that you have taken. As for these rings, I am going to take this as payment for my help." Liu Feng smiled. The Great Elder looked at this with confusion, but she decided not to say anything. What just happened was certainly a profit for the sect. They just solidified their position as the number one sect. And they also obtained ten high grade spirit stones. No one could equate high grade spirit stones to medium grade ones. No matter how many medium grade stones were used for the ancient portal, they couldn''tpare to the high grade spirit stones that Liu Feng earned them. "Thank you so much for this wonderful transaction, gentlemen. Now, I think that you can all leave, and tell your ns that this day was an evesting sess. You have found out who not to offend anymore." Liu Feng beamed. The old men snorted, and each one went their separate ways. This left Liu Feng alone with the great elder, Bing Yuxin, and the two old women that he had never seen before. And Liu Man. "What the hell just happened? Why did you call us? Those many sects attacked us?" the great elder was confused, but here confusion became shock when she looked past Liu Feng to see the dead body of Gao Huan. "That- that is the Gao Huan! The Soul Evolution level ancestor! Why is he on the ground? Dead?" she asked, stuttering. "That... isplicated." Bing Yuxin said with a huge pause. "Nothingplicated about it. I killed him. Now then, sect leader, can you please have a talk with my sect master, and have a talk about sending me back to Tiandu? I think that I am needed there." Liu Feng asked. "I will do that. I will do that." Bing Yuxin absently nodded her head. She did not know what else to do. Sure, she was in the higher realms of the Soul Evolution stage, but even she could not say with absolute certainty that she could defeat the Jun ancestor, much less kill Gao Huan. While Liu Feng killed Gao Huan because of his carelessness, it was still a huge deal! Killing someone was much harder than defeating him, after all. And the bout with the Jun ancestor proved his strength. He did not just achieve a fluke. He was truly powerful. "You killed him?!" the great elder shouted with shock. "Yes. Now can I go inside now? I have been waiting outside for quite a while, and I think that it is not fair for you to be treating a guest that you have helped so much like this." Liu Feng smiled. "Come in." Bing Yuxin shook herself and nodded. She took out a token from her hands, and the barrier that was behind them opened itself, creating a pathway for both Liu Feng and Liu Man to enter. As for the three women, they coulde in and leave without any problem. The sect tokens gave them that power. "Are you going to keep the sect array running? Isn''t it a waste of stones?" Liu Feng asked. "It takes an incredible amount of Qi to activate the spirit arrays, but after that, the ten high grade spirit stones alone can keep the entire sect array running for a whole five days. Now that you have given us the ten high spirit stones back, there is no need to stop now, is there?" Bing Yuxin smiled, but ofcourse that was not the whole story. Sure, they evaded this attack, but that didn''t mean that the old ancestors could bring reinforcements. And if that happened anytime soon, they would be prepared. After all, if it did happen, it would probably be around now, when the tensions were high. "Now that you have killedGao Huan, a huge piece of meat is avable for the vultures to swallow. I hope that it will be enough to satiate them for now." Bing Yuxin sighed. "I thought that Lush Green was the strongest sect in the entire kingdom! How can it only have two Soul evolution realm cultivators?" Liu Feng went ahead and asked. "The mysterious kingdom is different from Tiandu. It is not as chaotic, and not asrge. There are fewer powers, and fewer resources. We have fewer members in the Soul Formation and the Soul Evolution Stage." Bing Yuxin said nonchntly as they passed through buildings and multiple disciples who were whispering to each other. "Where are we going now?" Liu Feng asked. "Straight to the Ancient Portal. You want to get there urgently, do you not? Well this is your chance. I will contact Li Tian and make sure that we canplete the swap immediately." Bing Yuxin said. "That is for the best. Please, carry on. Act like I haven''t said anything." Liu Feng nodded. Huff! Two women suddenly appeared before them, exhausted. "What are you two doing here?" Bing Yuxin frowned. "Master... we were hoping we could catch a glimpse of the attack that was happening. But what happened. Is it over? Are we closing down the doors of the sect?" the older one of the two asked. "What nonsense! Where did you hear that? Just, go to where you came running for. I need to escort these two to the Sky Heavens sect." Bing Yuxin chided them and continued to lead the way. Liu Feng could feel the inquisitive eyes of the younger disciple, who seemed to be just an innocent eleven years old, at most. He smiled at her, but she hid behind the skirt of her senior sister immediately, her face blushing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 267 Return In Style (Part 2) Putting them all aside, Liu Man, Liu Feng, and Bing Yuxin picked up their pace and went deeper and deeper into the sect. Less and less people were visible now, and they were entering a restricted area, right where they started all those years ago. Soon, the ancient portal was visible once again, and looking at it once again, it still took Liu Feng''s breath again. "You need the person on the other side to coordinate it, don''t you? But the sect leader of our side hasn''t been told of our arrival, or of our intention to enter the sect. How will he have any time to prepare?" Liu Man asked. "That is a good question. I am not giving him any time. He has to drop whatever he is doing and run to return my dear disciples to me, or you two are going to stay here for the next year. That is without question. You want to fight me on this, fine. I''ll fight you." Bing Yuxin looked at them with a threatening face. "We do not wish to fight, sect leader. Please do what you need to do." Liu Feng quickly shook his head and took a step back. Bing Yuxin took out a paper talisman from her spatial ring and injected some Qi into it. Immediately, it burned with a dark red mer, and then disappeared into nothingness. "Bing Yuxin! Please tell me you have good news!" Li Tian could be heard from the other side. "I do. I found your disciples. They are here with me. Now you better get my disciples and rush to your ancient portal, because I am ready to open the portal for exactly ten minutes. After that, you know that I don''t even know what I am going to do." Bing Yuxin said, her voicepletely cold. "Wait! Don''t rush things. I will get your disciples and bring them to the ancient portal as fast as I can. Just don''t do anything crazy. I promise I''ll bring them back." Li Tian quickly said, and the connection seemed to drop. Li Tian was gone, and he was clearly panicking. "Just what did she do in the past for master to be so fearful of her? And what is her connection with master, even? She even seems to know my father. To call him the savior. There are way too many questions that I need answers to." Liu Feng sighed and thought to himself. Minutes passed by. For cultivators, days, months, even years could pass by and they would not flinch. Liu Feng was probably at the months stage, but even then, thest few minutes had been nerve wracking to him for some reason. He just had a bad feeling that if his master could not deliver, then the woman beside him would gopletely crazy. Bing Yuxin took out a mountain of spirit stones from her spatial ring now. She started arranging them around the ancient portal, in preparation from what was going to happen. Then, her hand started glowing. Or rather, her spatial ring was. Without doing anything, she tapped on it, and the ring dimmed down. Now, she stood in front of the portal and raised her hands. Runes appeared on the ancient portal, along the gateway. This time, Liu Feng looked at these runes closely, trying to see if he could understand any of them. He wanted to see if they meant anything at all. But this was without any fruition. They were just meaningless scrawlings of a madman in his eyes. A vortex of ck and white lines appeared on the portal, very simr to what happened when Liu Feng and Liu Man got on the portal all the way in the Sky Heavens sect. Then, the vortex turnedpletely white, giving a white halo around it. Liu Feng stepped up, ready to cross into it, but Bing Yuxin stopped him. "Not yet. Wait until my disciplese out of the portal." Bing Yuxin said. Liu Feng nodded and he meekly stood by the side, hoping that this would all be over soon enough. For some reason, he just felt like something was happening on the other side, and that he needed to be there. A hand appeared from the portal, and then another. A young woman descended from the portal, looking like a fairy deeding from the heavens itself! The portal shone again, and another woman came out of it. If the one before was pure as an angel, then the woman who came out this time was as seducing as a temptress! "To think that she sent eye candy like this to the sect. I wonder if the sect even cultivated at all with women like these walking around." Liu Feng shook his head as he thought to himself. "Can we go in now?" Liu Man asked, his voice not so cold as before anymore. "You can. I am done with you guys. For the next few months, I will no longer be caring about the Sky Heavens sect. I will not listen to a thing that bastard says to convince me. Now get out!" Bing Yuxin shouted. Liu Feng and Liu Man hastily walked through the portal, and they saw the brightly lit sky and a familiar face on the other side. Li Tian was standing there, looking straight at him. But along with Li Tian, there was someone else. Behind Li Tian, Liu Qian also stood there, looking at Liu Feng, who had just arrived. Liu Feng could see the creased forehead on Li Tian, and the bulging eyebrows. This man was not happy with the things that Liu Feng pulled. But unknowingly, Liu Feng''s eyes gravitated to someone else who was standing to the side. He was just leaning on a tree, looking at Liu Feng calmly, but Liu Feng''s heart felt turbulent. With his mouth dry, he could barely whisper, "I am guessing you are my real father." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 268 Father? "I am guessing you are my real father?" These words were like a thunder p in the ears of Li Tian and Liu Qian, who nervously looked at the exchange that was a long timeing. Liu Feng noticed that the moment he said it, there was a slight change in the expression of his father. A slight change. And then, he reverted back to normal immediately. "Mind eye, I don''t even know his freaking name." Liu Feng''s lips moved, but no sound came off it. [Level - ??? Name - Liu LingTian Cultivation - ???] Ping! [You havepleted Story Quest. You have survived the Jun family-] "Not now. Just... not now." Liu Feng''s face was serious. His eyes did not leave his father''s. Looking at the calm face of Liu Lingtian, who was still leaning on the tree, looking at Liu Feng was if he was just looking at any random person, Liu Feng''s feelings wereplicated. Inside, he was the true Liu Feng, and he wanted to meet this man properly, know him, and understand him. Another part of him believed that it was Liu Qian who raised him, and only Liu Qian who deserved to be called his father. "I understand that you must have a lot of questions about me." Liu Ling Tian broke the deafening silence and he straightened himself. He looked at the tensed up Liu Qian and Li Tian. "I think that I need to talk to him personally. But first, you. Are my eyes deceiving me, or is my son standing next to a constetion beast?" Liu Ling Tian looked at Liu Man seriously. Liu Feng could notice the change in his father''s eyes, and this time, the change stayed. "Ancient blood so pure. You must be the one that your family has been preparing for what? Centuries? And you ran off to the Realm of beginnings? I think that the entire ancient realms must be looking down to see what you are up to." Liu Man smiled. "Truly inconceivable. My son is actually in a contract with a constetion beast. And of all people, it happens to be the White Tiger." Liu Ling Tian shook his head. "We should not beat around the bush. Liu Feng! Why did you run from the Lush Green sect? Do you have any idea what trouble you caused? You could have died!" Liu Qian intervened, looking sternly at Liu Feng. "You are at the Soul Evolution stage, father. How did you get to the Soul Evolution Stage so fast?" Liu Feng nkly asked Liu Qian. But he knew the answer from somewhere. Too many times, he heard that Liu Qian was a genius that sealed his own cultivation so that Liu Feng could live. And now that Liu Feng was a little safe, the seal was gone. "You... how did you know?" Liu Qian asked, surprised. Immediately, three divine senses scanned through Liu Feng, and all three faces turned from tense to shock. "You- you are in the Soul Evolution Stage? How is this possible?" Li Tian staggered back. Just a year and half ago, he saw with his own eyes this young man enter the Xiantian realm. And now, he was already past that realm, and entered the Soul Evolution stage, and was not even at the beginning! "I guess that I have to thank you for the opportunity that you have given my son?" Liu Ling Tian seemed to understand what happened, and he looked at Liu Man. "All that I did was take him to a ce that I once knew. But everything that Liu Feng did, he earned it. And the things that he has been through, he deserved the opportunity." Liu Man said. "I see. My son has reached the Soul Evolution stage after starting cultivating just two years ago. I don''t know if I should be happy and proud, or worried about the monster that I have created." Liu Ling Tian said. Liu Feng looked nkly at Liu Ling Tian. "The monster that you created? Do not worry. I have done this to myself. You yed no part in it. But there are too many questions that I have, and it seems like you are the only one who has the answers." Liu Feng took a deep breath. "I was waiting for this. I have done too much wrong. I made so many mistakes. I have wronged you, and you deserve to know all the truth." Liu Ling Tian nodded. "First of all, was my mother the one who sealed my spiritual root?" Liu Feng asked. "Indeed. She did this for your own good. Do not me her." Liu Ling Tian said. "And what did she put inside me? What did she do to herself to let a piece of her very soul enter my body?" Liu Feng asked, his eyes a little red. "Your mother did what now?" for the first time, Liu Feng could see some proper emotion in Liu Ling Tian''s face. It felt like she was the only thing that he cared about, and the son that he had was only an afterthought. Liu Feng calmed himself. This thought would only ruin him, and would disrupt his state of mind. "Clearly, you do not know about this, so let me ask something else entirely. Why the hell did Long Xian and that person who disguised himself as Master Mu want me? What is this ancient blood that you talk about? Why does the pill that was your antidote only work if it is made by me?" Liu Feng asked. Liu Ling Tian remained mute, and Liu Feng shook his head. "Fine. Then can you tell me where my real mother is being held? She seems to be the real parent who cares about me." Liu Feng scoffed, and he rolled his eyes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 269 A Change In Heart "You fool! How could you say something like that to him?" Liu Qian shouted at Liu Feng, "It''s fine, Brother. It''s fine. He is right to be mad at me. You have been with him all his life, while I missed every single step of the way, did I not?" Liu Ling Tian smiled. For some reason, Liu Feng felt weird. Looking at Liu Ling Tian again, he felt like he had seen his father somewhere, and many times at that. "We should take this conversation elsewhere, I suppose? I think that there is much to discuss now. I also have a few questions for Liu Feng''s father." Liu Man broke the awkward silence once more. "Indeed, let''s move. Follow me to the sect leader peak." Li Tian nodded, and the five people just became transparent figures instantly, vanishing from where they once stood. In the sect leader peak, all five of them appeared at almost the same time. Liu Qian looked at Liu Feng and Liu Man with surprise once again. "You are so fast? I did not expect you both to be so fast. It looks like you are full of surprises. One day, I will have to ask you to reveal all of your secrets to me." Liu Qian said, shaking his head. But all of a sudden, he heard the sound of Liu Qian''s voice transmit to his head. "Are you stupid? How could you say something like that to your father? Do you realise how much he sacrificed just so that you can be alive?" Liu Qian''s voice was filled with anger. "And do you know how it feels when you meet your real father for the first time, and he can''t even show a proper expression until your real mother is mentioned?" Liu Feng retorted back, transmitting his voice to Liu Qian using divine sense. "What the hell are you talking about? The expressions on your father''s face? Well take this. Because of the Sage Nine pill, all of your father''s facial muscles arepletely frozen until the poison is taken out. To make even the slightest emotion, your father has to go through excruciating pain. Understand that before youment on him." Liu Qian said, shaking his head. "What are you two doing? Staring nkly? Come on." Li Tian broke their conversation and ushered them into the home of the sect leader. Although Liu Feng had been to the dark room many, many times, he had never been here, in this part of the residence. "Good. Now then, we can talk freely, can''t we? Why don''t you exin to me how you got to the Soul Evolution Stage in just one and a half years?" Li Tian asked. "How I got to the Soul Evolution Stage? I got beaten into it." Liu Feng said, touching his scar once more. All of the three noticed it, but a scar like that wasmon for cultivators, and it was even moremon for anyone topletely heal it, instead of keeping the scar. "You got beaten into it?" Li Tian was confused. "Yep. Now it is my turn. Where is my mother being held? Exactly. And what are the protections around her?" Liu Feng asked. "In the capital prison, capital city. Right at the bottom of the entire goddamn pce. There are dozens of Soul Evolution Experts in the capital, and at least a dozen of them are in the pce. It is the hardest ce to break into." Li Tian said. "And how many Soul Evolution Stage experts does our side have? Or are we going to assume that there is no way at all." Liu Feng asked. "I can''t count. But the five of us here, and four from the sect. Say the nine of us, and the Green Gale Tiger of Kaishi city. That is all of them." Li Tian nodded. Liu Feng also noted this, and he looked straight at Liu Ling Tian. "Have I seen you before without knowing it? Were you ever disguised around me? I feel like I saw you before." Liu Feng asked, forthright without hesitation. Liu Ling Tian smiled, and also blushed a little. "The disguise that your father took, was a little inappropriate, so let us not talk about that. Best we say that the disguise did its job, and he was at your worst times." Liu Qian said. Liu Feng smiled and looked at Liu Qian now. "Father, I think that it has been some time since I saw mother now. Where is she? I think I''ll go visit her." Liu Ling Tian froze. He looked at Liu Feng with shock. "Since when did you know? I didn''t think that you would recognise it so quickly." Liu Ling Tian sighed. "I have my reasons." Liu Feng said softly. But of course his reason was the cheat that he had! The system suddenly gave him the groundbreaking news that his father, his real father, Liu Ling Tian, the man who apparently shook the capital all those years ago, was hiding all the way in the tiny Kaishi city, looking at Liu Feng grow up, disguised as his.... mother?!!! "I had to do what I had to do. I was injured, and Liu Qian sealed off his cultivation. I wanted to make sure that you were safe." Liu Ling Tian softly said. "Good. Good. To think that my parents are actually my foster father and my real father. You really are the best at giving trauma to your kids." Liu Feng shook his head, shuddering once just imagining reality once more. "Now that everything has been cleared and out of the way, we know that Liu Feng is safe. Can we get onto business now? The fact where we need to do something about theing situation?" Li Tian interrupted. "What situation?" Liu Feng''s eyebrows rose. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 270 The Plan Li Tian sighed. "It''s been what, almost three years since you were told that you had to enter the Xiantian realm within this time?" he asked. "Is this rted to the coronation? The new king?" Liu Feng asked. "Indeed. The connection between the Ancient Lands and us has always resided in one ce. And that ce is also within the imperial pce within the capital city. Only the new king can activate the portal." Li Tian nodded. "Wait. Do we want to open, or close the portal? Does it make sense to open the portal if the entire Long family is going toe here to protect Long Xian?" Liu Feng asked. "They mighte here to protect Long Xian, but the entire Long family will still be restricted to the Soul Evolution Stage here. And while their physical bodies are tough, the power of the Liu Family does not just lie in cultivation." Liu Qian said, looking at Liu Ling Tian. "My mother, she was the princess of the Tian family, was she not? I have royal blood in my veins.'' Liu Feng asked. "Indeed. Technically, you are eligible to vie for the throne just because your mother was so high up on the royal family, but no one would allow you to be the king. A son of a princess cannot be a king. Only the direct descendants can vie. And there are a whole twelve princes who are trying to take over the kingdom." Li Tian said. "You, you can still go there and put your hat in the pile. That will be the best distraction that can happen. Too many people will be focused on the selection of the new king, and we can storm the dungeons." Liu Qian said. "No. He is too young. It is good that he entered the Soul Evolution Stage. He can protect himself in the war that is toe. But it is too dangerous for him to participate." Liu Ling Tian shook his head. Ping! [New Story Quest: Be the King of Tiandu Reward: Three Minor Layers of cultivation] "Wait, what? I need to do what now?" Liu Feng jumped up with shock. "What happened?" everyone looked at him with confusion. "I will go. I need to go to the pce now. I will try to be the king. What is the selection process? How do I be the king?" Liu Feng asked. "Why do you want to be the king?" Li Tian looked at him with curiosity. "I want to be the king. Who in the world doesn''t? Now tell me what I need to do." Liu Feng asked. "You need to win the battle of session. But I highly doubt that you can win. The other princes all have other Soul Evolution Stage experts in their ranks, while all you have is yourself." Liu Qian said. Liu Feng smiled and he nced at Liu Man. "You know what happened. It''s a whole three minor realms this time. I can increase a whole three minor realms." Liu Feng said. "Three minor realms? Isn''t that too many? That will take you beyond the Soul Evolution stage." Liu Man said. All of this was happening, of course, telepathically through divine sense. "Doesn''t matter. Cultivation is cultivation. I can skip to the peak of the Soul Evolution Stage, and with the number of cores that you got, so can you. Won''t that help you so much as well? We can prepare when we enter the Ancient Realm." Liu Feng smiled and said. "He has two Soul Evolution Stage experts in his rank. Don''t forget me. With just the two of us, we will be able to take any force thates at us. Who can actually participate in the battle of session? Can other powers also take part?" Liu Man asked. "Indeed. Any power can participate, but major powers generally do not. The only powers that actually do participate are the three under families, as well as second and third rate powers." Liu Qian nodded. "Good. When is the session going to happen then? How much time do we have to prepare for the session?" Liu Man asked. "Three months. There is still time for the coronation, but it is toote. How can you enter the battle of session? I just need you guys to create a diversion." Liu Qian said. "If you can help memunicate with the Green Gale tiger of Kaishi, we will go to the capital city and talk to the Cai family, and convince them to join our side." Liu Man said. "The Cai family? The Cai family is already behind the tenth prince." Li Tian shook his head. "And how many Soul Evolution Stage cultivators are behind the tenth prince?" Liu Feng asked, smiling. "One. Within the pce itself. And counting the Cai family, four." Li Tian said. "Interesting. And not all Soul Evolution Stage cultivators are equal, obviously. How many of them in his faction are in the high ranks of the Soul Evolution Stage?" Liu Feng asked. "One. The Ancestor of the Cai family." "Wonderful. With this, I think that I can convince even the tenth prince to join my faction." Liu Feng smiled. "What are you thinking of doing?" Liu Man transmitted his voice to Liu Feng. "I just need to be the king for what, until the system epts it. After that, I can just pass the position to the tenth prince in a defined contract, and leave for the ancient realms." Liu Feng smiled. "That is not bad. Now, all you can hope is that the Cai family will ept your request." "If not the Cai family, then the Ding family. We have three experts in our faction to start with, and all of us are better than the average Soul Evolution stage cultivator." Liu Feng said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 271 Meeting Her Again "When do we leave for the city?" Liu Feng looked at Li Tian. Everything that they had just discussed revolved around Liu Feng and Liu Man going to the capital. Li Tian looked at Liu Ling Tian as if asking for his approval. Liu Ling Tian just nodded, as if he did not have a care about what was about to happen. Even though Liu Feng received an exnation for theck of expression on Liu Ling Tian''s face, this still hurt him very much, He felt as though he was nothing in the eyes of his father. "Fine then, I will leave for the capital city immediately. It looks like there is nothing for me to do here anyway." Liu Feng snorted. He stood up and looked at Liu Man, but then paused. Liu Man wouldn''t know where the capital city was. He only knew the directions to major ces that withstood the test of time. The capital city was a ce that existed outside of that, and this kingdom was one of many that reced the Han Dynasty. "You can take one of the beasts on top of missions hall. Although few are faster than you are, you can get there with a peace of mind." Li Tian came to his rescue. "Thank you, master. I shall head there instantly." Liu Feng nodded and he left the room, leaving Liu Qian, Liu Ling Tian, and Li Tian alone. "What happened there? Do you really want him to enter the war right now? After so many people sacrificed so much just to avoid that result? I thought that you would do anything to protect him but you are going to allow him to go to the mouth of the tiger?" Liu Qian looked at Liu Ling Tian, questioning him. "It is no longer in my power to control this boy. He is strong now, he is his own man. Which man who got to that position on his own would willfully allow someone else to control his fate? Let him do what he wants. At the right moment, I can only hope that the terrifying existence beside him will let him get through what problem or obstacle they might encounter." Liu Ling Tian said, sighing as he looked at a distant memory. "Now that we have the distraction in ce, should we inform everyone? It is best if everyone gets time to prepare." Li Tian asked. "You are too trusting. There are many among us who have allegiances elsewhere. It is best that we keep this to ourselves for now. Soon, the fact that he is trying to be king will be public, and everyone will start digging around that. At that time, we will strike with our core strength. And make sure that our best only know at that time. Not every Soul Evolution Stage expert needs to know." Liu Ling Tian said. Li Tian and Liu Qian nodded. Liu Feng and Liu Man, meanwhile, were already in front of the missions center. They looked at the number of people who were walking in and out of the center with interest. Liu Feng had the feeling that something interesting was going to happen though. He shrugged off the feeling and was about to enter the missions hall when he heard someone call his name. "Liu Feng? Is that you?" a sweet and gentle voice called, shaking Liu Feng. Few knew him well enough to recognize him after so many years. It had been a while since hest came to the sect, and even at that time, he wasn''t the most popr. He did not need to turn around to know who this was though. He knew that voice very well, and his divine sense was quite helpful. But he still did turn around with aplicated expression on his face. "Cai Lien. It has been a long time," he said. In front of him, Cai Lien was d in a red dress, and with golden threads embroidered on the edges, it looked like a bride had run away from her ceremony toe here. She looked truly stunning, and everyone around her agreed. All the men around were staring at Cai Lien, and many more were wondering who the mysterious man was with whom she initiated contact. "It has been a long time indeed! Where were you thest two years?" she asked, confused. Ever since the incident in Kaishi, where she was almost married to him, they never even saw each other. And Liu Feng did not exactly tell anyone that he would be disappearing for a while, so many people feared for his safety. "Thest two years? I was... outside the kingdom. I had a few things to take care of." Liu Feng didn''t have a go to answer for this. With the elders, his increase in strength spoke for itself, and they had no choice but to shut up. But Cai Lien couldn''t exactly see that Liu Feng not only entered the Xiantian realm, but he actually crossed it a long time ago, and was now as strong as an elder of the sect! "Who is the person next to you? I have never seen him before." she looked at Liu Man, who was quiet till now. "This is Liu Man. He is like a brother to me." Liu Feng said. "It looks like you both have something to do right now. I guess that I am only disturbing you. I will go then." Cai Lien sighed and she turned around to leave. Liu Feng wanted to stop her, but in the end, he hesitated and decided against it. This was not the time for him to be spending time fixing old rtionships. Too many things were at y here. He turned around to enter the missions center, when someone else stopped him. "Who the hell are you two? How do you know Junior sister Lien?" a hefty man looked at them with fierce eyes. "You have to be kidding me. How do clowns like this exist in such abundance?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 272 A Conclusion To The Charade "What did you just call me, you midget?" the man asked, cracking his knuckles as he tried to push against Liu Feng. "You are just a little too tall. I have to arch my neck to look at you. Feels a little ufortable." Liu Feng said softly. "What about it, you ve? Now tell me, what are you to Sister Lien?" "Bend boy." Liu Feng coldly said and he snapped his fingers. The Yuan Principle dashed from his hands, and immediately, the man suddenly felt like the entire world fell down and he was the one who was holding it up. He fell on the ground, right on his knees. The sound of him grunting, just trying to stay conscious, was quite disgusting and attention grabbing. The hundreds of disciples who were going into the missions center looked at Liu Feng and this man, and they immediately had faces filled with shock. Who wouldn''t be when someone was so effortlessly dealt with? "Now then. You said something about me and her? Do you know that thest time that this happened, and guy who spoke about this was actually the number one disciple in all of the Inner sect? And yet even after that, here I am, standing quite tall and proud, while that brat is stuck somewhere in some hole." Liu Feng smiled. "Just who are you?" the man asked with a strained voice. His face was filled with fear, and he was questioning all of his choices that led to this moment right here. "What is happening over here?" a loud voice forced Liu Feng to stop what he was doing and look up. At the end of the day, he was still a disciple of the Sky Heavens sect, and he would rather not offend everyone in it. A deacon from within the missions hall had rushed out the moment that the heard that a fight was going on. But when he came here to look at what was going in, all he saw was someone he had never seen before, and an Inner Sect disciple kneeling in front of him. With the suppression cancelled, and hefty man turned around and looked at the deacon with pleading eyes. "Save me, Deacon Cui! This man suddenly attacked me out of nowhere, and he was about to kill me! He must be punished ording to the rules of the sect!" the man shouted. Deacon Cui frowned. He knew this man quite well. The trouble maker that he was, he probably picked a fight with the wrong person. But the problem remained that there was a foreign person in front of him that he had never seen before in the sect, and he was so powerful that even a bully like the one in front of him was defeated in an instant. Two people in fact, counting Liu Man who was in the side. "Who are you? Show me your identity tokens." Deacon Cui said, but his voice was authoritative, not arrogant. Liu Feng nodded and he took out his identity token. Immediatley, the deacon''s eyes popped out of his eyes and came back. "A Core Sect disciple? You must be the new Core Sect Disciple that the sect master inducted a year ago!" Deacon Cui shouted with realization. Liu Feng smiled. He was d that someone recognized his identity, and there was no need for a fight anymore. "And what of the friend?" the deacon looked at Liu Man. Immediately, Liu Feng''s face turnedplicated. After all, Liu Man''s situation was still not set in stone. He was Liu Feng''spanion beast, but he was in human form now. Whether Liu Man wanted to reveal himself as a beast or as a human was up to him, and Liu Man wasn''t a disciple of the sect, so he didn''t have an identity token regardless. Liu Feng then looked at the top of the missions hall. A powerful elder was on the top, looking down at the incidents down here. "Can I request for your help, senior? The sect leader asked me toe here to go to the capital city, but this situation puts me in quite the spot." Liu Feng cupped his hands as he looked at the missions hall. Everyone looked at him with weird faces. Why was someone talking to a building? It felt odd. And the fact that he was a core sect disciple seemed like a cruel joke. "Deacon Cui. Let them pass. They are here on orders from the sect leader himself. There is no need to check something that is quite obvious. They are both important disciples of the sect." a deep voice resounded in Deacon Cui''s ears. He stood straight and nodded. "Yes, third elder. As you wish." he said and looked at all of the disciples who were standing still, trying to see what the conclusion was. "What are all of you doing? Don''t you have missions toplete? Get going!" the Deacon shouted and then looked at the terrified man in front of Liu Feng. Even though he was taller and bigger, his cowering back made him look like a small kid regardless of his stature. His face was absolutely gorgeous to look at. He thought that going to the deacon would help him, but instead, something happened, and the person that he was going against happened to be a Core Sect disciple? There was no way that anyone in the Inner Sect could even match a candle against the Core Sect. The disparity between the Nascent Soul Stage and the Soul Formation Stage was just that huge. Liu Feng shook his head and nodded towards Liu Man. "We wasted enough time with this charade. Let us get going." he said, and the two disappeared into thin air, forming a gust of wind that blew past the man. "You got me in big trouble, Zhaun Jie. From now on, if you dare try to do anything wrong, I am going to make sure that your head is on the line this time." Deacon Cui said and turned around to leave. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 273 Finding A Mount Liu Feng and Liu Man stood on the top of the missions hall looking down at all the people and the beasts on it. Thest time that he was on the roof, he was shocked by the number of ferocious beasts that could tear him apart in an instant, and all of them were willing to take him somewhere else like a mule. But that was not the case anymore. None of these beasts could even scratch his body as long as he wanted that. But it was still a majestic scene to look at. There were beasts everywhere, some roaring, while others meekly cowering in front of the deacons that stood before them. Some of them took off, while others looked at the continuous flow of disciples that came in. "This is your third time here? You are probably the only person in the whole of the Core sect who managed to get there by doing so few missions. I am shocked that the sect leader took in such azy disciple." the third elder walked from behind and looked at Liu Feng and Liu Man with interest. "You know that I am the disciple of the sect leader? I thought that it was a secret that master had maintained? He even told me not to tell anyone else." Liu Feng looked at the third elder with shock. "Do you really think that something like this can stay a secret for long? Many people found this out a long time ago." the third elder said, shaking his head. "I need to get to the capital city, I am sure that you are aware of my situation to at least a certain extent." Liu Feng said. "Don''t worry. For you, the sect leader told me to prepare the fastest beast that we have. But do be careful. There is a reason that even most Core sect disciples do not use this mount. It is quite arrogant, and will not allow just anyone to mount it. In fact, only the elders and the sect leader himself use it on most asions." the third elder said. "It is that exclusive? What is it? Could it be, a mount in the Soul Evolution stage?" Liu Feng''s eyes sparkled with desire. "Don''t be stupid. If the sect was so strong that even a Soul Evolution Stage beast was a mount, then it would be the strongest sect in the entire realm. Forget just the Tiandu kingdom. You will know when you see it." the third elder sighed and shook his head. "Where is it? Is it not here?" Liu Feng asked as he scanned his eyes through the terrain. And yet there was not a truly powerful beast in sight. Sure, there were many in the Core Formation stage and even more in the Nascent Soul realm, but there was only one in the Xiantian realm, and that was already on its way out, mounted by another Xiantian expert, probably a core sect disciple. "Why would we keep it here? Do you think that a beast as prideful as that will stay put here, where so many disciples look at it and ask if it is avable for a ride? It will devour all the disciples, and the sect will be over before we even know." the third elder chuckled as he started flying away. He looked back at Liu Feng and Liu Man, as if expecting them to follow. Nodding, the duo followed after him as they flew across the sect to somece else entirely. They were closing in on the inner sect once more, and specifically the Frozen Lake. "The most powerful beasts and the most devastating people of the sect are housed in the one ce that the sect prides itself in the most. The Frozen Prison, which you must have heard of before." the third elder asked. Liu Feng just nodded, but reminiscing about the time when he first became a true cultivator in the cultivation room of his master made his blood boil, heat that he desperately needed in the increasing cold. Sure, he was powerful, but nature was nature. He still had to battle the cold with his Qi, and it was irritating to him, to say the least. "The frozen prison? Why would a prisoner be happy to let someone ride it? A prisoner is someone who is forced to stay here, isn''t it? How can that person be a good mount?" Liu Man interjected. "The beast in question... is quite the peculiar one. You will know when you see him." the third elder looked away as they proceeded into the frozenke. Soon, all the disciples who were cultivating within it disappeared and they seemed to enter apletely different section that was cut off from the rest. This seemed to be lower than usual. Liu Feng did not notice all thisst time, because, at that time, Li Tian just carried him here, and the journey was something that Liu Feng was not aware of. In fact, it felt like teleportation to him, and not the fast movement that it was. "Ah! Is this fresh meat that I smell?" a haggard voice came from the side. Liu Feng nced at the walls, and to his surprise, within the walls, it looked like there were people within! There were people WITHIN the walls of ice. He thought that the prison was a ce where the prisoners had to face the cold, but to think that they were frozen in ce! "Good. We are here. I just have to do something small. If you''ll excuse me." the third elder smiled as he stood in front of another section, where Liu Feng could see the silhouette of another old man. The third elder started performing a few seals, and all of a sudden, the ice in that particr area started cracking. Liu Feng frowned. "That face, seems a bit familiar doesn''t it?" he mused. "It it. Looks like it is the second elder." Liu Manmented. "The same one that tried to kill you the moment that you entered the sect." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 274 The Frozen Prison The ice broke down, and the old man within shook awake. The moment that he opened his eyes, they fell upon Liu Feng. "What is this? A sick joke? Or is the sect leader finallying to his senses and handing him over?" the second elder said with a deep voice that cracked with every syble. p It was probably a side effect of his vacation in the cold prison. "Not a joke. Apparently, this boy does not require protection anymore, and he doesn''t need to fear you anymore. I don''t know, but whatever the sect leader says. He was the one who wanted to protect him anyway, and if it is his decision to let this boy go up, then I cant do anything about it." the third elder shrugged. "Good. Your head is mine, boy." the second elder revealed a wicked grin as he pounced on Liu Feng immediately. But Liu Feng did not even flinch. He just frowned and raised his hand on the side, apletely different direction from the front that the second elder was charging from. But there was a ng. The second elder looked shocked at the unmoved Liu Feng. Indeed, the attack came from the right and hit the arm that Liu Feng put up. But it was not so simple. There was a giant ck circle to the right, and the second elder''s hand wasing out of it. "You are adept in the Dao of space. Such an esoteric dao. You must be a genius. Truly a shame that such a genius is wasted on someone who insists on keeping his mind in the past." Liu Man shook his head. "Who are you? There is no way that you are the child of that man! There is no way that he could get so strong in such little time. You must be someone else, disguised as him to make a funny joke. Reveal yourself!" the second elder shrieked, but Liu Feng just smiled and shook his head. "We are done here, are we not? Can we do what I came here to do now?" he asked the third elder. "Just a moment." the third elder said and looked at the second elder. "Lu Gengzin. The war ising. Now is not the time for you to care about all of this useless stuff. Whether you like it or not, you know which side the Sky Heavens sect is in this war. Go man your station. The sect needs you right now. These are the words of the sect leader, as well as the ancestors and the grand elders." the third elder said and he started walking deeper into this valley. The second elder, Lu Gengzin, stood there, dazed. Liu Feng and Liu Man just left him alone and ran after the third elder. Lu Gengzin was not strong enough to harm them even if he sneak attacked them. They had no reason to go after him. They went deeper into this frozen prison, where the cold kept increasing. Liu Feng frowned at the number of people behind these walls. "Just who are these people? Why are there so many of them?" Liu Feng asked. "These are people that the elders and core sect disciples have captured. Not everyone can kill a Xiantian expert. Instead, they defeat him, and subdue him with a formation so that they can take that person to the frozen prison and bind him. Forcefully trying to kill a Xianrtian expert or higher will cause him or her to detonate himself after all." the third elder said as he stopped in front of what looked like a cave. Liu Feng was reminded once again of the time when the bandit king tried to detonate himself. Back then, when he fought in the mysterious kingdom, Cao Huan did not take Liu Feng seriously, and his guard was down. That was the only reason that he died. Or else, he would have been pushed back at best, and the result of that day would not have been the same. "Bing Niao! Get out! Someone is here for you!" the third elder shouted. There was no response. "Why are we doing this? I just need a mount. This is taking more time than the time that the mount will save. We had toe all the way here, and now I don''t even see the mounting out." Liu Fengined. "Do you think that the sect has an unlimited number of mounts? Not everyone can get one, and we cannot spare one for you. You are going to the capital city, while many of our disciples are trying to take care of bandits, and other forces that disrupt the peaceful lives of many." the third elder shook his head and shouted again. "Bing Niao! If you don''te out, then you will not get any ice crystals anymore." "What are you doing here, old man. Go away. I don''t want to work today. I am sleeping." azy voice came from inside. "Get out here!" the expression on the third elder''s face changed, and a sudden pressure caused a few icicles on the cave to fall down. Thud! A loud voice came from deep inside the cave. Liu Feng unfulred his divine sense, and he could see the beast that wasing out. With a blue tint on its whole body, this was a bird, but no ordinary one. It had frost for feathers and looked like it was made out of ice and snow. "An Ice Bird? Interesting. It has been a while since I saw an Ice Bird. They are a rare species." Liu Man nodded. "You know about the ice bird? Wait, you have seen them before? Bing Niao is the only one of its kind that I have seen, and I went to the Frozen Peaks to search for more!" the third elder looked shocked. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 275 To The Capital Liu Man smiled, but he did not respond. He looked at the Ice bird that came through the cave and stood in front of them. The beast was huge, towering over the three of them. Liu Feng and Liu Man didn''t even flinch though. Looking at this foreign beast that heid his eyes on for the first time, Liu Feng''s eyes sparkled with interest. He looked at the sparkling wings and his mouth watered. This beast was of the Ice attribute. And anyone who took a piece of this beast would be able toprehend the Dao of Ice with ease. The Ice Bird seemed to notice Liu Feng''s change in expression and it frowned. Beasts were not the same as humans though. They could sense danger inherently and their sixth sense was much stronger than that of humans. It looked at Liu Feng and it felt danger. This man was stronger than it was. "Good. A good bloodline. Now then, why don''t we get going. I don''t want to waste time here." Liu Man sighed. Bing Niao looked to the side to see who just spoke. Then, it suddenly unfurled its wings and flew back a few meters with shock. "This is impossible. The aura that I sense from you, it just cannot be!" the bird shouted. "There is a time for everything. The time for me to descend arrived, and I did. There is no need for everyone to make such a big deal out of it." Liu Man calmly said. Bing Niao clearly knew Liu Man''s true identity which was the white tiger. The third elder was also confused. He didn''t know the full story, and he didn''t know that the two young people in front of them were actually in the Soul Evolution stage, and were stronger than he was. The small incident with the second elder had already left him shocked, but he dismissed it as an artifact that the sect leader had given him. But never did Bing Niao ever cower in front of someone weaker than it. "Don''t waste any time here. We need to go to the capital city. Can you take us there or not?" Liu Man looked at Bing Niao. "It will be my honor, Baidu." Bing Niao immediately said and bent down, giving them a path to get on. "Good then. We will be on our way. If you would please, can you inform the sect leader that we have left? We do not have those talismans to contact him." Liu Feng nodded and jumped onto the Ice Bird, with Liu Man following right after. Bing Niao pped its giant wings, and gusts of bone chilling air filled the frozen prison. Ayer of snow appeared on the hair of the third elder, who looked up where the Ice Bird reappeared. He then looked back normally, his eyes lost in thought. Bing Niao couldn''t even care less, and with another p of its wings, it disappeared. The third elder muttered to himself as he started flying back to the general sect, where he needed to man the missions hall. In the skies, Bing Niao did not even bother trying to maintain a shield to protect Liu Feng and Liu Man from the raging winds. The Liu Feng back then wasn''t able to resist them, but him now was exponentially stronger. He stood tall, calmly enjoying it. For him, the Ice Bird was only a navigator that would tell him the way to the capital city. "Now, where do we go next? Should we go to the Cai family first, or the Ding family first? Introducing myself as Liu Tian would help a lot. They already know me." Liu Feng looked at Liu Man, who was sitting on the neck of Bing Niao, looking at the clouds and the horizon. "Do whatever you want to do. Just when you need muscle, I will be there by your side. But if you want my advice, then you should start with the Cai family. I mean, you are marrying one of their women." Liu Man chuckled. "It is not set in stone." Liu Feng retorted, but blushed. "But the Cai family is indeed not neutral. Changing their stance will help you more than changing the Ding family''s. And being able to ally with the tenth prince will help you." Liu Man said. "It will be hard to convince a prince that I will immediately step down after I be the king. I mean, they waited their whole life, why would they trust an outsider with this position?" Liu Feng chuckled. "Worste worst, we force them. Remember, the fist is supreme among all." Liu Man said. Liu Feng smiled, shaking his head as he looked down. He could see beyond the clouds to some extend, and the flying ins, hills, viges all fascinated him. Maybe, if he didn''t have a system, maybe if all he wanted to do was settle down, then he would be like one of these mortals, yfully going about life. But he was not like that. No matter how much he had, he wanted more. He was sick of being called weak. He wanted to grow stronger until no one could call him that. "How long will it take for us to reach the capital?" Liu Feng asked. "It will take an hour. I am trying to go as fast as I can," Bing Niao said. He was shocked that these two disciples who were on him were able to withstand these winds at such speed! Only the sect leader and the grand elders were able to do that before. All the elders had to grab onto his chilling talons desperately to hold on, and it was something that he liked to see. Liu Feng and Liu Man yawned as they continued to look ahead. At their stage, if they wanted to cultivate, they had to stay closed doors for months for it to make a difference. And for Liu Feng, if all went well, he would get three minor realms from the system. So all they could do now was look ahead. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 276 The Biggest City In The Kingdom Soon, the city was in sight. From the high skies, Liu Man and Liu Feng rested their eyes on what proimed itself to be the biggest and greatest city in the entire kingdom. Looking at it, there was no doubt that it was bigger and more developed than all the other cities that Liu Feng, and extension, Liu Man had been to. The dots that indicated people, towering buildings, and at the very center of the capital, a pce that would put that of the greatest kings of earth to shame. And looking at the castle, Liu Feng could feel numerous powerful presences, even though they were so high up in the skies. There were existences within that he could not afford to provoke just yet. "Let us go to the Cai family first then. Let us convince them to join me." Liu Feng decided, telling Bing Niao. The bird had no choice but to listen, swooping in to rush toward one of the three other major areas of the city. It was clear that these threerge areas belonged to the three under families. One of them was absolutely hostile towards Liu Feng, while the other two seemed to be in his good books. The Cai family never did anything to him, but Ding Yan did leave him a good impression. Soon, they were visible to the people in the streets as they were descending in front of the Cai family estate. The people who were walking by all stopped to stare at the magnificent beast that was entering the city itself. Almost always, the beasts belonged to the family itself andnded within the family estate itself, or it belonged to someone else, and out of respect, the beastnded outside the city, and that someone else would walk inside on their own two legs. But when the Ice Birdnded here, right outside the gates of the Cai family, everyone looked at each other with surprise and excitement. Something interesting was going to happen soon enough. "Who are you? Why have youe to the Cai family?" a Cai family guard stepped up and asked Liu Feng with a hint of arrogance in his voice. Who wouldn''t be when they were a part of one of the biggest powers in the entire kingdom? But looking at the giant Ice Bird and the cold that it was giving out, their confidence dimmed a little. This was a powerful beast, and whoever rode it could only be stronger. "Why has the Sky Heavens sect sent its prized mount all the way to our humble abode?" a clear voice stopped the guard from doing anything further. Liu Feng expected someone toe from inside. When a Xiantian level beastnds on your doorstep, it is obvious that youe out to see what is going on. Liu Feng cupped his hands. "I am Liu Feng, from the Sky Heavens sect. I wish to meet the n head." Liu Feng said. "Liu Feng? Are you the kid that Liu Qian saved from certain death?" the voice said. The man behind it still didn''t know himself, but Liu Feng could feel that he was at the peak of the Xiantian realm, and had clear authority here. "Yes." Liu Feng nodded. "Let him in." the voice said. "But the beast stays. I do not want to let an uncontroble thing like that into the manor." Bing Niao looked at Liu Man for more instructions. After all, he was the one that Bing Niao feared the most. "You can just go. We no longer need a mount," Liu Man said, relieving the bird of his duties. Nodding, Bing Niao screeched as he rose to the skies. Liu Man and Liu Feng started walking into the Cai family estate with the guards on the side, looking at them with shock and surprise. No one would think that an entrance that arrogant would be greeted with a warm wee. Whoever this duo was, they were either strong, or they had a strong background. Hearing that they came from the Sky Heavens sect confused them even further. They never heard of a duo like this within their ranks. As Liu Feng and Liu Man entered the manor and the gates closed, immediately, the sound from the street outside disappearedpletely. Liu Feng looked at the gate, where a few runes shimmered. "Runes can be used like this as well. Big families really are rich." Liu Feng sighed as they continued walking. There were pathways, pavilions, courthouses, buildings,kes, gardens, a whole minicity within these walls. As they walked through the main path that came from the entrance, they passed by many, some his age, some older and some younger. Most of them just gave him a nce and did notment on it any further. But others looked at them both with disdain. They thought of themselves as much higher than these two people. "Where do we go now? That man still hasn''t shown himself." Liu Feng sighed. He stopped and looked at a group of five that was walking by. He stood in front of them with a smile. "Excuse me. Can you point to where your family head is? I wish to meet your family head." Liu Feng asked. The group looked at each other and then back at Liu Feng. "Who the hell are you? How dare you talk to us? Do you know who we are?" the man in front arrogantly said. Liu Feng shook his head. "Another arrogant young master. I just can''t take it anymore." Liu Feng shook his head as he raised his hand, about to use the Yuan principle, when a voice stopped him. "Young Noble. Please stay your hand. They are stupid youths who do not know of the vastness of the world." the same clear voice that intervened in the entrance said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 277 The Cai Family Head The five youths immediately straightened up as they looked at the middle-aged man who spoke with respect. This man was someone that they clearly respected. "Elder Yuan!" the man in the front who was so arrogant before said with respect. "What is wrong with the lot of you? Do you not know that there is a higher peak no matter where you go? The men in front of you can squash you like bugs and here you are, threatening them." Cai Yuan shook his head. "Cai Yuan. It feels like I heard this name before." Liu Feng mused. "Well then, looks like you finally came here. I should thank you for the help that you have given our family that time ago, giving us the truth about thatss Yun''er." Cai Yuan said. "So he is the elder that I spoke to all those days ago when I cooked up the story in the Pill Tower!" Liu Feng realised. Keeping his mouth shut, he nodded kindly. "I need to meet with the family head. Is there any way that I can do that as fast as possible?" Liu Feng asked. "Meeting the family head... will be a little difficult. With the session battles just a few months away from urring, this is a very tense time for the family head." Cai Yuan said. "Good. I want to talk to him about the session wars as well. Tell him that if he wants the Cai family toe out unscathed, and even profit from the aftermath, he needs toe out. After all, there are three, maybe four Soul Evolution Stage cultivators on this side, and that does not include my father, and my foster father." Liu Feng said. It did feel weird to say both in the same sentence, but the desired effect was reached. "Four Soul Evolution Stage cultivators? The Sky Heavens sect does not have four to spare. I know that much at least." Cai Yuan said. "Who said anything about them?" Liu Feng smiled as he looked to the distance. "You are listening on anyways. Why don''t you let me join in your conversation? It is best if we talk close up rather than with so much distance between us." he said. Cai Yuan was confused. He looked at what Liu Feng was speaking at. At the distance, there was a dome visible among the trees of the pathways. "There is no way! The family head is listening to this conversation?" a terrifying thought appeared in Cai Yuan''s mind. That meant that Liu Feng, the youngster in front of him, was stronger than him. It could only mean that he was in the Soul Evolution stage himself. Liu Feng stopped for a moment, and then nodded at Liu Man. They suddenly hovered a few meters off the ground, and then dashed to the distance. They had just spoken with the Cai Family head, who invited them both to his residence. Cai Yuan was stuck here, looking nkly at the two who rushed forward. They were so fast that all he could see were their after images. "This is just impossible. Those two were in the Soul Evolution Stage? I thought that they were just Xiantian realm core sect disciples from the sect, but to think that they were terrifying monsters. This cannot be true. How is a boy so young so strong?" the simple thought shook Cai Yuan''s mind. He then looked at the five youths who were standing there nkly. "And then there is your lot. While he is a few years younger than you, he is already stronger than me. As for you, all of you are still stuck in the Core Formation Stage, and you use the name of the family to boss people around. What are you doing outside? The session wars wille soon, and it won''t all be fun and games then. Go and cultivate!" he barked at them. The five quickly turned tail and ran back to where they came from. They all looked in the direction that Liu Feng and Liu Man came, hateful of their arrival. All that came of their arrival was more work for them. Meanwhile, Liu Feng and Liu Man stood in the front of a huge mansion. At the top of it, a dome that towered above everything, the top of the entire estate. This was where the family head stayed. There was not a single person in sight even though this was the center of the entire family. Whatever he was doing, it was secretive, for entry to be so restrictive. "Come in. You came all the way here." a gentle voice said, and the giant doors of the mansion clicked open. Liu Feng led the way and walked in without much worry. His divine sense had already scanned in front of him, and he knew that there was nothing to worry about in front of him. And he had Liu Man at his side. He would trust no one else to cover his back. As they walked in, the luxury of a huge family showed itself in full force. They were greeted by a hall that was lit up to the extreme. But looking at the light source, what appeared to be crystals of extreme Qi density, Liu Feng realized that they were spirit stones with runes inscribed on top of them to make them light crystals. "I need to look at the runes once. Maybe the sect has a few books regarding this." Liu Feng made a mental note as he kept walking. He knew where the family head was. He was deep within the mansion, and a quick scan with divine sense told Liu Feng that. But what was even more surprising was that there was someone else with the family head. And looking at the current situation, there was only one answer. "I guess this is our lucky day. Two birds with one stone. The tenth prince is here as well." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 278 The Tenth Prince The doors opened, and Liu Man and Liu Feng were weed by a very sweet fragrance. They walked in, looking at the cozy room that the family head and the tenth prince were talking in. "Who are these two guests, family head? I thought that we decided that this meeting would be private. The information here is very strictly confidential." a sweet voice came from one end. Liu Feng frowned. He knew that someone was here along with the family head, but he did not press to see who it was. And now, the sound appeared like it wasing from a woman? The tenth prince was a prince! Not a princess! Was the perhaps the wrong person? Liu Feng looked at the two couches, and on one end, the end that was facing him, was a middle aged man who looked very familiar to him. All the Cai family was one single branch, so they had strikingly simr features. But the couch that was facing away from him was different. In it was a woman. Judging by the shape of the person sitting there, and the long hair that flowed down, this was definitely a woman. Liu Feng looked at them with confusion. "Forgive me, Your Highness, but the two guests who arrived were those that I could not afford to leave at the door. After all, two new Soul Evolution Stage cultivators who suddenly dere that they are entering the session wars is an important piece of news even to you." the family head said. ? "And this is?" Liu Feng asked the Cai family head. "I believe introductions are indeed needed here. Your Highness, this is Liu Feng. He is the son of your aunt, the Dragon Princess, and is also a contender for the throne if he wishes to choose it. And the tenth princess needs to introduction, I assume." the family head said. "The tenth princess? I was under the assumption that it was the tenth prince. It looks like I need to change where I get my information." "This was information that I revealed only to you, family head. It was not your ce to reveal this to an outsider." the tenth princess seemed like she was angry, but her tone suggested otherwise. It was calm, like nothing actually happened. Liu Feng quickly scanned them both, to see what levels they were at, and what their cultivations were. [Level - 18 Name - Tian Xiu Cultivation - Soul Formation Stage First Layer] [Level - 31 Name - Cai Guo Cultivation - Soul Evolution Stage Ninth Layer] "He is at the peak of the Soul evolution stage. Interesting. I wonder how he leveled up so much though. He must have fought a lot over the years." Liu Feng reasoned. "Forgive me again, Your Highness, but I believe that what these two might help you as well." Cai Guo said. "Indeed. The family head is wise and all seeing. We came here to say that there is a new contender in the session wars. I am throwing my hat in the pool. As you can see, we have two Soul Evolution Stage cultivators right here, and the Green Gale Tiger of Kaishi will have no hesitation in backing us. We are a force to reckon with, don''t you think, family head? Princess?" Liu Fengughed. "What are you saying? You want me to give up? Do you think that three Soul Evolution Stage experts can win? None of you can''t even beat the family head, and you expect to beat the crown prince and the second prince, who have five Soul Evolution Experts within their factions?" Tian Xiu frowned. "You are wrong, princess. That is not what I mean. I meant to say that I wish to form an alliance with you. A temporary one. Where I be king for just a few days, and then I will leave for the Ancient Realms, and you can be the sole queen of all thends. Or king if you want that." Liu Feng said. "You want me to join hands with you, and if we win, you want to be king. Is that right?" Tian Xiu asked. "Indeed! The princess is truly smart." Liu Feng nodded. "Do you really expect me to believe that? A man''s greed is truly out of bounds. Do you think that I would believe you? That you would give up being a king so that you can leave for the ancient realms?" Tian Xiu scoffed. "I am sure that you are skeptical. Whatever you wish me to do to prove myself, I will do that. But first, there is someone else that I must ask. Family head, are you interested in helping me be the king? I can guarantee that the Hong family will no longer exist regardless of how the session battle goes." Liu Feng said. "And how do you suggest on doing that?" Cai Guo asked, scratching his beard. "You are a strong man, family head. You can stall the Hong family head, while me, Liu Man here, and the Green Gale tiger take care of all the others. I mean, how many Soul Evolution Experts do they possibly have? We will be enough to destroy them with ease." Liu Feng said. "We are getting out of track. That is all possible as long as we join forces. Princess. Are you interested in joining us? If you do want to get a confirmation that is absolute, then we are willing to make an oath under tribtion as long as you do as well." Liu Man spoke, looking straight at the princess'' eyes, sparking under the light. "You are willing to make an Oath under the tribtion? No matter how that goes, won''t that risk a heart devil in his dantian?" Tian Xiu asked, surprised. "The heart devil will only appear in the weak minded. And we have no intention of staying king." Liu Man said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 279 An Oath Under Tribulation Tian Xiu remained quiet. So did Cai Guo. After all, if Liu Feng and Liu Man were going to enter the fray, they wouldbine for at least two Soul Evolution Stage experts, with the possibility of two more. If Liu Feng was really going to enter the session war, would his sect leader really not support him on it? "Why would you go to the Ancient Realms anyways?" she asked forcefully. "My stage is there, not here. I am sure that many are aware of my situation. I will have to wait it out, and once my father is done here, I will leave for the ancient realm with him." Liu Feng said. "Then why would you even want to be king?" Tian Xiu asked. "That, I cannot say. It is a secret. But do not worry. Why would I want to be a king? I am a Soul Evolution stage cultivator. There are ways to live the life of a king without being called one. And I wouldn''t even need to care about the lives of anyone while I enjoy that life." Liu Feng shrugged. "Your Highness, this is a deal that will nevere by. As long as the Young Noble is willing to take the Oath under tribtion, then it is a good idea." Cai Guo suggested. Liu Feng looked at Liu Man. "What is an Oath under tribtion? And how can it give me a heart devil?" he transmitted via divine sense. "The oath? You basically say that you will do something with the heavens as witness. And if you go back on your word, they person you promised this to might ept it, but the heavens will not tolerate it. You will be bombarded with tribtion until your demise." Liu Man exined. "Alright. I don''t intend to remain a king anyway." Liu Feng just shrugged and nodded. He then looked at the princess. "Are you willing to take this oath with me, princess? I assure you, it will be for a little time, and the moment that I am gone, you will have absolute control. With me joining your forces, there will be no one else who can stand in your way. Imagine three high ranked Soul Evolution Stage cultivators joining you. That is a power that will double your current faction." Liu Feng smiled. "I will need some time to think about it." Tian Xiu said. "There are numerous who will agree with my offer once they know that I am willing to take an Oath under tribtion. After all, that is an Oath that I cannot renege upon. Why do you hesitate so much still?" Liu Feng pushed harder. She looked at Cai Guo, who knew this was something that would nevere by again. And then she looked back at Liu Feng. "Fine. But you take the oath now." she said. Liu Feng nced at Liu Man. He didn''t know how to take this oath. It was all orchestrated by Liu Man. "Under the great heavens, I vow that I will renege the throne that I ascend in Tiandu to the tenth princess, and if I stay the king for more than a week, let lightning strike me till my demise." Liu Man transmitted these words to Liu Feng. "Say them out loud," he added. Liu Feng nodded and started speaking with a loud and clear voice. "Under the great heavens, I, Liu Feng, vow to renege the throne that I ascend in Tiandu to the tenth princess, and if I stay the king for more than a week, let lightning strike me till my demise." The moment that these words came out, a thunderp could be heard up above. "And now your turn, princess. It is your turn to take a vow. A vow that you will support Liu Feng to be the next king." Liu Man red at Tian Xiu. "I am not someone who goes back on her words." she harrumphed and took an oath as well. "Under the heavens, I vow that I will support Liu Feng until he bes the king!" she said. Once more, a thunderp could be heard. The vows were set in lightning. They looked at each other, and then Cai Guo. "We are a part of the same faction now, family head. It is a wonderful urrence, don''t you think? You are almost guaranteed to be on the winning side." Liu Feng smiled. "Indeed, Young Noble. Indeed." Cai Guo was all smiles. No matter how this would work out, the Cai family would probably benefit. As long as either Liu Feng or Tian Xiu seeded, they would win. "But what of the Ding family. I heard that they were neutral. Did they not choose a prince yet?" Liu Feng asked. "The Ding family had closed its doors for a year now. Something happened within that shook the entire family. Many princes and princesses have been turned down at the door, something that has never been done before." Cai Guo said. "That is mildly concerning. Oh well, I guess that we have to focus on other powers then. Princess, exactly how many Soul Evolution Stage experts do you have under you? Do not count the Cai family please." Liu Feng asked. "It is not a secret. My backer from the pce is my tutor. He is in the thirdyer of the Soul Evolution Stage. Everyone knows this." she said, sighing. "And what of the backers of the second and crown prince? I heard that they were powerful?" Liu Feng asked. "The second prince is allied with the Hong family. In addition to the three Soul Evolution Stage experts from the Hong family, the second prince also has two Soul Evolution Stage experts from the pce. They are both in the seventhyer." Tian Xiu said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 280 Moon Pavilion "And what of the crown prince?" Liu Feng asked. All the major powers were almost covered. Within the capital, all three families had been taken. "Big brother has the support of Royal Father. So the Tiandu Sect itself backs the crown prince. And I don''t need to tell you how big the Tiandu Sect is." Tian Xiu said. "The sects! I forgot about the seven sects. Are all of them allied?" Liu Feng asked. "Not all of them. The Moon Pavilion is actually hosting an event in theing week and whoever is able to win that event can obtain the Moon Pavilion''s favor." Tian Xiu said. "And are you entering the event?" Liu Feng asked. "The event is only for men. I cannot join." she blushed as she shook her head. "Just what is the event about? Why can''t women join?" Liu Feng asked. "Have you been living under a rock for thest year? Did you not hear of the new Moon princess of the Moon Pavilion? The beauty that everyone has been lusting after? Apparently, the sect decided to marry her off to make good connections with other sects. Princes, sect disciples, sons of family heads, everyone is heading there right now. If I am not wrong, someone from the Cai family is heading there as well?" she looked at Cai Guo. "The princess is right. The Cai family cannot forgo this opportunity to make a good rtionship with the Moon Pavilion. It remains to be a mysterious existence, an existence that everyone wishes to befriend." Cai Guo nodded. "I am not sure about marrying a person that I have never heard of. What is her name though, I wonder. This Moon Princess." Liu Feng asked, curious about this new change in the kingdom. "I think her name is Min Wan? I am not sure. Men would be more interested in this than I am." Tian Xiu said, but the moment that the Moon Princess'' name was spoken, Liu Feng suddenly lost hisposure. "What did you say her name was again?" he asked, his voice brooding. Tian Xiu frowned at the sudden change in Liu Feng''s tone. She was a princess, a price actually, who was unused to hearing such a tone. "Forgive us, princess. My friend here lost hisposure because the name is a little familiar to us. Is the princess a new disciple of the Moon Pavilion?" Liu Man held back Liu Feng. "You will have to go to the Moon Pavilion to know any more details. The important ones, I do not know of." she shook her head. "Then I am grateful that we have had this talk, and that we are now allies. I am sure that the heavens are looking forward to seeing Liu Feng and then you as the new king. But I think that our stage is no longer at the capital, but rather at Moon Pavilion." Liu Man smiled and said cordially. "How far is the Moon Pavilion from the capital city, family head?" Liu Feng asked, his voice still brooding. "Near the outskirts. Of the seven sects, three of them are near the Capital City. There is a reason why this city is the biggest in the entire kingdom. Do you wish to go there immediately? You can rest, and I can send you with our own delegation. I am sure that our younger generation can learn a thing or two from a genius like you, Young Noble." Cai Guo said. Liu Feng shook his head. "I would rather not have to exin myself to a bunch of people who think that the world revolves around them. No matter what you do, they are always going to act haughtily, and I am sick of their arrogant faces." Liu Feng shook his head. "Then I shall arrange for a mount to take you to the Moon Pavilion, Young Noble." Cai Guo nodded, and he suddenly disappeared, leaving Liu Man and Liu Feng alone with Tian Xiu. "I wonder. Why would you choose to hide your gender? I think that princesses can also fight for the throne?" Liu Feng finally calmed down and looked at Tian Xiu. Her bright eyes shimmered as she red at him. She was beautiful by all standards, and if she went out, she would have thousands of suitors lining up after her. "Men have a much easier time than women, Young Master Feng. What I did, I had to do to protect my mother, and myself. If I want to vie for the throne, and be the ruler, I cannot be a queen. I will have to be the king." Tian Xiu shook her head. "But your brothers and sisters. The princes and princesses. How do they not know that they have another sister, instead of a brother? Surely they must have noticed when they were young." Liu Feng was shocked that someone kept her gender under wraps for her whole life. "Only elder brother knows. The crown prince is perhaps the only one who will not kill everyone who fails in this session war. If the second prince wins, then every prince will flee the kingdom for their life." Tian Xiu sighed. "Being a royal must have its downfalls. Well, that is bound to happen. But another thing I wanted to ask was about the Cai family. How many Soul Evolution Stage cultivators does the Cai family have?" Liu Feng asked. "Two. That was the reason why the Cai family was in trouble until recently. The Hong family and another party ambushed an elder of the Cai family, and now the family is down one cultivator. I suspect that the second prince is behind this." she said. "Until recently? Did something happen recently?" "What are you saying? You are the one who was allied to the Green Gale tiger of the Hong family, and you don''t know that the Green Gale tiger threatened to kill any Hong family member who dares leave the capital? For the time being, the Hong family does not dare make any big moves without gauging the strength of Kaishi''s guardian beast." "Young noble! Your mount is ready!" at the same time, Cai Guo''s voice interrupted their conversation. "Forgive us, princess, but I think it is time that we leave now. I hope that we can continue this conversation at ater time." Liu Feng smiled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 281 Completely Barren Liu Feng and Liu Man were in the wind. Their mount below them, they crossed the city in just minutes, and they soon saw the same ins that they saw when they came here. "It feels so wrong, just leaving as fast as we came." Liu Feng mused as he looked at the city that was now distant. "Fate does not want the stage to be set now. It wants us to be readyter. And that means that we have to go elsewhere." Liu Man said. "You are right." Liu Feng nodded as they continued forward. They looked in the direction that they were traveling, and could see nothing in sight. It was like a barren area. The path to every sect at least had taverns and small towns on the way, because any town would thrive with a big sect next to it. And yet, there was not even a man in sight. This was too suspicious. The only thing that Liu Feng knew about the Moon Pavilion was that it was one of the seven biggest sects, and that it was ranked second until the Sky Heavens sect crossed it. That meant that before Li Tian took over the Sky Heavens sect, it was the second biggest sect, and an undeniable first outside the capital city, if the outskirts weren''t considered the capital. "We are almost here, Young Masters." the mount that they were on sent a message to Liu Feng and Liu Man. This mount also had spirituality and was able tomunicate with humans. But it was not strong enough to actually take human form. They looked forward to look at the Moon Pavilion and see it in its full glory. And yet they could not see anything. It was still barren. But in the sky, Liu Feng could see a few dots in the distance. Someone else from the opposite side of the kingdom wasing here. That could only mean that they were in the right ce. The mountnded on the ground as if this barren ce was the entrance. Liu Feng and Liu Man could do nothing except getting off now. They looked around with confusion. "Where the hell are we? How do we enter?" Liu Feng asked. "Forgive me, Young Masters, but I do not know. The only thing that I was instructed to do was to drop you here. I do not know what to do now." the mount shook his head. "We are here. The sect is also here." Liu Man suddenly said, looking forward. "What do you mean?" Liu Feng asked. The direction that Liu Man was looking forward had nothing in it. There was just the samendscape. The exact samendscape. Liu Man pointed up, to the sky. There was a dot approaching them. But the dot was still there, the same ce that it was when they saw it a few minutes ago. It was not nearer, or farther away. "This is just a screen." he said as he put his hand forward, and all of a sudden, the space in front of them twisted, and the scenery in front of them warped wherever Liu Man''s hand flew. Liu Feng was surprised. He did not even sense the presence of a screen in front of him. And that was when he was in the Soul Evolution Stage! How did the Moon Pavilion have a smokescreen so good that they could avoid even Soul Evolution Stage cultivators? But one thing was certain. Every sect knew where they were based, so the screen had more features than just make the sect invisible. It might have a few defensive features. "What do we do? Just force out our pressures so that whoever is outside wille out? I mean, two Soul Evolution Stage cultivators outside, surely they will give us a little attention." Liu Feng smiled as he kept looking at the screen. He had no idea what was inside and spreading his divine sense in might endanger him though. Liu Man nodded and he red at the screen in front of him. All of a sudden, the screen started rippling, with the center of the ripple exactly in front of Liu Man. Liu Feng could feel a terrifying pressure emanating from Liu Man. This was the true power of a White Tiger. The screen was vibrating even more, and at a point on it, Liu Feng saw a slight crack, but the crack healed itself immediately. "Mercy! Why are these two guests here with the Moon Pavilion today!" a silent voice stopped Liu Man. He red up at the empty screen. This voice came from inside, but there was no face to correspond with the voice. "Why do you think that we are here?" Liu Man said coldly. "The Moon Princess will choose her partner within the younger generation, masters. Even though you might look young, the Moon Princess has already decided that she would only choose a partner within the younger generation." the voice said. "Don''t you think it is a little disrespectful, not showing us your face?" Liu Feng asked. He red at the screen. "Forgive us, masters." the voice said, still gentle. A thin ck line appeared on the screen, and it went down all the way to the bottom, and all the way to the sky! It appeared as though it went all the way up to the heavens. Then, it started to expand, until the ck line suddenly expanded to create a door, and they were able to peek inside. This seemed like a proper sect from what little they saw before they looked at the person at the center of the door, hovering in the air. It was an old woman, calm and gentle, looking at them. "You misunderstand us, senior. We are here to participate in the event." Liu Feng smiled as he took out his Core Sect identity token. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 282 Entering The Moon Pavilion "Please do not jest, masters." the old woman smiled. "The bone test does not lie. Now does the Moon Pavilion wish to receive guests, or keep them at the door?" Liu Man said. "You are willing to take a bone test?" the woman looked surprised. "What is so surprising about that? Who is so worried about revealing their age?" Liu Feng asked. "Masters who keep young appearances like to keep their age under wraps. They never take bone tests." Liu Man exined. "Pleasee with me, masters." the old woman said and the door like screen opened further, weing them into the Moon Pavilion. It was truly a scenic wonder. There were trees, gardens, deer jumping and prancing, and in a distance, a giant manor. It was not a Pavilion, but a sect couldn''t exactly operate as a pavilion though. They walked through the stoned walkways that led from the outside, straight into this mysteriousnd like snakes. And behind them, the door closed shut, and presumably, the next guest would have to wait there until they were allowed in. "I still do not understand why you wish to do this, masters. If you wish to look at the proceedings, we will be honored to have masters like you in the gallery. Why must you insist like this?" the old woman said. "Why is it so hard to believe that we are young? I mean, we look the part, and how many old men actually have Core Sect tokens from the Sky Heavens sect? What else is there to prove?" Liu Feng shook his head. ,m Behind all these trees, there was a small pavilion here as well, but it was probably not the main pavilion. There was no way that an entire sect would be named after this. Ake stood to its side, theke that Liu Feng and Liu Man saw from outside when they peered in through the crack. And in the middle of the pavilion, was a small contraption that seemed to be this bone tester. "Why do they have it ready?" Liu Feng chuckled. "The Pavilion master was very clear. Only those below the age of twenty five would be allowed to participate." the old woman said softly. Liu Man shook his head. "I am not taking the test. It is for him. I am not trying for her hand in marriage. I have no interest." Liu Man shook his head. The old woman raised her eyebrows. This was the first time that she had heard someone say that they were not interested in the Moon Princess, and that person being a man. But she did not speak, and looked at Liu Feng. "What do I need to do?" Liu Feng asked. "Please ce your hand on the center of the tester." she said. Liu Feng nodded as he touched the smooth and cold surface of the bone tester. Immediatley, he felt a wave of Qi rush into his body, but he did not stop it from entering. This was probably the test. And then, the device lit up, with the t surface right above it lighting up. A single number was shown on it. ''19'' "This is impossible! The treasure must be broken!" the woman eximed as she rushed to touch the bone tester herself. The device lit up again, showing a number that surprised Liu Feng. ''342'' "How the hell is someone that old? Cultivation truly has more benefits than sheer power. To think that someone could live that long and still move around freely." Liu Feng thought to himself. "The device works! This does not make sense." the woman muttered. "Then can we go now? Until now, I have respected the decision of the Moon Pavilion to test me, but this is the farthest that I will go. You have tested my age, and you know how old I am. I am also a core sect disciple of the Sky Heavens sect. I am Liu Feng! I will not take this anymore." Liu Feng said. "Your name, Liu Feng, could it be, you are the child that Liu Qian took in? You are that man''s son?" all of a sudden, it all made sense to the old woman. She looked at Liu Feng in a different light now. "Forgive me, Young Noble. I did not know that it was you who graced our Pavilion with your presence." the old woman slightly bowed, a great show for someone in the Soul Evolution Stage. Liu Feng quickly stopped her. "While I might not want any of these tests, it doesn''t mean that I am heartless. Do not get me wrong. You are still a senior to me, and it is wrong for you to bow your head down to me." Liu Feng said. The old woman nodded, her impression of this miraculous genius increasing substantially. "Now then, if you would please, can you show us the way to the main event? I wish toy my eyes upon this Moon Princess. Is it true that her name truly is Min Wan?" Liu Feng looked at the old woman carefully. "It is a name that the Moon Princess used to go by. But few outside have known of this name before." the old woman nodded, looking at Liu Feng with curiosity, wondering where he heard of this information. "When did she join the sect though? I have never heard of her two years ago." Liu Feng asked. "I am afraid that all of this information is not mine to divulge. I shall direct you to the main gathering, if you will." the old woman shook her head and said respectfully. Liu Feng nodded, and they started taking another path to another ce, but it didn''t seem to be the manor that was visible in the distance. It was somece else, and almost a few hundred meters away, they could already hear the sound of the people within. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 283 The Huge Crowd As they walked up to the gathering, Liu Feng smell multiple medicinal herbs with immense value. Every single one of these people here was probably a rich young master, and they were bringing out their treasures to show off their wealth. Liu Feng didn''t me them. And for him, these herbs were expensive to purchase, but he had better herbs. The Tiger King did allow him to leave with a good number of herbs that he could use. He stretched his arms as he walked in with Liu Man on the side. The venue was an outdoor patio of sorts. Of course, the patio itself was much, muchrger than it normally should be. As they entered it through the pathway, everyone''s eyes fell upon the new arrivals. This was a group of elite people who knew each other very well. Of course they would be interested in seeing who was the one who just arrived. Keep in mind that at the end of the day, everyone was each others'' enemy. They werepeting with each other for the hand of the Moon Princess. Liu Feng scanned the area, trying to look for an empty ce to sit, but he just couldn''t find one. Everyone of the seats was already taken by these young masters, and all of them slowly became silent, trying to understand who this person was that just came here. But the silence was broken by a voice that Liu Feng barely recognized. "Brother Feng? Is that you?" Liu Feng looked at who had just spoken. Very few recognized him after the almost two year absence that he took from the world, and even before that, few knew him. So he was curious to see who this man that happened to recognize him was. There were too many people, but Liu Feng easily stretched his divine sense to look at the source of this voice. And he found it. His eyebrows raised up with surprise. He certainly did not expect to see this man here again. When they did not meet in the Sky Heavens sect, Liu Feng was afraid that this man met his demise, but it looked like he gained fortune elsewhere. "Brother Xangling! It has been a while since west met!" Liu Feng smiled as he walked toward Du Xiangling, the youth that he fought in the martial gathering of Kaishi city, almost two years ago. Liu Feng rushed to that corner of this huge opening. It was better to go somewhere where he knew someone rather than bear all these ufortable res. He could ignore them, but they would always be there. Liu Feng and Liu Man walked up to Du Xiangling, who happened to be the center of arge group himself. "It looks like you have be quite strong since west met, Brother Xiangling! You are already in the Xiantian Realm. I knew from the moment that I met you, that you were being held back by the small stage of Kaishi." Liu Feng smiled. "Forget that, brother Feng. Why have youe here? Do you also wish toy your eyes on the Moon Princess? I hear that she is the most beautiful woman in the entire kingdom!" Du Xiangling asked, his eyes sparkling. Liu Feng smiled. As he thought back to when he witnessed Min Wan for the first time, he also thought that she was one of the most beautiful women that he had everid his eyes upon. Shaking his head, he looked around Du Xiangling. Everyone of these people looked like they were ready to beat Liu Feng up. "Which sect did you join, brother Xiangling? It seems like you became quite the fighter yourself." Liu Feng asked. "I joined the True Martial Sect. Although it isn''t as strong as the Sky Heavens sect, it is a wonderful sect, Brother Feng. My master has really helped me out, and we can always battle each other. Not a single senior or junior brother declines a battle request." Du Xiangling''s face sparkled as he started talking about his sect. Liu Feng smiled. Du Xiangling found the perfect fit for his fanatic nature toward martial art. But he did not understand why everyone around Du Xiangling looked at him with such fierce rage. "Brother Feng, it looks like we have a lot of time here in our hands. For a while, I have been thinking about our fight. It had been cut short, and we were never able to finish it. Why don''t we finish the fight now?" Du Xiangling asked. Liu Feng sighed. Deep inside, he knew that the moment he saw Du Xiangling, Du Xiangling would ask him for a fight. That was just the type of person he was. But it was clear that the man worked hard to create a name for himself within his sect, for him to be the center of the delegation from his sect. Losing against Liu Feng would just lose him face, and nothing more. "I suggest that you do not go down this route, brother Xiangling. It is not a battle that you can win, nor one where you cane out of unscathed." Liu Feng warned. "What are you, afraid? I knew that something was off when senior brother said that he could not win against this one person, and that fight never reached itspletion, but to think that it was with a coward." the disciple sitting next to Du Xiangling coldly said. "Lang An! This is not your ce to speak! Brother Feng has faced enough adversity to get to the position that he got to now." Du Xiangling reprimanded the man. "Do not worry, brother Xiangling. But I warn you again, if you lose, then your martial heart itself might be shaken." Liu Feng said. "My martial heart would desire apletion to the battle rather than stay in suspense, brother Feng." Du Xiangling smiled. "Then I shallply." Liu Feng sighed and nodded. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 284 All Eyes On Him With everyone hearing that two would be sparring, everyone stopped talking once again to look at the two in question. Seeing the neer, and Du Xiangling get up, an area for them to spar naturally formed. Everyone moved to the sides to allow them toe to this single area so that everyone could see. "This is going to be too humiliating for him. Losing in front of so many people, it is better if I don''t desimate him. I should let him down easy." Liu Feng thought to himself as he nodded at Du Xiangling, who had a sword in his hands. Seeing the weapon, Liu Feng also took out his own weapon. A random spear that he had lying around would do for now. Bringing out the ethereal spear would be overkill, and it would just be unfair to Du Xiangling. He nodded at Du Xiangling, and the spar started. When Du Xiangling moved, it was like he was moving in slow motion to Liu Feng. Liu Feng could see the exact movements with such ease, and when Di Xiangling was nearing him an eternityter in Liu Feng''s rtive timeline, Liu Feng already moved. The sword grazed past Liu Feng, but it did not touch his skin, and only cut off a tiny sliver of his hair. But to put on a show, Liu Feng still moved back, retreating as if to show that Du Xiangling was an opponent that he had to be careful with. While Du Xiangling frowned, his fellow disciples cheered. "I knew that this man was no match for senior brother! Go show him what it means to be a cultivator senior brother!" the man who was next to Du Xiangling all this time shouted. Liu Feng smiled as he shook his head. His spear shot forward, as he was still a little close to Du Xiangling, and the length of the spear showed its versatility now. Du Xiangling had to retreat himself, because when he saw the spear that he could cleary see the trajectory of, he had a feeling that blocking it would just not be possible, and that when he did, he would lose his sword to the attack. "Oops. Just a little too much power on this one. I should have controlled it better." Liu Feng mused as he looked at the retreating Du Xiangling. "You are really very powerful, brother Feng. I thought that I was special when I advanced to the Xiantian Realm myself, but to think that you are so strong! I am amazed by your prowess, brother Feng." Du Xianglingmented. Everyone in the audience looked at each other. This was someone that they had never seen before, but he was matching up against the monster of the True Martial Sect. That could only mean that he was in the Xiantian realm himself. And a Xiantian realm youngster that they have never heard of was definitely a secret weapon that a sect or a power was releasing to them. They looked at Liu Feng, and hispanion, Liu Man, with caution. "This fight needs to end now. I don''t have the time to y around so much. I just want to sit down." Liu Feng sighed as he walked toward Du Xiangling. But because of the immense disparity of power between the two, what felt like just pacing around to Liu Feng felt like a movement art to Du Xiangling. Liu Feng appeared in front of Du Xiangling, but when he waved his sword forward, the sword just passed through Liu Feng. It was an after image. Liu Feng was behind him. His spear''s tip touching the back of Du Xianling''s neck. "It was a good battle, brother Xiangling. But I already told you. You didn''t stand a chance." Liu Feng said with a cool voice. Du Xiangling dropped his sword on the ground, signaling his defeat. "Your movement art, you knew that I couldn''t handle it. Then why did you not finish this sooner? I know that I would have lost in instants against this attack." he asked frankly. "You are a hard worker, brother Xiangling. I do not know of anyone else who could possibly get to the Xiantian realm in the time that you did. Even the one that you lost to a few years ago is stuck in a realm below you. That means that you have worked for this, and I do not wish to take that from you." Liu Feng transmitted to Di Xiangling. This conversation was best in private rather than in public. Du Xiangling cupped his hands together and bowed slightly. "This is your win, brother Feng. I am content that our battle of the past has finallye to its ending. My martial heart is only clearer now." he smiled. "That is good to hear." Liu Feng nodded. The young masters all started talking to each other, while the True Martial Sect all had jaws dropped all the way down. They could not believe that their senior brother just lost to someone that they had never even heard of. Liu Feng nodded at Liu Man and they walked to a corner that was now free because everyone had gotten up to look at this fight. Taking this seat, they didn''t even earn the ire of the people who were sitting here earlier, because they were mum about it, and didn''t evenment. As if a godsend to the mood, it looked like the Moon Pavilion knew what just happened, and they sent someone here. "Young masters. Forgive us for letting you all wait like this. Your quarters are ready. We have prepared amodations for all of you." a gentle voice simr to the one that greeted Liu Feng and Liu Man said. The voice was audible to everyone here, and they all looked in the direction of the one who said it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 285 The Main Event One week passed in the blink of an eye. Nothing of significance happened, and all Liu Man and Liu Feng did in the quarters that was assigned to them was meditate. They were in a building that was a distance from the huge manor that they saw when they first entered the Moon Pavilion. For some reason, all of the paths in this ce seemed to lead away from the huge manor, and there were guards everywhere making sure that no one would go anywhere near this Moon Pavilion. Just staying here gave Liu Feng a bad feeling. He felt like something suspicious was happening over there. He still could not understand why Min Wan was suddenly being married off. Sure, this Moon Princess could be someone else, but he had a strong suspicion that it was the former. Whatever may be the case, he needed to find the right reason all of this was happening. He cracked his fingers as he got up. The week had concluded, and soon enough, the main event was going to start anytime now. It was the selection of the Moon Princess. There was amotion outside his door, but Liu Feng and Liu Man decided not to go through the normal route. It would be better to directly go where everyone was heading. They jumped out of the window, hovering over theke that was behind this building as they looked at the line of people that was going towards another part of this scenic area. Once again, this was not the huge manor. Whatever they were hiding in the manor, Liu Feng had to know before he left. It was just killing him to find out. "We should go now. If this happens to be just a mistake on our part, then we can either focus on convincing the Moon Pavilion to help us out, or we should focus on another power. We can''t just waste time here. A week already passed." Liu Man said. "I wonder why you are so invested in this though. It is making me the king, is it not? How is that going to help you, apart from letting you enter the peak of the Soul Evolution stage, of course." Liu Feng asked as they both moved toward the venue. "How will it not help me? If you be the king, then you will be the controller of the portal to the ancient realm. The portal can only be opened once twenty years because it is too expensive to open otherwise." Liu Man said. "And the portal is already opening once before I be the king, and the fight is going to conclude within the Realm of Beginnings!" Liu Feng realized. He would have to open the portal again, and that would take resources that only the king couldmand. At this point, they were ahead of everyone else, and they saw that once again, they were in front of anotherke. This time, the time of the day helped out. It wasn''t day, but night. And today, it was the day of the full moon. "Well, looks like they were waiting for the full moon? Why would they do that? Is their martial art something rted to the moon? Probably." Liu Feng guessed as he looked around. There wererge petals on theke, and just one green leaf at the center of theke. This was probably reserved for the Moon Princess. "It looks like you have arrived here just a little early, Young Noble. I have heard from Elder Rong that you are quite the genius." a gentle voice said. Every single woman that Liu Feng spoke to within the Moon Pavilion was so soft spoken, that it felt like amon trait that they forced onto the disciples. That was when it struck Liu Feng once more. The only men that he saw till now were from the different sects. The ones from Moon Pavilion were all women. "Could it be, the Moon Pavilion is a sect like the Lush Green sect? An all-women sect?" Liu Feng wondered. "Please take one of these petals. Anyone. I do think that many would want to take the petals closest to the Moon Princess, but I think that it is irrelevant." the gentle voice said. "You must be the Pavilion master? You are the strongest that I have seen till now, and someone in the peak of the Soul Evolution stage can only be the strongest." Liu Feng asked. "Young noble is indeed observant." the gentle voice all but confirmed it. "Then I have a question. The Moon Princess. Did she join the Moon Pavilion a year and half ago?" Liu Feng asked. "Any question that you have will be answered when the princesses here, Young Noble. Please, do choose a spot, both of you." the Pavilion Master said. "I have no intention of participating in whatever this is." Liu Man shook his head. He then flew up to the garden on the side and snapped his fingers. A chair appeared in front of him, which he sat on, calmly looking at Liu Feng. With nothing else to do, Liu Feng shrugged and floated to one of the petals right next to therge leaf in the center. The petal wasrge enough for Liu Feng to sit on, but if he actually did, he would fall. And yet, the moment that Liu Feng''s legs touched the petal, the water beneath suddenly froze, and Liu Feng just sat on the petal calmly, cross-legged, closing his eyes. Slowly, after a few minutes, people started arriving, their noise disturbing Liu Feng. He frowned as he turned around to look at the ones who were talking to each other with no regard to calmness. But the moment that they saw the green leaf in the middle, and the petals around, with Liu Feng sitting on one of the petals, they understood exactly what had happened. All of them suddenly started rushing toward the petals of the inner circle. "I am the second prince! Who dares to take a petal that I choose?" a domineering voice froze everyone in their ce. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 286 The Second Prince Everyone quieted down, and no one moved. This was a prince in question! No one wanted to offend the person who had a chance to be the king! Liu Feng calmly turned around to see the man walking toward him. "Get up. I like this spot. The lighting on the green leaf is just extraordinary from this spot. The moonlight will fall perfectly on the Moon Princess, as she will present herself to me in the most perfect way." the second prince started salivating as he thought about what would happen. Liu Feng was simply disgusted by the way that the second prince was talking. He was royalty! Royalty was supposed to be dignified, and yet this second prince was as crude as one could get. A sharp contrast to the tenth princess, who kept her calm throughout the whole talk that Liu Feng had with her. But Liu Feng remained silent, calmly judging the prince in front of him. The moment that the prince did anything, every single one of the young masters behind, some of them having top notch powers behind them, all stopped and waited for the prince to choose his petal. That only confirmed what Tian Xiu said. The second prince was ruthless indeed. No one wanted to offend him thinking of only the possibility that he would be the king. The second prince domineeringly looked at Liu Feng. "You are in front of a prince and you do not kneel? The audacity!" he shouted, his Qi forcing theke to be turbulent. And yet, Liu Feng''s petal did not even budge an inch, because the petal, and the ice beneath were both firmly lodged in ce. "Who the hell are you? Why would I bow for you?" Liu Feng asked, one finger clearing his ear, while the other hand covering his mouth while yawning. The second prince''s forehead twitched. His veins were bulging and he clenched his fists. "Looks like I am faced with a fool here. I have to teach you what it means to be in front of a prince now." he said as he approached Liu Feng. Liu Feng frowned, and he raised his fingers. Immediately, the Yuan Principle suddenly fell upon the prince, and he almost fell to his knees. The sudden pressure surprised the second prince. He did not expect someone to actually attack him. Who in the entire kingdom would dare attack him even if he was about to kill that person? Only the crown prince did. Even the Crown Prince''s subordinates did not dare raise their head in front of him. And yet, this fool in front of him attacked him? Liu Feng did not stop there though. He kept pushing the Yuan principle further, forcing him to bend his knees further. But the arrogance of royalty knew no bounds. They would rather die than kneel. And behind the second prince, there were other young masters who were a part of his faction. That was clear based on the infuriated looks on many when Liu Feng attacked the prince. Liu Feng sighed and decided that this was not the stage to attack the prince. He could do thatter. The war was in his bag as long as he could get the help of the Moon Pavilion. But the second prince could just not take this humiliation to his face. "You attacked me? I will show you death boy! No. I will show you a life worse than death!" the second prince lunged at Liu Feng without any reason. Thinking that Liu Feng was finally scared, realizing that he was against a prince, the second prince took out a sword to sh at Liu Feng, when a voice stopped him. "Please stop, second prince. As of right now, the young man in front of you is also a part of the session war. He is now the twelfth addition to the session war, the son of the dragon princess and the grandson of the previous king." the gentle voice of the Pavilion Master also had a suppression effect behind it, and it froze the second prince in ce. "What are you talking about? The son of the dragon princess was crippled!" the second prince scoffed. "Please choose another petal, second prince. I am sorry, but if you want to stir up some trouble here, then I will have to force you out." the Pavilion Master said. "Good. Good. When I be the king, we will have this conversation again, Pavilion Master." the second prince grit his teeth, but set his sights on the petal that was opposite to Liu Feng''s. The moment that the second prince took his seat, the other young masters started moving, scrambling for a spot in the inner circle. It was obvious that only those in the Xiantian Realm would get one of these coveted ten spots, two of which were already upied. One by one, people took their seats. Du Xiangling also upied one of these petals, but he wasn''t next to Liu Feng, but rather on another end. The second prince locked his eyes on Liu Feng though, and many others did. After all, what the Pavilion master said was ground breaking. She revealed Liu Feng''s true identity, and knowing that there was another contender in the session wars was something that this prince just heard. Well, there was only one other group that was told of this, so Liu Feng was confused by how the Pavilion Master knew about it so fast. "Cai Guo must have told her. I should have a talk to him about secrecy." Liu Feng through as he calmed himself and closed his eyes once more. But fate did not want him to rest any further. He felt it. It felt familiar to him. He was in this situation before. It was Min Wan. The Min Wan he knew. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 287 The Moon Princess In the middle of the night, amidst the full moon, the graceful princess stood above everyone else, descending like a fairy from the heavens. Everyone stared at her, their eyes glued to this beauty. The moon, theke, the petals, all just added to this surreal beauty. Theke was absolutely silent. No one even dared breathe when the Moon Princess'' feet touched the green leaf with elegance. Theke under the leaf did not even ripple, and she just stood on it. It was like she was weightless, for the leaf to not even move. Then, she looked at the Pavilion Master, who was looking down at all of them. She did not even move, and just looked away instantly. In the very front, closest to the princess, but witnessing only her back, Liu Feng was quivering. The ice beneath him started to crack slightly, and the sound suddenly broke this silence. The Moon Princess turned around to look at this source, and all of a sudden, her entire body shivered. Her mouth parted once, but she did not say anything. All she could do was stay silent, for some reason. "The Moon Princess is here. All of you know that this has been a tumultuous period for the kingdom, and the Moon Pavilion only wishes for peace. For this reason, whoever the Moon Princess chooses, we shall support to be the rightful heir to the throne." the Pavilion Master said gently. Liu Feng paused. Until now, it was confirmed that whatever happened today, the Moon Princess would be married away. This confused Liu Feng. Min Wan was supposed to be in the Soul Evolution Stage. He remembered that her entire city was so strong, so she had to be that strong to keep them all in check. How did someone so strong be a disciple of this power, and was being married off in a sudden hurry? She was strong enough not to be tossed around like this, and who would leave a Soul Evolution Expert? Worried, he quickly tried to scan the Moon Princess with divine sense. But before it could reach her, he was cut short. "Please wait for a while, Young Noble Feng." the Pavilion Master said. "Just what is happening here? This is too suspicious." Liu Feng clenched his fists and did not speak, just continuing to sit down, staring at the princess. Min Wan looked at Liu Feng, but she did not say anything. She did not even try to transmit anything, which Liu Feng knew that she was capable of. It was like she was being kept hostage! "Let us keep going with the festivities, Pavilion Master. But I truly hope that it is the Moon Princess that is the one who will select the final winner of the day, and not the Moon Pavilion." Liu Feng coldly said. "It will be exactly as Young Noble said." the Pavilion Master nodded, and then she looked at Min Wan. "The princess has to see her potential suitors in their brilliance. So, I think that the only way is for the young masters, princes, and chief disciples here to showcase their talents one by one. This will not be a battle. A battle is not what we want to see in this peaceful ce. We just want you to showcase your brilliance." the Pavilion Master said. "Then I think that as the prince, and the one who is destined for the princess'' hand, I am the one who ought to go first." the Second Prince got up and said. Liu Feng did not even want to contradict him. He just sat there, nkly looking at what was happening. "Then it is better if we have a nice tform for you to perform?" the Pavilion Master waved her hands, and the petals on theke all moved around. They made a wonderful pattern as they moved to the side, bing an audience, with the Moon Princess in the middle, standing like a true goddess. Everyone moved, except for Liu Feng. His petal was forced onto theke with the ice. Liu Feng looked at the Pavilion Master and nodded. The ice melted slowly, and the petal moved slowly toward the other petals as well, him being in the very front, the best view of the Princess. Surely, at their cultivation, they would be able to see the Moon Princess in her full glory even if they were further away, but this was also a question of standing. Whoever was in the front was considered the strongest. And then, theke was partially empty, with the princess in the middle, looking like a lonely swan, ncing at the water. The Pavilion Master waved her hands again, and the Moon above suddenly seemed like it shone with a greater brilliance. Then, theke itself reflected this light, and it suddenly changed color, from a normal bluish ck, to a dazzling silver. It felt solid, and even Liu Feng could feel his petal suddenly get some support. "This is a mysterious sect indeed. Guess it has a great heritage." he thought to himself as he looked at the second prince, who was hovering in front of the Moon Princess. "It is an honor to meet you. As the next king, it will be only right for the most beautiful woman in the entire kingdom to be my queen." the second prince said as he took out a sword from his spatial ring. All of a sudden, his sword shone, and he twirled up into the very sky, a manifestation appearing behind him. This manifestation was that of a dragon. Dragon arts were very popr, apparently, and this manifestation seemed so strong that it could devour the very stars in the sky. A golden dragon in the sky looked down at the Moon Princess, and it suddenly started dancing around it. The Second Prince''s sword flew from his hand, and along with it, the dragon twirled around the princess, putting on quite the show. Eventually, the sword returned to the second prince''s hands. He was panting. This show that he put also took a lot of Qi. "That is all from me." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 288 His Turn Min Wan just nodded, and then looked back to theke, as if it interested her more. The second prince grit his teeth. He was used to women everywhereing onto him, unable to resist him. And yet, the woman that he took the effort to try and impress wasn''t even looking at him? Uneptable. But in front of all these people, he clenched his fists and flew back toward the rest of the young masters. ring at one person, he waved his hand. Bowing, that person immediately flew up, and the second prince took that person''s ce, sitting on the petal. Liu Feng chuckled as he looked forward again, interested in seeing who would take the next step. "Afraid, boy? You are going to showcase your talent?" the second prince sneered at Liu Feng. "I am not like a dog, trying to crave attention. I''ll go when I want to. What''s that got to do with you?" Liu Feng retorted back, not even looking back. The second prince''s face immediately became ugly. He shut up, notmenting any further. Taking this opportunity, another person stood up. "I guess it is my time to show the princess my humble skills." this young man seemed to be from a prestigious family, but Liu Feng had no idea which one. Scanning him with his Mind eye, he found out. "Looks like the Hong family has more than just Hong Jimin. Well, all of the second prince''s faction seems to not be able to control themselves." Liu Feng wondered. This Hong youth went in front of Min Wan, and took out his weapon. His weapon was slightly different. It was a staff, and just taking it out, its peerless energy shone throughout. This was a peerless artifact in full disy. Even the second prince did not take a weapon like that. He then started moving rhythmically, a manifestation appearing behind him. It was a monkey, but not just any monkey. This monkey was upright, like a human, and seemed wise, and powerful. "The sage. To think that the Hong family has such a powerful art within its annals. This is just a disy of how strong the Hong family is." someonemented, talking to his friend next to him. And that was exactly what this was. Showing how powerful they were was just one aspect of all this. Another was that they could show the heritage of the sect or power that they were a part of. The Hong family youth finished, and the moment he did, he was exhausted as well, pushing all of the Qi that he had into the attacks that he disyed. This wouldn''t be possible in a normal battle. In a normal battle, they wouldn''t focus on pushing so much Qi into the manifestations, but now, everyone was forced to. The very moment that he was done, Min Wan looked back to the ground, as if nothing of significance was happening. "It looks like you do not interest the princess much, Hong Zhou. Let me show you how it''s done." someone else stood up, flying to take this youth''s ce. Again, it was the same story. The same attacks that were never possible in an actual battle. But they were still trying to put on a show. And time and time again, the moment that the show was over, Min Wan looked back to the ground, as if nothing had happened. Even her looking up seemed forced, like someone would kill her if she didn''t look up. Hours went by. The same ce, they were forced to go through this routine. For cultivators, this seemed like nothing at all, and for all the young masters, seeing their fellowpetitors show off their trump cards like this, it was a godsend. But for Liu Feng, and certainly, for Min Wan, who was also in the Soul Evolution stage, or at least was before, this was a bore. They were all done. It was the ending, and Liu Feng was the only one left. Even Du Xiangling had went forward and showed off an incredible attack of his own. Liu Feng stood up, brushing off the dust on his robes. Hovering a few inches from theke, he slowly drifted toward the Moon Princess. The moment that he got near her, she looked up, and when her eyes rested on the final presenter of the night, they quivered. "Why are you here? You were not supposed toe in front of me again." she said with a soft voice, only to Liu Feng. But at the Xiantian stage and just below, who didn''t hear this? And who didn''t feel confused? This foreigner that they had never seen before knew the Moon Princess? How was that possible. Liu Feng smiled, and he took out a familiar item that both of them knew about. It was the protective cloak that Min Wan gave Liu Feng when she left him that day, in the middle of the forest. The one keepsake that Liu Feng had of Min Wan was this cloak. He draped it around him, and then smiled at her. "Let me remind you a little something about that day then. It was a day that I could not forget." Liu Feng softly said as he soared to the sky. His entire body suddenly turned, and transformed. From the sky, a heaven piercing roar froze the blood of every single one of the young masters who were here. From the clouds, a giant blue dragon descended. It wasn''t a blue dragon upon close inspection though. It was a breed between a dragon and a snake. It was a flood dragon. And the way that it looked was oddly suspicious to the king of the Never ending forest. This was the exact same form of the flood dragon that Min Wan faced that day. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 289 Memories The flood dragon danced around Min Wan, but this was different from everyone else. This was not a manifestation. This was like a real flood dragon! Everyone could feel it when they saw the flood dragon. Then, Liu Feng slowlynded in front of Min Wan, and he started majestically revealing waves of Qi. Usually, when one made this show of power, anyone could easily gauge the cultivation of the person who did this, based on the quantity and quality of the Qi. And when Liu Feng did this, the young masters all had wide open eyes filled with shock. Soul Formation Stage, 5th Layer! That was the aura that was emanating from Liu Feng. Then, the Qi increased. Everyone could feel the cultivation that was now disyed. Soul Formation Stage, 7th Layer! Soul Formation Stage, 9th Layer! Peak of the Soul Formation Stage! This was the absolute limit of the Xiantian realm, beyond which anyone would be considered a true behemoth in the kingdom. And now, this nobody was exhuming the aura of that very stage? And the frightening thing was, the power of this Qi wave was increasing! Increasing past the Soul Formation realm to something that was beyond their realm of understanding. Soul Evolution Stage! "Impossible! There is no way that a person so young can be so powerful! This is impossible!" the second prince eximed. At this point, everyone forgot about each other. What they did waspletely erased because there was only one disy that was on their mind. The disy of true power that they were seeing right now. And now, even more heaven-defying, was that Liu Feng did not stop there. The solid surface of theke suddenly started vibrating slightly, as arger power washed across everyone. The secondyer! Then the third, and then the fourth! Slowly, all of the young masters were barely standing, not able to withstand the pressure that came with the Qi. But at the very center of this vertex, the Moon Princess was virtually unpleturbed. She looked at this silently, but in her eyes, Liu Feng could see the shock and surprise. Finally, the Qi stabilized. And when it did, even the Pavilion Master above everyone else looked at this with a dazed face. "He is in theter stages of the Soul Evolution Stage? How is this possible? I thought that he just entered it. This cannot be? Even for his son, this should be impossible!" she muttered. Liu Feng then transformed back to his human form, and looked around coldly. No longer was he a core sect disciple of the Sky Heavens sect. He was a true power on his own! By revealing his power, he just told the entire world that he was not to be messed with. Now, he slowly approached Min Wan, and this time, at this distance, no matter what he did, the Pavilion Master could simply not stop. "What happened to you? Why are you here?" he asked, the cold look on his face melting into concern. Min Wan''s mouth parted, but nothing came out of it. It was like she wanted to speak, but she couldn''t. p And then, Liu Feng''s eyes became red. He turned back to look at the Pavilion Master with rage. "What is the meaning of this? Is this what the Moon Pavilion does?" he asked, not specifying what he was talking about. "Forgive us, Young Noble, but this is a matter of the Moon Pavilion. Please do not interfere. You might know the Moon Princess from before, but she is no longer the same person." the pavilion master said. "That''s it. You have crossed the line." Liu Feng said, clenching his fists. He suddenly moved, appearing right behind Min Wan, and his hand suddenly passed right through the peerless beauty. Under the shining moon, amidst the glowingke, blood splurted from Min Wan''s stomach, and sttered everywhere. The already shocked faces of the young masters turned aghast, and they got up, trying to move forward. "The moment you take a single step, your heads will roll." a cold voice came from behind them. Slowly, a young man with white hair walked up from behind them, and hovered above them. It was Liu Man. "Who the hell are you? Do you know who you are talking to? I am the second prince! Get out of my way!" the second prince spat out. "Liu Feng did not kill you out ofpassion. But I am not so kind. If you anger me, then not only your head, but the head of everyone you care about will roll." Liu Man said, and the moment he did, a terrifying killing intent spread everywhere, freezing the blood of the second prince three times over. "What is the meaning of this! What have you done!" the pavilion master shouted as her pressure descended down toward Liu Feng. But it was dispelled within an instant, and Liu Feng looked at her coldly. "You think that you are strong? You have only two other Soul Evolution Stage cultivators here. Both of them in the early stages. How about I stop you here, just waste time, while Liu Feng goes on a killing spree and takes care of this nice heritage that you have built for yourself?" Liu Man red at the pavilion master. Just looking at Liu Man, it felt like she was looking at a beast. The Pavilion Master shuddered as she stepped back. Liu Feng took his hand out of Min Wan''s back, a gaping hole visible in the middle of her torso. But her eyes were still open, and she was still alive. In Liu Feng''s hand was a squirming little bug that was trying to move somewhere. But before it did, Liu Feng crushed it with his hands, and it turned into a bloody mist. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 290 Enraged The moment that he crushed the bug, Min Wan fell forward, almost falling on the ground. But before she fell on the ground, she was caught by Liu Feng, who slowly bent on the ground, letting hery on hisps, as he took out a pill from his spatial ring. He immediately put it in her mouth, and this time, she didn''t need Liu Feng to force-feed it. She could swallow it, and with the Qi that came from the pill, the gaping hole in her stomach started closing at a visible rate. The bloody hole soon covered within minutes, and was now an exposed snow-white piece of skin. Liu Feng took out his cloak, the very one that Min Wan gave him years ago, and draped it over her, gently looking at her. "Just what happened? How did youe to this situation?" he asked, his voice drying up. "It''s a long story. Just, never trust someone who has been under you and has been disgruntled way too long." she said with a hoarse voice. "Someone from the City of Heavens?" he asked, a tinge of anger appearing in his eyes. Min Wan nodded, and then looked up at the Pavilion Master, who, for the first time, disyed an emotion on her face, betraying the calm look that she kept till now. "Are you alright now?" Liu Feng asked, his voice low and caring. Min Wan nodded, and she tapped on her spatial ring, a box of pills appearing in her hands. She popped one of them in, and immediately, her paleplexion regained some rosiness. Her hands regained some strength. Liu Feng could feel it as his finger interlocked with her''s. She was recovering at a frightening pace. This was the power of a Soul Evolution Expert. He nodded at her, and slowly lifted her, allowing her to stand. With enough power to stand on her own, and brushed off the dust on her robes and looked coldy at the Pavilion Master. "You will pay for what you have done." she said, her voice piercing the hearts of every young man standing there. This was over. None of them had a chance anymore. Seeing the intimate way that she acted with the person who pierced her body was weird, but when they saw the bug that Liu Feng squashed, it all made sense. ? She was being controlled! "It looks like the Moon Pavilion has no right to call itself a righteous sect. For it to control someone and then use that person as leverage? Despicable. The True Martial sect will retreat." Du Xiangling said as he looked at Liu Feng and nodded. This was not a ce where he could help. This was not a battle for Xiantan realm experts. If a battle was going to happen, it was between the heavy weights. Liu Feng nodded back. "It is good to see that not all humanity has been lost in this world. Now then, Pavilion Master. Do you have anything to say for yourself? Or are you going to keep waiting behind this charade you have built?" Liu Feng coldy said. "I wonder, how did you know that she was being controlled? I was sure that no one else knew. It was a secret even among the sect itself." the Pavilion master asked. Liu Feng did not answer, because the truth was something that could not be said out loud. When he used the mind eye on Min Wan, he saw something peculiar. Her cultivation was not the Soul Evolution Stage, but rather the Core Formation stage, and there was a small word that said ''suppressed''. And then, a notification came from the system itself, informing him that a Gu bug was in the body of Min Wan. All he did was just a smokescreen so that he could take the Gu Bug out of Min Wan before the Pavilion Master, or the controller behind the scenes, could resist. "Why would you do such a thing? Why does the Moon Pavilion have to resort to something like this?" Liu Feng asked, confused. The heritage that he saw pointed to a great sect. Why would the sect have to do something like this? "You do not need to know of our reasoning, boy. But you better stop what you are doing, and let us take things from here. Because if you don''t, then all of us will lose our lives right here." the pavilion master warned, her eyes showing a slight fear. It looked like she was telling the truth. But why would Liu Feng believe someone who was such an exceptional actor all this time? He looked around. All the young masters had retreated several steps, except for the second prince, who was frozen in ce, staring at Liu Man. "Come then. If you want to fight, then let us fight. If not, then you will be wise in letting us leave." Liu Feng said. The Pavilion Master shook her head. "You have no idea what you are getting into. This is not the time for you to be acting like a chivalrous knight. All of us will lose our lives here, including that lover of yours." she spat out. Then, she turned around, looking in a direction that Liu Feng had a bad feeling about. She was looking at the manor. From here, under the cold and dark knight, it looked like a haunted house. For cultivators, the concept of ghosts did not scare them. If there were ghosts, then fight until one side dies! But looking at the dark manor, Liu Feng had a feeling that something was inside that he could just not offend. Liu Man appeared next to Liu Feng at this time, and looked at the Pavilion master coldly. "You keep talking about the danger that can kill us all. But have you considered the fact that maybe it just wants to kill you, its captor?" a smile appeared on Liu Man''s face. "You do not know what you are talking about, boy!" "I do. Among all of us, I think that I have the best idea of what I am talking about." a confident smile appeared on Liu Man''s face. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 291 Battle The Pavilion Master paused for a moment. But then, another sound took up their attention. Awooooooooo! A howl that caused Liu Feng''s head to ache suddenly swept thends. The pressure that came from this one heaven piercing sound caused many of the young masters here to suddenly faint and fall on the ground. It was so strong that they couldn''t handle it! Liu Feng looked at where this sound came from with apprehension. This wasing from that manor that they could see from here. A manor that seemed so suspicious, and now, it seemed to house something dangerous. "What is that sound? Just what do you have caged up in there, Pavilion Master?" Liu Feng asked, his face frigid. "Looks like the sect is named Moon Pavilion for a reason. But too bad, you do not understand the existence that just growled a little." Liu Man chuckled. He was the only one here who seemed unfazed by the howl that came just a few moments ago. "I know very well what this howl is, boy. You both may be in the Soul Evolution stage, but I have eaten more salt than you have rice." the Pavilion Master scoffed. "If you are so wise, then why don''t you go in there, all alone, without the item that you maybe requested one of these people? I think that prince over there?" Liu Man nced at the second prince, who was still frozen on spot. He could move his head now, and it was filled with fear. All of his powerful backers were not allowed in the Moon Pavilion, obviously, so he came in on his own. And now, there were so many existences here showing their power, and somehow he managed to offend two of them. "You know too much for someone who has been in thisnd for too less. Who are you?" the Pavilion Master looked at Liu Man with fear and reproach. "You do not need to know who I am." Liu Man smiled, and he disappeared, reappearing right in front of the second prince. Under everyone''s watchful eyes, he took the spatial ring off the second prince''s fingers slowly, and started digging through the contents. "You dare?" the second prince was about to say something, but he immediately stopped the moment that Liu Man looked at him. "I must ask you to stop." the Pavilion Master moved toward Liu Man, but before she could do anything, she abruptly stopped and retreated a few steps. "Are you really willing to go down this route, Liu Feng? I know who you are, and it will be a pity, because your parents tried so hard to keep you alive." the Pavilion Master forcefully said. "I also know that it will be a pity if I die, Pavilion Master. That is why I am going to be very defensive today. Why would I risk my life in a fight today, when I know that I can keep stalling forever." Liu Feng smiled. By this time, Liu Man was done. He had taken out what he needed. "This boy has quite the treasures in here. You might have a use for them." Liu Man threw the spatial ring toward Liu Feng. In Liu Man''s hand though, was what everyone was focusing at. It was a shining red ball of light, the size of a fist. But every second, the red ball suddenly gave a beat. Awooooooo! The moment that the ball gave the beat, a loud howl was heard once again. Whatever the beast that was howling was, it reacted to this ball. It was a treasure that could maybe control that terrifying beast. "That is not yours to hold, young man. If you do not know what to do with it, then you will lose your life. Give it to me, and I will leave all of you today." the Pavilion Master scoffed. "I wonder why you were willing to give away a Soul Evolution puppet that you just acquired. Turned out, you were trading her for this piece of treasure. And the entire thing was a nice charade so that this boy here could show himself off, isn''t it?" Liu Man beamed. "What do you want?" the Pavilion Master grit her teeth. "Why would I want something? I think I know exactly what I want. I will just wait it out. I think that after the night has ended, things will get very interesting for this ce that you call the Moon Pavilion." Liu Man rubbed his hands as he started juggling the red ball around. It was pulsating more frequently now, as if the outside world stimted it. "Then you are forcing my hand, young boy." the Pavilion Master moved, and behind her, two other shadows appeared. The two shadows were revealed to be two extremely beautiful women. But just looking at them once, Liu Feng knew that they were just two old women who used up Qi to make themselves look beautiful. "I will take the two, you stall her. You have a few defensive arts right?" Liu Man asked Liu Feng. "I can stall her. Make sure that the weaker one dies first. Better let them see casualties first." Liu Feng said. "I will see how you will stall me, boy." the Pavilion Master moved like a blur, aiming at Liu Man, or rather, the red ball in his hands. "Not so fast." Liu Feng also moved, and mid-way, they both collided. "I am not confident in winning this battle, but I know that I am faster than you." Liu Feng smiled. p He could see the movements of the Pavilion Master as clear as day! She was significantly slower than he was for some reason, and it was something that he was not going to leave. As for the two women, they were both struggling to fight against Liu Man, who was faster, stronger, and better than them in every way. And one final nail in the coffin for them arrived. "You bitches. I will make you pay for what you did to me!" It was Min Wan! She recovered! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 292 Two Dead Min Wan entered the battle. She faced the weaker of the two women, who was in the thirdyer of the Soul Evolution Stage. "You are a tenacious woman. I admire that. Hold her off so that I can finish this vermin off." Liu Man nodded. Min Wan was not weak by any chance. She was a genius in her own right, and even at her young age, she was in the Soul Evolution Stage. Part of that was because of the environment that she grew up in, which was the city of Heavens. But regardless, she was supposed to be much stronger than her opponent. However, the control of the bug, and the attack that Liu Feng performed to get the bug out of her sapped her strength considerably, and even though she recovered a lot of her Qi, she was still weaker than before. All she could do was put one person in check, and not more than that. Liu Feng had his spear out, and he was matching the Pavilion Master blow by blow. It was surprising how efficient Liu Feng was, and that he was equal to someone in the peak of the Soul Evolution Stage. All of a sudden, two sounds took everyone''s attention. One was the howl that came from the manor. But the second was on the battlefield itself. Roar! The sound of a tiger roaring was so frightening that everyone on the battlefield froze for a quick second. Liu Feng peeked at the battle going on beneath him, and he understood what happened. Liu Man was not going easy on his opponent. He had transformed into his true form, that of a white tiger. And the white tiger looked ferocious, tearing at the woman, who could barely avoid her opponent. Liu Man was quick, and hended several attacks that the woman could just not avoid. Her shoulder was bitten off, her arm weak, and blood flowing from every part of her body. She was injured, and even if she could heal, it would take time and concentration to heal injuries at this level. The Pavilion Master also saw this, and her eyes shook with shock. They were in the sect! This was their territory. This was a fight that they should have been winning with ease. And yet, they were moments away from facing a casualty? If the woman died, then the Moon Pavilion would face a loss that was just impossible to be recouped. The death of a Soul Evolution Stage expert was something that could not be quantified. Each expert was a pir to the sect, and without even one, the sect could copse! That was especially so for the sect that called itself the number two for so many years until the Sky Heavens sect dethroned it. "What are you looking at? Don''t you think that you should be focusing on your opponent?" Liu Feng asked, smiling. A blue dragon threatened to pierce her very dantian, when she hastily defended with her own sword. "Coward! Is this how you fight?" she spat out. "Don''t be a hypocrite. If you were so righteous, then maybe you would have traded for that red ball somehow, instead of using someone else as leverage." Liu Feng sneered as he pushed the Pavilion Master back. But at the end of the day, she was still at the peak of the Soul Evolution Expert. The moment that her sword shone, Liu Feng backed down a few paces so that he could avoid any attack that woulde at him. Awooo! The frequencies of the howls were increasing. Whatever happened, caused this beast to howl more and be more active. Liu Feng looked up. Liu Man mentioned something about the moon going down, and in the horizon, the sun was alreadying up. It took a while for everyone to perform all their tricks after all, so much of the night had passed. And with the first rays of sunlight hitting the face of theke, the silver shine of theke immediately disappeared. All of the young masters who were using theke to stand on it immediately fell into the water, dunked in. "The sun is here!" the Pavilion Master noticed, aghast. Immediatley, she looked away, toward the manor. Whatever was in there was definitely going toe out, for two people to say the same thing. Aaargh! The sound of a woman crying out in pain could be heard. The Pavilion Master looked at her two subordinates with worry, and saw that it was Min Wan''s opponent that was screaming for help. And the reason: Liu Man was attacking her. The Pavilion Master looked around. If Liu Man was free, that meant that his opponent either retreated or... "She didn''t retreat." the Pavilion Master''s eyes became misty as they fell on the corner of the gardens that surrounded theke. The body of a womany there, but it was not the young, beautiful woman that Liu Man faced. The face on it was old, wrinkled, and yet the clothes remained the same. This was her true form. "You killed her? You bastard! How could you kill her?" the Pavilion Master suddenly showed off her incredible aura. This was the true power of someone in the Peak of the Soul Evolution Stage. But it was toote. Aaargh! The second woman screamed as she fell down to the ground, a gaping hole right next to her heart, where the dantian resided. This was different from Min Wan, whose hole was in the stomach. With this woman''s dantian gone, she was no longer a cultivator. Even if she recovered, which she could not, she would never be able to be one again. Liu Man smiled as he turned around, locking eyes with the Pavilion Master. In his fair facey two nk, expressionless eyes. "You seem to have something else to worry about." Liu Man pointed to the Manor in the distance. Liu Feng looked at it as well, and they all found something different. The top of the Manor was now gone! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 293 Moon Devourer The Pavilion Master''s face was ashen. She lost two pirs of the sect, and now, whatever was within the manor had escaped. She looked around, no longer concerned with Liu Feng. Whatever escaped frightened her more. Liu Man chuckled as he looked at Min Wan. "You are injured and you have overexerted yourself. I suggest you just recover a little more, because what ising next is not a fight." Liu Man smiled. "Who are you? How did Liu Feng get to know you, and how the hell is he so strong? He took just two years to get to the tinum stage? How is that possible?" Min Wan asked. "There are a lot of interesting secrets in the world. I am afraid that you can''t know all of them." Liu Man snickered as he looked at the Pavilion Master. "Are you scared? I think that your sect did a lot to him, and now that he is out, he is going to have quite some fun with you lot." he smiled. "What do you know about him?" "I know that he came out at the right time. To think that so many things are happening at the same time, looks like this is the time for the entire world to turn on its heels." Liu Feng felt a sharp chill behind his back, and he swiftly moved to the left. From his right nk, he felt a gust of wind. Something just passed him, and it was so fast that he could not even see a blur. It was exponentially faster than him! That was the first time that he felt that inferior in speed since he transformed in the Dragon Gate. Looking forward, he saw that the Pavilion Master had arge shield in her hands, circr, and silver like the very moon, and a shadow in front of it. The shadow wasrge, and this close to it, Liu Feng could see it. With frightening ws, a jaw that seemed like it could tear apart even the strongest steel, and most importantly, red eyes that threatened to kill everything in the world. The only time that Liu Feng ever felt fear like this was when he faced Liu Man once, after the transformation. It was a wolf that was in front of him, a wolf that looked like it wanted to devour everything in front of it. It was blocked by the shield, but the fear in the Pavilion Master''s eyes was apparent. The wolf would easily tear her apart given time. The wolf suddenly morphed, and it entered the human form. Even in the human form the aura exuded caused Liu Feng to shudder. The wolf-man turned around, and when his red eyesnded on Liu Feng, Liu Feng instinctively raised his spear defensively. The manughed, but no sound came out. Frowning, he then did something unpredictable. His hand went right into his throat, spewing blood everywhere, and he removed something from within. They seemed to be vocal chords? The hole in his throat closed instantly, and the man started coughing. This time, there was sounding out. And then, he looked back at Liu Feng. "That scent thates from you. It looks like you are something a little like me. A heaven defier. I can smell it off you, the will to suppress the heavens itself." the man said, and in an instant, he appeared just inches away from Liu Feng. "He must be talking about the Heaven Suppressing art? The rune that was formed?" Liu Feng wondered. "Ah! To think that you also have the Heaven Devouring Art. You are really the best person to wee me into the world. I was worried that I would have to face the disgusting smell of the heavens, but this is a nice wee after a long time." the man smiled. "Yue Zhe, you are making my friend a little ufortable. Can you back off a little bit?" Liu Man suddenly said, looking at the man with no fear apparent in his eyes. That was obvious though, considering that he was the white tiger himself. "Ah! You have to be kidding me. Just when I thought that this was a good time, youe here and ruin this nice atmosphere." the man, Yue Zhe, grumbled as he looked at Liu Man. "Just how rotten is my luck. After thousands of years, stuck in that hole that some bastards trapped me in, Ie out in the generation that the constetionse out? I don''t ept it." Yue Zhe stomped on the ground, and the entire foundation of the garden shook. The Pavilion Master, looking at this, could just notprehend what was happening. Liu Man looked like he knew this terrifying creature well, and the wolf took a liking to Liu Feng? She was as good as dead if she didn''t turn tail and run immediately. "If you even think about moving, I will show you all of the pain and torture that your sect has shown me, but I will condense it down to your lifetime. You will beg me to kill you, and you will understand the pain that I have felt." Yue Zhe looked at the Pavilion Master with a terrifying re. The Pavilion Master froze on the spot, not daring to move anymore. Yue Zhe was faster than she was, and no matter what she did, she would not be able to outrun the monster in front of her. Liu Feng also calmed himself. "Who are you? A millennia-old beast wolf that even Liu Man knows? Just what kind of existence are you?" Liu Feng asked. "Looks like we have the curious little boy here." Yue Zhe chuckled. Seeing someone call him a little boy pissed Liu Feng, but the opposing part was thousands of years old. "People call me the Moon Devourer, and I have been trying to devour the Heaven''s previous little trinket for longer than this one has existed." he beckoned at Liu Man. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 294 [Bonus Chapter]Sect Protecting Array "What?" Liu Feng was shocked. And above, the sky was as well. Even as the sun wasing up, its rays were blocked as ck clouds suddenly covered the sky. "The moment that Ie out, the heavens just could not resist, could it. But do you really want to anger me? The moment you strike me down, the chains that you have put on me will be torn apart, and I wille after you for eternity!" Yue Zhe shouted at the sky. As if the heavens heard him, the clouds retreated. Looking at this, Liu Feng was bbergasted. The heavens actually retreated? To the words of this beast? This was the true definition of heaven defying! No one in the entire world could make the heavens itself retreat! That was just impossible! And yet, this man did it. "Haha. I knew that those viinous heavens were not willing to double down. A bunch of cowards. Now then, onto business. Let me just take have a nice- Hmm? Who is that in the background?" Yue Zhe stopped and suddenly reached forward. "Mercy! Mercy!" a gentle voice came from the background. Liu Feng recognized that voice. It was the old woman who had received Liu Feng and Liu Man. "So they had four Soul Evolution Experts! Not three! Guess even Liu Man can be wrong sometimes." Liu Feng thought to himself. The Pavilion Master nced at the old woman, and the old woman nodded back. That gave Liu Feng a terrifying thought. They were within foreign grounds. Surely, a sect with foundations as deep as the Moon Pavilion would have a sect defending array that could easily take care of them. He looked at Liu Man. "We have to be careful. They are nning something. We are in another sect after all." he transmitted to Liu Man and Min Wan. Liu Man just smiled. "Even if they are going to try anything, it will just lead to the whole sect falling down after all. This sect is doomed to be destroyed today. They just made the wrong decisions a long time ago." Liu Man chuckled. Liu Feng was confused, but the spear was still in his hands, and he looked around with apprehension. "Whatever you do, it is toote. We have been preparing for this for ages. Although it is heartbreaking that we lost a few on the way, all of you will die today." the Pavilion Master grinned as she suddenly made a seal with her hands. Theke swallowed up every single young master within it, and all of them disappeared instantly. It was just the Pavilion Master, the old woman, Liu Feng, Liu Man, Min Wan and Yue Zhe left. Liu Feng nced at theke one more time, and nodded with respect. "Whatever is happening, you still n forter. Looks like you just cannot afford to offend so many sects by letting their best die here." Liu Feng said, chuckling. "So many words for someone who is about to die. Why don''t you justy down, boy? You have done enough for today." the face of the Pavilion Master was the exact opposite of calm, with a wide, joker-like smile stered on her face. The scenery changed. Even though the sun had already risen, the sky was getting darker. Whatever surrounded the sect, creating a boundary, was also covering the sky now, and soon, darkness enveloped the sect, and the only way to see was using divine sense. The Pavilion Master performed another seal, and a source of light appeared in the fake sky that was created. It was a moon, and the moment it appeared, a giant howl came from Liu Feng''s side. It was Yue Zhe. Looking straight at the moon, he howled like it was eating him from the inside out. "I forgot that you have thatpulsion. Here, take this. It should help you with that." Liu Man sighed softly and threw the red ball at Yue Zhe. In an instant, the red ball appeared in Yue Zhe''s hand, and he gulped it without hesitating. "I have been waiting too long to be reunited with this. Although this hag here dared think that I would actually bind myself to servitude just for this. Do you think that I needed a core that much? I can survive without one." Yue Zhe chuckled. He did not move toward the Pavilion Master though, because now, there was a slight barrier in front of her and the old woman that was now standing right next to her. They both looked at the four on the opposing end with cold eyes. "This is what will happen if you go against the Moon Pavilion." the Pavilion Master said with a cold voice and she made one final seal with her hands. Liu Feng felt a strong sensation from his right. His spear immediately transformed into a shield. Ethereal Shield arts! He held the shield firmly and held it to his right, and lo and behold, a ray of light struck the shield, pushing Liu Feng to the left a few feet. This was a strong attack! To push Liu Feng a few feet meant that the attack came from a source that was equal to the seventhyer of the Soul Evolution Stage. "They activated the Sect protecting array!" Liu Feng said. "Don''t worry too much about it. This madman here won''t let them live any longer. By now, he should be sick of this array." Liu Man chuckled. Yue Zhe looked different. Even in the human form, a few elements of his true appearance started appearing. His eyes glowed red, and his hands had razor sharp ws. He suddenly disappeared from where he stood, appearing inches away from the Pavilion Master, and attacking the barrier in front of them. The barrier rippled, but it stood strong. "You can''t touch us, but we can kill you," the pavilion master smiled. "I will see about that." Yue Zhe smiled, looking like the monster that he was. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 295 Decimation Yue Zhe transformedpletely into the fifty feet monster that he was before. His ck fur did not reflect any light at all, and it was like looking at a shadow. The pitch darkness of his mane suddenly spread from him, and the area around him, including where the Pavilion Master and the old woman stood, suddenly could not be seen. Liu Feng retreated as the darkness approached him, but it soon stopped spreading. It was a ball now. A ball of pitch darkness covering Yue Zhe, the Pavilion Master, and the old woman. Liu Man looked at this and smiled. "This is the true difference in power. No matter what stupid restrictions the Realm of Beginnings has, there is no way that a mere Soul Evolution Stage cultivator can hold even a candle to the existence that is Yue Zhe." he chuckled. "What is that power? It does not feel like a skill. It feels like an innate ability that he seems to have? This domain of darkness that devours everything." Liu Feng muttered. "You are right. It is exactly that. A domain. In his case, it is a domain of darkness. In my case, well you''ll find outter. But your case, I am also interested in finding out. But obtaining a domain means that you have aplished something great in your life. Either you havepletely understood a dao, or you have gotten to an exceedingly high point in the martial path." Liu Man said. "What point did Yue Zhe get to? An existence beyond the Soul Transformation stage?" Liu Feng asked. He already faced an existence within the Soul Transformation stage in the Tiger king of the forest of dreams. But even the tiger king, with the ability to form illusions, did not give Liu Feng the sensation that he was feeling right now, looking at Yue Zhe. "He will kill you for thinking of him so low. Only beyond the Soul Transformation stage? What do you think he is? He isn''t that weak!" Liu Man shook his head and chuckled. Cough! Liu Feng looked to the side and saw that Min Wan was sitting down in the gardens that werepletely shaken down, trying to expel the impurities that had umted in her body during the time that she was controlled. He flew to her side and put his hand behind her back, controlling her flow of Qi, and directing his own into her body so that she could quicken her healing process. Her eyebrows quivered slightly as Liu Feng''s hand touched her back, but she did not say anything, and kept circting Qi within her body. With Yue Zhe taking care of the two within his domain, the sect protecting array also didn''t seem to be doing much. Whatever was happening in there, it was affecting the outside a lot. After a few minutes, Min Wan looked healthy once more. Sure, she would always need more time to adjust from that experience, but at this situation, this was the best that she could get. She opened her eyes and looked at Liu Feng. "Just what happened to you over thest few years?" she asked, her voice soft. "You are asking me? I had it fine off. You were the one that was controlled by this maniac who wanted to trade you in exchange for control over some monster." Liu Feng asked. Above them, all of a sudden, the moon above started fading away, and the night was turning into day. Whatever the Pavilion Master did before was being undone, and the protection of the sect was slowly disappearing. "We should talk about what happenedter. It looks like all of this is finallying to an end." Liu Feng said as he stood up, standing in front of Min Wan, with his spear unleashed. "Was he always this strong? How did I go from the woman who was saving him from that dragon to the woman who had to be saved by him from very?" Min Wan thought as she looked at Liu Feng, who stayed there, standing strong. The domain of darkness was slowly disappearing, and the first thing that they saw was Yue Zhe in his human form. As for the old woman and the Pavilion Master, they were both nowhere to be seen. All they could see was blood on the hands of Yue Zhe, and nothing more. "So all that remained of them was their blood? Just what happened in there? That darkness blocked off everything, and I couldn''t see what happened but it looks like those two suffered a fate worse than death in there." Liu Feng thought to himself. "Alright. One thing is over. Guess I have to start with the other. I suggest that you guys leave. You helped me escape, so I will give you a pass right now. You can leave. I have an entire sect to demolish." Yue Zhe smiled at Liu Feng. "Don''t go overboard, and stop cursing at the heavens too much. Liu Feng, it is time for us to go. We got what we wanted, and you have your woman safe. Let us go." Liu Man said as he flew toward them both. Min Wan blushed, hearing what Liu Man said. But Liu Feng did not react, and he turned around. "He is right. We have to go now. Better outside and safe at this time." he said, reaching out his hand. ----------------------------------- "Master! Master!" a loud voice suddenly broke a tranquil atmosphere in a nice garden that was facing the sunrise. "What happened? Why are you in such a hurry?" an old man, wrinkled, and looking like he was a step in his grave, was on a bed, staring at the sun. "It''s done, master! The n was unsessful! The Moon Devourer has been released. The old man suddenly got up, turning his head. "The Moon Pavilion then?" "Destroyed, Master." "That is a pity. I thought that I would be able to use them." the old man shook his head andid back down. "What a pity." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 296 The Aftermath Liu Man, Liu Feng and Min Wan retreated to the perimeter of the sect. Seeing that the entire boundary of the sect was suddenly copsing, they had the easy way out. They just passed through the cracks, and when they dide out, they saw that the young masters of thepetition were all here. Many of them had talismans in their hands, calling upon their reinforcements. The second prince was at the very back, his face as ugly as it could get. He came here to im the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen as a bride, and he even brought a treasure from the royal treasury for it. He had to beg his father to let him get that, and in exchange, he would get the Moon Pavilion''s support as well. Or at least, that was what he thought would happen. Instead, the Moon Pavilion lost two of their Soul Evolution Experts, and some monster escaped and was hunting down the pavilion? When they were brought out, they thought that the Moon Pavilion finally was going to retaliate, but in a matter of minutes, the sect''s boundaries suddenly started copsing. This could only mean one thing. The core of the sect was now destroyed. The core, that was supposed to be on the Pavilion Master, was destroyed. The Pavilion Master was dead. Thinking about the fact that an existence at the Peak of the Soul Evolution Stage was now dead frightened him. The fight didn''t evenst a few minutes. And for a fight of that magnitude, the entire ground was supposed to shake, and yet, none of that happened. It was a one sided massacre, in his opinion. After all of that, he saw three peoplee out of the sect. The three people who changed everything that was supposed to happen. And somehow, he managed to offend all of them. The first thing that Liu Feng did when he saw the second prince was smile at him. After so many haughty dialogues on him, on Liu Man, and the way he manipted Min Wan behind the scenes, now he was covering. "How are you doing there, Your Highness. Why don''t you ask us to kneel now?" Liu Feng asked cheerfully. All blood drained from the second prince''s blood. He retreated back. "Don''t you dare touch me. My seniors areing, and if anything happens to me, then you will be locked in an all out war with the royal family for touching a prince before the session wars." the second prince hastily said, retreating a step. "What are you talking about?" Liu Feng smiled, and he took a single step forward. But with that single step, it felt like he traveled a mile. He appeared in front of the second prince instantly, and whispered in his ear. "Why would I hurt my dear second prince? He is so harmless, why would I need to care about someone who won''t even be able to touch me?" Liu Feng chuckled. "I heard that your backers are the Hong family? Well, just remember. You have four in the Hong family, I think? Well, the Green Gale tiger will take care of one, and I am sure that your dear family cannot resist the full on attacks of four Soul Evolution Experts of our level." he smiled and said. The second prince felt shivers behind his back as he took another step back. "Don''t worry. Why are you so afraid? How can a prince who was so confident about bing the king be so cowardly? You should know that eventually, when the timees, your battle will have to be fought by you. And when the timees, will you even daree in front of me?" Liu Feng asked, sneering at him. "Ge-get away." fear was apparent in his eyes. He took out another talisman from his spatial ring and immediately burned it. The paper burned with a red me, and Liu Feng frowned. Suddenly, he looked up. In the distance, there was a small dot that was getting closer and closer. "It looks like you really are a coward. Went crying off you daddy? Getting a helper toe so fast." Liu Feng shook his head, mocking the second prince. "When the timees, it will be your head that will roll. I will make sure of it." the second prince grit his teeth. "Do you really think that some random Soul Evolution Expert can stop me? Think again. I could stop the Pavilion Master, do you think that I can''t stop your friend here? And do not forget, I have two others behind me." Liu Feng smiled. "Halt! Who are you? How dare you approach His Highness and not kneel?" arge voice came from the man that suddenlynded here. This middle aged man with ck hair, blue eyes, and a sparkling face looked too good to be a side character. "Such a pity that someone like you has to go under this coward." Liu Feng shook his head. "What did you say? How dare you call the prince a coward. Kneel, you mannerless brat!" the man shouted at Liu Feng, and exerted his pressure as a Soul Evolution Stage expert. But Liu Feng just stood there, unfazed. "You have to be serious. Is that really all that you''ve got? Really?" Liu Feng shook his head, and he snapped his fingers. Boom! Immediately, everyone around, the young masters, the second master, and even the man who was standing there suddenly fell on the ground. The man was caught off-guard, not thinking that this young man could actually do something to him. "This bastard is in the seventhyer of the Soul Evolution Stage. You have to be careful with him." the second prince was barely able to say, when he suddenly closed his eyes, and fell on the ground. "He fainted? That was quick. I would think that he would have a little more will power." Liu Feng shook his head. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 297 Divine Yin The Soul Evolution Expert quickly recovered, and he red at Liu Feng with hatred. "I will make you pay the next time." he grit his teeth and picked up the second prince to leave the ce. Seeing him flee, Liu Feng only chuckled and did not concern himself. He didn''t care about those two. They were not people of significance. But he did want to wait to see what would happen to a sect that had withstood the test of time, only to see its downfall today. The sect was visibly falling apart. What Liu Feng did not see was anyone crossing the boundary. He did feel bad for all those disciples who were a part of the sect, but they made the wrong choice and he wasn''t strong enough to save them. Seeing the ce slowly crumble, he sighed. "On a second thought, better just leave. Why look at this ce and think about it." Liu Feng shook his head and nced at Liu Man and Min Wan. "Let us go?" he asked. "Where to? We don''t exactly have much to do, at least until the session wars start." Liu Man shrugged. "Or we could get rid of enemies like we did the Moon Pavilion. Let us take care of the Hong family first?" Liu Feng asked. "You are turning out to be more and more ruthless. To think that your first thought would be killing your opponents, instead of growing stronger." Liu Man said. "I-" "I like it. Let us go to Kaishi first then, and convince that Green Gale tiger that his stage is elsewhere. And girl, what are you nning on doing next? You better show some respect to the people who saved you and help us out. A soul evolution expert of the fifthyer, a good addition, that will be." Liu Man clicked his tongue. "When did his manners be so coarse? He used to be so soft-spoken." Liu Feng thought in his mind. Min Wan, meanwhile, just nodded, her eyes dazed, and her thoughts elsewhere. Snap! A snap of the fingers brought her back to this world. "What are you thinking about?" Liu Feng asked. He was right next to her, and leaned in. "Nothing. It is just, I think that I have to leave for a while. There are a few people that I have to take care of. People that dared betray me, they should not live a happy life." Min Wan said. "Those people from the City of Heavens? Why did they betray you?" Liu Feng asked. "For money, power,nd, what else is there?" Min Wan said. "How long will it take for you to take care of them? I remember the City of Heavens. The people within them, they were not exactly that strongpared to you. Only a surprise attack would have done any real damage to you." Liu Man said. "They poisoned my food and slipped that disgusting bug into my body so that they could control me." Min Wan said. "Good, then what you were thinking is right. You should go and teach them a lesson, while me and Liu Feng go to Kaishi to get that tiger out of there. When that is over, and if you ever feel bored, the capital city is going to be a fun ce." Liu Man grinned and he started flying. "Where are you going already?" Liu Feng asked, shouting at a departing Liu Man. "Where do you think? Better catch the Hong family in surprise before they know it. Are youing, or going to chat with your girlfriend there?" Liu Man shouted back. Liu Feng grumbled as he alsounched himself into the air, and in an instant, both of them disappeared, leaving Min Wan alone with all those young masters. She looked forward with a sorrowful face. "Just what happened? How did he get so strong? I thought that I was a genius, and yet in these two years, I couldn''t even increase my cultivation by a single minor realm." she thought to herself. "What are you thinking about, youngdy?" a sound came from her side. She yelped as she jumped to her left. This sudden voice crept undetected. Who was it? "How could you do that to me, Young Lady. If a beautiful woman like you suddenly reacts like that, then how will I feel?" the voice said. "You- you are the wolf that destroyed the sect!" she pointed at the man, "Ah! That is a thing of the past. Must we dwell on that?" Yue Zhe scratched his head and smiled. "What do you want?" she asked, confused. This man was stronger than anyone she had ever seen before, and was probably the strongest in the entire kingdom if not this world where the Soul Evolution Stage was the peak. Of course she would be confused as to why he was even making conversation with her. "You see, the thing is, I have absolutely nothing to do. I killed everyone in the sect for revenge. As for right now, I am free, but going on vacation is a new thing for me. I can''t exactly go look at the same things over and over again, can I? No, the more interesting things are humans." Yue Zhe chuckled. "Too bad, that interesting boy is right next to Baidu. What a stupidbination. A child of heavens next to one that is destined to be smitten by it. But what can we do? But you are an interesting woman yourself, youngdy. You have a Divine Yin Constitution. It is a pity that your virginity was taken though, or you would have been able to do so much more." Yue Zhe shook his head. "A Divine Yin Constitution? What are you talking about?" Min Wan was confused. "Ah, let us have this conversation elsewhere. There are so many prying eyes here." Yue Zhe shook his head as he red at the young masters, who immediately froze up when they looked at this terrifying person. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 298 Hong Family It was a dark and musty hall. Carvings of dragons, phoenixes, and other mythical beasts were stered on the walls. The hall was huge. It went forward about fifty feet, and was vast enough to house thousands of people. There was a seven feet wide corridor that bordered the entire hall, and beyond that, in the center of the hall, were thrones. True thrones decorated this hall. Each throne was exquisitely crafted. Carvings that depicted stories of warriors, of beasts that defied the heavens, and of a singr man rising above all else. Every single throne had a different story, and every single throne was probably as expensive as the throne''s weight in gold. But what made each of them worth more were the jewels that stered them. They were not just shining crystals that reflected light that shone upon them. They were monster cores that shone brightly on their own. But every single throne was empty. Every single one, but the one that was at the head of the hall. At the very front of the hall was a throne that was raised above every other throne, and this one was even more majestic. If anyone were here, they would think that this throne was for the king himself, for the one who ruled above every one else. The throne was massive, but the seat itself was normal. With extravagant decorations making the throne taller and wider, it looked like a throne made for a giant, and then adjusted for a human. And on this throne, a middle-aged man sat, his eyes closed, his left hand supporting his head from falling. "Family master! Family master! Something terrible has happened!" a sudden voice came from the depths of the other end of the hall as the two doors to this throne room creaked open and a plump man started running toward the man on the other end. Opening his cold and distant eyes, he gazed upon the person who had just arrived. "What was so terrible that you disturbed me from my sleep for?" a loud and booming voice echoed within the entire hall. "Forgive me, Family head, but this really is a matter of such importance. The entire Moon Pavilion is no more! We have just received word from Hong Yu that the second prince was in mortal danger, but has now been saved by his helper from the pce. There was a lot that happened during the event in the Moon Pavilion." the plump man said. "The Moon Pavilion is no more? borate, you fool. Talk clearly." the Family Master shouted. "Yes, master. A beast has apparently escaped, and has wrecked havoc in the sect,pletely destroying it. All four Soul Evolution Experts of the Pavilion have reportedly died, and the people responsible for this were apparently called Liu Feng, Liu Man, and the other was was the Moon Princess herself." the plump man said as he bowed his head down. He was terrified of this man that he called the family master. No one wanted to be the person who had to wake up this madman, but he had to assume the job because he had no other choice! "Has Hong Yu returned? To the family? Where is he?" the family master asked. "He is on the way. A mount has been sent to pick him up, and I have received message that the young master has gotten on the beast toe this way." the plump man nodded. "And is the beast still there?" "I am not sure, Family Master. I did not receive any information regarding that." the plump man said. "You fool!" a sudden pressure descended from the family master, and it swept the plump man away. He crashed into the wall that was almost forty feet away, and immediately blew into bits of blood and skin. "Ah! I forgot that he was just in the Foundation Establishment stage, the fool." the family head shook his head. He then tilted his head to his left. "We need to go to the Moon Pavilion. Assemble everyone. We need to salvage whatever is left of that ce. It is still one of thergest sects of the kingdom, and it hassted longer than we have. I need to know the secrets that lie in there." he said. "As you wish, family master." a deep voice came from the shadows in the corner, but there was no one there! It was truly too mysterious. "And find out who this Liu Feng and Liu Man are. They dare do something that is detrimental to the Hong family? They better pay the price. For too long, the Hong family was passive because of some kitten that threatened us and people start thinking that they can actually match us? Send a few Xiantian experts to teach them both a lesson and hang them in the capital to show everyone what will happen to those who dare go against us." "As you wish. Should I go there myself?" "Yes. That is for the best. Atleast the job will be done." the family master nodded. Swoosh! He then got up, stretching his limbs, and looked forward. All of a sudden, a middle aged man appeared with an unconscious young man in his hands. He dropped the young man on the floor, and fell to the floor on his knees himself, coughing out blood. "What the hell happened, for someone like you to be so injured? Did you meet the beast yourself?" the family headughed. "No. I met that bastard that caused all of this. He is in the seventhyer of the Soul Evolution stage. I still don''t know how someone so young can be so powerful. We need to be careful about this person." the man said, coughing out more blood. But all the blood on the Family master''s face drained. "He is in the Soul Evolution stage? But I just sent the goddamn leader of my shadow guards to take care of him!" he eximed. "Call it off! We can''t afford to go into an all out war when you already have that Green Gale Tiger that hates you to the bone!" "You fool! I can''t call of an attack given to the Shadow guard! That is why they don''t carry any talismans. They don''tmunicate with the outside world till theyplete their task. "Good then. That guard of yours is as good as dead." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 299 Back In Kaishi Liu Feng and Liu Man were strolling in wide, popted streets, cool as coconuts. It had been a while since they were as rxed as they were right now. There was not a single person around them who wanted to kill them. It was just them and their surroundings. Nothing else to do. "Been a while since we were like this, I think. I mean, thest few years, especially in the Forest of Dreams. That ce gives me nightmares." Liu Feng shuddered. "That reminds me. Why did you suddenly decide to heal that scar on your eye? I thought that you wanted to keep it, but one day, all of a sudden, it disappeared." Liu Man asked. "Wait, what? My scar disappeared?" Liu Feng touched his eye, and realised that the scar was gone. The scratch marks that marked that battle he had that day was gone. "I wasn''t there, but the tiger king told me that you struggled quite a bit to win that day. And you almost lost." Liu Man said. "It was a terrifying match indeed. But it helped me understand how to use all of the skills that I have properly. Especially that one." Liu Feng nodded as his eyes were distracted by a delicious looking box of steam dumplings. "You should not be so attached to the mortal pleasures of life. Sooner orter, you will have to give them up." Liu Man said. "Why would I have to give them up? The mortal pleasures are what make me human." Liu Feng said. He already went to the stand and took a box to start gourging himself in the delicious dumplings. "We aren''t here for vacation!" veins popped on Liu Man''s forehead as he shook his head. "I don''t get what you are so angry about. I mean, we have time. A few minutes won''t change anything. You changed way too much since we went to that realm of yours. I seriously doubt that going helped you." Liu Feng shook his head as he took another box. "We have to go now. You should stop eating so much." Liu Man said. "You are so irritating." Liu Feng shook his head as he patted his robes and then checked his spatial ring. All of a sudden, he realized that he didn''t have any money on him. "Don''t tell me that you don''t have any money, mister. I will make you work here day and night if I find out that you are not going to pay." the vendor behind the stands said with an angry face. Liu Feng was rude enough to grab the boxes and start eating, and if he didn''t pay, then the vendor wouldn''t have it. "I will pay for him. Or else, this cker will actually stay here and wash the dishes for you." Liu Man sighed and threw a low grade spirit stone toward the vendor. The eyes of the vendor shone as he quickly pocketed the stone, lest people saw him have possession of it. "Do you wish to have any more dumplings, sir?" the manners of the vendor took a whole three sixty turn. He looked at Liu Feng and Liu Man with respect. "Nothing for now." Liu Feng chuckled and shook his head. Both of them kept walking. "You don''t have anyone here, if I am not wrong. I mean, your father is not here anymore. And your real father who was disguised as your mother, well I don''t need to tell you how weird that is, but he is also not here. So then, are we going to go to the Liu Manor?" Liu Man asked. "Nope. I don''t think that we should go there. I don''t have any attachments to the ce, and staying there will only give me some stupid obligations, and people wille see me, all that stuff. Let us go directly to the city lord''s mansion." Liu Feng said. "Thank god you have your priorities in your mind." Liu Man nodded, and he swiftly disappeared. "Why do you have to move so fast? I mean, its a small city. Walking around this ce, enjoying the little things, what''s wrong in that?" Liu Feng shook his head as he also disappeared, following after Liu Man. Both of them appeared sessively after one another in front of arge gate. This was the gate of the City Lord''s mansion. There were guards everywhere, and seeing two people suddenly appear, they went to action. "Who are you? Why are you here?" they asked. "We are here to meet the City Lord. Tell him that we are old friends from the battle a year and half ago." Liu Feng said. "You im to be friends with the City Lord? What is your name? I will go ask the city lord myself." one of the guards on top of the walls on the side asked. "Liu Feng. Tell him that I am Liu Qian''s son." Liu Feng shouted at the guard. The guard nodded and he jumped down the walls with rtive ease and went into the city lord''s mansion. "Ah! There was a time when I walked around these walls and actually thought that this was such a terrifying existence within the city, with guards in the Core Formation stage. How naive I was then. I mean, it is still a big deal to have Core Formation stage cultivators here." Liu Feng thought to himself. As he turned around, looking at life in Kaishi go its way, a voice became from the side, in one of the streets that led to the City Lord''s mansion. "By God! Liu Feng! Is that you? How long has it been since I saw you? I think I haven''t seen you since you went to the Sky Heavens sect without even saying good bye!" Liu Feng turned around to look at who the faintly familiar voice belonged to. It was a face that he knew, because it was the first face that he saw when he came to this world. "Uncle Du?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 300 An Assassin? "Where have you disappeared for a whole year and half, you cheeky boy? For a moment there, I even thought that you were getting married!" Uncle Duughed heartily as he approached Liu Feng. Liu Feng faltered for a second. It had been a while since he saw this man who got him out of that cave that he stayed in. This was the man that might have saved him from craziness. Seeing him again brought back old memories. "Come. Let us go and get a drink while we talk about everything that has been going on." Uncle Duughed as he approached Liu Feng, putting his arm around Liu Feng. "I am sorry, Uncle Du, but I think that I have to go now. There is something that I must do. But surely, I will have the drink when I am free." Liu Feng nodded. At this moment, he agreed with Liu Man. He couldn''t let too many things distract him. Sure, the dumpling took up a few minutes, but if he started meeting people he knew a long time ago, then it would take forever. "It wasn''t a question, you stupid boy." suddenly, the face of Uncle Du changed. A wicked smile appeared on his face, and the face melted. This was not Uncle Du, but someone else disguised as him. "This is why I told you not to be too attached. If you had let everything go, then you would have noticed the moment youid his eyes upon him, that he was in the Soul Formation stage." Liu Man sighed. "I should have noticed." Liu Feng nodded. This mysterious man who was disguised as Uncle Du was confused. But he came here with a purpose. He had a knife in his hands that was pressed against Liu Feng''s neck. "Why don''t both of youe with me? I think that you will have a nice time." he said. "Ah! Sirs! The city lord said that both of you cane in!" the guard who went in first suddenly came running toward them. Liu Feng looked at Liu Man and nodded. st! Blood Sttered everywhere. A headless corpse fell to the ground. "Well, that was disgusting. Which faction is he from?" Liu Feng wondered as he ruffled through the man''s clothing, but nothing could be found. He took the spatial ring and looked through it. "And would you look at that. Guess who attacked us?" Liu Feng smiled as he took out an item from the spatial ring. "The Hong family?" "Yep. The Hong family." Liu Feng nodded as he showed Liu Man an insignia with one character on it: Hong. "How stupid can they be? Do they not know that I am in the Soul Evolution Stage? Why would they send a stupid Xiantian realm assassin for me?" Liu Feng shook his head and sighed. "Well then. Now that you know that they have crossed a line, let us do something interesting for once. Let us go to their base and have some fun with their men. Let us go ahead and start your bloody path to the throne." Liu Man smiled as he looked at the open gate. All of the guards looked at Liu Feng with open jaws. What they just witnessed was truly horrifying. This boy killed the person he called Uncle? "He was an assassin. Nothing more." Liu Feng pointed at the headless corpse and shook his head. He could see those judging faces and terrified faces. He didn''t want to leave with people thinking that he was a heartless killer. The guard who came running here looked at the two guests and was about to step forward to guide them, when Liu Feng stopped them. "Don''t worry. It''s not my first time here. I think I can find my way to the city lord." both of them vanished, and the guards looked around with surprise and shock. "If they could do that all this time, then why didn''t they just go straight to the city lord? Why did they stop for guards who couldn''t even stop them?" a young guard on the walls asked. His voice was still trembling as he saw a man suddenly have his head explode into a thousand smithereens. "You should not think about stuff like that. Just remember. We are men of the city lord. The city lord is so powerful that no one in the entire city dares go against him. And even more important, the guardian beast of the entire city is here!" an older and more experienced guard said. --------- Liu Feng and Liu Man were in a separate space of the city lord''s mansion where no one was present. Just Liu Feng, Liu Man, a smallke, and a person sitting by theke. "Ah! Both of you are here! I have been waiting for your arrival!" the man by theke turned around and gave a gentle smile toward both of them. "I guess you have heard thetest news." "Who hasn''t? It has been a whole day since it happened. Every single major sect has been talking about the two young geniuses in the Soul Evolution Stage who conspired with a wicked beast to destroy the Moon Pavilion." the man chuckled. "So that is the story that is going around? Now isn''t that disconcerting?" Liu Feng shook his head, but there was not a trace of worry on his face. "It has been a while since Ist saw you, son of Liu Qian. And since that time, you have grown to a level where even I cannot see through you. Truly a genius." the man shook his head. "I wouldn''t have gotten to this position without your help, or the pond we have here, city lord." Liu Feng cupped his hands. "Well then. Go on, I know who you came for. Go and meet him." the city lord beckoned. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 301 Meeting The Green Gale Tiger Again Liu Feng and Liu Man nodded, and they approached the water. The water separated because of the intense pressure that both of them exerted. As they went deeper into the water, a bubble formed around them naturally. A pocket of air, where water did not dare flow. Without even getting wet, they proceeded down the pond. The Spirit Jade Pond gave Liu Feng fond memories. It was where he awakened Liu Man, and was where he got this helper who got him to where he was right now. "This ce is truly a wonder. Just the aura from that tiger alone makes this ce a haven for spiritual masters. Too bad, there are not any of them within the Realm of Beginnings." Liu Man shook his head. "Spiritual Masters? Who are they?" Liu Feng asked. He was obviously interested in this sudden subject. "Don''t worry. You shouldn''t concern yourself with it immediately. When we get to the Ancient realm, everything will be clear." Liu Man said. "Urgh! I just want all that knowledge that you have stored in that constetion of yours all to myself. These cryptic things you say, they irritate me so much." Liu Feng grumbled. Liu Man chuckled as they went deeper. Back then, when he was here for the first time, at the time he was this deep, the pressure was too much for him to handle, and he had to use the Heaven Devouring Art to use the Qi and heal himself. Now though, the pressure of the water wasn''t even enough to cause a ripple in the bubble that he made for himself to stay dry. They reached a familiar barrier that stopped them from going forward. This time, Liu Feng stretch his Divine Sense forward. He could sense a whole other world there. "What are you here for, child? Oh? The great Baidu as well? Please,e in." the barrier suddenly parted, letting Liu Feng and Liu Man enter. But the water stayed out, and Liu Feng could see runes shimmer on the surface here as well. "These runes are so mysterious. To create a barrier like this. I need to study these runes sooner orter." Liu Feng shook his head. As they passed through the barrier, whaty here was a mini world in itself. The gardens, the shimmering blue ceiling, it was a nice ce to vacation. And in one corner, there was a cave, and in front of that cave, a tigerid there, with itsrge arms below its huge head, calmly gazing at the two who had just entered. "I wonder why you two are here after so long. I would be yelping with surprise at how fast this young man reached the Soul Evolution stage, if I didn''t know how great Baidu is." Feng Wang said. "We are here for you. I am sure that you know what is going on outside." Liu Man said. "I am not that aware. Thest year, all I have been doing is sleeping, strengthening myself so that I can prepare myself for the war that is toeter on. I don''t have the time toe out whenever I please, and I don''t have the energy either." Feng Wang sighed. "You need to exact your revenge on the Hong family. We will help you with that." Liu Man said. "And I wonder why you would do that to a family that has done nothing to you. I mean, Baidu, I get. Although I do not wish to offend you, your track record hasn''t been spotless in the past. Entire sects wiped out because one person offended you." Feng Wang shook his head. While Liu Feng had an inkling of Liu Man''s terrifying past, hearing about it still made him shudder. But the past was the past. "The Hong family tried to kill me. As I wasing here. So no. They don''t deserve mercy. With or without you, I will have to go to the Hong family and take care of them." Liu Feng nodded. "I think I heard that the Moon Devourer has escaped. I wonder why that is so." Feng Wang suddenly said. "I thought that you didn''t have any contact with the outside world?" Liu Man asked. "But this is a matter that concerns the whole world and its survival. I am afraid that I have to know this stuff. Well, I wonder, did the great White tiger release the Moon Devourer because he was bored." "You don''t need to look at me that way. I am not the same as the old white tiger. I don''t know what your ancestors told you. Anyways, the release of the Moon Devourer was imminent. Even the heavens is not allowed to bind someone to captivity forever. There is a natural order to things, and even the heavens cannot go against that." Liu Man said. "To think that our very own white tiger is saying that. It must be true. After all, he is someone from the heavens, drawing his power from the skies, the domain of the heavens." Feng Wang chuckled. "Laugh all you may. But don''t you dare call me a part of the heavens. Those old fools? They don''t control me. I am a part of that very natural order that corrects things." all of a sudden, a chilling killing intent suddenly enveloped Feng Wang. "I forgot that you are also strong now. To think that you got this strong in a mere Year and a half. The preparations that you made in your previous life were truly over powered, were they?" Feng Wang chuckled. "Are you going to help us or not? I saved your life practically that day, while the Hong family tried to take it. Are youing with us to show them that sometimes, life fights back?" Liu Feng interrupted this squabble. "Haha! I never said I wasn''ting, did I?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 302 Min Wan Deep into the Iron Back Mountains, there was a city. A rtively small city. But no one knew that the city existed. Not many even came to this ce. Although the Iron Back Mountains had the best ores in the entire kingdom, no one wanted toe to this treacherous location where even a single wrong step could lead to their demise. But that was just the mortals. Mortals couldn''te here, and so, there was not a single settlement here. After all, it was undeniable that mortals made the best cities, for they had the best taste among all. And yet, seemingly overnight, an entire city appeared in the depths of the Iron Back Mountains. It was like the Mountain itself was carved so that it could amodate this city on its slope. Whoever did this was strong enough to crush Iron with his hands. Sure, even Core Formation Stage cultivators could do it, but if cultivators like that tried to level half a mountain on their own, then they would die of exhaustion even before the change on the mountain could be seen. So whoever did this was strong enough for this to be done overnight. Within the city itself, it was silent. No shouts, no chatter, it was absolutely silent. People would wonder why such a city would mysteriously appear, and why its inhabitants would suddenly leave this ce. But they would be mistaken. This city was inhabited. But the only ones who stayed here were cultivators. And although these cultivators were also used to a wonderful life of cheerfulughing and joyful streets, all of that changed. The reason for the change? Bad Management. "What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean, the entire Moon Pavilion has been destroyed?" a loud voice reverberated in thergest building in the entire city. The building was at the very center, and was humongous, taking a whole acre of garden space around it. In this city, which was quite small as it was, having any space used like that was exorbitant. And yet no one in the city wouldin. That was because the person within the building, the person who just shouted with anger, was the strongest in the entire city. "Yes, City Lord. I have just received information that the Moon Pavilion was destroyed, and the person who destroyed it... goes by the name Liu Feng." "Liu Feng? Isnt that the name of the puny boy who got us all out of that hell hole?" the city lord was on a throne above everyone else in a hall that was dedicated just for him. There was just a throne for him, and not a single other seat in the entire hall. "Yes, City Lord. I think it is the same person. The Ci- I mean, Min Wan escaped, and she might being toward us." there was a man cowering in front of the city lord. "Do you really think that Min Wan is the true City Lord, Hou Xiang? Do you want me to give you another education?" the city lord raised his eyebrow at the man''s words. Hou Xiang shuddered. He quickly shook his head. "Good. Then you better go and inform everyone that we are preparing for war. So what if she ising here? She is just a young girl. We stood her oppression long enough. Can''t we fight back?" the city lord scoffed. Hou Xiang nodded and he quickly left the room. "Damn it. Do you really think that we had a choice? You did everything, and then all of a sudden, you say that we helped you poison her? She was a much better city lord than you, you bastard." he thought in his head. But he didn''t even dare whisper it, fearing that even the walls around him had ears. He walked to the city, and took a deep breath. He was about to shout something, when suddenly, all voice from his mouth was cut off. No matter how much air he was pushing out, sound wasn''t leaving. Someone powerful was here, and that someone powerful was right next to him. "Oh my dear Hou Xiang. Looks like you are still here." a sweet voice whispered in his ear. But this sweet voice felt only like poison, because he knew who it belonged to. "City Lord!" "You call me city lord? I thought you gave this position to Bai Chen. I wonder how you are liking that." the sweet voice said. "I promise! We didn''t want to do it. It was not us who poisoned you! Bai Chen was the one who did everything, and after you were gone, do you really think we had a choice? He was the only one in the tinum rank. Noone else could match him." Hou Xiang said with a hurry. "Really? That is weird. Then why didn''t you stop him then? I wonder. I mean, you had all the chances to stop him from poisoning me. You could have proven your loyalty then." Min Wan''s voice whispered in his ears as he felt a sharp dagger to his neck. "None of us knew until you were poisoned. This is the truth. You can ask anyone else." Hou Xiang said, his breath strained. "Trust me. I asked everyone else." Min Wan said, and the dagger was removed. "Well then. All of your stories check out. I guess the only thing left to do it kill Bai Chen." Min Wan appeared before Hou Xiang. Her peerless beauty dazed him only for a second, when he processed the words she spoke. "The story checked out? Is that why this ce is so quiet? Is everyone dead?" he asked with a fearful tone. "Do you really think that I am as heartless as Bai Chen? And to think that you lot chose him over me." Min Wan scoffed. "We didn''t choose him! We were forced!" Hou Xiang said, the fear in his eyes visible. "Don''t worry. I will make him squeal all the answers too." Min Wan smiled, and for the first time, Hou Xiang was introduced to his previous City Lord''s dark side. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 303 Bai Chen "Bai Chen! Come out! Which hole are you hiding under?" Min Wan''s voice was no longer sweet. Her anger and rage was apparent. She was on top of thergest building of the city, where Bai Chen was all this time. In her hands, a thin sword the color of ice, danced in the skies. She looked like a fierce goddess in the skies, her fury raining down on the person who betrayed her. Her sword did not hesitate as it cut down the building in front of it. The sword went striking down, and the building started crumbling the moment that the attack reached its walls. "How dare you! Why are you here? I thought that you were supposed to be a queen." Bai Chen came out of the building, a normal sword in his hands, pointed toward Min Wan. "You dare ask me why I am here?" Min Wan''s eyes were red with anger. Her sword was barely contained as she looked at Bai Chen. "Why don''t you exin yourself then?" she asked. "Exin myself? Why would I need to exin myself? I am done staying below a girl who has eaten less rice than I have salt. I don''t need to exin myself. I knew that I should have killed you that day, but I traded you believing that hag would deliver on her promise. But it looks like I need to do all of this on my own. Let''s go! Huo Xiang! Where are you?" Bai Chen bellowed, but there was no response. He looked around, but no one was to be seen. "You got to him first? What a coward. You knew that you couldn''t face us on your own?" he asked, sneering. "A coward? Who was the one who resorted to using poison? Who was the one who didn''t even have the balls to tell me that he wanted to be the city lord? And you call yourself a man?" Min Wan retorted. "All of this, it is so boring." a calm chilling voice stopped the conversation as both parties looked to one side. A handsome looking man was hovering mid air, but his posture looked like he was half sleeping. "Who are you?" Bai Chen took a step back with fear. He was afraid that Min Wan brought helpers. "What did you do, you bitch? Did you trade your body for help?" he shouted at Min Wan. Min Wan did not even retort to that with words, and a sword strike came crashing down on Bai Chen. Bai Chen quickly deflected the sword strike and looked at Min Wan and the person who just entered with caution. "What are you doing here? Why did you follow me?" Min Wan asked the handsome man. "I told you then, didn''t I? I want to have some fun. Following your life seems a bit interesting. So I came here. But to think that until now, you still haven''t fought once? Why do you humans have to be so forgiving? I side with Baidu on this one. When you have to kill, you have to kill." the handsome man was none other than Yue Zhe, who came all the way here for some entertainment. "Now then. Why don''t you too stop bickering like children and start fighting? It''s been a while since I saw two people fight in an equally fair match." Yue Zhe chuckled. "Who do you think you are? Ordering me around?" Bai Chen red at this man. He seemed weak enough, but this Min Wan was giving him a lot of attention. "Could it be? Are you her secret lover?" he grinned as he dashed toward Yue Zhe, his sword pointed straight at him. Min Wan shook her head. Of course, Bai Chen acted so cowardly, trying to find a weakness instead of fighting like a man. But in this case, he could not be more wrong. This time, he was going to hit a steel te. Yue Zhe frowned. He raised his right hand, and all of a sudden, Bai Chen froze. "You stupid idiot. All of a sudden, humans be so uninteresting. I thought that I would find more people like that boy then. But it looks like there are more fools than not." Yue Zhe sighed. Bai Chen wailed in the air, trying to escape from this mysterious lock that he was in. He could not move, and even though he was in the Soul Evolution Stage, he did not understand what was happening. This person that he attacked was someone that he could not offend. "Forgive me, senior. I had eyes but could not see. I didn''t know that you were such a great cultivator. I thought that you were that woman''s lover. This is a misunderstanding." Bai Chen hastily said. "You are absolutely right. This is a gross misunderstanding. I am in no way, that woman''s lover. If I imed to be her lover, then all of a sudden, I might make an enemy out of that boy I saw the other day. Better not offend that man''s sessor." Yue Zhe nodded. Bai Chen looked overjoyed. "Then can you please release me, master? I will be eternally grateful." he asked. "Why would I do that? I mean, there has been a misunderstanding here, but you tried to kill me. And do you know what happens to anyone who tries to kill me? They are not allowed to exist." the smile on Yue Zhe''s face faded as he shook his hand. st All of a sudden, Bai Chen''s face exploded, and his body fell on the ground. It was uneventful, and Min Wan''s revenge waspleted like that. "Argh! This is so irritating. I came all the way here to look at a nice battle with pretty girls dancing with their swords. But to think that this idiot messed it up. Oh well, what are you doing next, prettydy? I will follow you." Yue Zhe smiled as he red at Min Wan, who ufortably shuffled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 304 The Capital Shakes (Part 1) The Hong family Whoosh! A candle suddenly went dark. The moment it did, suddenly, everyone in the room held their breaths. That was because each one of these candles was more important than they were. In this dark room, there were dozens of candles, and each one of them signified one person. Each one was for one person. Only the pirs of the family had these candles dedicated to them. The young masters who were the future of the family, the heads of each division, and the Soul Evolution Stage cultivators. Almost every Xiantian expert also had a candle for them. And these were not normal candles. They signified the life of the cultivator. If he or she was on death''s door, then the candle would glow dim. If they were dead, then the candle would extinguish. The entire family was in an uproar when the three candles in this room suddenly went dim, and after that, the family suddenly locked itself, not going out anymore. But now, another candle was no longer lit. And this time, the candle was a little more important than thest time. That was because this time, the owner of this candle was the head of an entire division. This was the head of the shadow guards. The man scrambled. He fell back with fear in his eyes as he turned around. The others in the room stared at the candle as well, not knowing what to say. "We have to inform the masters about this! We have to tell the family head!" he said. "Good. You go then." the second man in the room said. "Why should I go? I saw it first. My work is done. I don''t want to be the one to go." the first man shook his head immediately. No one wanted to be the one to enter the room with bad news. Especially after what happened to thest person who went there to inform the family head of the bad news. "I don''t want to go!" the man shook his head vehemently. "Fine. I''ll go." the third person in the room sighed and stood up. "But if I die, then give Bing''er a few spirit stones and take care of my kids will ya?" he said as he took a deep breath and sighed. He was almost sure that he was going to his death. He walked out of the room, which was within the family head''s mansion, and walked to the throne room, where the family head usually spent all of his time. In a few minutes, he stopped in front of a huge door with two guards on the side. "Bad news again?" the guard on the right sighed and asked. "Thest few days have been tough for us. Today is no different." the man who came from the room full of candles nodded. "Who died this time?" "The head of the shadow guards. I don''t know how this happened. I thought that the shadow guards were the most powerful faction in the entire family, but it looks like even they are not invincible." the man said. "It was the head of the shadow guards? We really are too unlucky." the guard on the right nodded. "Now is not the time to have this discussion. Go in. The elders have been convened. I hope that you wille out alive. Well, with so many elders this time, you should be fine." the guard on the left said as he opened the door. Calming himself, the man took a deep breath and walked in. Inside, the hall waspletely lit. The thrones on the sides were all full, and the throne at the very front was upied by the family head. He looked at the man who came walking in. "What happened? Why did youe here when the elders have convened?" the family head asked with a deep voice. "Forgive me, Family Head. But something terrible has happened. The soulmp of the head of the Shadow Guards has been extinguished." the man said, sweat falling from his face. In this ce, with so many elders here, he was afraid that one of them would be angered by this news, and would show their anger on him. But something shocking happened. "I know. Leave us." the family head was sighing? Was this a sign of defeat in this madman that was their family head? The man did not let this chance go. He ran back the way he came, through the doors, and away from this ce. The guards saw him exit and run away, but they didn''t stop him. Too many times, they had to clean up the corpses of the people that went in. For once, someone came out alive, so it was best to let him celebrate. "I wonder why the family head is so benevolent today. I mean, the head of the shadow guards is the only one who is directly under his faction. When that person died, I thought that the entire building would quake in his anger." the guard mused. "You should focus on your job. If anyone overhears you, then it will be your head, and maybe even mine!" the guard on the left chided his peer. Inside the throne room, the atmosphere was tense. "So then. It has been confirmed. We lost another of our Xiantian realm experts. Two peak level Xiantian experts gone in the same city. And this time, this person actually had the chance to enter the Soul Evolution stage!" an elder on one of the lower thrones sighed and said. "We must band together. Now, there is more than one Soul Evolution Stage expert who has a vengeance over us. And one of the new ones is in the seventhyer of the Soul Evolution stage?" another elder said. "We need to take care of them one by one. Where are they now?" "In Kaishi, I think. But they might being after us next." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 305 The Capital Shakes(Part 2) The elders looked at each other. They did not know what they were going to do next. To go against three or four different Soul Evolution experts at once was a family changing event. The entire force of the family had to be called back so that they could fight back. Along with that, the sect protecting array had to be used. Whatever was going to happen, the Hong family was going toe out weaker. If they were going against a sect, then the entire sect would be their reward. The resources that a sect had were numerous, and they would maybe even profit from the battle. But against three individuals, it was useless. What could they have that would justify calling the entire family together for? "What about the Moon Pavilion? We sent Hong Yun there right? Please tell me we were first. Or did the Cai family get there before us?" the elder right next to the family master asked. "Hong Yun went to the Moon Pavilion, but all he found were terrified youngsters. Nothing of the Moon Pavilion remained. Someone wiped it clean. But it is probably not the Cai family. Cai Shi also appeared there, and he was also surprised, and thought that it was Hong Yun that imed the rewards." another elder said. "That is interesting. Could it be, that Liu Feng and hispanion have the inheritance of the Moon Pavilion?" the former elder asked. "No. It is not him. It is that beast that caused all of this in the first ce." the family head said, his voice silencing the entire hall. This was the first time that the family head spoke in the entire session, as he was passive during the entire time. "How do you know that? I mean, it could be a smokescreen? He could have it, and given it to whatever faction he is a part of. Is he a part of a sect?" the elder at the front was probably the only one who could ask the Family head a question countering him. ? He was one of the four Soul Evolution Stage experts in the family, and had a lot of say within the family. "I spoke with the second prince. The reason that the Moon Pavilion fell was not rted to Liu Feng at all. Liu Feng only helped the beast escape. Killing the Pavilion master was done by the beast, and destroying the sect was done by the beast as well. I do not know what this beast is, but it is a terrifying existence that we cannot go against. We should give up on the Moon Pavilion''s inheritance for now." the family head sighed. He looked at the elders and looked back at the floor. "This is a fight that will not give us any benefit at all. But it is a fight that we have to go through. We tried to kill that Green Gale tiger, and it failed. I do not know what went wrong there, but it failed at the wrong time. If we had the core of the Green Gale tiger, then we would definitely be the strongest power in the entire kingdom. Even stronger than the goddamn royal pce. But that didn''t work out, and now, we are facing the consequences." the family head sighed. "I told you that day. If it didn''t work out, then the family would face a terrible opponent. On that day, we lost three Xiantian experts, and an Imperial Artifact. Yesterday, we lost the head of the shadow guards. We are the weakest that the Hong family have been in thest three hundred years!" the elder in the front stood up. "What do you want me to do about it?" the family head stood up as well, and the pressure he exerted caused everyone''s face to change. He was angry now, and the elder had pushed him too far. "Don''t you dare try to show off the power that you inherited from father, Hong Qiu. You know that if father had favored me like he favored you, then I would be in that position, and not you. You did not get to the Peak of the Soul Evolution Stage on your own. The family gave you that power, and you do not have the right to use it to force your power over the council of elders no less." this elder said. "You are the first elder. Not even the grand elder. Know your limits. If any one of my choices went as nned, then all of you would be celebrating. But now, because of one mistake, you are ming me?" the family head scoffed. "That is what being the family head means! You are responsible for this mess! Now, we have to clean up after you!" the first elder shouted. "Both of you! Shut up!" the elder opposite to the first elder stood up. His long, white beard fluttered as he put his hands behind his back. "Hong Qiu. It is undeniable that what you have done was wrong. You were not supposed to take a decision like that without the permission of the council of elders. But you still went ahead with that." the old man said. His demeanor gave him a wise feeling. This man felt like the eldest in the entire room of old and wrinkly people. "But grandfather-" "You will call me the grand elder!" the old man shouted. He then looked at the first elder. "As for you. Watch your mouth. You are talking to the family head. No longer are you considered brothers in this room. You are the pirs upon which this family stands. And right now, we have enemies of the family roaming around, gathering forces. And what are we doing? Fighting among ourselves? Call our allies. Tell everyone that it is now or never. It is time for them to show their loyalties at the right time." the grand elder said. "Yes, grand elder!" both Hong Qiu and the first elder nodded. "We will start with the Gu family." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 306 The Capital Shakes(Part 3) It was not long before the entire capital was shaken by a ground breaking news. The Hong family was gathering its allies to the Capital. With the Session wars months away, no one knew why the Hong family was taking this sudden and drastic step. But they knew that this was happening. Every one was carefully looking at what step the Hong family would take next. With a massive force that was concentrated in their grounds right now, they were probably in a state ofplete power right now. Adding to their own Soul Evolution Stage experts, there were also the experts from the allies. No one even knew how many were in the Hong family, which was a slumbering giant that was now awakening. In a corner of a bar, three men were having a drink, overhearing the conversations that were happening around them. "I did not expect the entire family to suddenly mobilise every single resource that they had." Liu Feng sighed as he downed a drink. "You didn''t? You are still young, boy. Do you really think that with the Hong family so weak right now, other forces will still stay the same way that they are right now? Every single prince in the session wars will want to get a piece of the Hong family and get the second prince out of the war." Feng Wang chuckled. "The Cai family has already said that they would help us with the Hong family. The Cai family head will keep the Hong family head preupied and that will give us enough time to start the clean up. There can''t be that many Soul Evolution stage experts for us to take care of." Liu Man said. "How many families answered their call?" Liu Feng asked. "That is obviously not known to us. Do you really think that they are going to make all of that public? The reason that we even know this is happening is because some families outside the capital have refused the call of the Hong family." Feng Wang said. "Well then. Doesn''t matter. No matter how many people they can bring in, very few Soul Evolution Experts wille out to help the Hong family. Their allies might sent one at best, but they can''t afford to let their main base stay unguarded." Liu Feng said. "That is true. But we do know that the sole Soul Evolution Stage expert of the Gu family is here. Their family head is here. If it weren''t for the fact that their family is secluded and no one knows where it is, it would probably be attacked by the Ding family already." Feng Wang said. "Interesting. Ipletely forgot about the Gu family. This will be interesting." Liu Feng smiled. "Indeed. So then. Should we go and start the fight now? I have been sleeping for a while, preparing for this. Let us go wake the city up." Feng Wang rubbed his hands. "We are waiting for someone. I think that Liu Feng is waiting a little more intently though." Liu Man looked at Liu Feng. "We aren''t waiting here. Let us go. She might note." Liu Feng shook his head and got up, flipping a spirit stone on the table as the other two got up with him. "Why are you so pessimistic? Have some faith in your woman." Liu Man chuckled. "I don''t even know what is wrong with you. Are you a teenage girl? I knew that having some person in the privacy of my mind was wrong. It was something that both of us had no control over. I couldn''t do anything about it." Liu Feng frowned as he kept walking. "Don''t worry. She will definitelye here. Yue Zhe will make sure of it." Liu Man said. Hearing this, Liu Feng froze. "Why is a terrifying beast that wants to devour the moon itself with Min Wan right now? And how the hell do you know it?" he turned to look at Liu Man. "I am the only one in this world who understands Yue Zhe. And he would definitely like to go watch that girl go get her revenge on the people that betrayed her. And after that, the moment he knows that the capital city will have a huge battle, he will make sure that Min Wan wille here." Liu Man said. "How do you know he will go with her?" Liu Feng looked at Liu Man, knowing that he was not revealing something. "Haha. He probably wanted toe with you, but he would never stay next to me for an extended period of time. An existence like his would not want toe into jurisdiction of the heavens. By staying next to me, all of you are now under the watchful eyes of the heavens." Liu Man said. "But the next best thing is obviously Min Wan. I mean, she has the Pure Yin Physique. That is a rare physique, and obviously, Yue Zhe will be. I mean, for millennia, he has been basking in the moonlight. He has an affinity with Yin, and he will be automatically attracted to her." Liu Man said. "She has a what now?" Liu Feng asked. "A Pure Yin Physique. You probably won''t know what it is. Legendary physiques are rarer than phoenixes, and especially in a ce like the Realm of Beginnings. After all, those who are born with a legendary physique are born to grow stronger, and such a fate is given to those in the Ancient Realm, where it actually matters." Liu Man said. "Wow! To think that this boy knows someone who has the Pure Yin Physique. Go woo her boy. Taking her virgin Yin will be the biggest help to you. It willpletely consolidate your foundation, and will make you stronger than anyone else in your realm." Feng Wang said from the back. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 307 The Capital Shakes(Part 4) Liu Feng looked back at Feng Wang with a weird face. With what face should he tell the tiger that he actually did take the virgin Yin of the person who was imed to be the most beautiful woman in the entire kingdom. But Feng Wang didn''t need words to understand what happened. "So that''s the thing that the two of you were talking about." he realised. "This is now what we are supposed to talk about. We should go to the Cai family and talk about when we should start the attack." Liu Feng said. m! At the right time, someone entered the bar with a bang and distracted the three of them at the right time, to Liu Feng''s relief. He did not like the direction of this conversation one bit. Looking at the entrance that they were walking toward, they could see a single man looking at everyone within. "All of you! Go back to your homes! Close up shop! The entire capital is now locking down. The Cai family has officially dered war on the Hong family!" he shouted. The entire bar waspletely silent as the man who gave the announcement disappeared. For a few seconds, everyone tried to digest what had happened. And then, the uproar came. "The Cai family was the one that made the first move? To think that they are going to attack a stacked Hong Family!" "This must be why the Hong family was frantically trying to contact all of its allies. It must have seen that the Cai family was trying to attack it." "But why would the Cai family make the first move? I don''t think that the Cai family has asked its allies to take a part in this battle. This might just be the Cai family against the Hong family and its allies. It is not going to be a fair battle. Why would the Cai family do something so stupid?" Everyone was in confused. With the Hong family bringing in the troops, why would the Cai family be the one to dere war? Shouldn''t it be the Hong family to dere war? But Liu Feng knew exactly why it was the Cai family that had to take the first step. The Hong family called in all of its allies for one reason only: the three of them in the bar right now. Without its allies, they could not handle even the three of them at once, much less the other forces that wanted a bite of a family like theirs. But now, the Cai family and the three Soul Evolution Experts in Liu Feng, Liu Man, and Feng Wang, were a proper match to the Hong family and the multiple helpers that they brought in. "I thought that they would at least tell us before starting the attack." Liu Feng sighed. "Wouldn''t matter when the attack would be dered. The Hong family will not daree out of their shell. The outside might think that this is a simple attack that the Hong family will win, but first, will the Hong family evene out of its protecting array?" Feng Wang pointed out. "You are right. We need to take care of the protecting array first. How will we do that? I am sure that a family such as the Hong family will be prepared to take attacks from multiple Soul Evolution Stage cultivators. I mean, that is what their array is for." Liu Feng said. All three of them slowly walked out amidst a chaotic bar where everyone was rushing outside to the streets. Noone needed to look out to see that the entire street was crowded, with many jumping up and down, trying to get to their families in the fastest way. When two three under families were suddenly fighting against each other, only a fool would want to be a pitiful bystander who would get caught up in the major battles. The battles of Soul Evolution Stage experts were so huge that the entire capital could be destroyed in this war between the families. "We should go now. They are probably waiting for us." Liu Feng said, and the three men suddenly disappeared. But in this chaotic mess where everyone was running as fast as they could, who would stop to notice? In the space above the Hong family, a dome suddenly appeared. The moment that the dome appeared, every single bird that was passing through this space suddenly collided with a mysterious barrier that did not allow anything to pass. The entire Hong Family was officially in shelter mode, with their protection array activated. Four men stood in front of the Hong family, looking solemnly forward. These four men did not need any introduction. The family head, the first elder, the great elder, and Hong Yun. The four Soul Evolution stage experts of the Hong family. And right opposite to them, three people from the Cai family stood. At the forefront was the family head of the Cai family, ring at the Hong family''s family head with anger that could not be contained. "Cai Guo. Why do you have to be so stupid? You know that right now, this is a fight that you simply cannot win. None of your attacks are strong enough to break through the barrier that we have. Even if you do, we outnumber you by a lot. And it looks like your biggest allies are not here as well." Hong Qiu said. "You do not need to concern yourself with how the Cai family operates. At the least, it operates like a family, and not whatever your faction operates like. I mean, I can''t believe that you still have the gall to call yourself a family." Cai Guo said with a fierce face. "People. Why are we starting the verbal fight when your biggest fans aren''t here yet?" a crisp voice stopped both of them, as they looked up to see who it was. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 308 A Tiger Does Not Father A Dog There were three men in the air. As for who they were, they needed no introduction. They were the main focus of the day. Liu Feng, Liu Man, and Feng Wang. All of them descended to stand in the same line as Cai Guo, as if proiming that they were greater than everyone else in the Cai family. And all of them had the power to speak for this oundish promation. Liu Feng had forced the Pavilion Master to a standstill, Liu Man was the one and only white tiger who had still not shown his full power even once, while Feng Wang was a guardian beast to Kaishi city, and was so strong that the entire Hong family cowered in front of him. Every single one of these men were strong enough to cause any major power trouble, and yet these three were here with a singr purpose: the destruction of the Hong family. As they descended in front of the Cai Family, three existences also came out of the barrier of the Hong family, revealing themselves. All three of these people were in the Soul Evolution Stage, and they were all not people to be scoffed at. But Liu Feng, Liu Man, and Feng Wang all looked at one person in particr. That was because they could feel his aura. He was in the Ninth Layer of the Soul Evolution Stage. The gap between the peak of the Soul Evolution stage, and the ninthyer was vast, but it was still extremely hard to get to the ninthyer. In a world where the peak of the Soul Evolution Stage was the peak of the martial way, it was clear that being in the ninthyer meant that they were still one of the most powerful men in the world. And now, two existences at or above that point stood in front of them. Liu Feng did not need to use his Mind eye to know who this man was. It was the family head of the Gu family. The very Gu family that tried to kill Liu Feng a year and half ago. "So you must be Liu Feng. The man that I heard so much about a few years ago. I think that you went by the name Liu Tian at that time? I wonder why. But it seems like you have a little something that seems to be mine?" the Gu Family head asked, taking a step forward. Immediately, a menacing aura exerted from the front line of the Cai family, and the Gu family head took a step back, back to where he was before. "Gu Dong. Why do you have to be so stupid? You are fighting a losing battle. You are on the wrong side, as usual. It looks like the Gu family has decided to fall alongside the Hong family." Cai Guo sighed. "Do you think that you are the only ones who can exert pressure?" Hong Qiu raised his eyebrows, and he also started starting releasing a majestic aura that tried to counter the Cai family''s. In the capital city, where they were right now, there were buildings everywhere. And while the Hong family had gardens, and secluded areas within the estate, outside the borders of the Hong family, many stores and shops opened, their livelihood being the Hong family. And with this confrontation, almost immediately, along with the ripples on the protecting barrier, the buildings to the side started copsing to the intense pressure of multiple Soul Evolution Stage cultivators battling each other. "Mercy! Please stop in the name of His Majesty!" a golden light appeared in the top of the skies, and the moment that Cai Guo and Hong Qiu saw that, they stopped what they were doing and immediately knelt on the ground. "We greet His Majesty''s verdict!" The Cai Family, the Hong family, and the three helpers of the Hong family were all kneeling on the ground, saying this in unison. The golden light dimmed down, and an old man with a beard that flowed longer than an arm''s length descended to the ground. Without even hesitating, Liu Feng could tell that this was another Soul Evolution Stage cultivator. "Such impudence! To think that these three fools would dare not kneel in front of His Majesty''s verdict! His Majesty''s verdict is the same as the appearance of his Majesty himself. And they have not knelt. This is a matter that can be punished with the death sentence. You must agree that the imperial pce should also help us with our cause, Imperial Advisor!" Hong Qiu shouted. "Calm down." a cool voice came from this wise man who seemed to be the Imperial Advisor to the ailing king. "You are just like your father. Thest time that he was in the capital, he was raising a ruckus just like you. Except his was a littlerger. A tiger truly does not father a dog." the Imperial Advisor nodded his head as he looked at Feng Wang. "His Majesty sends his regards to the guardian beast of Kaishi, who was instrumental to the creation of the Tiandu Kingdom. The king will never forget your and your n''s help." he said. With this, he looked at the two opposing families. "You may now rise." Hong Qiu''s face was not looking good. He thought that Liu Feng''s impudence would be punished, but instead, he was praised, and the person next to him was thanked by the king himself? What was happening? The Imperial Advisor sighed. "The three under families are the true power of the Imperial family. If these two powers fight amongst themselves, then the capital city, and the entire kingdom itself might copse. You better have a proper reason for this battle." the Imperial Advisor looked at both sides, and then at Liu Feng. "The Hong family dared to send an assassin after my life. I cannot let that pass. The Hong family must die." Liu Feng swiftly said. "And Liu Feng is our family''s son-inw. We will not let him face injustice, and cannot let a family like the Hong family bully him." Cai Guo said immediately after. "Pffft!" "Wait what?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 309 All Out Brawl Liu Feng could not control his sudden outburst. He did not expect what Cai Guo said even one bit. They were allies, sure. They wanted a piece of the Hong family, sure. They were oppressed by the Hong family, once again, all good arguments. But saying that Liu Feng was a son-inw of the Cai family? In what universe was that true? He red at Cai Guo. "You better have a good exnation for this blemish on my reputation. In what world am I your son inw?" Liu Feng transmitted to Cai Guo. The Imperial Advisor also seemed to have the same question. "When did the Cai family have matrimony with the son of the man who shook the capital twenty years ago? I was not aware of this, and I don''t think any major power knows this as well." he asked. "Liu Feng is engaged to the youngdy of the Cai family in Kaishi. This is something that all of us know. He is a part of the Cai family, for all intents and purposes. Of course, we will stand by him when someone like the Hong family tries and bullies him." Cai Guo puffed his chest. "What is this stupid reasoning? Is the royal family really going to tolerate this? The entire capital will be shaken because of their selfish reasons." Hong Qiu shouted. "Anyone that dares try to kill me will need to die as well. I have a grudge on both the Hong family and the Gu family. Luckily, both of them seem to be here, so I can take care of you guys together. Leave us alone for a single day, Imperial Advisor, and I will finish off this scourge on society." Liu Feng said. "What is this impudence? Both of you! This is the capital. Not a ce where you bicker like children. The king will not allow a fight to take ce right now! It is absolutely out of question!" the Imperial Advisor shook his head. "That is totally understandable. I am just here to see the sights of the Hong family that wronged me. That is why, for the next few weeks, I am nning on sitting here, waiting for the Hong family to open their doors. I mean, keeping them closed is going to cost a little more than what they can afford, right?" Liu Feng smiled. Hong Qiu''s face twisted in many ways possible as he looked at Liu Feng with anger. If this was going to be a battle of attrition, then it would be a battle they would lose. Maintaining a protecting array was possible, as was made clear in the Lush Green sect, but who had enough high grade spirit stones to maintain the array for long? "Fellow cultivators, I beseech upon you again. Now is not the time to fight. We must all be a united front. Surely, the Hong family canpensate the young noble for the mistake theymitted." The imperial advisor suggested. "That is a good suggestion. What would you trade for your life, imperial advisor? If I give you a few high grade spirit stones, will you hand me the life?" Liu Feng asked, his voice as sarcastic as it could get. "How dare you?!" The imperial advisor was about to snarl at Liu Feng, but he stopped. That was because he understood what Liu Feng had just said. No strong cultivator would forgive someone for such an offense. They had their own pride, and would only take revenge. Not knowing what to do, the imperial advisor sighed. He looked at both parties, and he knew that there was no way that they would reconcile after this. This was going to be a battle to the death. "Then I did what I could. There is nothing else. But just know that when the battle is over, remember that there will be no winner. Even after the battle, the winner must answer directly to His Majesty, the king. And I promise that this will not be afortable talk." The imperial advisor said with a heavy heart. Swoosh! Everyone looked up. There was another person who was approaching them. A man appeared in the air, and hovered above the imperial advisor. "Senior Zhen. This is not the time to be talking with these bastards. One of them has tried to take the life of the second prince. It is an offense that the pce should not tolerate. I suggest you move aside, but if you join me, that will be even better." This new entry said. ? "Tian Wan." The imperial advisor sighed. "What are you doing here? And what is this about the second prince? I thought that he was in the moon pavilion." The imperial advisor asked. "Do not pay dumb, senior Zhen. Everyone knows of the incidents in the moon pavilion. The fact that this impudent fool did not bend his knee ismon knowledge." Tian Wan said. "So that''s how I remember you!!! You ran away from me after daring to attack me. How does it feel to be one of the few to stay in one piece after the fact?" Liu Man suddenly realized. Liu Feng turned around to look at Liu Man with confusion. "When the hell did he attack you? That are you talking about?" He asked, transmitting this to Liu Man "His pressure reached me, and that is offense enough. Let me take care of the fool who dares to do this." Liu Man said, cracking his knuckles as he stepped forward. Tian Wan stepped back. He lost the battle against Liu Feng back then in mere minutes. He did not want to start this battle without support from those behind him. "What a coward. And to think that the second prince actually relies on you." Liu Fengughed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 310 Stand Still Tian Wan clenched his teeth, but he looked at Hong Qiu first. The one on his side with the most power was Hong Qiu, and so, he was the one who could call the shots. "What else is there to be said? This is a battle to the death. After today, there will be no Cai family, and there will be no Liu Feng!" Hong Qiu roared, his words travelling to half the city. The power with which he said this shook the ground, and everyone who was in their houses, quietly hoping for the best, felt the blood drain from their faces. Now, the capital city, the city where the king himself resided, a city which called itself the greatest in all of Tiandu, was about to be a battlefield? In what universe would anyone think that this would happen. If just a few days ago, someone said that the Hong family was about to wage a war within the capital field itself, and see to it that the entire Cai family was going to be destroyed, that someone would be considered a mad man, and he would be kicked out of the ce he was in. But now, the Hong family called in all of its allies, and started doing exactly that? In front of the Hong family, every one opposite to the Hong family had solmen expressions on their faces as they summoned their weapons, looking ready for whatever was going toe their way. Cai Guo saw that even the helper of the second prince had joined in on this fight, and he did not have the rxed face of before. He was confident that he could handle Hong Qiu. But the addition of another Soul Evolution Expert was not something that he expected. "Do not worry, Family head. You take care of this Hong family head, while I will take care of this Gu bastard. As for the rest, they will have to hope that they can survive whatever wille for them next." Liu Feng smiled as he looked at Feng Wang and Liu Man, The opposing side might have more numbers, but just Liu Feng''s party along was filled with three Soul Evolution Experts in the higher stages. They were not existences that just about every Soul Evolution Expert could handle. And this was exactly the reason why the Moon Pavilion fell as quickly as it did. With Liu Feng parrying the Pavilion Master on every step, Liu Man could take care of the other two women with ease. And hence, the entire Pavilion lost swiftly. Liu Feng nned to do the exact same here as well. They were ready, and just waiting for the Hong family to make a move. It is said that to sessfully defend, one would need only a tenth the power of the opposing force. But unfortunately, that person was not in the cultivation world, where true power could not be quantified like that. "Get back in!" Hong Qiu ordered as the eight Soul Evolution Experts went into the barrier. Hong Qiu threw a token toward Tian Wan, allowing him to pass through the barrier without a problem as well. Now, they were all in the safe protection of the protecting barrier, just waiting for the Liu Feng and those behind him to start making a move and exhaust themselves. "I implore at least you, Cai Guo, The session wars have not started yet. Do you really want to start a battle here and now, and risk having the Tenth prince lose the war yet toe?" the imperial advisor asked. ,m "I am afraid that your information is a little backdated, Imperial Advisor. The Cai family will now be supporting Liu Feng as the heir to the throne. With half his blood royal, and considering the special position of the dragon princess, it is well known that he is a heir to the throne. Now, he is here to im that right." Cai Guo said. "Liu Feng is entering the session war? Does he understand what this means? The imperial family will no longer stay neutral in his case." the Imperial Advisor said, looking at Liu Feng. "I don''t care about any of that. I have to be the king. There is no other question left to answer. Whatever stands in my way, I will y." Liu Feng nonchntly said, and he was probably the only one who had the guts to say that. What kind of existence was the imperial pce? In the Realm of beginnings, where the cultivation realms were capped at the Soul Evolution Stage, the imperial pce had dozens of existences in that realm. Without a doubt, it was the most powerful existence in all thends. And now, this man who no one has ever heard of imed that he would kill whoever came in his way to be the king? Those were big words. "Then I am afraid that this is no longer a matter that I can be a part of. His royal highness will make sure that the victor of this fight will have to answer to him. I shall inform him of my failure." the Imperial Advisor hovered in the air, and left. Liu Feng immediately looked at Cai Guo after. "You have a lot of exining to do. First, what the hell was with your words without consulting me?" Liu Feng was still angry about the fact that Cai Guo went behind his back and imed that Liu Feng was a son inw of the Cai family. "And the second?" Cai Guo asked calmly. "Who does the Imperial Advisor support?" Liu Feng asked. "Regarding the first, there is a simple reason. You have reason to attack the Hong family. We don''t. The Hong family is a Three Under family, just like we are. But thest few years, although they have been suppressing us little by little, the imperial family allowed it. No matter what we say, the king sides with the Hong family. If we say anything else, we will incur the king''s wrath." "And as for the second?" Liu Feng asked. "He is a part of the Crown Prince''s faction." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 311 Starting The Battle "Well then, what is our action n? How should we break the barrier? You are from the Cai family, you lot. Surely, you have a n for this." Liu Man interrupted their discussion. Cai Guo nced at Liu Man and nodded. "Of course the Cai family has a reason to be so confident about this raid." Cai Guo nodded as he turned around, looking at the depths. "Luo He! I will be needing your help now. Those cowards are inside their protective shell of theirs." Cai Guo called out. From the depths, an old man with only white hair walked out, using a stick to support himself. The stick part felt a little too much. Who didn''t know that a cultivator was strong enough that even at death''s door step, they were strong enough to support themselves? But apparently this old man was so weak that he needed a stick to walk. Shaking his head, Liu Feng just looked at him, trying to gauge who it was. "This esteemed man is a dear friend of the Cai family, and he is one of the Cai Family''s many guest elders. They are experts that help out the family when we need help the most. And Luo He here is an array master." Cai Guo introduced this old man. "Oh, please, family head. What am I buy a man who just dabbles in some runes that the heavens have given out. I am just an old man who has spent his life on an obsession." Luo He shook his head, but that was just a farce. There was a proud look on his face. An arrogance that was only visible in one other profession: Alchemy. This man was proud of his trade, and he sure let that go over his head as he looked at Liu Feng and Liu Man with disdain. "Is this the barrier that I must break, Brother Guo?" he pointed to the giant barrier that was surrounding the entire Hong family. "It is, indeed, Brother He." Cai Guo nodded. With that, Luo He got to work. He took out a giant brush from his spatial ring, as well as a ck ink. The moment that the nk ink came out, Liu Feng could smell a myriad distinct smells from it. This was made from only the most precious herbs. Herbs that could be made into valuable pills, but were instead, made into mere ink? But Liu Feng''s face was only filled with curiosity. For a long time, he wanted to see how these runes worked. So many people were using runes in all sorts of ways, and he personally wanted to see these rare array masters work their wonders. Finally, he could see one of them in person. Luo He took his seat right in front of the barrier, and he touched the barrier with his hands. Immediately, it rippled, and as the ripple spread to the entire front face, innumerable runes could be seen from the array. Luo He''s face became a little serious as he began going to work. His brush twirled in the air and the ink that he used became runes. Some runes, Liu Feng could recognize, some, he could not. Each of these runes went to the barrier, and tried to counter the runes within the array itself. For a while, it seemed like this was working. The runes were all discing the old ones, and the barrier would soon fall. But then, Luo He halted and shook his head. "This is beyond my capability, Brother Guo. The barrier is made of array gs, and not a formation by a single array master. You know that array gs thate from beyond the ancient portal are not things that I can defeat. They are simply too strong given enough Qi." he said, sighing. "The Hong family got its hands on an array from beyond the Ancient Portal? Impossible! It looks like the royal family has been a little too unfair, allowing the Hong family''s power to grow without any check. What other way can we use to defeat this array, brother He?" Cai Guo asked. "My suggestion is to follow that boy''s words. We can wait. A powerful barrier also consumed a lot of energy. As for this one, it probably took a few dozens of High grade spirit stones to start up, and even though they are going to be enough for a week, after that, the Hong family will need to use a substantial amount of spirit stones each time to keep up. It is an expense that they simply can''t afford. This is a siege, so you just need to ovest them." Luo He said. Liu Feng smiled, but he shook his head. "I might have said that, senior He, but I am no coward like them. I have no intention of backing down right when the going gets tough. Doing that did not get me to the stage that I am in today. Is there any other way that you can break the array?" Liu Feng said. "Young Noble. We must consider array master He''s words. They are true. The Hong family will not be able tost in the long run, and we will be able to defeat them with ease once the barrier is down." Cai Guo implored. "That bastard is using High Grade spirit stones to keep the array up and going. He is using the spirit stones that I am supposed to take. Do you think that I would allow someone to use my wealth so easily? Even if I have to brute force it, I will do it." Liu Feng dered. "Hahaha! I like your words, kid. You really are the best present that I have seen in all my years of existence. That is right. You shouldn''t back down from a fight like that. All these other old men, so boring. Full of cowards. It looks like there are no real men in this human race." a sound reverberated among the entire city. p "Who goes there?" Cai Guo looked up with anger. This person dared to insult him and everyone behind him. But Liu Feng looked up with solemn eyes. "Yue Zhe." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 312 Reinforcements Arrive In the sky, two people appeared. One was the most beautiful woman that these people hadid their eyes upon, and one was a devilishly handsome looking man who said the words before. Just looking at the man, Cai Guo felt a terrifying fear deep inside. This man was strong, and was not someone that he could go against. "Who are you? Why are you here?" Cai Guo asked, but the thought that they were the reinforcements of the Hong family stayed, and haunted him. These two people nonchntlynded in front of them all, and the woman smiled, nodding toward Liu Feng. "Are they on our side, Young Noble?" Cai Guo asked Liu Feng. "This is the one that they all called the Moon Princess, Family head. I am sure that you know what happened there. As for the other man, I cannot say for sure if he is on our side or not." Liu Feng locked eyes with Yue Zhe. "How could you say something so heartless. You and I are the same, young boy. Soon, you will understand the plight of us Heaven Defiers." Yue Zhe sighed. The moment he said the word, ''heaven-defiers'', the entire sky suddenly darkened, and a rumble could be heard. "Fine! You want to go? Let us go! I want to see what kind of lightning you will send down this time. Thest few times have been boring!" Yue Zhe''s face was suddenly filled with an indescribable rage as he looked up at the skies and shouted at the very heavens. "What is happening? Is the heavens rejecting the existence of Yue Zhe?" Liu Feng looked at Liu Man. "The word he said is ouwed by the heavens. They don''t want more of that guying out." Liu Man said. "So if you are on the same side as the heavens, then won''t I be your enemy?" Liu Feng asked. "The constetion beasts are a little different, as I have said before. We only care about the world, and not the heavens. As long as the world continues to stay stable, we don''t care about what the heavens does and how cultivators keep trying to go against it." Liu Man shrugged. All of a sudden, their conversation was interrupted by a sudden bolt of lightning from the skies, which directly hit Yue Zhe. Immediately after, the tribtion clouds in the skies parted, and the sun was revealed once more. "What just happened?" the Cai family was dumbfounded, not knowing what had taken ce. The person who just got hit, Yue Zhe, dusted off the charred remains of his clothes and he looked at Liu Feng like nothing had happened. "So then, boy. What do you say? I really want to see your arts in action. I mean, an art that can suppress the heavens in its final form? I only dreamt of seeing this, but unfortunately, I was born toote." Yue Zhe sighed. "I thought that you were older than Liu Man himself." Liu Feng asked. "Liu Man? Oh! You mean Baidu? Sure, I am older than him. Even he doesn''t know the existence that I am talking about. Maybe he does? Not sure. Well, everyone here has only heard rumors." Yue Zhe chuckled. "Rumors about what?" Liu Feng asked. "Now is not the time to have this conversation. He is not strong enough to just shrug off the tribtion like you and me can. He needs to leave the Realm of Beginnings to know anything at all." Liu Man stopped Yue Zhe from speaking any further. "Ah! The suppression of the heavens here. Who allowed them to have so much power is beyond me. But you are right. Anyways, back to the show that we have here." Yue Zhe chuckled. "All of you humans, the billions that you number, and not even one percent of you have the courage to just suck it up and fight." Yue Zhe spat. "What did you say?" Luo He was obviously incensed by Yue Zhe''s words. These were obviously targetted toward him. "Don''t kill him. He is on our side. Just let him go." Liu Man said before Yue Zhe was about to do anything. "Sure. Whatever you say. After all, this man is in the faction of the young boy right? So then, where was I? Right. No one having the courage to fight. Why the hell would you stay here and sit it out? You just have to go in and break the goddamn barrier." Yue Zhe said. "If the barrier is so easy to break, then why don''t you do it? This barrier can even resist the power of a Soul Evolution Stage cultivator! Even in the peak stage!" Luo He said. "Then you just have to be stronger. Wait! None of you- That''s right. I am in the realm of beginnings! I thought that I was in the goddamn Ancient realm." Yue Zhe stopped and realized. "Baidu, what terrible thing did you do to the heavens? To think that they actually sent you to the Realm of Beginnings instead of the Ancient realm." Yue Zhe chuckled as he started walking toward the barrier. "What are you nning on doing?" Liu Feng asked as Yue Zhe stopped right in front of the barrier. "What do you think I am nning on doing? There is a barrier here that is stopping me from witnessing the fun fight that was supposed to break out. That prettydy there promised me that she woulde here to fight along side you. But with this barrier here, there is no fight happening. I just have to break it then, don''t I?" Yue Zhe chuckled. "He was with you all this time?" Liu Feng nced at Min Wan, who just nodded. "Looks like you were right, Liu Man." "When am I not?" Liu Man chuckled. Yue Zhe touched the barrier, which rippled a little. He then clenched his fist and punched forward. Crack! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 313 Barrier Breaks Crack! Cracks appeared on the barrier, originating where Yue Zhe touched it. They started spreading, reaching the skies, and soon, the whole barrier looked like cracked ss. It was about to all fall apart with just a single touch. Yue Zhe took back his hand and shook it a little. Then, he touched the barrier again. Crash! Immediately, the barrier fragmented, and started disappearing into thin air. It was slowly disintegrating into nothingness. "Impossible! With just a single touch!" Cai Guo''s eyes popped out of their sockets and came back in. Everyone was looking at this with shocked eyes. And the one with the ugliest face was Luo He. He was called here to do exactly that, and now he was ridiculed, put aside, and someone else came here and destroyed the barrier in just one punch? Yue Zhe frowned though as he looked at his own fist. "It looks like the suppression of the Realm of Beginnings is no joke. To think that I needed more than one punch to break open a simple barrier like this? Either I must be getting weaker, or the heavens must be getting more worried about the cultivators within." he mused. "You are worrying too much. After thousands of years trapped in a cell, forced to feed off of nothing but fake Yin Essence, it is obvious that you are weaker than before. It will take a while for you to regain your original levels." Liu Man consoled him. "Don''t tell me! Is this the one that was responsible for the incident in the Moon Pavilion?" Cai Guo had a terrifying thought. "Indeed. This is the beast that the Moon Pavilion dared to keep in their house for years and years. So stupid. Why would anyone keep one of the five sealing monsters next to them." Liu Man chuckled and shook his head. "The five sealing monsters? What are those?" Liu Feng asked. "Five beasts that were born before even me. Destined to go against the very heavens that birthed them. They are the initial rebels. Five beasts whose only goal is to seal the very heavens. The celestial sunbird, Moon Devouring Wolf, Heaven Shrouding Eagle, Star Eating Ant, and Earth Sealing Rat!" Liu Man transmitted to Liu Feng. "Why did you not just say this out loud?" he transmitted back. "Because by even saying their names out loud in the same sentence, the heavens will not tolerate it. They hate it even more than they tolerate my presence." Liu Man said. "Haha! The five sealing monsters? It has been years since we deserved that title. I think that all of us lost the battle. Unless I go and release them all from the cages they are in, we will never get back to where we once were. Or else, the heavens could never withstand our onught." Yue Zhe shook his head. "I am sure that you know more about the true mysteries of the world than I do. But unfortunately, this is not a conversation we can have right now, under these skies, and with those people beyond the barrier." Liu Man pointed forward. With the barrier lost, beyond where the barrier once stood, eight people stood, looking forward with gaping mouths. They were counting on the barrier to at least stay strong for a week or two. This was something that cost them more than anything else. With the resources they spent on the barrier, they could even afford to raise a Soul Evolution Expert from scratch! And this barrier was destroyed in mere minutes? "Are you the beast that the Moon Pavilion offended, senior?" Hong Qiu was at the forefront, looking fearfully at the man who destroyed their barrier with a single punch. "Indeed. It looks like you are afraid that I will be a part of the battle. Don''t worry. As long as you people are sensible, surely I will be too. Don''t attack me, and fight to your heart''s content. I am not a part of this battle. I am just a keen observer. I just destroyed the barrier so that the fight could actually start." Yue Zhe said. "If you are getting any cold feet, don''t worry about Yue Zhe. He will only kill you if you run from battle. If you actually fight and win, then he will be thest one to actually take your life today." Liu Manughed and looked at the fearful faces of the Hong family. They were terrified of the possibility that the beast that destroyed a thousand year heritage in a day would do the same to their own family. But now, seeing that the beast was taking a backseat, they regained some confidence. "You must be the Moon Princess. The one that refused the good graces of the second prince to leave with this bastard? The second prince is gracious. He will allow you to enter his harem, but you will no longer be his wife, but a concubine. And you must destroy your cultivation. The choice is yours, Moon Princess." Hong Qiu looked at Min Wan. "Hahaha! If that really happens, then it will be such a pity. Young girl. Don''t worry about today. As long as you win, I promise that I will make you stronger than before. You won''t have to be in the situation that you were in before. But I won''t enter the battle. You have to show your worth yourself." Yue Zheughed out. "Don''t worry. These bastards can''t do anything to me. For years before, I had to handle more than one Soul Evolution Stage expert, and had to keep thousands in check. I think I can handle this fool who ran his mouth." Min Wan said as a thin sword appeared in her hand. "Good! This is exactly what I want to hear! Then let the battle begin!" Yue Zheughed like a maniac as he hovered in the air, looking at the show that was presented in front of him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 314 The Fight Starts The eight cultivators on one side and the eight on the other moved swiftly. Hong Qiu met Cai Guo, as this was the most logical pairing. No one wanted to see any casualties from their own side, and this was the only way to prevent any from these two behemoths. As for the Gu family head, he was met by Liu Feng. Although it would make more sense for Feng Wang to fight this man in the Ninthyer of the Soul Evolution stage, Liu Feng wanted to fight the person who ordered his death. With both Feng Wang and Liu Man freed up, they could wreck havoc among the remaining Soul Evolution Stage experts. Until now, the Hong family had sheer numbers, but even then, Liu Feng''s side had stronger people. The core of Liu Man, Liu Feng, Feng Wang and Cai Guo could easily overpower the Hong family''s core. Even Hong Qiu knew that. But until now, everyone was expecting the huge protecting barrier to y a part in this battle. And now, it wasn''t. ng! Liu Feng''s white spear shed with the Gu Family head''s. He was using a saber, which was a special type of sword. Both heavy weapons shed with each other, but the Gu Family head had the clear advantage. While Liu Feng was on the defensive, his opponent was trying to break free of the hold that Liu Feng put him in. "Haha! What are you thinking about? The fact that you can''t even win against a person who is a tenth your age?" Liu Fengughed. The moment that he found out that this man, Gu Hai, was in the Ninth Layer of the Soul Evolution Stage, he knew that the goal was to stay defensive until he wasn''t expecting it. "You are still young, boy. Geniuses these days are so arrogant. Do you really think that you can fight with someone who is two minor realms above you in cultivation? I will show you what it means to be on top of the world." Gu Hai''s eyes glinted as he dashed forward. Unfortunately for Gu Hai though, Liu Feng was as fast, if not faster, than him. With his Kun Peng Transformations, he could easily evade the attacks that wereing toward him. With almost a hundred exchanges between them in a minute, and not a single one hit the opponent. On the other side, Cai Guo and Hong Qiu were facing each other, but none of them was moving. None of them wanted to make the first move. The moment that a fight of this scale started, the entire battle would be eclipsed, and the entire city would face the tremors. And hence, this battle had not started yet. Meanwhile, Liu Man and Feng Wang were wreaking havoc among the Hong family cultivators. Out of the three, Liu Man was battling one, Feng Wang was batting another, while a Cai family cultivator took thest one. While the battle between the Cai family cultivator and the Hong family cultivator was rtively matched, the story of the other two was entirely different. Liu Man was utterly thrashing his opponent. He had taken his true form: the white tiger. His opponent could only defend against the relentless attacks that wereing from Liu Man. And as for Feng Wang, he also took up his true form. Arge, green tiger towered over the Hong family cultivator, and even with such a huge body, he was terrifyingly swift. Both these poor cultivators were slowly being pushed back, and they couldn''t do much about it. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fifth Form! Blue Dragon Breaks through Hell!" A blue dragon swirled Liu Feng''s spear as the spear soared through the skies and tried to pierce through Gu Hai. But Gu Hai defended with his saber, while he was trying to move away from the attack. "You are strong, boy. I will give you that. If it weren''t for where your allegiancesy, I might have tried to recruit you. But it is a pity that you were destined to die, facing me." Gu Hai said as his own saber shone. "Ten thousand shadows!" Ten thousands different saber lights dashed toward Liu Feng. All of them seemed to have the power to tear him apart. Liu Feng snapped his fingers, and immediately, a huge barrier made of ice formed in front of him. The moment the saber lights struck the ice, it started cracking, and after a few moments, it broke downpletely, with a few dim lights surviving, and continuing toward Liu Feng. But Liu Feng was no longer there! He was gone! Gu Hai looked around, gripping his saber, calm as he could be. This was the difference between everyone else that Liu Feng had fought till now and a seasoned veteran like Gu Hai. Gu Hai wasn''t going to panic if his opponent suddenly vanished. "Looks like I hit quite the rock this time. I guess I have to use the bigger attacks." Liu Feng realized as he looked at Gu Hai from afar. "Flowing Cloud Spear! Seventh Form! Plum Blossoms show the way!" Immediately, everything became tranquil. It was like there was no fight. ? Gu Hai felt all the sound around him dim down, like the fight itself had died down and stopped. He felt like he was back in his house, calmly enjoying a cup of tea, looking at a few beautiful sceneries. He was looking at beautiful cherry blossoms, the leaves fluttering in the sky. The blossoms were flowing toward him, slowly, as if they wanted to embrace him. Snort! "You will never be able to trap me in an illusion boy!" Gu Hai roared as he twirled his saber, and he swung it a few times. The saber light tried to cut the petals that were flowing toward him, but they just separated, letting the lights pass the blossoms with ease. The flowers continued forward and then, Gu Hai saw a glint among them all. "A spear!" Gu Hai realized as he quickly tried to defend. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 315 All Out Battle (Part 1) Gu Hai realized that all of this was no illusion. It was a single attack. A single attack that wasing for him. The spear revealed itself and rushed toward Gu Hai. He quickly put up his saber to defend, but the spear no longer behaved like one. It was like water, flowing, and evading the saber, bending around it, and trying to pierce Gu Hai. Splurt! Gu Hai coughed out blood as the spear stopped right in front of him. It stopped at his chest, and couldn''t pierce any further. He ripped apart the robes that he was wearing to reveal that there was an armor underneath. But even that armor had a few cracks around the ce where the Ethereal Spear hit him. And even though the armor did protect him, it gave him significant injuries internally. Directly taking an attack to the chest was no joke, and he could feel his internal organs shake. "You bastard." Gu Hai coughed out. He used his saber to support himself while the spear returned to Liu Feng''s hand. "Bastard? Don''t be hypocritical. Who was the one who sent a Xiantian realm expert to try and assassinate me while I was a mere Nascent Soul Cultivator? Who was the one who nned to kill a young generation boy because their own heir was disgraced? You are the true bastards here." Liu Feng spat out. The ethereal spear back in his hands, he readied himself for his next attack. "I will not let you." Gu Hai said with a low tone as his aura increased. He was going all out now. He could not afford to waste any of his power. He had to win this battle once and for all. Aaaargh! Suddenly, his concentration was disturbed, because he knew what that sound was, and who it came from. His eyes darted to the side, to see that a white tiger was standing proudly over a defeated enemy. "So you were the first one to fall, Hong Jun. That is really too bad." he sighed. "You should never be distracted when facing against an opponent that you might not win against." Liu Feng''s cold voice came upon him. He quickly raised his saber and his instincts told him that the attack wasing from the side. So he blocked the attack. And yet his saber felt nothing. "Did you really think that it would be a simple attack like that?" a sneer came from the other side. Gu Hai turned around and faced the direction of the voice. ng! The spear hit the armor once more, and the armor cracked further still. "You are entering your final deathbed, old man. Do you have anyst words?" Liu Fengughed as he appeared a few meters away, his spear finally having the first spray of blood on it. "I will never lose to the likes of you." Gu Hai said, but he coughed out more blood. If he went full tilt from the very beginning, then maybe the match would have turned out a bit different. But with the likes of Feng Wang and Cai Guo still present, why would he waste his Qi on a junior? That was the biggest mistake that he made, ever. "Etheral Spear Arts! Final form! Pierce through the heavens!" The ethereal spear shone brightly. But this was different. This felt different. Unlike every other spear attack that he had ever used, this one was fundamental. This wasn''t shy, with arge monster appearing. It was just the spear and the Qi that controlled it. Liu Feng threw the spear towards Gu Hai with all of his might, and most of his Qi, and immediately fell back a few meters because of the recoil. The spear sted forward in a straight line toward Gu Hai. It looked easy enough to block. One just had to raise his saber and parry the attack. That was exactly what Gu Hai did. He raised his saber. "Infinite Reflections!" The saber started twirling around, and afterimages formed. It was like the saber was its own shield, trying to defend against this attack. The spear flew towards the saber, and they shed. ng! The moment that the two weapons shed, an intense vibration traveled thend. The Hong family''s buildings started to crumble a little, while the buildings next to them in the streets were not safe in the slightest. And all of this was just the aftermath. Dust had raised up, obstructing everyone''s view. Although there were fights happening everywhere, everyone paid attention to this fight. With Hong Qiu and Cai Guo not fighting, this was the next biggest fight, because of Gu Hai. The dust settled, and the oue was shown. The spear was simple, and the attack was simple. It''s goal was to pierce, and pierce it did. Gu Hai was holding a broken saber in his hands, and his armor was broken. The spear had pierced through the armor, and went straight in. His face was filled with shock, and just as he was about to react, Liu Feng appeared in front of him. "There is no chance that I will let you recover from this." he said as he touched the spear. Frost immediately started spreading from the spear, and it slowly spread throughout Gu Hai''s body. Then, a single crack appeared on the frozen body, and the entire body disintegrated into multiple pieces. He picked up one piece of a finger and pocketed it, rubbing his hands. It was none other than Gu Hai''s spatial ring, which was bound to have many treasures. "That was oddly easy. Why the hell was he so weak? Then again, isn''t the Gu family a family of alchemists? This guy must have gotten this far based only on precious pills." he thought to himself. "Well then. Two down. Six to go." he smiled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 316 All Out Battle(Part 2) Gu Hai... is dead? Hong Qiu was shocked. So was Cai Guo. Hong Qiu could ept the fact that the first casualty was Hong Jun. He was weak, and didn''t stand a chance against this monster in the seventhyer. But he hoped that the next casualty would be Liu Feng, who had faced off against the veteran that was Gu Hai. A junior shouldn''t have stood a chance against Gu Hai, and yet, that was exactly what had happened. Gu Hai lost in the hands of a youth who didn''t even have facial hair! This was just inconceivable. And with the loss of the second most powerful cultivator in their roster, as well as another cultivator among them, this was looking like a grim battle for the Hong family. Not able to do anything, Hong Qiu grit his teeth. He nced at Cai Guo, who seemed to read his mind. "If you want to enter the battle there, then you will have to go through me. Although I am not as confident that I can beat you, I am sure that you are not strong enough to defeat me. Especially when you lost your imperial artifact to the Sky Heavens sect." Cai Guo said as a red sword appeared in his hands. The sword shone in the sun''s light, and it appeared to be made of blood, with the sword shimmering throughout like ruby. "You took out the Blood Moon Sword for this?" "Did you really think that I wouldn''t have made my own preparations? When I knew that you brought so many people from outside?" Cai Guo chuckled as he shook his head. Aaargh! They both looked to the side immediately. That sound could only mean one thing. Another casualty. And they were only concerned as to who it was. Feng Wang was sitting over a corpse, calmly looking at Hong Qiu and Cai Guo. The man below him, another Hong family cultivator, was as dead as dead could be. With that, three of the Hong family''s side were gone. Only five more remained, with one of them being locked in a standstill that he just couldn''te out of. The remaining three allies of the Hong family, Tian Wan included, were starting to get jitters. Right now, because of the fact that there were casualties already, Liu Feng, Liu Man, and Feng Wang were all avable to start double teaming on the four that remained to be killed. But they didn''t. They nced at Hong Qiu at the top andughed. "Leave the Hong bastard to me. I have the biggest beef with them. You can take someone else." Feng Wang stepped forward. Liu Feng could not counter. Sure, the Hong family sent someone to kill him, but it wasn''t a proper attack. The assassin couldn''t do anything to him, and died in a heartbeat. Meanwhile, Feng Wang almost died because of the attack from the Hong family. It was obvious that Feng Wang would have more hatred toward this family, and would not rest till its bloodline was eradicated. Liu Feng quickly nced at Tian Wan, who was nervously battling one of the Cai family''s people. Liu Feng calmy hovered near. The Cai family''s cultivator quickly acknowledged Liu Feng''s existence. Now that he defeated Gu Hai, he was hailed as the second most powerful man in the current roster until proven otherwise. Obviously, they were going to treat him well. "I am not shameless and a coward like them. I will not gang up on him. But he needs to die today. You can take a rest while I take care of him." Liu Feng said calmly. "As you wish, Young Noble." the Cai family cultivator stopped battling Tian Wan and retreated back. Liu Feng smiled as he looked at Tian Wan. "Well then. What are you going to do now? You have no choice but to fight. The moment that you do run, Yue Zhe over there will kill you. And let me warn you, that man has killed peak Soul Evolution Stage cultivators before." Liu Feng gave a smile that gave Tian Wan shivers. Tian Wan grit his teeth. He then gripped the sword that he had in his hand and charged toward Liu Feng. "What a stupid idiot. He saw that I defeated Gu Hai, someone who was stronger than him, and instead of taking the defensive, he takes the offensive and charges headfirst?" Liu Feng shook his head as he disappeared from where he stood. Tian Wan halted, standing where Liu Feng once stood, confused. Although they knew the oue of the battle, no one except for Cai Guo, Hong Qiu, and Liu Man were free to look at the battle itself. No one was able to see Liu Feng demonstrate his lightning fast speed. Liu Feng appeared right above Tian Wan, his spear about to pierce downward, when Tian Wan looked up, his sword ready. "You might be stronger than me, boy, but I sure am more endowed than you." Tian Wan smiled as something in his hands shone. It was a talisman, and it did not seem like the defensive type that Liu Feng hadid his eyes upon all this time. The talisman burnt into ashes, and all of a sudden, a lightning snake rushed from the talisman and soared towards the approaching Liu Feng. "Wow. This is so interesting. I wonder what this is." Liu Feng wondered as his spear went forward to meet it, but Liu Feng himself disappeared. st! The spear was knocked away instantly, and the lightning snake vanished with the job done. "You sure do have some good stuff on you. But in fights like this. Power will always triumph." Liu Feng''s voice whispered in Tian Wan''s ears. Pierce! A sword, just an ordinary Heaven Grade sword, pierced through Tian Wan''s body, and the frost started spreading from the sword. "Alright. Four down. Four to go." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 317 All Out Battle(Part 3) "Nope. This is not worth it." Seeing four deaths already, one of the allies of the Hong family stopped. "Forgive me, brother Qiu, but this is not a fight that I can go through. This is a losing fight that you are in, and I suggest that you give up as well." he called out as he raised his arms. "Forgive me, Brother Guo. You know that the Mountain Blood sect has always been a righteous sect. Surely, you will forgive this one for making one wrong choice before I have done any harm" the man looked at Cai Guo with pleading eyes. "Cui Hui! You coward! To think that you would give up just because you have seen a few deaths! After so many years of leeching off of the Hong family, after you have taken so many resources from us, you will just leave us to die?" Hong Qiu roared at the man. "Look around, brother Qiu. You lost four men. Gu Hai is also gone. The Gu family is as good as dead, and with their patriarch truly gone, they will need to actually cultivate another Soul Evolution Stage cultivator to ever rise again. I do not wish for my sect to go through the same." Cui Hui said. He then bowed to his opponent, who was Min Wan, and then to Cai Guo. "I hope you understand my situation and the fact that I was forced to be a part of this battle, brother Guo. I will retreat now, and the Mountain Blood sect will always be forever grateful to the Cai family if you let me pass." he said, but he did not even wait for Cai Guo''s reply. Instead, he flew to the skies, about to escape. "Wait right there." A cold voice froze his ascent, and brought him back to sight. The one who spoke chilled everyone''s blood. It was Yue Zhe. "So it is senior. I hope that I have not offended you in any way." Cui Hui quickly bowed to the person who was clearly leagues stronger than he was. This was a beast that was capable of the destruction of a sect that was even stronger than his own. He did not want to offend this character in any way. "What did I tell you people in the beginning? I told you one simple thing. This battle will not end without a victor clear. I want to see a few nice battles. I saw just one. And even that didn''t have what I was looking for. I also said that whoever dares run away, will die. Looks like someone overlooked my words." Yue Zhe said with a cold face. "Forgive me, senior. That was not my intention." Cui Hui quickly said. "Toote. I can''t go back on my words." Yue Zhe shook his head, and snapped his fingers. Stter! Cui Hui''s head suddenly disappeared. His body, which was hovering in the air, slowly fell down to the ground. "That was anticlimactic. Alright then. Five down, three to go." Liu Feng spoke softly, but everyone could hear him. And the faces on every single person on the opposite side was ashen. They entered this battle with confidence. But now, seeing that not only were they outnumbered, they didn''t even have a way out. The fact that Yue Zhe could pop heads as easily as snapping his fingers frightened them. And the most frightened of them all was Hong Qiu himself. He saw what had happened, but he could still not gauge the power level of Yue Zhe. He did not understand what had taken ce right in front of his eyes. Yue Zhe was so strong that Hong Qiu, someone who was technically in the peak of the martial way, couldn''t see through. It was unnerving. "Right then. Liu Man. Your turn next. Who do you want to take care of." Liu Feng looked at Liu Man. But Liu Man just shrugged. Right now, while the trio from Kaishi were trying to pick their opponents to have a proper face off, the remaining Cai Family cultivators had all ganged up on the remaining ally of the Hong family. Min Wan looked from the side, and Feng Wang was taking care of the first elder of the Hong family. Every single opponent was booked solid except for Hong Qiu. But Liu Feng didn''t move toward Hong Qiu just yet. He was itching to fight, but he wasn''t sure if it was his fight. The Cai family had its grievances, clearly, and it would be fair to let Cai Guo take this fight for his own. Aaargh! The first to go down was the ally who was ganged upon by three other cultivators. There was no doubt that he would not be able tost more than a few minutes. And shortly after that, Feng Wang made mincemeat out of the first elder of the Hong family. "And then there was one." Liu Feng looked at Hong Qiu, who was distraught. "Brother! Grandfather!" he barely said out loud as he looked at the dead. He shed tears only for his own blood, and no one else. But he was still the only main remaining. Seven others stood by his side today, to defend the Hong family. And now, the Hong family had jus the one defender. The strongest, yes, but was it worth it? They could not kill a single one of the opponent. This was just a one sided fight, and it was no doubt because of Liu Feng and his trio. They were in charge of five of the seven deaths, while Yue Zhe took one of them. The only reason that the Cai family could kill someone was because Liu Feng and the rest took care of the other cultivators with ease. But all of that was over now. Everyone looked at Hong Qiu and Cai Guo. Since the beginning of the sh, they didn''t even move from their position. They just held each other hostage to their positions. But now, it was time for them to fight. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 318 Hong Qiu Vs Cai Guo The red sword in Cai Guo''s hand glinted as he raised it. He pointed it toward Hong Qiu. "I am not going to be unreasonable. Take out your sword, Hong Qiu. It is time that this battle ends right now, right here. Today, the Hong family will end." Cai Guo said with a cold tone. "Even if I have to sacrifice myself, I will never let the Hong family die off. Come then." Hong Qiu shouted back. Hong Qiu took out a ck obsidian sword, but it did not show off the same aura that the Blood Moon Sword gave out. It was not as good a weapon. It was clear that they lost the best weapon they had to the Sky Heavens sect, when they sent it with Hong Jimin that day. And now, they were facing the consequences. The battle had not even begun yet, and Hong Qiu was already on the disadvantage. But he was not going to give up. He could not give up. If he did, then the Hong family, the family that gave him everything, would be lost. If he tried to escape, Yue Zhe would kill him. The only way to go forward, was to fight, and try to win. He was desperate. His eyes reddened as he moved. As quick as a blur, he appeared in front of Cai Guo. But Cai Guo was ready for this. Two swords shed, yet only afterimages could be seen. Each passing second, almost ten ngs could be heard. That was how fast the fight was going. And yet there was no clear winner and loser in any of these exchanges. "That guy is going berserk. We can''t let this fightst any longer. We can''t let him lose control of his heart devils, or he will bring upon a tribtion here." Liu Man said with a foreshadowing tone. "Why would be bring a tribtion here if he goes berserk and sumbs to his heart devil? That shouldn''t incur the wrath of the heavens, should it?" Liu Feng asked. "But he is in the peak of the Soul Evolution Stage. Someone like that is just too strong for the heavens to allow to sumb to the Heart Devil. The moment he will, he will grow stronger, and break through the limits of the world, something that the heavens will never tolerate." Feng Wang nodded. He looked at the fight with concern. "He might also just be suicidal and try to st all of us along with him." he pointed out. "If he does that, then the shockwave will definitely deal unrepairable damage to the Hong family behind him as well. There is no way that he will kill Hong blood on his own." Liu Man pointed out. "If there are so many problems, why don''t we just go and split them apart. Let us go and finish the fight there and then." Liu Feng said. "That is stupid. Why would we do that? If he does lose to the heart devil, then we will all just get the hell out of here." Feng Wang said. The fight was continuing on full swing. While Hong Qiu''s attacks were getting heavier with each turn, Cai Guo was able to easily counter. The better weapon was showing its advantage now. The ck obsidian sword showed signs of cracking. The output that Hong Qiu was putting out was being decreased because the sword that he was using was slowly crumbling down. It put both of them in the same position. Everyone was looking at the fight with bated breaths. People from the Hong family were slowly appearing from their crumbled buildings, looking at the final fight. Each sh gave shockwaves that pushed them back, but they were still looking at the fight with the hope that maybe their family head would win. Some of them had already lost hope. Seeing so many of their side on the floor, dead, they couldn''t have any hope left. And there was no escape. The fight was happening in front of the Hong family entrance, but the Cai family had made sure to circle the Hong familypletely to ensure that not a single one would leave this ce. The Hong family had already gathered everyone in the same ce so that they could prepare for a massive fight. But when the fight became one of the Soul Evolution Experts, the normal Xiantain experts just stood still, and looked at what the oue of the fights were going to be. And now, the oue was getting clearer by the minute. Hong Qiu was being pushed back. His breathing haggard, he looked like he was loosing all control. He no longer looked like the majestic family head that he once assumed position of. Now, he was just a beggar fighting the victor. "I will never let you enter the Hong family premeisis. It will never fall to some family like yours." He shouted as his sword came crashing down upon Cai Guo. "Scarlet Extermination!" A gigantic pressure was exerted on everyone around, as Cai Guo took up the defensive against the manifestation that came out of the sword that Hong Qiu was hurling forward. It was a scarlet python that flew towards Cai Guo, trying to pierce his heart itself. Crack! The sound of a weapon breaking could be heard. But it was not Cai Guo''s weapon. It was Hong Qiu''s. He hurled an almost dead weapon toward Cai Guo, and it just couldn''t withstand the sh. It crumbled into pieces, and along with that, the fight was lost. Hong Qiu''s face fell. He looked maddened. Looking around at the seven others who were against him, he couldn''t take it. "This was not how it was supposed to happen. This was not how it was supposed to happen!" he shouted at the skies, falling to the ground on his knees. He then bowed his head down, and all of a sudden, a dark aura came about him. Rumble! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 319 A Conclusion "Zezeze" A sinister sound came from Hong Qiu. Everyone looked at him, and none of them had a good feeling about this. Everyone, including Cai Guo, started retreating a few steps away. The Hong Qiu now was not the same person. He had fallen and had given up. This was someone who had fallen to the devil himself. "What are you doing, Hong Qiu? To think that you were cowardly enough to fall to your heart devil. To think that you would go so far!" Cai Guo shouted. "Zezeze. What fairness? This is war. And now, I will show you what it means to be the strongest." Hong Qiu stood up, nted in a weird way. He gave a smile that gave chills to anyone who looked at it. Above, the skies were covered by dark clouds. The sun did not want to shine on the devil that was created here. And the heavens did not want to tolerate someone that was threatening to go beyond their supervision. Everyone in the world was going against this one person that stood before them. "Do you think that the heavens will tolerate the existence of someone like you? The existence of someone who tries to break through to the Soul Transformation stage? You will be smitten by the heavens, Hong Qiu!" Cai Guo shouted. "But I will take your life before that." Hong Qiu smiled as he dashed forward with speed that changed Liu Feng''s face. Until now, he could clearly see everyone''s movements. But now, for the second time sinceing out of the sealed world, he was no longer able to gauge the speed of someone. Hong Qiu was not just marginally stronger because of the Heart devil. He was multiple times stronger. Strength that he simply did not expect. Cai Guo''s expression changed and he raised his sword to defend. But Hong Qiu, with just his fists, punched forward, and sted Cai Guo dozens of meters away. Crashing on the ground, Cai Guo quickly recovered, wiping off a little blood from his face. Until now, he was able to defend against every attack, as well as push forward. But now, with the heart devil, Hong Qiu was stronger. So much stronger. "How is he that much stronger? If the heart devil makes someone so strong, then won''t everyone just sumb to it in a fight to the death that they are losing?" Liu Feng wondered. "Not everyone cares as much about what they are protecting for them to form a heart devil of exactly that. Certain circumstances get this situation here." Liu Man exined. "Zezeze. How does it feel to eat the dirt now, Cai Guo? You all were responsible for the death of so many from my family. Now, I will make sure that the Cai family will no longer stand." he said as he disappeared, appearing right in front of one of the three Cai Family cultivators. "No you don''t! They are the valuable soldiers who will get me the throne. You are not going to touch them." Immediately, a light tried to pierce Hong Qiu. He looked to the side and immediately moved back, dodging the attack. "How very pretentious. You dare attack me in secret?" He started walking toward Liu Feng slowly. The three around him also went defensive, but without his spear in his hands, and the time that it would take to bring it back, he knew that it would take to long for it toe, he had to use another art right now. His hands started forming seals, as his spirit sea suddenly turned turbulent. A small seal that was formed in the spirit sea almost two years ago started shining as spiritual energy and Qi started feeding it. The clouds above them started rumbling even more, threatening to fall down on the ground. "Heaven Suppressing Art! Seal of Death!" A rune appeared in the air in front of Liu Feng. He didn''t know much about runes, but he did know what this particr rune meant. This was the rune of death. It wasrger than the size of most runes, and it slowly moved toward Hong Qiu. Anyone could just easily avoid it with the speed that it was moving in. And yet, when Hong Qiuid his eyes on it, he was frozen in ce. His legs wouldn''t move. Some force bound him where he was. The rune floated toward him, and then touched him slightly. Slit! Arge sound overcame the sound of the rumbling above. It was loud and terrifying. Hong Qiu''s face was nk as he looked around him. The rune had multiplied itself into an array that formed around him. This was no killing art. This was a sealing art. And it sealed him in the array that it formed. Suddenly, an arc of yellow light passed everyone''s eyes as it struck the very array that sealed Hong Qiu. But it was like the array was intelligent. It dissipated on the top, and the lightning passed right through, striking Hong Qiu. The array closed back immediately, and Hong Qiu was trapped back in, not even having ce to move. "Aaargh!" he shouted with pain. The pain of being struck by lightning was something that everyone here experienced twice before. They knew that going through the heavens wrath was not easy. Rumble! Two strikes of lightning came down. One went straight through the array and hit Hong Qiu again, burning him to a crisp. He shouted again, and this time, it was weaker. A Heart Devil ate itself from the inside out to provide the outburst of power that it gave. It was obvious that Hong Qiu wouldn''tst long. But the second strike that came down came for Liu Feng. And it was not merciful. "Haha! Do you think that I would let you strike down that man''s sessor, you viinous heavens?" Yue Zheughed as he suddenly appeared above Liu Feng. "It has been confirmed. The world is my witness. I have finally found his sessor!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 320 The Truth About The Sealing Beasts The lightning hit Yue Zhe, but he didn''t even flinch. He was just looking down upon Liu Feng, with a smile so wide that Liu Feng was creeped the hell out. He was already surprised that Yue Zhe took the attack. Why would someone take the attack of a stranger that they never even knew? A second st of lightning did note raining down. Instead, the clouds parted. Liu Feng released his seal, and instantly, a half-dead Hong Qiu slumped out of his entrapment, and fell on the ground. But every single eye was on Liu Feng, or rather Yue Zhe, who took the attack and was still unfazed. "Boy. When you used the Heaven Suppressing Art for the first time, what happened? Did you meet anyone special?" Yue Zhe quickly asked, leaning in toward Liu Feng. For a second, Liu Feng timed out as he thought about the time he felt like he had died, went up to heaven, and then came back. He did indeed hear the voice of someone, but then he was immediately returned to where he came from. "Did you hear a voice or not?" Yue Zhe''s voice turned from that of curiosity to that of desperation. His eyes reeked of desperation. Yue Zhe clearly wanted the man that Liu Feng had spoken to that day. "I think I spoke to someone that day. But it was only for a brief moment, and he immediately sent me down, saying that I was too weak." Liu Feng said. "That is right. You are indeed, a little too weak. But that is not the issue." Yue Zhe shook his head as he peeled himself away from Liu Feng and looked up at the sky. "You tried to kill off all dissent. Well guess what? My master is still alive. And sooner orter, we will alle for your goddamn throne. You want to strike down at me? I will see you try. Sooner orter, that throne of yourself will be knocked down to the throne." Yue Zhe roared at the skies. But this time, the heavens didn''t even respond. There was utter silence. After a big fight, with a huge family falling to ruin, the center of attention was not the victor, but a lunatic who was dancing with joy. "Haha! Baidu! You have a good one here. Keep him alive till Ie back. I need you to keep him alive. If anything happens to him, then I will make sure that you won''t be able to do what you came here to do." he shouted at Liu Man, and then mysteriously disappeared. Finally, the tension eased. Everyone looked at Liu Feng. For some reason, Yue Zhe had this incredible favorable impression on Liu Feng, going so far as protecting him from an attack! But Liu Feng was the most curious of them all. The connection between that man and Yue Zhe was already spoken of. Yue Zhe had proimed that his master was still alive. And that fact stunned Liu Feng. An existence like Yue Zhe, someone who was called the Moon Devourer, one of the five sealing beasts that dared to go against the heavens for thousands of years and still survive, had a master to serve? Without a doubt, none of the four constetion beasts were serving a master. That was for sure. So what terrifying man could actually control five beasts, each one like Yue Zhe? In just this little time that he was here, Yue Zhe proved that he was on equal terms with Liu Man, who as a constetion beasts and was one of the strongest existences in the world once upon a time. He also survived years of torture in the Moon Pavilion, and could survive the attacks of the heavens even with the suppression he faced like everyone else. Liu Feng''s mind was just nk as he looked at Liu Man. "Surely, you must know the story here." he transmitted to Liu Man. The truth might be a secret that was not proper to tell anyone else. "The five sealed beasts, I did hear a rumor that they were actually created by an existence that rivaled the heavens itself." Liu Man nodded as he transmitted back. "An existence that rivals the heavens? How is that possible? I thought that the heavens were almighty." Liu Feng was shocked. "That is where you are absolutely wrong. If the heavens were almighty, then the only power that they would allow in this world is Dao that only came from swearing fealty to the heavens. And yet, cultivation exists. Why do you think that is?" "The heavens also have to follow thew of the universe. The heavens are not supreme even in this world. The world itself is what is supreme. There is much that you need to learn, I cannot even begin to start." Liu Man sighed as he shook his head. "Fine then. Let me ask you this. Are the five sealing bests all immortal? In the truest sense of the world?" Liu Feng asked. "I do not know. I do not have an answer to that question. ording to the rumor that I heard, the existence that created the five beasts made them so powerful that no attack was strong enough to tear them apart before they could regenerate. They were strong, but they also had rules to follow. There is a reason that this world isn''t ruled by them. That existence is said to have forbade the five beasts from going against anyone but the heavens, and only interfering in the mortal world when they are provoked to." Liu Man said. "An existence that rivaled the heavens. The creation of the five sealing beasts. Just where did you hear these rumors of something that even you do not know of?" "That, I cannot divulge." Liu Man shook his head. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 321 Treasury With the battle all but decided, the sun started shining clearly on the victors. The Cai family did not rest though. They went forward, making sure that the Hong family was exterminated. Man, woman, and child, none of them were spared. No one could afford to let the Hong bloodline live, or it mighte back to strike them back in the future, when they would least expect it. Screams filled the air, and Liu Feng tried his best to calm his mind, and stop thinking about it. Instead, he looked at the one that he just vanquished. He was the one who had killed Hong Qiu. Not Cai Guo, but him. Although there was the small discussion that Hong Qiu killed himself by sumbing to the heart devil, no one dared to say anything about it. The fact that Liu Feng could seal Hong Qiu such that he could not even move, and could not retaliate, was something that shocked everyone. And now that Yue Zhe had shown such favor toward this Young Noble, everyone knew better than to offend him. So when he walked up to Hong Qiu''s corpse and pocketed his spatial ring, and then took Tian Wan''s spatial ring, no one said a thing in response. Liu Feng looked at Cai Guo next. "There should be some nice stuff in these spatial rings, Family head, but all of us know that the real treasures are going to be inside. So are we going to wait here and dilly dally, or are we going to go inside and start splitting the real prize of the day?" Liu Feng said bluntly. "After you, Young Noble. This battle has only been won because of the presence of you and your friends. I dare not im right to the treasury." Right now, the Cai family were only winners. If they could get even a fraction of the loot that Liu Feng was going to im from the Hong family, they would go home with not a single major casualty. And never minding any of that, now, Liu Feng had solidified his ce as the stronger faction in the entire capital. This group of people that banded together to annihte the Hong family, and destroy the Second prince''s campaign in the process was a terrifying collection. Cai Guo had no doubt that if the tenth prince, ahem, princess'' people also joined them, then the crown was all but guaranteed. And the Cai family would be the true winners, as the ones who supported both Liu Feng and the tenth princess. Because of the agreement between Liu Feng and Tian Xiu, after Liu Feng became the king, he would pass the title to Tian Xiu and leave for the ancient realm. After that, the Cai family could easily solidify its position as the strongest family, and maybe even the strongest power. "Ah! The Tiandu sect and Sky Heavens sect are too powerful to topple just yet. I hope that this young noble will spare us a few good resources here." Cai Guo hoped in his head as the group dashed into the depths of the Hong family''s manor. Two of the Cai family''s Soul Evolution Experts joined the battle so make sure that the Cai family wouldn''t suffer losses. Why would they want to lose valuable Xiantian experts? Cai Guo stopped for a second and scanned the area. "The ce where most of the Hong family experts are trying to rush to is that way. They might be trying to salvage a few treasures from the treasury before trying to flee." Cai Guo said. "No. This is a distraction. They love their family so much that they are willing to be a distraction and let some people escape with a few treasures that will help the family line extend for a little bit longer." Liu Feng pointed to a distance. ,m Although normal people couldn''t see that far, these few, who were hovering in the air, could clearly see a few young ones running toward a small shrine. This shrine was deserted. They were the only ones going this direction. It seemed like a contingency n that was discussed a long time ago. And the kids themselves were pretty fast for their cultivation, easily reaching the shrine in a few minutes. A few sealster, the shrine suddenly moved, and they entered the shrine. Then, it immediately moved to close up. "They did everything right, but it is too bad they underestimate the power of a soul evolution stage cultivator and his detection abilities." Liu Feng sighed as he rushed forward,nding in front of the shrine in a few blinks. "It is a shame that someone so young has to lose their life. They are giving up their lives and sacrificing everything to try and push the family forward. It is a pity, but that is exactly why they must die." Cai Guo sighed as he appeared next to Liu Feng. Just by touching the shrine, it sted into pieces, and a staircase revealed itself. Light shone through the once dark staircase, and three young men appeared, trying to open the doors of the treasury. "How did they find us? I thought that the bait worked!" one of them grit his teeth as he raised his sword and pointed it toward Liu Feng, who walked forward calmly. "Put the sword down, you fool. You won''t get anything swinging it at me." Liu Feng took one step, but in that one step, he appeared right next to them, startling them. "Get back!" the man jumped as he started waving the sword, but a thought crept in his mind. Maybe this young looking man was actually a Soul Evolution Expert? Maybe he was too strong for them to handle? "Get the hell out of my way, fools." Cai Guo''s voice was heard, and immediately, the three men froze. "Ah. Such terrible luck they have, being born with such a terrible leader, who only had greed." Cai Guo sighed as he snapped his fingers. Stter! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 322 Treasury (Part 2) Liu Feng looked away. He had no problem taking care of those who were at the top, who were the true reason that the Hong family was so. But dealing heartlessly with the kids and the women? That was not what he wanted, and he just didn''t want to get involved in that. He touched the treasury door, which rippled with runes all over it. Obviously, it needed a key to open. The Hong family would definitely have its precautions even against people within the Hong family, so it would have to guard the treasury, which was the lifeblood of the entire family. But since these three young men came all the way here with the help of thousands of other family members bing the bait, it was obvious who the key was with. "This should be it." Cai Guo took out a jade token from one of the bodies and handed it to Liu Feng. "I wonder, just how sure was Hong Qiu of his loss that he was willing to let go of the treasury key and give it to one of the younger generation to handle? He really did n for everything." Liu Feng thought out loud as he put the key in front of the door, injecting a little Qi into it. Immediately, the door''s runes started lighting up, and it clicked. The door creaked open, revealing a golden shimmer beyond. They passed through the circr entrance to the treasury, as huge as the door itself was. As they did, they firstid their eyes upon the mortal richness of the Hong family. ,m Millions, no, billions of gold coins right here. On another side, the same amount in spirit coins. As a family with so many businesses of its own, with so many subsidiaries, so many people under it, they needed to dabble in mortal currency. But this was nothing that concerned Liu Feng. He nned to go to the Ancient Realm. Mortal currency was going to be of no help to him. "This is all the Cai family''s, family head. I have no use for it, but I trust that you will find some good use of all of this gold and coin." Liu Feng said as he continued walking deeper into the treasury. It stretched as far as his divine sense did, and his divine sense stretched a far mile. Looking around, on one side, there were mountains of spirit stones. Low grade, of course. Andbined, they increased the Qi density of this ce considerably. It was probably the second best cultivation spot of the entire Hong family, only lesser than Hong Qiu''s cultivation room. The ceiling of the treasury was surprisingly tall, to allow for these mountains to form an maintain their height. At fifty feet tall, it was a surprising feat to achieve underground. And then, on another side, spirit herbs that captivated Liu Feng. After his trip to the sealed world, he did not need any spirit herbs. But looking at the Hong family''s foundations, he knew that they had to have one or two good herbs that could help him. Maybe not now, but at leastter. If he did get to the eightyer of the Soul Evolution Stage, then he would have one more minor realm of cultivation from the system that he could use for the Soul Transformation stage. As he scanned every herb that was neatly arranged in boxes, his eyes of expectation quickly dimmed down. Sure, many of these herbs were useful to Soul Evolution Stage experts, but they were not exactly useful to high stage Soul Evolution Stage experts. But there was a single herb that caught his eye. "The Six Souls Phoenix Grass. If only they let it grow a little more, it would be helpful even to those in the Soul Transformation Stage." Liu Feng sighed. Ever since his alchemy advanced to the Soul Evolution stage in the sealed world, he was able to understand what herbs of the Soul Transformation Stage meant as well. He pocketed that as well, and kept walking. The further he walked, the more ecstatic Cai Guo got. With each treasure that Liu Feng left uninterested, the Cai family gained one more. Already, they became the richest family in all of Tiandu because of swallowing the billions upon billions of spirit and gold coins. The low grade spirit stones were also probably going to be left for the Cai family, while so many precious herbs, which were more valuable than everything beforebined, were also left alone. That could only mean that Liu Feng was only going to take the best treasures that would help him. For someone like the Cai family though, quantity depended over quality, with so many members to support. When the duo stopped in front of the weapons stack, with so many weapons right here, Liu Feng stopped. "I guess that the Imperial Weapon of the Hong family has already been used up? By Hong Jimin all that time ago?" he asked. "The Hong family is strong enough to have another imperial weapon, but I highly doubt it is a sword or a spear, Young Noble." Cai Guo said. Scanning the pile of treasures, there was not a single one above the Heaven grade. It was obvious that even if there was an Imperial Grade weapon, it was not here. "This is also for the Cai family. It appears that the Cai family is the true victor of today. I don''t see much in the Hong family''s treasury that interests me, even though I expected to see so much." Liu Feng sighed with disappointment. "Do not worry, Young Noble. Although the Cai family has profited, as a family with deep roots just like that of the Hong family, I can promise you that what lies here is just the tip of the iceberg. I am sure that the good stuff will only lie inside." Cai Guo smiled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 323 The True Treasury "I truly hope that you are right." Liu Feng nodded as he kept walking in. As he walked in, the quality of treasures inside also increased. There were mountains of mid-grade spirit stones now. These were so much more valuable than the low grade spirit stones, and were so much rarer as well. Liu Feng looked at the mountain andughed at the times he thought that spirit stones were actually valuable. In fact, he still held on to the middle grade spirit stone that he got from the bandit. He never got to using it, because during his time in the city of heavens, he had as many middle grade spirit stones as he wanted. He left them as well though. He had no use for them. They would not exactly help him in the future, and although he would need a few treasures to have a good time in the Ancient Realm when he would go there, he had enough middle grade spirit stones to keep him going. As they kept going, Liu Feng uninterestedly looked forward. To the sides were the same treasures repeated again and again, boring the hell out of him. But once they got to the end of the treasury, it was still not over. It was no dead end that stood before them, but another door. This door was probably what would lead to another closed space that was going to be much better than the one they were in right now. "There is a lock here, obviously." Liu Feng pointed out. He tried putting up the jade token, but nothing happened. It did not react to it. Then, Liu Feng dug through Hong Qiu''s spatial ring, when he found that there was a jade token that was simr to the one that he was holding on his other hand. Taking that jade token out, the door in front of them shone. "Of course. I knew that it made no sense that Hong Qiu would allow some random person to have control of the treasury while he went into battle. He had the key to the actual treasury." Liu Feng realized. The door clicked, and then creaked open. This time though, there was no golden glimmer from beyond the door. It was just dark inside. And Liu Feng wasn''t hoping that this ce would be filled with treasures. He didn''t want quantity. He wanted quality. He needed items that would actually help him. Walking in first with Cai Guo right behind him on his heels, Liu Feng looked around the sparsely decorated ce. There was almost nothing here to show for the fact that this was the treasury of the Hong family. There were a few skill books on one side. These were probably the most important skills of the Hong family, which made or broke a sect. And on another side was a ss case. In the ss case, there was a shining shield. The shield had patterns on it that gleamed even without a source of light. The aura that it gave told Liu Feng one thing. This was an Imperial Grade weapon. And a defensive one no less. "I am going to take this one, Family Head. I am very interested in this." Liu Feng said as he held his hand up, using his divine sense to bring the shield straight to the held up hand, and put it in his spatial ring. Cai Guo did not react though. There were times when he would need to fold, and this was one of them. He had to concede many a thing to Liu Feng. Even if he lost the entire treasury here, he would have to suck it up, because he had the entire treasury behind him to supplement the Cai family. "Oh! So many High Grade Spirit stones? Looks like the Hong family would havested a long while if we tried to have a battle of attrition." Liu Feng realized as he picked up arge bag with hundreds of High Grade spirit stones within them. The difference between a High Grade Sprit stone and a medium grade spirit stone was vast. Too vast for them to beparable. Even though ten thousand medium grade spirit stones had the same Qi as one High grade spirit stone, anyone would be a fool to actually trade. The High grade spirit stone was just that precious. It obviously hurt Cai Guo when Liu Feng pocketed all of them, but he still calmed down. He looked back and rxed, remembering that he had all of that for himself. Liu Feng stopped in front of thest three disys. One had a single, thumb sized spirit stone. Liu Feng did not say anything and just put that spirit stone inside his spatial ring, separate from everything else. And then, he looked at the other two items. One was a green orb, and the other was a blue orb. "Truly marvellous things, these are, Young Noble. They are concentrations of Dao. The green one can only be the Dao of Wind, while the blue one should be the Dao of Water." Cai Guo said. Liu Feng was about to touch the blue orb, when he felt a sharp pain in his hands. Ping! [The system urges Host not to take a concentration of Dao as it will hamper future potential.] "It''s been a while since it spoke." Liu Feng sighed as he took back his hand. "I guess that these two are not destined for me, family head. They are yours to take. I will just peruse through the skill books and memorize what I will want." Liu Feng walked to the skill book area, but Cai Guo was overjoyed when he went to the orbs and ogled at them. They were his now! He certainly did not expect Liu Feng to be so generous as to give him these things. They were more precious than the high grade spirit stones! But Liu Feng himself was happy enough as he looked at his spatial ring. That was because he had thest spirit stone. "A peak grade spirit stone!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 324 An Ending To It All Liu Feng was shocked that he could find a peak grade spirit stone here. Looking at it, and the Qi that it was emanating, he knew that it was exponentially more valuable than a High Grade spirit stone. Surely, he would use it when he would go to the Ancient Realm. But that was forter. Liu Feng looked at the skill books in front of him. He had no intention of monopolising them though. He just wanted to memorise all of them so that it would help him in the future when he needed it. [Memorize skills?] A popup appeared. "I can memorize all of them? I thought that there was going to be a limit. Last time when I had to memorize a skill, there was certainly a limit." Liu Feng wondered. When he was in the city lord''s mansion, the system offered him this feature, and that time, he identally passed out, and woke up muchter, and so, he wasn''t able to learn any other skills that day. But this time, the feature seemed to have evolved? It was weird. He didn''t even get a notification about it. [System feature has upgraded. Do you wish to learn these skills?] The same popup appeared with a new bit of information that confirmed Liu Feng''s theory. With nothing else to do, he nodded, and tapped yes. [Learning skills...] There were ten skills, and immediately, the memories of these ten skills appeared in Liu Feng''s mind. He shook his head to get rid of the dizziness, and although it seemed counterproductive, it worked. "It looks like this is all that is good in this ce, Family leader. I will leave this stack of skill books to you. I hope that the Cai family will have some use for this." Liu Feng smiled. "The Young Noble is so generous. To think that you would allow your allies to have these as well. But I think that it would be proper if we allowed your friends to take a look at these items as well and see if they would want something among these." he suggested. "Something that would not benefit even me, would not benefit Liu Man and Feng Wang. They are stronger than me, and they came here with different goals than you and me. They did not have profit in their mind when they came here." Liu Feng said. "Of course. I dare not im to say that they are greedy." Cai Guo hastily said, hoping that there was no misunderstanding. "Well then. This is all yours. I will take my leave then. There is nothing else that is there to be done here." Liu Feng smiled as he walked away from the inner treasury, outside. Cai Guo did not apany him. Instead, he quickly took in all of the treasure in the inner treasury. The stack of skill books, and the two Concentrations of Dao. These were treasures that could define a sect. The two small orbs were guaranteed to make two other experts. As for the skill books, they would help strengthen every core Cai Family member. It was a win-win on every side. This one fight would change the Cai family for the better. Certainly, the family was going to be much stronger than a merebination of the Cai and Hong families in power. But all of that would take time. Cai Guo looked at the normal treasury. Liu Feng was long gone while he was lost in his thoughts. The treasury was glimmering with a golden re. The walls were literally coated in the metal, and it just shone with brilliance. The treasures within just caused Cai Guo''s eyes to sparkle. "I should get the elders to take in all of these treasurester. I can''t believe that I don''t have enough space in my spatial ring for all of this." Cai Guo sighed and murmured. Liu Feng was outside treasury, and he looked around. The Cai family made quick work of the Hong family. There was not a single person in sight. Only blood and corpses that filled the floors. They really finished the battle in the time that Liu Feng went inside and came out. Well, the Xiantain realm experts really would not stand a chance against Soul Evolution Stage cultivators anyways, so this was probably a massacre more than a real fight. "Wow. With this, the fight really is over. To think that it would take so little time to finish a battle of this scale. The cultivation world really is differentpared to the mortal world." Liu Feng sighed. "It is indeed, very different. And what you saw here wasn''t a real fight. These fights were just wrong. Every single one of our opponents was overwhelmed. Do you really think that if this was an utterly equal matchup, this would have finished in a single day?" Liu Man appeared next to Liu Feng. "The battles that I have seensted days, weeks, and sometimes even months. There is no telling in the cultivation world." "I see." Liu Feng nodded. "But this battle really took too little time. You are stronger than I expected. Thatst attack of yours, it was spectacr. I think that this was the first time that I have seen it against an opponent?" Liu Man asked. "Indeed. Until now, I was just practicing. I think that the presence of the heavens above changed the attack significantly." Liu Feng said. "Oh well. The battle is over. It has been won. Let us go and celebrate this small victory then, shall we?" Liu Man smiled. "I am afraid that we might not be so lucky." Liu Feng pointed to the sky. A man with simr robes to the Imperial Advisor and Tian Wan was in the sky, descending, looking coldly at Liu Feng. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 325 The Imperial Palace Intervenes "So the battle has reached a conclusion." a cold and arrogant voice came from this man, who descended down to the ground. He looked at Liu Feng and frowned. "How impudent! To think that you would not kneel in front of Your Grace!" he barked at Liu Feng, who was just nkly looking at him. Liu Feng turned to look at Liu Man. "Who is this clown? They seem to be running a little rampanttely." Veins bulged on the man''s forehead. Liu Feng had scanned him the moment he came in view. This was Tian Ju. Someone from the Imperial Pce, no doubt, as no one else in the kingdom would dare to assume that name. This man was clearly entitled enough to dare think that even a Soul Evolution Stage expert would kneel in front of him. "Please, show restraint, Imperial Advisor!" Cai Guo''s voice distracted Tian Ju. "This man is also an Imperial Advisor? I wonder how many are there." Liu Feng murmured. "Cai Guo. The man of the hour is here. I trust that you have wiped clean the history of the great house of Hong? No doubt, that is the case. To think that such despicable people exist, who have no loyalty to those who serve the crown." Tian Ju spat on the floor. Just looking at this incredibly rude man, Liu Feng had this urge to punch him in the face. But he stopped himself. "I trust that there is a reason that the imperial advisor hase here right after the dust has settled. I certainly hope that it is not because you wished to join the Hong family''s cause a second toote, because one of imperial blood has already fallen today." Cai Guo said. "Tian Wan? Truly despicable! To think that you would kill someone from the Imperial Pce! I will make sure that the king will sentence your death for this! I will guarantee it!" Tian Ju shouted. "Is this clown also in the second prince''s faction? Or is he just in rude and mannerless?" Liu Feng nced at Cai Guo, not even caring about the fact that everyone around him could clearly hear him. "Ah! The Imperial Advisor here is the advisor of the third prince. The one that has met his demise here is the Imperial Advisor of the second prince." he rified. "Oh! Then the first imperial advisor that we saw must be the imperial advisor for either the king or for the crown prince. It will only make sense, as he was the only reasonable person that I have seen so far from the imperial pce." Liu Feng pped his forehead, feigning realization. "This..." Tian Ju could only grit his teeth in frustration at this humiliation. Any more, and he would just be humiliated further. How could he possibly go against someone who defeated Tian Wan, who was stronger than him in every way? He reached for his pockets and took out a shining token. The moment that they saw the token, everyone around who was from the Cai Family knelt on the ground. "We greet his Majesty''s verdict!" everyone shouted as their heads were pinned on the ground. Everyone except the usual suspects, of course. Liu Feng, Liu Man, and Feng Wang, who was in another corner, all were standing upright, not having a care for anything in the world. "You dare not kneel in front of His Majesty''s verdict? How dare you! This is sphemy. You are conspiring against the king!" Tian Ju shouted. "Are you all talk? I mean, you have been barking since you got here. The king sent you to do something. Why don''t you get to doing it?" Liu Feng shook his head. Tian Ju shivered with rage, but he couldn''t act on it. No one wanted to go against these monsters that just massacred an entire family that stood tall for hundreds of years. "His Royal Highness, His Majesty, The Dragon of Tiandu, Tian Long,mands the head of the Cai Family, Cai Guo, the vagabonds who have entered the fight of the Hong family, Liu Feng, and hispanions, to enter the pce to face their sentence for refusing His Majesty, the dragon of Tiandu, Tian Long''s royal decree!" Tian Ju said with a majestic tone. Then, his prideful eyes red at Liu Feng. "You must be the brave fool who went against His Majesty''s decree. I wonder how His Majesty will sentence you. I hope he will give you a slow and painful death just for your insolence here." Tian Ju coldly said. Liu Feng chuckled. He then nced at Cai Guo, who was already up on his feet. "You musn''t kneel in front of a dog, family head. Although a kneel for a king is fit, kneeling when a dog is holding a decree is just not right. Well then, it looks like we have a little work to do. Shal we get to it then?" Liu Feng yfully looked at Tian Ju on purpose. It was clear who he was calling a dog. "Yes. It is not right to keep His Majesty waiting." Cai Guo nodded. *************** The Frozen Prison, Sky Heavens Sect "It is truly saddening to hear, young boy. It looks like I am the person who has to deliver this news to you." an old voice reverberated in a cold cell in the edge of the Frozen Prison. Although a little different than all of the other cells, because he was not actually frozen in the ice, it was without a doubt, torturous. A young man within the cell could barely open his eyes, his eyebrows heavied by the snow. "What is it, second elder?" the young man could barely speak. "Your family is dead boy. All of it. By that bastard of a kid, Liu Feng. I am sorry to say this, but the Hong family is no more. You are thest remaining blood of the Hong family." the old man in front of him said. The eyes of the young man shook for a second. This was indeed, terrifying news. He was waiting here all this time, expecting that one day, his family would find a way to break him out of here. And yet, he found out that his family was no more? The family that gave him everything, including the entitled life that he was used to? He could not believe it. "Zezeze. Looks like we both share the same grief and the same anger, boy." the old man smiled even with this heartbreaking newsid bare in front of the poor boy. "What are you talking about? Isn''t it the goddamn Sky Heavens sect that did it? Why else would youe here to gloat?" Hong Jimin scoffed. "Why would I do such a heartless thing? No. It was the Cai family, and the goddamn bastard, Liu Feng." the second elder grit his teeth. He then snapped his fingers, and all of a sudden, the ice started breaking, letting Hong Jimin''s restraints go free. "What are you going to do? Kill me now? The Cai family must have made sure that no one from my bloodline has survived." Hong Jimin sighed. "What? Kill you? Why would I do that? I know of your talent, Hong Jimin. I know that you were wasting it. But now, you and I, we share the same goal. We want to take revenge. Go now. Your feathers are free. But remember, in two months, you need to enter the Ancient realm somehow, or you will never be able to take revenge on Liu Feng again." Hong Jimin was shocked. He did not think that the second elder who was in front of him had such hatred toward Liu Feng. And Hong Jimin did hate Liu Feng to the extent. Why wouldn''t he? First, Liu Feng intervened in his conquest to take Cai Lien. Then, since he arrived in the city, his family seemed to start losing. And then, he was also in charge of destroying the Hong family? The only thing that he wanted to do was kill Liu Feng now. "Fine. I will do what you want. How do I get out of here?" he asked. "The world forgets that I am the only one in the entire kingdom who is this proficient in the elusive Dao of space." the second elder chuckled vilely as he snapped his fingers and created a silver portal in front of Hong Jimin. Hong Jimin went through the portal. He had no other fate left waiting for him. The moment he went through the portal, it closed up. "Now, things are getting interesting." the second elder smiled as he took out a corpse from his spatial ring and threw it in the cell. "Finally, I have a chance to get back at the bastard." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 326 Meeting The King "It''s not right to keep His Majesty waiting." Cai Guo nodded. "Then lead the way. Let us get going." Liu Feng nodded. He then nced at Min Wan, wondering if she would be considered a vagabond along with him. She was ready to move though, so Liu Feng guessed that she would also being with him. Cai Guo disappeared, and so did Liu Man, Feng Wang, Liu Feng, and eventually, Min Wan as well, leaving Tian Ju in front of the entire Cai family. He looked at their empty spots nkly. They were so fast that he couldn''t even follow them. But he did know where they were going, so he also started moving toward the pce. It didn''t take long for Liu Feng toe in view of the majestic Imperial Pce. It wasn''t an architectural wonder of any kind, with a tower that tried to touch the very skies. It did nothing of the sort. Instead, it was just a show of power. The pce was just like any other pce. Asrge as it could get, wide and long. The area that it covered, a while kilometer in every side, was arge spot in the crowded capital. It was much, much bigger than the space that the Hong family upied. And even around the imperial pce itself, there was not a single building in sight from the walls. There were just neat roads, gardens, and then roads that led to buildings. It was like they wanted to make a beautiful garden around the pce walls, and they just decided that no other person would be allowed to stay around the pce. Looking at the hundreds of guards that were standing around the walls, guarding this majestic pce, Liu Feng chuckled. They were so fast that the guards couldn''t even sense the arrival of their guests. But the imperial pce was still the imperial pce. "Halt!" A majestic and terrifying voice jolted everyone''s blood as arge man with a white and purple cloak behind his back suddenly appeared above the castle walls, right in front of the path that Liu Feng and his party was traveling in. Cai Guo skidded to a halt and stood a few meters away in front of the man who had appeared. The moment that he showed himself, all the guards on the wall realised that there were intruders, and they were about to sound the horn, when this majesticrge man raised his hand, stopping them. "Cai Guo. The King is expecting you. And these people must be the ones who had participated along with you, disregarding the orders of His Majesty." he swept his cold and arrogant eyes looking at all four behind Cai Guo. "This one is the newest entrance to the Session war, Your Highness." Cai Guo pointed at Liu Feng. "The dragon princess'' son. I am aware." "We shall go in then. Right now?" Cai Guo asked. "Do you think that what just happened is something small? The king is furious. You have weakened the forces of the very kingdom! Do you understand the significance? Now, the Handu kingdom knows that we are eight Soul Evolution Stage Experts short! Eight! The throne has never been weaker because of you!" therge man shouted at Cai Guo, but he just took it all to the face. And Liu Feng had an inkling as to why. He understood the difference between the Imperial Pce and the other families that had the audacity to think that they could match the power of the imperial pce. The arts and skills that the Imperial Pce held were much better quality than the ones these families held. Perhaps the sects came close, but they were still no match for the defining arts of the Imperial Pce. And Liu Feng could feel it in this man. The presence of a roaring lion within him. This was the Roaring Lion Technique, something that made the Tian family the strongest power in the entire kingdom. It was inherent. The Qi of this man was stronger than most. It was not as strong as Liu Feng''s own, but he knew why. His Qi was the purest that it could get,ing from the Heaven Devouring Art. He never cared for other inheritances because he knew that it was unmatched. "And these people. They are the reason that you actually went ahead with it? They are who you backed?" he red at Liu Feng and the other three. "You must be the green gale tiger of Kaishi city. The imperial pce has always respected the ancestor guardian of Kaishi. I do not understand why you had to disregard us to such extent though." he asked. "You are not the only one at the peak of the Soul Evolution Stage boy. You are a thousand years too young to think that you can intimidate me. You know well what happened. They were going to die by my hand one day or the other. That day came now. You will just have to deal with it." Feng Wang said coldly. "And as for the king of yours, don''t be hypocritical. I supported his father and the father before that. But that was because they interested me and no more. For once, I think that a little change will actually be interesting. Why not have someone with a different surname at the helm for a short while?" Feng Wang chuckled. To this, therge man looked at Liu Feng once again. "You will be the one that has to answer to His Majesty anyways. I will not dy his judgement. But I will only say this. How arrogant and selfish must this young generation be, to take the help of so many experts just because of a small hup?" he said coldly. "Look like the information gathering abilities of the pce are still not that great. Maybe you forget a little. The Hong family fell because they offended me. They tried to kill me. And I did not use the help of those around me. They used mine." Liu Feng scowled back as a glow appeared around him. He was not going to back down today. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 327 Arrogance "This is not the time for us to bicker like this, Your Highness. I am sure that we should not keep His Majesty waiting for us." Cai Guo said. "Then why don''t we get going in. I am also interested in seeing what His Majesty''s decision will be toward such unruly individuals." therge arrogant man nodded. His purple white cloak fluttered in the air as he turned around, hovering into the pce itself. The guards looked at the people who arrived with nk faces. They heard of the news, obviously. The Cai family was battling the Hong family because of some reason that no one knew. The Hong family had brought in all of their allies. But what was this? There was a victor already. And looking at the leader of this group, who is clearly the head of the Cai family, the victor was also clear. The Cai family won against the Hong family in this battle. They exterminated the Hong Family, and the king was furious for it. They flew through the beautiful garden within the spacious pce as they went straight to the entrance. This man in front of them did not n on wasting any time. Liu Feng quickly scanned him with his Mind Eye. [Level - 67 Name - Tian Hun Cultivation - Peak Soul Evolution Stage] "This guy must be so old and probably has been in tons of battle before, to have such a high level. I should try leveling up a little more, those stat points are really helpful." Liu Feng wondered to himself. They stopped in front of the giant doors of the pce. "Open them up!" he said coldly. The moment he spoke, the pce doors started creaking open. They slit slowly, and Liu Feng could see whaty inside with that small slit. There were lights on the walls going all the way till the corridor ended. There were guards everywhere. The number of guards shocked Liu Feng. Not because of the small fry that were visible. They meant nothing to him. The shocking part came because of whaty in the shadows. Liu Feng could feel the presence of hundreds of Xiantian realm experts, many of them behind the shadows watching the new entries. It was just a pure show of strength. To have that many in the Xiantian realm was probably not possible for any other power. And then, there were the soul evolution experts. Liu Feng didn''t need to spread his divine sense to know that there was more than one existence in the soul evolution stage watching them as they entered the pce. "I am surprised. The imperial pce has grown tremendously sincest I have been here. To think that there are so many cultivators here." Feng Wang nodded with surprise. "Did you think that the great imperial pce would be the same? We are the strongest power in the entire kingdom. Of course we will have so many experts among our ranks." Tian Hun said. "What happened to you? Someone finally let you get off your leash? Why else would someone be so needy to show their strength?" Liu Man shook his head as he murmured. But that couldn''t escape the ears if the cultivators. He just called this man, who clearly had such a great status here, someone who was let out of his leash? Crush! A sudden, crashing pressure mounted on Liu Man. Everyone around him could feel it. "What did you hear say, you arrogant, self entitled brat?" He shouted. Swish! All of a sudden, a chilling killing intent came from the exact opposite direction. Tian Hun immediately froze. He looked at the direction from which the intent came from with terror. Who else was the cause of it, other than Liu Man? His mouth curved upwards. "I just took care of a small family a few minutes ago. But someone else took all of the fun. Don''t dare test my patience. I might think that this ce will be a good ce to start my leisure." He said with the most carefree smile, but those who understood the threat that came with it felt shivers on their backs. "You dare threaten to go against the imperial pce?!! Against his Majesty? I will have your head for -" "Forgive us! Have mercy on this foolish one who did not recognize who came in front of him!" An old, familiar voice stopped Tian Hun from saying anything else. He was the imperial advisor, or at least, the first one. "So at least one person knows who I am. That is good to know." Liu Man smiled. "Our eyes were blind and we could not see that the great white tiger himself graced our pce." The old imperial advisor appeared before them. "What are you doing, Tian Gan? How could you bow your head to someone who dares to threaten the imperial pce?" He floated red at the new entry. "You fool! Just because you don''t know anything, doesn''t mean you can offend just anyone. Over of these people is the son of the young master of the Liu family from the ancient realm! One of them is the great white tiger himself! Someone who can easily destroy the likes of you and me!" The imperial advisor shouted back. "The white tiger. You don''t mean! A constetion beast? In our realm?" Tian Hun finally understood the context, and his face turned ugly. Who didn''t know the stories of the white tiger, sometimes killing entire sects and regions for offending him? "Now that you have understood the I do not speak lightly, why don''t you bow out, little boy? This is not the stage for you to bark at me." Liu Man arrogantly looked at Tian Hun. "Well, why do we have to go through a stupid detour every time something important is supposed to happen? Just shut up everyone and let us go inside and get this done with." Liu Feng said, breaking the tension. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 328 His Majesty Everyone stopped and looked at Liu Feng. "What are you all looking at me for? I am not in the mood to have another stupid discussion here. I don''t want to have another drama here. Let us just go in and get this over with." Liu Feng said. For thest few days, all he saw was drama. Every time he was supposed to do something, there was drama that dyed things, sometimes even stopping things. "Young Noble is right. We must not keep His Majesty waiting long. After all, staying awake for extended periods of times is not safe for him." Cai Guo said. Tian Hun nodded. His face changed the moment he knew that the person that he was cursing at for thest few minutes was an existence thatsted thousands of years, and could easily kill him. But looking at Liu Man, although the killing intent chilled his blood, he already saw that Liu Man was just in the seventhyer of the Soul Evolution Stage. He could feel it the moment that Liu Man exploded with his killing intent. And this Liu Feng was also not backing down. He also seemed to be strong, and in the Soul Evolution Stage. Seeing someone so young in the Soul Evolution Stage threw him off his game. He did not think that even the strongest and most heaven defying genius could enter the Soul Evolution stage without putting dozen of years cultivating non stop. He knew of the struggles that came with entering the Soul Evolution stage. He had gone through that before. And now, someone was in that stage, and was so much younger than he was. "Young Noble is indeed right. We must enter. The King will not be pleased that we have wasted so much time even though we are here, right in front of his door." the Imperial Advisor, Tian Gan, nodded. He turned around to start walking forward, taking charge of leading the guests forward. Tian Hun took the backstage, just slumping to the back, watching the backs of the people walking forward. To the side, the guards tried their best to maintain a straight face. But they couldn''t. Someone disrespected the gods in front of them, and nothing happened? As they walked through the corridors, a thought suddenly struck Liu Feng. They out of the pce wasid out in his memories and he tried mapping where he was with that map. He could see that the pce was split up into quarters with the centerpletely separate and aloof. They were in the center. And presumably, the quarters on each side were for the different princes of the royal family. That could only mean one thing. All of these guards, all of this ce, it was here for only one reason. For the King. The king of Tiandumanded half the entire pce in real estate just for his living. That was just exorbitant and domineering. "I guess I have to watch out for a super arrogant and conceited king over here." he prepared himself as they stopped at the end of the corridor. The corridor was straight and did not waver anywhere, It just led straight to a single door. "This must be the hall where the throne and everything lies." Liu Feng thought to himself. The doors creaked open, but no one moved. Instead, Tian Hun in the back and Tian Gan in the front kneeled on the ground. "We wish for your permission to enter, Your Majesty." "Come in." a feeble voice,ing from a person that seemed to be on his deathbed rang in everyone''s ears. It wasmon knowledge that the king was about to die. That was why everyone was talking about the session wars. They were preparing to rece the king whenever he was going to go down under. ,m But hearing this voice in person only confirmed that. A cultivator would never be this weak unless he was dying. That was a given. Tian Gan stood up and took the first step, entering through the doors. Then, Cai Guo and Liu Feng, along with the party behind, entered the room. This was no throne room. This was no ce for a king to show his judgement. It was a bedroom. The most majestic bedroom that Liu Feng had everid his eyes upon. Looking everywhere, precious metals, spirit stones, runes, this ce was covered in treasures that would make ordinary cultivators drool. And yet, they were decorating the bedroom of the king. As for the Qi density of this ce, it was just enormous. The Qi was like mist, rolling in and out, and everyone could see it. This was almost as good as a cultivation room on its own. But everyone knew it was not. The cultivation room of the king would probably be even better. "Looks like the unruly people who dared to go against my words are finally in front of me." the same, crippled old voice came. This time, Liu Feng could see who was the one talking. Looking forward, he could see how as in the bed. There was an old man, his skin sticking to his bones, not a muscle in sight. But unfortunately, he was not the highlight. He wasying in theps of a half naked woman, who was massaging his head with her thighs. She was probably a concubine or a maid. Her clothes revealed all the right ces, and there was little to no cloth on her body. To call her half naked would be an overstatement. She was almost naked, with all but a strip of cloth to show for it. "You have got to be kidding me. This horny a$$ guy is the king?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edited by Worthy Advisor Chapter 329 Tian Long The old man''s face was certainly lewd. He was happily resting on the bare thighs of the woman behind him, who was stunningly hot, and looked straight at the guests who had arrived. "Cai Guo. You have disobeyed amand I gave you through verdict. Do you know what the punishment for something like that is?" Tian Long asked. "It is death, Your Majesty." the family head knelt on the ground. "In just a single day, one of the strongest powers in the entire kingdom vanished. But do you think that I cared if it was not one of you three? The Moon Pavilion was gone in an instant. Do you think that the pce gave two F**ks? No. I don''t care about some stupid Moon Pavilion. The sects other than the Tiandu sect, they only exist for themselves. I don''t concern myself with them. But the three under families, you three are the pirs of the Imperial Pce. You are the reason that we stood strong all these years. And now, it wasn''t someone from the outside who destroyed one of these pirs. It was someone on our own side? Do you know how much this hurts me?" Tian Long said. "Nyah!" All of a sudden, the woman behind the old man moaned as Tian Long grabbed her breasts, twisting them without remorse. "I will not show mercy, Cai Guo. But unfortunately, the situation that you have put me in is tough. The Cai family will have to send two Soul Evolution Stage experts to the front lines to guard the border. I want them to leave tomorrow." Tian Long said. Cai Guo did not bat an eye even though this king was literally ying around with that woman right in front of him. He just nodded. "Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty. I will send two to the frontlines as soon as I return." Cai Guo said. "Now then, onto the people who intervened." Tian Long''s eyes fell upon Min Wan, who''s beauty even made the half naked woman pale inparison. "To think that the Moon Princess was so beautiful. Maybe I should have sent someone to bring her for myself instead of sending that brat of mine." Tian Long sighed. "What are you doing? Knead harder." he looked up through the voluptuous peaks of the woman. "As you wish, Your Majesty." the woman nodded, closing and reopening her legs. Liu Feng could almost not take it, and was tempted to just p the hell out of this old man for provocating him so. But he restrained himself. "So this is the great White Tiger. I always wanted to meet one of the constetion beasts. I heard so much about them, but to think that they were so mortal. To think that a constetion beast is bound to the Soul Evolution stage, that is just interesting." "And then, that man''s son. I still can''t believe that I missed the fact that you can cultivate. It looks like my sister has passed on the best in her to you. I can see her eyes in your face." Tian Long sighed. Liu Feng felt, for just a fleeting second, that Tian Long maybe had some longing toward the sister that he had imprisoned. But his next words crushed that feeling. "It is kind of irritating. Looking at those eyes. All my life, they have been too cold and condescending. I don''t like you boy. It is a pity that the royal family has to stay silent in this matter between your father and Long Xian. If it weren''t for that, then I would definitely side with Long Xian. He promised me the world in exchange for my help." Tian Long said. Liu Feng clenched his fists in anger, but he stopped himself. He was in the enemy''s domain. All around him, there were experts that he could not go against. "And Feng Wang. The son of a founder of the kingdom itself. To think that you would finallye here." the king looked at Feng Wang. "If all you have are curses, then keep them to yourself. We arent acting out because there are people around us that can restrain us. But if we do want to act out, and leave this ce, then we can. Just remember that." Feng Wang coldly said. None of the vagabonds had any intention of showing this king any respect. They had no loyalty to a king they did not serve. Feng Wang was above all mortal matters until the Hong family forced him toe out to the mortal world. Liu Feng only came to this world two years ago, and he had no intention of bowing down to this king that pissed the hell out of him. Min Wan wasn''t even a part of the kingdom, and she was only here for one reason: helping Liu Feng to repay her debt. As for Liu Man, he was here for Liu Feng. He was the white tiger reborn. Of course he felt that he was above this king of Tiandu. "To think that all of these people have no manners toward me, the king. All of you must be punished, but unfortunately, I am too weak, and the pce cannot take any action against you. But that doesn''t mean that I will let you all off. Wait, this is just four. Where is the other person? I thought that there was a fifth. Right before entering the fight, Tian Wan sent a message telling me that there were five." Tian Long looked at Tian Gan. "I think that you might be talking about the man named Yue Zhe, Your Majesty." Cai Guo said. "So where the hell is he? Did he run away? Do you want the entire Cai family to endure my wrath?" Tian Long coldly said. "That man did not join the fight, Your Majesty. He was a spectator. And he was the one who was responsible for the downfall of the Moon Pavilion. He is a beast with noparison." Cai Guo said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 330 Tian Long (Part 2) "What did you say? The beast that was responsible for the destruction of the Moon Pavilion?" Tian Long mused. "What is wrong with you, you bit*h? Do it harder. Do you not understand how stressed I am feeling? Or do you want to get stripped naked and thrown on the streets so that every beggar can have a taste of you?" Tian Long suddenly shouted. "No, Your Majesty. Forgive me for my insolence. I will try better." the woman was close to falling in tears as she started massaging his head even harder. "Now then. Are you telling me that you don''t know where the hell this beast that dared attack one of my subjects and then left without saying anything is?" he red at Cai Guo from his position. Liu Feng frowned. Until now, not a single thing that Tian Long had said gave him a favourable impression of him. It was like this man was some monster that only became a king because he had the right backing. Looking at how the session wars were happening, he probably just found the right family to leech on so that he could be the king. But even that didn''t make sense. Every cultivator could live for hundreds of years as long as he was beyond the Xiantian realm. And the Tiandu kingdom hadn''t been up for a millennium, that was for sure. It all didn''t add up. How did this buffoon be a king, and how did his father allow it? "Aizz. I don''t like this. Tian Gan. What do we know about that monster? I know that the archives have someone rted to the Moon Pavilion. Someone they were trapping. We had the goddamn stone that was rted to him, didn''t we?" he asked impatiently. "Yes, Your Majesty. This beast is called the Moon Devourer, or the Moon Devouring Wolf. A beast that was never meant to be here in this side of the world. It came here from the Ancient Realm, and has been trying to find its way back every since." Tian Gan said. "Trying to find its way back? That means that this goddamn beast wants to get to the Ancient Portal. The one that I control. So he wille back to my pce one day or the other." Tian Long smiled. "Then I don''t need to concern myself with a dog who will already be in a leash soon enough. I just need to discipline the people here." Tian Long said. "So then. My punishment for the girl is simple. She must be my concubine. An unwed youngdy like that, she can even be my queen as long as she pleases me." Tian Long clicked his tongue. "Impossible!" Liu Feng and Min Wan both said at the same time. Tian Long raised his eyebrows, while Tian Hun suddenly unleashed all of the pressure on these both instantly. "Did you just dare to refuse His Majesty''smand right in front of him? Do you want to face death, boy?" he shouted at Liu Feng. As for Min Wan, it was clear that the king favored her, so he did not say anything to her. But she was still forced down because of the pressure. She could not resist it at her cultivation. Snap! All of a sudden, the pressure that Min Wan was feeling disappeared, and Tian Hun felt a mounting pressure fall on him instead. He felt this pressure a little familiar though. It was oddly familiar to him. But before he could ce his finger on that, Tian Gan shouted. "I have been cordial all this time to our guests, but whether you are the Liu n''s main descendant or not, I do not care! No one will disobey his Majesty''smands, and no one will fight in front of him." "Really? So this goddamn king is who you serve? Fine then. Min Wan is my woman. I will also see how you will dare snatch my bride." Liu Man exploded. "Your what?" Cai Guo looked behind. Tian Gan looked at him. Tian Long looked confused. This was all too shocking for everyone except for Liu Man and Feng Wang, who didn''t care enough. Even Min Wan looked a little surprised, but she covered it, and looked at him and blushed. "Min Wan has been my bride long before she has been the Moon Princess. And if you think that the king canmand her, then he cannot. She is not of Tiandu. The king cannot order someone outside of Tiandu to follow hismands. And do you really want to take a taken bride?" Liu Feng looked straight at Tian Long. No honorifics, nothing. He was looking coldly at the man who had been rude to them all along. "Someone actually dares to be so rude to me within my pce walls? I have three in the peak of the Soul Evolution Stage. The Cai family and Ding family still answer my calls. Do you think that you can dare go against me boy?" Tian Long suddenly shouted. But looking around, no one was as confident as Tian Long was. Liu Feng smiled. "Until now, you guys have been counting, telling me how many Soul Evolution Experts you have. I can look around. I can feel so many existences around here. Your numbers don''t seem to add up. Don''t tell me, your three peak stage experts actually include the Cai family head and the Ding family head." Liu Feng snickered. Tian Long froze as he nced at Cai Guo. "For centuries, your family has been bound to mine. Answer my call and put this arrogant boy in his ce, Cai Guo!" he shouted. "Forgive me, Your Majesty, but there must be a better way to resolve this." Cai Guo said. "You actually dare to refuse mymand? Again?" Tian Long shouted with anger. Cough! He suddenly got upright and started coughing. Blood splurted out of his mouth. "Goddamn this curse of the king." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 331 Curse Of The King [Forgive me for the little profanity that has been showcased so far. But Tian Long is a little like that. If it does disturb you, go to thements so that I will try to censor it a little better in the future.] "Goddamn this curse of the king." Tian Long started coughing out more blood. Ping! [New Secondary Story Quest Find the Curse of the King Reward - Cure for the Curse of the King Penalty - None] "A story quest with no penalty? Nice. And the cure, looks like it can help me in the future as well. I mean, I need to know what the curse it right? I have to be the king, even for a while, and if that means that I am going to get cursed, I would rather have the cure than not." Liu Feng thought about it. He then looked around. Out of all the people on his side, only Cai Guo could possibly know what the Curse of the king was. "Senior family head. I know this is not the time or the ce, but this is important as someone who wants to be the king. What exactly is the curse of the king. Will it affect me even though I am going to concede the throne in just a day?" he asked. This was obviously through transmission. It was probably not right for him to speak about this openly. The king here was emotionally unstable as it was. Cai Guo paused. He then nodded. "I am surprised that you do not know what the curse is, Young Noble. I thought that everyone who wanted to be king would know of the curse. But I guess you do not. The curse is given to all those who step on the throne of Tiandu. As the throne has been taking from the Han dynasty from all those millennia, this is a throne that was not meant for Tian blood. Forcefully sitting on it will only cause a curse totch on to your blood, forcing you to age faster. That is why all kings of Tiandu die before the age of seventy, like mortals." Cai Guo said. "But I thought that you would know this. After all, you are the very exception to the rule, and half the reason why the king decided to imprison the dragon princess. It is said that the throne first epted the dragon princess, and the curse wasn''t applying to her when the king''s father took the young princess on hisp when he was on the throne." Cai Guo continued in the transmission. "What? That is truly interesting. I need to research more about thister." he understood. [Ping!] [Story Quest Complete] [Computing rewards. Rewards will be disbursed when time is required.] Liu Feng nodded as he looked at the show now, concentrating on the king. He was convulsing, coughing out huge amounts of blood. No one would ever think that this poor man was the king of all of Tiandu, the one whomanded thergest army and force in the entire kingdom. He looked like a mere mortal and was also just as young as one!" After a few breaths, he was able to stabilize himself. "Because of you, Cai Guo, the curse acted upon itself again. How long do you think I have now? It was a month before, and now, I don''t know when I will go. The session war is right upon us, and at this very moment, you have abandoned the Tian family and are now helping this man with another surname take the throne?" Tian Long looked at Cai Guo. "This is just what is best for the Cai family, Your Majesty. For too long, you have let the Hong family suppress us. They got a better pick of territories, they got the better resources, and when they starteding into our territory, you were the one who allowed it. And when we destroy it in return, it was our mistake? How is that fair?" Cai Guo finally started talking back. "Are you betraying your king, Cai Guo?" Tian Hun had recovered, and Liu Feng had long stopped using the Yuan Principle on him. "You and Tian Jiang are the most powerful of the entire royal family. Brothers to the previous king. Do you think that this is the king that he would have wanted. All of us were in the past dynasty and this one. That was why I supported the tenth prince and now, Liu Feng." Cai Guo said. "You supported a girl to sit on the throne. A girl! Do you understand the problem with that, you fool?" Tian Long shouted. "At this point, this really is turning into a family drama that I don''t want to involve myself into. What the hell is with this king''s mood swings? Is he like a woman in secret and he has his period right now?" Liu Feng thought to himself. "Cough!" The king started coughing once again. This time, his entire body shook. Everyone could see his very bones shake as he expelled more blood. And this time, the blood was pitch ck. "No! This can''t be!" Tian Hun whispered. "Cai Guo, you bastard. Because of you and these insolent people that you have brought to the pce, the king has been angered all the way to injury! The curse has made his situation worse!" Tian Gan rushed to the king''s side. He looked at the woman. "Get out. And do not speak a word of what is going on here." he said. The woman had fear in her eyes, quickly nodding as she got off the bed. With the king no longerying on herp, she was no longer needed here. St! Suddenly, the moment she was near the door, her head burst into a thousand pieces. "Dead women tell no tales. Why risk it." Tian Hun coldly said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 332 The King.... Died? The woman, half naked as she was, fell on the ground. The blood that came from her head bursting sttered all over the walls. But because she was near the entrance, the blood did not reach anywhere near the king. It did go toward the guests who came here though. Liu Feng''s reaction speed was fast enough for him to see what Tian Hun did. Although he did not intervene in his attack, he waved his hand to create a small Qi barrier that blocked the blood from sttering all over their robes. He tolerated the kill, but he wouldn''t tolerate defiling his robes and dignity by allowing the stter to fall on him. All eyes were on the king now. He was choking, and his face started darkening. All his veins were bulging, and every single one of them was turning blue, due to theck of oxygen pumping. This was like a mortal man asphyxiating to death, but even that didn''t make sense. A mortal man would have died a long time ago if he were in Tian Long''s situation. Instead, Tian Long had dyed his death by too much. His body would have given up a long time ago, but the resources that the Imperial Pcemanded meant that the king could dy his death by a few months if he wanted to. And that was why everyone knew when the session wars would even take ce. Because even though the next king had not been decided, the death of the king was. But all of that was about to change now. Tian Hun approached the bed as Tian Gan tried everything that he could to stabilize the king''s condition. With all that they did though, foam started to froth on the king''s mouth. His eyes wide open, and his mouth opened further. There was only pain in those eyes. The king was dead. He had died experiencing immense pain and anger. This was no peaceful death that everyone wished they would have. The king did not rest in peace. Tian Gan gentlyid the king on the bed. "Looks like he is finally gone." he sighed and looked at Tian Hun. "We are no longer bound to this crown. We must wait for the next. So then, the session wars are going to happen a month earlier than nned, I see." he said to Tian Hun. "It is a pity. Oh well." Tian Hun nodded as he nced at the guests who arrived. All the arrogance in his face vanished. It was like this was a different person entirely. "The king is dead. There is no reason for you to be here. The news will soon reach the rest of the world, and now, there will only be turmoil. Looks like this is a fight between you and the Crown Prince for the throne then." Tian Hun said. "The crown prince. Who is it that supports the crown prince? I heard that it was the sect master of the Tiandu sect, considered the strongest power after the Imperial Pce?" Liu Feng asked. "That is right, Young Noble. We must now retreat to the family quarters. The session wars are taking ce. That means that every single major power will nowe to the capital city to try and take a bite of the pie that is now the throne. We must regroup." Cai Guo nodded. "Ah! The war for the throne. It still goes on to this day." Feng Wang sighed, looking at the dead king and looking back at old memories. "The war only gives me a bad feeling. I will not be in the capital city for this war that you are nning to wage just so that you can be the king of a kingdom that is run by greed. You are on your own boy." Feng Wang said as he turned around, ready to leave the king''s bedroom, and the pce itself. "Indeed. I also think the same. Being a king is such a pain. But unfortunately, I have no choice. I never wanted to bring you into this though, Senior. You have done more than enough to help me out. With the Hong family out of the way, it should be much easier for me to head to the throne." Liu Feng said. "You guys are still here? Do you want me to force you away? Remember. This is still the Imperial Pce. The King is dead now, so his verdicts are meaningless to us. We will wait for the next king. But leaving you to go is a mercy already. Get out." Tian Gan said. "Indeed, Imperial Advisor. We will go now." Cai Guo nodded. Swish! Immediately, all five people here flickered and their afterimages faded into the background. They were gone now. "Seems like young Long has finally kicked the bucket. He used to be such a good boy, until that damned Long Xian came here and ruined himpletely." Tian Hun sighed as he looked at the corpse. Tian Long looked almost ten times older than Tian Hun, and yet, it was the opposite. Although not ten times, Tian Hun was much older than Tian Long, whose life was cut short by this curse of the king. "We must give him the right funeral that a king deserves." Tian Gan said. "Send word to all of the princes. Tell them that the king has breathed hisst." Tian Hun''s voice caused the knees of every single guard to turn to jelly. The king was dead? Who would have thought that this would suddenly happen? The Hong family being exterminated by the Cai family was already a big surprise. But now, the king was dead? "With this, every single vulture in the entire Han Dynasty region will start eyeing the throne. Call Tian Jiang here. We need to prepare for the worst." Tian Gan looked at Tian Hun. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 333 Vultures "Fufufu! Looks like the time has finallye. That sick bastard is finally dead. I have been waiting thirty years for this day." an old, sinister voice could be heard. It was a dark hall. It was always dark halls that these people loved. It was just a shadow on a throne, and a shadow in front of him. "Yes, master. It is finally over. Tian Long is dead. The Ancient Portal is finally for the taking. We must seize this moment while we can." the shadow in front of the throne nodded. "Well then, what are we waiting for? Bring everyone together. Today is the day that the Zen family will finallye out of the shadows." the old voice said. **** Handu, "This is wonderful news! After three hundred years, for the first time, we have a chance to reim what is ours!" this time, the hall was lit up. It was not a normal hall though. This was a majestic ce. There were jewels, thrones, and men everywhere. This was the royal court of the Handu kingdom. "Our ancestors ruled the Han dynasty with an iron grip, but one small mistake made us fall to this position. We cannot let go of this opportunity. For the first time ever, I think that the most number of Soul Evolution Stage cultivators are dead. They fight amongst themselves, and we will strike just when they will not expect it." the man on the throne said. "Yes, Your Majesty. We will sound the horns. All of our powers should be assembled for this." a minister stood up and said. "That is right. We must prepare for this. They lost eight experts, but it seemed that they have four more that we have never seen before. Find out more about them. Maybe we can get some of them on our side." "No, Your Majesty, that might reveal our ns. It is disadvantageous to do that. But as the session wars are going to take ce soon enough, because of the stupid customs of the Tian bastards, they will be sure to lose many experts in that fight. And then, we will be able to strike and gain the upper hand." the minister said. "On any other day, Minister, I would hang you for your insolence in tantly refusing my suggestion without any honorofics. But today, well today is a wonderful day. The Han dynasty will finally have a chance to be resurrected!" the king was ecstatic. As for the minister, he could only thank the gods that his lucky stars had aligned that day and the king was in a good mood. "Should we tell the princes, Your Majesty?" the minister asked. "Yes. This is the time for them to prove themselves. In the war that will ensue, whoever will show the greatest power and leadership will be the crown prince of the Han dynasty!" the king announced. "The princes would be overjoyed, Your Majesty." the minister bowed down and retreated. "Haha! I am too happy today. Tian Long! This is what happens when you sit on a throne that does not belong to you. I was terrified if you would let your sister take the throne and create a Tian dynasty, but it looks like you were stupid enough." the king roared with joy. *** Ding Family "What happened?" the entire family was in uproar. They just couldn''t believe it. They were also a part of the three under families, and yet, without them knowing, all of a sudden, two families suddenly duked it down to see who would be the winner! And the Hong family actually lost! Although to the outside world, it would seem like the Cai family and the Hong family were equal in strength, the Ding family knew better than to assume that. The Hong family got so many more benefits from the throne, and they had been growing exponentially. When the battle was announced, the family was shocked enough. They felt pity for the Cai family, as the Hong family had even brought in their allies from afar. But then, the impossible happened, and the Cai family massacred the Hong family down to thest child without even facing a casualty that mattered. That was a fairy tale ending for the Cai family. But it did not stop there. The news only got more shocking from there. "The king is dead? I thought that he had a whole month to live!" a roar came from the very center of the Ding family estate. It was none other than the family head of the Ding family. He just could not ept the fact that all of this happened during the time that they had sealed themselves off. Within minutes, every single elder of the family stopped what they were doing, and convened in the family hall. Every single elder without fail was present. "The king is dead. The king is dead." at the helm of the hall, the family head was muttering. "The session wars are starting, family head. We are not even supporting a prince yet. What do we do?" the elder in the front stood up and asked. "Do you think that the session war is something that matters now? This was not supposed to be like this. One monthter, all of the fights were supposed to happen at the same time so that someone could actually ascend the throne and take control of the portal." the family head shook his head, murmuring at the end again. "Haha! This is so interesting to watch, don''t you think, family head? The dear king that you serve is gone now. I think that he and I had some good times together. Too bad, he got a little clingy. I thought that I could use his throne''s powers, but it rejected me, so I had to keep him by. And now, he is gone." a foreign voice came from the other end of the hall. The family head''s expression changed from that of shock and thought to that of fear. "Young Master Xian. Is there something that I can help you with?" he stood up and asked, leaving all his dignity as the family head aside for this devilishly handsome looking man. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 334 Vultures(Part 2) Tiandu Sect, "Sect leader, trouble is brewing! We received some terrible news from the pce!" someone shouted as they rushed to go to the elders hall. This was where the sect master would probably be this time of the day. And yet, when this disciple of the sect arrived at the elder''s hall, and went through the tall doors, he found that every single elder was already sitting there, talking to each other. Every single face was grim, and every single one of them seemed to already know the news which he came to deliver. "Go back. We heard the news. The Hong family has fallen, and the King has entered eternal rest." one of the elders at the end of the hall, farthest from the sect leader''s seat, softly said. The disciple shook his head. "This is not the news that I wish to talk about, Elder Wong! There is even more concerning news. The Sky Heavens sect is moving. With the thirdrgest power moving, every single power has started their move to the capital city!" the disciple said. "Looks like that has also started. We should have ounted for that as well. Sect leader, when are you leaving for the capital?" one of the elders seated in the middle looked at the head of the room. Tian Jiang was distracted. He looked dazed, clearly thinking about something. But when someone called upon him, he looked at the elder who spoke. "When am I going to the capital? The moment that we are done with this discussion. Every single Soul Evolution Stage cultivator will being with me to the capital. Right now, the important part isn''t the sect. The sect will live and die with the throne. And now, the throne is in danger. All of the sect wille with me to the capital if that is what it takes to fend off against the dangers." Tian Jiang said. "Dangers? Which power would dare go against the Tian family? Sure, the session wars will take ce, but it has been ages since people died in this race." the closest elder to Tian Jiang asked. "Dangers? For the first time, the throne is empty. Until now, the throne was never empty. The king would power through until a sessor was chosen. But now that the throne is empty, someone can actually take the throne for themselves. And controlling the throne, means controlling the kingdom''s biggest strength." Tian Jiang said. "I am going to the capital today no matter what happens here. That is without debate. I do not care about what Li Tian and what the other sects are doing. They mightpete in the session wars. For all I care, they can do what they want. I just need to make sure that the throne is secure until then." Tian Jiang said. "And what of the crown prince, sect leader? We wanted to help him get on the throne. We can just give it to him now. If he is on the throne, then who would dare say anything against us? The second prince is as good as done. Who will the crown prince have to go against to prove himself? The Cai family is no longer supporting the tenth prince." one of the elders spoke. "The Cai family is no longer supporting the Tenth Prince. Instead, it is supporting the son of the dragon princess and the man from the Ancient Realm. Someone who still has a right to the throne because of the previous king''s orders." Tian Jiang sighed and said. "That boy? The boy who was crippled and unable to cultivate? Why would the Cai family support him?" one of the elders asked. "You are still living in the past, elder Guan. You have been in closed cultivation for thest few years, so you do not know. This boy is now the biggest and most terrifying genius in the entire kingdom. He is in the Soul Evolution stage!" "What? In the Soul Evolution Stage? Is that even possible? How can someone have such a terrifying cultivation speed? Did he sign a deal with the devil? Did hee into contact with the demonic sects?" Elder Guan asked. "None of that is what matters! Why are you all interested in some brat who will make a difference maybe one weekter, when the entire Han Dynasy remains areing outside to haunt us?" Tian Jiang shouted, silencing the entire hall. "Umm... Sect leader, I think that I am not meant to be here. May I take my leave?" the disciple who was here all this time unfortunately, asked. His knees were trembling as he could barely withstand the pressure that Tian Jiang gave off when he shouted. "Go out boy. This is the time for young ones like you to share our pain. Go tell your friends and brothers and sisters that the time hase for the entire Tiandu sect to gather to help the throne." Tian Jiang sighed. "As you wish, sect leader." the disciple nodded as he turned around to run out of the hall. Tian Jiang looked at all of the elders. "If all you care about is who is going to ascend the throne, then the royal family only wasted valuable resources trying to grow all of you! We exist so that the entire kingdom will have a finalyer of protection. It is time that we now fulfill that responsibility." "As you wish, Sect Leader! But who are our enemies? Who ising for the throne? Who dares go against the Tiandu Kingdom and forever be our enemies?" one of the elders asked. "Many. Too many. The Ancient Portal is coveted, but the throne is a treasure that can be considered one of the most precious in this ce. The Handu kingdom wants to reim their throne, but they had long fallen. I am more worried about the ns that had secluded themselves after the Han Dynasty fell." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 335 The Succession War(Part 1) Cai Family, Elders hall, This time, the arrangements of seats was a little different than every time before it. This time, Cai Guo was still seated at the head of the hall, like every year before. But right next to him, Liu Feng was also seated in a throne not as majestic, but a position that meant the same stature. This was a gesture. A gesture that meant that Cai Guo thought of Liu Feng as an equal, and not as a junior. And there were more guests in this elders meeting. Liu Man was there, sitting on the side. He didn''t care for a spot in the center, and was just happy to look at the show that was going on. So was Min Wan. She didn''t have anywhere to go, and now that she was embroiled in this intricate mess that was created when she started the first fight against the Hong family, she had no other choice but to keep going and join Liu Feng''s side in the session wars as well. But the other guest was not Feng Wang. Feng Wang was long gone. He had returned to Kaishi city after wishing Liu Feng the best of luck. Like he had said before, he didn''t want to get involved in the session wars or the mess that came with it. The other guest was Tian Xiu. The Tenth prince, or rather princess. She wasn''t in disguise. Showing her beauty and gender to every single one in the Cai family, she was seated right below Liu Feng and Cai Guo, with no one next to her that was considered her equal. That was because she would be the king, or rather, queen, after Liu Feng abdicated. And she didn''t have a problem revealing her gender at this sensitive time because her initial purpose of putting her gender a secret was that there would be prejudice. The entire Cai family wouldn''t befortable helping a woman be the ruler of the nation when they could support another, more established prince. The world of cultivation was still dominated by men. But now, it was different. The Cai family thought that it was Liu Feng that they supported. Not Tian Xiu. And now that he had shown his true potential and valor in battle, no one thought that Liu Feng didn''t deserve this support. With him, this was a guaranteed win. And when Tian Xiu would assume the throne, no one would know what hit them. Seeing Tian Xiu in a woman''s clothing and her breasts afloat and plump, everyone was shocked. This was no disguise. Tian Xiu was indeed a woman. And that shocked the entire room, who thought that the tenth prince was a prince. Who would think that this prince had kept her own gender a secret all this long? And to think that the tenth prince, ahem, princess, was such a beauty! Looking at her beauty though, some people understood why she would choose to stay mum about her gender. Princesses that were so stunningly beautiful were only given away in marriage so that alliances could be formed. Princesses were usually pieces that could broker trades of power. Who would want to do that when they could vie for the throne themselves? It was over now though. For all intents and purposes, the main goal of today was not Tian Xiu. She was a thing of the past. Why she was even here was beyond the elders. Their eyes were on Liu Feng. They knew that their family head and Liu Feng were next to the king when the king died. These were the people who knew what actually happened. Surely, they had something to do with the sudden death. But even daring to say it out loud was a crime. Now that the session wars were about to start, since a heir was to be found as soon as possible, they had to keep calm and start calling all all the allies that they could. "Young Noble. Can we assume that the Sky Heavens sect will enter the race this time? Will they finally support someone?" Cai Guo started the discussion. "I am not sure, family head. But what do you mean, finally? Has the sect never been a part of the race before?" Liu Feng asked. "The Sky Heavens sect was the weakest force among everyone, and no one even wasted time to court them when they could use that time to convince literally anyone else in joining their cause. But after thest session war, the Sky Heavens sect suddenly shot up because of your sect leader." Cai Guo said. Liu Feng''s thought briefly shed to when he returned to Sky Heavens from the Mysterious Kingdom. The n was that he would create a distraction. But probably none of the three sworn brothers in his master, foster father, and father, thought that the ''distraction'' that Liu Feng would create would cause the premature death of the king! "I do not think that the Sky Heavens sect will be helping us in this fight. I am afraid that we will just have to be using your contacts and friendships this time around, Family head. The only people that I can seem to bring to the table are those right here." Liu Feng said, looking at Liu Man and Min Wan. "Do not fret, Young Noble. The help of two extra Soul Evolution stage experts is no small help. It is the difference between a winning and losing side. How many allies of ours can im to have even one Soul Evolution Stage experts, let alone two?" Cai Guo chuckled. "Good. I am d to know that I have already helped with the nning. But which allies can you call to this here war of ours? I hope that we can start calling them here." Liu Feng asked. "Do not worry about that, Young Noble. I have long called them in." Cai Guo smiled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 336 The Succession War (Part 2) A man was pacing around in a courtyard. It was a simple courtyard, with nothing special within. The man was not decked in any jewels or anything of the sort. He was just in in clothing, but the air about him gave him a majestic re. This man was someone who was important, without a doubt. No ordinary man would look like this without a big background. This was an aura that came from power. He looked stressed though, as if he was waiting for someone. His face was gentle, but his eyes were sharp, not wanting to miss anything that happened around him. "Where the hell is he? He said that he would be here by now." a soft voice came from him. Although soft spoken, there was a hint of domineering possession within that voice. It was the voice of someone who wanted much more than the simple courtyard that he was in. Swish! A shadow appeared right behind him. The shadow resembled that of a man, and it immediately knelt on the ground. "Tian Jiang greets His Highness. I am terribly sorry that I have taken so long toe to the capital, Your Highness. I was caught up trying to straighten up the sect." the shadow said. "Tian Jiang. Too many things have happened in thest day that have been far too damaging to the kingdom. The Hong family is no more, and Royal Father has closed his eyes in a sudden surprise." "And in all of this, I can''t find my most valued advisor. Do you understand what kind of a position I am in? You are not here when I need you the most! The session war is almost upon us!" the simply adorned man said. "Do not worry, Your Highness. Now that I am here, I will not leave until you have ascended the throne. I will do everything that I can to make sure that you ascend the throne." Tian Jiang nodded. "Where are the others? Father''s Imperial Advisor and themander of the pce guard said that they were not going to favor a prince, to ensure that the next king wouldn''t have to be afraid of those next to him. I need more people if I will have to go against this new contender." the man said. "The appearance of this new man, Liu Feng, was a surprise to all of us, Your Highness. But your victory will still be sealed in stone. It is said that the Green Gale tiger left for Kaishi and will not be participating in the session war." Tian Jiang said. "But he still has the Cai family, and he himself is stronger than any other prince. Why is someone who is not of the Tian surname even participating in the race, sect leader?" the prince was worried. "It was an order of the previous king. Your grandfather. He favored your aunt, the Dragon Princess, very much. After all, she was the only one in the entire world who was recognized by the throne. And the throne is what makes the king the king. It gives the king the power over the strongest power in the world." Tian Jiang said. "So if he gets the throne, then he can actually go against the curse of the king? He will be king for hundreds of years? Isn''t that a terrifying thought, sect leader? We can''t let someone that we have never heard of before get the throne. Imagine the chaos that would ensue!" the prince said. "Even at times like this, you only think for the good of the people, Your Highness. That is why I support you, and that is why the people support you. Now that your second brother is no longer in the race, the only one that you need to fear is Liu Feng. With that for sure, every prince will only support you because they know that they cannot win. And they will definitely support a prince that will not kill them when they lose." Tian Jiang said. "What I am doing is not mercy, sect leader. You know that. It is essential. This contention is different than every other. In the centuries that Tiandu has stood, this is the only time that the king has so many children. Father had many concubines, hundreds, in fact. And now, every single one of them controls a part of the imperial pce. If any of them die, then the pce risks losing a valuable part of it''s power. Father has made the royal family its weakest ever." the prince sighed. "We are aware, Your Highness. Every single expert in the pce, and in the kingdom, is aware. And that is why we must be careful after the session war ends. We must make sure that there will not be a stab in the back when we least expect it. There will be many watchers, and many who covet this valuable treasure that is the throne." Tian Jiang warned. "One enemy at a time, sect leader. First, we will need to deal with Liu Feng. I heard that my sister is also supporting him even though he took her support away?" the prince asked. "Indeed, Your Highness. And it looks like her imperial advisor will also be in Liu Feng''s camp." Tian Jiang nodded. "Then the goal is to make sure that all of my other brothers will be supporting me. I will go to them myself and ask them to support me. I am the crown prince. Of course, the crown should be mine." the prince''s eyes glinted. "As will be the case, Your Highness. There is no way that anyone will be able to stand up to your brilliance. Should I send word for the other sects toe rally behind you as well? And should I call for the Ding family? They have long adored you." Tian Jiang asked. "The Ding family has closed down for a few months now. I am not sure what has been going on inside, but my instinct tells me to fear them for some reason. I can only hope that my instincts are wrong. But do call every other sect. It is better to have the power of Tiandu in the capital to protect us from anyone from the outside." he nodded. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 337 The Succession War(Part 3) "When does the session war even start, family head? For a month now, that is the only word that I have heard, but I still do not understand itpletely." Liu Feng said. "Ah! I forget that Young Noble is new to the capital and is still not ustomed to the ways of the capital. I will exin everything at once," Cai Guo''s words could be heard. "And why is it that I am your young noble? I thought that as a contender to the throne, I am also a prince. How is it that I am just an ordinary noble?" Liu Feng asked. "That... is aplicated answer, Young Noble. Although you are a true heir to the throne, you are still not a prince. You are a heir to the throne because your line of blood has been deemed to be special. You are heir to the throne because your mother, the dragon princess, was heir to the throne, and her blood was epted by the throne itself." Cai Guo said. "All of this is indeed soplicated. Why don''t you talk to me from the beginning. Just what the hell is the session war? When will it start. And how will it finish?" Liu Feng asked. They were in a vast room. A room with windows everywhere, bright with sunlight. They were still in the Cai Family''s area. This was a room in a building that hadn''t been touched for a long, long time. Thest time that someone important was in here was when thest session wars happened. And that was because this was the war room of the Cai family. A single map of the capital was shown on the table in front of them. A table that was long enough to amodate maybe twenty, thirty people at once? It was a big table, and Liu Feng was at the head of it, not understanding what he was looking at. There was no one else in the room except for Cai Guo. Min Wan and Liu Man were cultivating. Even the white tiger did like to cultivate. And ording to his words, "I am not going to waste my time nning how you are going to win. Once you guys are done and are going to start the attack, call me. I wille in, and kill the people that I am supposed to." Now, Liu Feng only had Cai Guo here, because the other elders were not allowed here. For now, this was a private conversation now. "How is it that this guy doesn''t seem to know a single thing about how the world works? He seems to understand everything perfectly and is so strong, but things that even a child would know about, he doesn''t know. It is like he didn''t learn a single thing except for cultivation when he was little." Cai Guo thought inside, but he didn''t dare voice these rebellious thoughts. "Yes, Young Noble. Should I start now?" Cai Guo asked amicably. "We are alreadyte to the party, Family head. The more time we waste dilly dallying on this, the less time I will have preparing for this war that is upon us. Go on. Tell me what war I am a part of." Liu Feng asked. "The session wars are a genius baby of the second King of Tiandu. While other kingdoms just name a crown prince, and then all princes randomly fight when the king dies, Tiandu does not wish to do that. It''s situation is a bit unique. This is notmon knowledge, so I do not expect you to know." "The king is only the king because of the special throne that he sits on. A throne that is so strong and unlike no other. It is without a doubt, the most precious treasure in all of Tiandu, and dare I say, the entire world. That is because whoever binds his blood to the throne, will have control of the strongest army that the world has ever seen." Cai Guo took a deep breath, just shuddering at the thought of this huge army. "The terracotta army. An army filled with thousands of Xiantian Realm experts, dozens of Soul Evolution Stage experts, and hundreds of thousands below these levels. This is a force that is unstoppable. But there is a reason that the Tian army hasn''t taken over the world with it. This army cannot leave the capital city unless the one who binds his blood to the throne sacrifices his life force. And even then, the army can only go to what are now the borders of Tiandu." "Wait. So the terracotta army is limited by the borders of the Tiandu kingdom?" Liu Feng asked. "You might have misunderstood me, Young Noble. The Tiandu borders are the way they are BECAUSE of the limits of the Terracotta army. Beyond them, no one fears Tiandu. Within, no one dares to offend the royal family." This was like a thunder p in Liu Feng''s ears. Which army was so strong that this could be said of them? "Obviously, this is a force that was not supposed to be meant for the Tian family. When the Han family was weaker than it ever was, and the Han dynasty was crumbling, the first King of Tiandu took control of a force and rebelled, creating what is now Tiandu." "And the Han dynasty that the throne was taken from copsed, bing the Handu kingdom that is beside us. It fell from grace, while Tiandu became one of the biggest kingdoms this world had ever seen." "Such a nice history of the session wars. Now I know why they exist. So that there is someone always in the helm. But there isn''t one now, is there? So what is going to happen now?" Liu Feng asked. "This is something that has never happened before, Young Noble. And this is why every single power in the entire kingdom, every single expert above the Xiantian realm, ising to the capital right now. The session war isn''t all that they areing for. They are here to protect the throne from any outsider that wants to im it." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 338 Horny King Liu Feng was not prepared to hear this. He had heard for so long that many powers would being to the capital because of the session war but who would think that it was because of this frightening information that was just revealed to Liu Feng? But he kept calm, and looked at Cai Guo with a straight face. And as for why? Because story time was not over. The story wasn''t even half done. "Where was I? Yes. The terracotta army. A truly terrifying army that everyone in the world covets. And the ess to the Ancient Portal. Which cultivator wouldn''t pay riches just so that they could pass through the portal and try to achieve a higher achievement on the martial path?" Cai Guo chuckled. "The Royal family had it all when they got the throne. But they were also in a strange situation. They knew that the moment that they were weak, even for a single day or week, enemies would strike. Enemies were ready to strike. And so, the second king created what is now known as the session wars." "A war that would decide who would be the next king once and for all, but this war would be held before the king died. All of the troubles of a prince squabble, even without the king dying. But ofcourse, to make it seem normal, it was always announced that the king died before hand." "Then why now? The king has been announced to be dead. Why would someonee to get the throne? They might think that this is just like always. That the king was announced prematurely. And the true conspirers of the throne might think that the king is actually alive, and just setting the stage for the session war." Liu Feng asked. "We do not know who these powers behind the shadows are, Young Noble. The only one who is public about it is Handu, and their reasoning is understandable. But we don''t even know who the others are, and what their sources are. But they have done this once before, and they were close to seed as well, if it weren''t for the crown prince at the time breaking protocol and taking the throne by force without the session war taking ce." Cai Guo sighed, looking at a distance, like this happened just yesterday. "And that man was your grandfather. The father of the king that just died a few days ago. That was the first time ever that this had happened. There was an outrage, and that marked the downfall of the Cai family and the increase of the Hong family." Cai Guo said, shaking his head with remorse. "We mustn''t focus on that, family head. There is much that I need to know, and so little time." Liu Feng reminded him. "Forgive me for derailing, Young Noble. You are right. There is much to tell you, and so much more that needs to be done." Cai Guo nodded. "The session war is simple. It is a fight between the princes, and in this case, the contendors for the throne. Every prince that wishes to participate can participate, and there has never been a princess that ever participated in a session war." Cai Guo said. "Wait a minute. You said that there hasn''t been a princess that ever contended for the throne. Why is that? My mother was apparently recognized by the throne. Why didn''t she try to take the throne?" Liu Feng asked. "Ah! Your mother. She was a strong one, but she never contended. She didn''t want to participate in all of the blood shed. And a few years after, the whole situation with your father happened, and the capital has been in turmoil since." Cai Guo said. "Well, that is disappointing. I would think that she would try to take the throne seeing that she was - Oh well. I shouldn''t focus on that." Liu Feng sighed and shook his head, trying to focus on the matter at hand. "Yes. Tian Xiu was about to be the first ever princess to join. But you are right. These are all trivial details. We need to focus on the main focus. The way that it this takes ce. I won''t look at how this has happened before, as this session war ispletely different from the others." Cai Guo said. "Yes. In that there needs to be a sessor taken out as fast as possible." Liu Feng nodded. He knew this already. They had been through this detail over and over again before. "That is not the only difference between thest and this session war, Young Noble. The biggest difference is because of the rather¡­ polygamous nature of thest king. He was a little¡­ inclined toward the amorous side, and had taken in a number of concubines in from different families, from the streets, from kingdoms, and he has had so many children that it was hard for even him to keep count of how many there were." Cai Guo said. Pfft! "Are you saying that the session war is different this time around because thest king was so horny that he couldn''t keep it in his pants? Just how many children does he have?" Liu Feng couldn''t control hisughter now. "Horny? Please, Young Noble, this is the king that we are talking about. Anyone hearing this conversation would frown upon us." Cai Guo said. "The man died while he was fondling a naked woman while entertaining guests. I am not going to waste words on him" Liu Feng shook his head. "Now how many children did he have again?" "Thirty seven if I am not wrong, Young Noble. And that is only the filial children. If I had to count the bastards, then I am afraid that even the Cai family put together wouldn''t be able to keep track of the conquests that the king had taken on." Cai Guo said, shaking his head. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 339 Rallying The description that Cai Guo was giving of Tian Long perfectly matched with what they saw that day. The disgusting pervert dared to y with that woman right in front of the guests. Guests that he called! Such behavior wasn''t expected even from the most vile spawn. Even Hong Qiu probably wouldn''t do this. And to think that this was the royal king. Every single prince and princess that he had seen so far demanded such ettiquette and their own father was like this. "I understand where that second prince gets his temperament. But anyways, I am straying too much. Let us get back to why so many kids change the session war. But goddamn, how much time did this king spend in the bedroom, to have thirty seven kids? Maybe even more! How does the kingdom even run?" Liu Feng was bbergasted by this number. To have so many normal children, and many more bastards, this king probably spent more time thinking with his little brother more than his head. And the king did have a lot to take care of in the cultivation world. Sure, in a normal world, the king would have to take care of the normal people, make sure that everyone lived a good life, had food to eat, had a roof above their heads, but in a cultivation world, it was different. The king had to do all of that for the mortals, but also so much more for the cultivation part of the world. The mortals had to be in bnce with cultivators. The king made sure that cultivators werent running around harassing mortals. And all of this, for thest few decades, were taken care of by someone who spent more time in the bedroom than in the throne room? That was riveting to even think about. "Whoever bes the next king will probably have the whole bedroom shattered and rebuilt." Liu Feng chuckled. "Yes, Young Noble. Anyways, the thirty seven heirs to the throne make it all a little troubling. But fortunately, not every single one of these princes is of the right age. To enter the session wars, one mut be fourteen or older. So there are only nine princes to go against, seeing that the tenth princess has decided to bow down to you." Cai Guo said. "Eight then, considering that the second prince is all but finished." Liu Feng pointed out. "Indeed. And with so many people involved, having a war going every single way seems too pointless. How would that work? Attack the closest person? Attack in alliances only to attack your ally in the end? It didn''t make sense until you came in and suddenly took care of the Hong family and the second prince." Cai Guo said. "Wait. Are you saying that until now, you guys didn''t even know how the session wars were going to take ce? That I changed the entire structure?" Liu Feng stopped him in his tracks. "There have been a few changes, yes. The imperial advisor has told us that the princes have all understood that it is pointless for them to try for a throne that they know that they cannot win. The Ding family does not support anyone, and every single Peak Soul Evolution Stage cultivator is either on your side, on the Crown prince''s side, or not on any side at all." Cai Guo said. "That can''t be right. The one from the royal family, the one that we saw a day ago. The arrogant one. He is in the - oh right, he is neutral for now." "Tian Hun is neutral, and will forever remain so. Tian Jiang, the sect leader of the Tiandu sect, is behind the crown prince. Hong Qiu is dead. I have rallied behind you, Young Noble. And as for Ding Jin, he is... I don''t know what the Ding family is upto behind closed doors, but I do know that they haven''t been supporting a prince officially since their doors closed. And thest one remains your sect''s leader. Li Tian. And he will be an unpredictable person in this war." Cai Guo said. "Trust me when I say this, but Li Tian will either support me, or he will not support anyone at all. But that is all? Are these the only peak Soul Evolution Stage cultivators that we have here in Tiandu? I don''t know why, but I was expecting, a few more." Liu Feng said. "Well, they are hard toe by, Young Noble. Very hard toe by," Cai Guo managed to force a smile. "So then. What is going to happen? These eight princes. What are they going to do? Are they going to have to pick a side?" Liu Feng asked. "That is exactly what they are going to have to do. Pick a side. And they are going to wait for a while to choose the right one. Who wants to take a risk and choose the wrong side in this terrifying fight between you and the crown prince? The crown prince wins, and whoever chose you will be branded a traitor to the Tian family. You win, and whoever chose the crown prince will be mercilessly killed by the outsider. So many possibilities. And that is why I have sent envoys to every single prince to rally them to our side." Cai Guo said. "That is the stupidest thing that I have ever heard. You should have consulted with me before sending those envoys to the princes, family head." Liu Feng shook his head. "Pardon?" Cai Guo was a little taken aback. He didn''t expect this reaction out of nowhere. "What do you mean? We are trying to convince the princes, these arrogant pricks, to choose a side and risk their lives on me. If I myself don''t go, then who the hell will even choose me?" Liu Feng said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 340 To The Seventh Prince ? Cai Guo was left speechless. He did not know how to counter that. "You know I am right. I need to meet every single prince that is up for grabs. Please tell me we have something good to offer them. The Hong family treasury must have something that can interest them." Liu Feng said. "Greed can cause a few of them to turn, yes, Young Noble. But the level headed ones, who are usually the ones with more than one Soul Evolution Stage experts in their ranks, are those who do not dare just choose a side without weighing the consequences. Those who win this war will not just be on the king''s favor. They will be splitting up the spoils of families altogether. Everywhere they go, people will bow to them and offer them gifts. In the long run, the intelligent one will choose the one they believe will have the biggest chance of winning." Cai Guo said. "And we know that we will win, family head. So why are we not going there and talking to the princes directly?" Liu Feng asked. "Forgive me, Young Noble. I should have asked you before I sent those people." Cai Guo bent down asking for forgiveness. "Where do we go next? Who do we meet next?" Liu Feng asked. "And does the session war start immediately? If we go to the crown prince all of a sudden, and start fighting, is that valid? Or should there be a predetermined date? What are the specifics? And when the Xiantian realm experts are fighting, will the Soul Evolution Stage experts be fighting simtenously? Just what is the whole situation like, Family head? You have not answered all of my questions yet." Liu Feng asked. "Yes, Young Noble. There will be a predetermined date when the fight will happen. An envoy from one side will go to the other. But since the situation is a little different here, I think that we will not have any stake in the matter. The pce will choose for us." "And the war itself will be exactly like you said. The Soul Evolution Stage experts above and everyone else below. It will not be a fight like the one in the Hong family." Cai Guo said. "I wonder why the fight even went like that. I mean thousands of cultivators just stayed in their homes hoping their family head and elders would fix things instead ofing out to fight. How did that work? I thought that they woulde out and fight against us, the pests they are." Liu Feng said out loud. They looked outside the windows together, looking at the family disciples who were walking around, talking to each other. It was the calm before the storm. These people had no idea what went down in the Hong family. They were not there. But for this fight that wasing, they needed to be there for that fight. This was thest bit of peace that they were going to get, and they knew it as well. Deep within those eyes of these disciples, there was a hint of fear and unpreparedness. No one was ready for the war that wasing. It was unpredictable, and these kids didn''t ever go to war before. "Well then. Let us get going then. What are we waiting for. To the imperial pce, I suppose? That is where the princes stay, don''t they?" Liu Feng asked. "That is where they grew up, and that is where they were supposed to stay, but that is not where they are right now. The princes will not dare stay in the imperial pce at this time. They need to socialize, get allies, and the imperial pce is a closed off ce that does not allow that to happen." Cai Guo said. "You know who the stupid princes are and who the intelligent ones are. Then why should we waste time on those that we can just bribe off? Send envoys to those people, and call of the envoys on all of the good princes. Which one has the most power after the crown prince? Who has the most Soul Evolution Stage cultivators?" Liu Feng asked. "The seventh prince. With two Soul Evolution Stage cultivators and the support of the True Martial sect, he has the strongest support. And those from the True Martial sect-" "Are true battle fanatics. I am well aware of this." Liu Feng nodded. After all, he was all too aware of the type of people that went to this sect. Du Xiangling was also in this sect, and he was just that. A giant battle fanatic. And getting someone like that on his side would only be helpful. "Then that is the right person that we need to talk to. We need his help." Liu Feng nodded. "We shall go there immediately then, Young Noble. But it is a small distance away." Cai Guo said. "Is he in the True Martial Sect? I mean, that would make sense. He had to prepare for what was toe, and it was better to stay in thepany of those he trusted right?" Liu Feng asked. "No, Young Noble. The seventh prince has decided to stay in the capital. He is in the True Martial sect, in a way. But he is not in the sect all the way in the Dujin Ridge. Instead, he is in the courtyard that the True Martial Sect owns within the Capital." Cai Guo said. "That is right! How could I forget that each and every single one of them is a big sect and would have a courtyard or somend here?" Liu Feng suddenly realized. "Wait! If the True Martial Sect has some ce here, then surely, the Sky Heavens sect will also have a ce here right? They might be there." Liu Feng asked. "Who might be there? The sect leader? Taking their help would be helpful." Cai Guo nodded. "No. Now that the session war is about to take ce, I am sure that those three are preupied right now." he shook his head. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 341 Arriving At The Courtyard For a second, his eyes drifted as he remembered their true purpose in allowing Liu Feng toe here. They wanted him to make a distraction big enough for them to go to that prison that his mother was trapped in and rescue her. That was clearly his father''s goal, and it was much more important than whatever Liu Feng was doing here, trying to be the king and all. Liu Feng felt nothing for the person that he was supposed to call father. His previous body felt nothing, and neither did he. This father of his, Liu Lingtian, was a total stranger to him. But his mother was not like that. His mother was a part of him, a part of his spiritual soul. She was there for him when he needed her, and helped him out more than once. So when the time woulde, Liu Feng would not hesitate to help out and get her released. "Family head, now that the king is no longer alive, who takes the throne on important decisions like executions and the like? And what about that prison deep in the pce grounds? I believe that my mother is in there. Who is the warden of that prison?" Liu Feng asked. "I am afraid that sometimes, there are no answers to some questions. And this is one of those questions, Young Noble. No one knows who the warden of the prison is, and I don''t think that this situation has ever happened where there was no king of Tiandu. But when you do be the king, you have the right to release your mother, the Dragon Princess, from her captivity." he nodded. "Alright then. Now that that''s out the way, let''s go get ourselves a prince on our side. We are wasting too much time already. I am sure that the crown prince already knows of this, and he may have already started working on his rounds." Liu Feng said. Liu Feng still had questions. Primarily on his mind was why his mother was held captive, and why the king said that strange thing. Something about him maintaining neutrality. It was weird. Why would the king be forced to maintain neutrality? Was there another curse on the throne that he didn''t know? But the system promised to flush out all of the curses that were given to him from the throne, so he didn''t want to worry about that. He had to focus on the task at hand which was to get the support of more than just one prince. And to do that, he needed to go intoplete diplomat mode. "Where is the seventh prince staying, family head? Please, lead the way. This is only the second time that I have been to the capital, and thest time was quick and uneventful." Jake pointed out. "Of course, Young Noble. But it was a good visit thest time. You were able to get the support of the tenth princess, and you were also able to understand that your woman was in danger." Cai Guo smiled, trying to fawn up to his disturbed young master. Liu Feng did not say anything though. He did not refute the fact that nothing was official, because why would he need to? For now, she was in his protection. Shaking his head, he looked at Cai Guo again. "Let us move then. Get going." Liu Feng said. Cai Guo nodded, and all of a sudden, his figure became a little transluscent. With each passing second, the transcluscence was bing less opaque. It was an afterimage created by the sheer speed of Cai Guo. He had to pull out the big guns to show his Young Noble that he was not going to waste any more time. Liu Feng smiled as he also moved. His legs became a blur, but his body seemed to vanishpletely. There was no afterimage even. It wasn''t like he moved so fast that there was an afterimage. He moved so fast that it felt like teleportation. Instantly, he appeared next to Cai Guo, above the skies of the Cai family grounds, above so many disciples underneath. Within a few seconds, they crossed the family estate with ease. But Cai Guo was the shocked one here. His speed had reason. He was one of the rare few who was in the peak of the Soul Evolution Stage! After years of cultivation and understanding that there was no way he could cross this stage in this realm, he decided to stop cultivating his dantian, and focus on honing his skills, his power, speed, and defense. Over the years, he had been focusing on just his battle readiness, and that was why he was so fast. But Liu Feng, a simple junior was able to catch up to him even though he was going full tilt. Thest few times that Liu Feng was following Cai Guo, Cai Guo wasn''t traveling with his maximum speed because there was others with Liu Feng, and it would be rude to just leave them in the dust. But Cai Guo decided that this was time to do that because he needed Liu Feng to understand that none of what was going on was possibly without him. He needed to prove himself now, because in thest fight, none from the Cai family were even remotely useful. Every single kill came from Liu Feng and his batch of teammates, and that fact was killing Cai Guo. He promised that he would help Liu Feng and his party and even put Liu Feng on the throne, but Liu Feng clearly came from power. He didn''t bat an eye when Soul Evolution Stage cultivators died! A rare thing in the kingdom, and a rare thing everywhere. Suddenly, they stopped in front of a gate and a courtyard beyond. "We are here, Young Noble." Cai Guo said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 342 The Seventh Prince The courtyard was as simple as it could get. And that only gave Liu Feng goosebumps. There was grass on the other side of this mundane gate that anyone could cross. And there wasn''t even a guard in this gate. Instead, there was a sign. A sign that probably drove away those who even wanted toe here with malicious intentions. [Only those who wish to talk business and fight are weed.] Which crazy person would invite people who wanted to fight to the ir doorstep? Bu the courtyard beyond them wasn''t exactly empty either. It was filled. There were multiple disciples, and all of them were, well, fighting. There was not a single disciple who was standing idle. Everyone found an opponent to fight. This atmosphere was just terrifying in Liu Feng''s eyes. He knew better than most that fighting was one of the best ways to grow. He sent the better part of thest two years fighting, and getting stronger. But he also knew that fighting the whole time would only drive someone crazy. Who would want to do something too much? Especially a dangerous sport like battling. "Right now, I am hesitating to even go inside. Looking at how they are battling, and the sign in front, it is like they want us toe in, and then fight with them." Liu Feng shook his head and said, "For this, you should have brought your friend with you. The one with the tiger form. He would have been so helpful in this situation. We would at least be able to match their strength on our own." Cai Guo said. "Liu Man already sacrificed enough by being next to me all of this time. He could have gone elsewhere, he could have made so many preparations for what is toe next, but he stayed next to me and didn''t get to do much of what he likes. I doubt that being in a diplomatic situation is what he would want right now. He should do what he wants to right now." Liu Feng shook his head. He would rather keep Liu Man happy and calm rather than bring him here. This was something that he could handle on his own, and if he couldn''t, then struggling so much and getting this far would be a waste. He had to be able to do this on his own, He knew it. "As you wish, Young Noble." Cai Guo took a deep breath and pushed the gates. As they creaked apart, two strong existences appeared in front of the gates immediately, on the opposite side of the gates. One was an old man, his wrinkles showing his age. This was someone who was half a step in the grave. And the other one, was a woman. But she was also old. She looked as old as the first person who came, the old man. Side by side, wearing the exact same robes, and standing next to each other, it was like Liu Feng was looking at the male and female versions of the exact same person. But Cai Guo recognized these people. He smiled and nodded toward them. "The dual swords of the True Martial Sect. How long has it been since both of you have left the sect in the ridge and came to the Capital city together? Thirty years? Forty?" Cai Guo chuckled as he greeted them. "You must be here to talk to the seventh prince. I am afraid that we cannot let you take to him now." The old woman said, shaking her head. Cai Guo''s face fell. "The crown Prince arrived before us?" He asked. "That is indeed the case." The old woman nodded, sighing. "This is unfortunate news. But we believe that we can still convince the prince that this is the right side to be on. We are going to be the winners no matter what is going to happen. I am here to convince the prince that even though he has already chosen, he has chosen wrong. If he sides with us, then only good wille of it." Liu Feng stepped up. "You, you are the prodigy, aren''t you? The one in the Soul Evolution Stage? You are the youngest Soul Evolution Stage cultivator that we have seen in millennia! Even the Han Dynasty era books speak of geniuses like this with rarity. To think that one of them would present himself in front of us. Truly, a fortune, don''t you think, Shen An?" The old man looked at his woman counter part. "You are that boy''s son, aren''t you? I liked your father. He was never one to back down from a fight. In fact, when he heard of our sect, he visited and had a hearty few battles with us before he left." The woman named Shen An said, smiling, reminiscing about the old times. Her smile fell at a point though. "And then, that terrible thing happened, and the man changed for the worse. He rarely smiles, and I think that it has been years since he hasst fought? What kind of man doesn''t fight everyday?" she said, shaking her head. Liu Feng wasn''t sure where this was going. But he kept patient, hoping that they would allow him inside for the sake of old times. "Oh, and, what you thought was wrong, boy. The crown prince was here, but he didn''t go inside. We didn''t allow him in as well. After all, the spineless coward refused to have a fight with one of our disciples." The old man shook his head. "Careful, Shen Qiang. You are talking about the prince here. Do not disrespect him. He may not be the next king, but he is still a prince, and you must respect him." Cai Guo said. Liu Feng held his head though, stopping Cai Guo. "So you are saying that as long as I fight with one of your disciples-" "What are you? A coward as well? Why would you want to fight with this powerless idiots? Don''t you want some fun as well? You will be fighting one of us. That will make it fair." Shen An chuckled. "Fighting one of you?" Liu Feng frowned. "Don''t tell me! Is that man''s son a coward?" Shen Qiang cackled,ughing with the loudest voice he could muster without using Qi. Boom! All of a sudden, a gigantic pressure mounted on Shen Qiang. A tiny sliver of a rune danced in Liu Feng''s hands. It was the Yuan Principle. Liu Feng was not a coward by any means. This was a fight that he had no doubt he was going to win. But his spear wasn''t one that hesitated at the end. It was one that pierced. And when he was going to face someone, no matter how much he would control his power, if he would have to reveal his true power, his opponent would definitely face a big injury. "Are you sure you want to battle me? Right now, right here? In the courtyard of your sect?" Liu Feng asked. "Why are you asking so many question? I asked you for a fight boy, not a debate. Do you want to meet with the seventh prince or not?" The old man, Shen Qiang, chuckled. "Fine. But when the timees, do not me me that you lost a chunk of your abdomen." Liu Feng nodded as he started hovering, ready to fly up. "Good. This is really good, I am so d that you are your father''s son. I was afraid that you were going to give the same excuse that the crown prince gave, that frightened brat." Shen Qiangughed. "What did he say? Why would he decline a fight and not get the favor of his seventh brother? Clearly the strongest brother he has left." Liu Feng couldn''t control his curiosity. "What has this to do with the seventh prince''s favor? He was supposed to gain ours first. We supported the seventh prince when he imed that he had a chance to win the throne. But he gave up easily, without a fight, saying that he would fight with a better person." Shen Qiang shook his head. "Yes. That was very disappointing. So of course we were going to choose the one that we would support. After all, it isn''t him that is on the battle field, it is us." Shen An smiled. "So all I have to do is beat you and you will help me?" Liu Feng''s eyes sparkled. "You- Forget it. Why let your hopes pop? Just give us a good fight boy. I want to see who the once in a millennia genus is on the battle field." Shen Qiang rubbed his hands. Both of them started flying up to the sky, to the very limits that they could each with ease before the sky started to repel them. Cai Guo and Shen An remained underneath, not yet gone up to spectate. "That bastard. How dare he steal my battle." Shen An grit her teeth, her anger quite visible in her eyes. "You have got to be kidding me. Two Soul Evolution Stage experts are fighting above your dear disciples and what you care about is that you couldn''t fight my Young Noble? You both really were hit in the head when you were young." Cai Guo shook his head. "You are right. Thank you for reminding me." The old woman nodded. She then looked at the disciples who were still engrossed in their fights. "Disciples! Look up in the sky. This is a rare opportunity to see your dear sect master fight his fullest." She shouted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 343 Battle Liu Feng faced off Shen Qiang, who was hovering in front of him. Both of them had their weapons in hand. In Liu Feng''s hand, his trusted white spear with only a few carvings, but a lustrous appearance was present. It was the Ethereal Spear. And in Shen Qiang''s hand, or rather hands, was a giant sword. It was humongous, the size of Shen Qiang himself. Seeing someone wield such a heavy weapon, Liu Feng knew that he could not let even a single with go through. If that sword hit him even once, he was going to get severely injured. Liu Feng had to be quick on his feet for this battle. "Well then. What are we waiting for? Let''s start." Shen Qiang''s mouth curled up revealing all of his teeth. His smile was a little deranged in Liu Feng''s eyes. The teeth all crooked, like they were dislocated every single time he was in a fight, and they were all yellow, like this sect master had no time to even take care of his teeth. And seeing something so simple as teeth like that still told Liu Feng so many things about the person that he was facing. Someone who didn''t even spend maybe a few minutes every weekpleting flushing the mouth with Qi, and someone who got punched so many times in the jaw when he was young that his body automatically thought the teeth were supposed to be crooked. Shen Qiang disappeared, and a moment after, so did Liu Feng. The moment that Liu Feng moved, a giant sword appeared right where Liu Feng was standing, waving in empty space. "You are fast. I like that." Shen Qiang smiled as he looked at where Liu Feng was standing. Ironically, he was standing right where Shen Qiang was a second ago. "I pride myself in my speed. I think that you will find it quite irritating." Liu Feng nodded. They both disappeared once again and this time, the two weapons collided. Liu Feng''s spear was quickly shot back, and Liu Feng disappeared again, while Shen Qiang was standing where he was, turning slightly to face where his opponent reappeared. "We can do this all day. You won''t be able ton a single hit on me." Liu Feng shook his head. "You are confident. That is exactly what I like. If I can''tnd a single hit on you, then that is perfect actually. It has been a while since I battled someone that I had no chance of winning against. Good opponents are reluctant to fight these days. I am forced to battle that hag over there all of the time." Shen Qiang sighed and said. Liu Feng had no response to this. He wanted to reason with Shen Qiang. This fight would indeed take all day the way it was going. Liu Feng wasn''t fighting to the death. He wanted to get these people to join his side. The Heaven Suppressing art was out of the topic, because it would cause a bacsh from the heavens above. It wasn''t worth it for this fight. And as for the other trump cards he had, they had the slight probability of severely damaging his opponent. And he couldn''t afford to let someone like that, who would be so helpful in the next war that wasing, to spend the remaining time in the infirmary. He wanted to pull his pierces, but Shen Qiang just wasn''t letting him. And that infuriated Liu Feng. "Fine. If this is what you so desperately want, then this is what you get." Liu Feng said, and his pupils dted and a wind appeared that blew his slightly long hair to the back. He gripped his spear just a little tighter and pointed it toward the crazy old man in front of him. "You better prepare yourself. The attacks that you are going to face right now, they are not easy to go against." Liu Feng said. He then disappeared. Shen Qiang cackled. "Were you going easy on me till now boy? What a stupid thing to do. You should know that I hate nothing more than people not using their full power when they fight against me." he turned ny degrees and held his sword to cover his body. ng! A spear head struck the giant sword, and both the sword and the spear trembled. But the spear disappeared almost immediately after the time of impact. Liu Feng disappeared once again. Shen Qiang kept turning, and every time he turns, his sword protected him from one of these attacks that appeared with such ferocity and speed. "If you think that speed is my weakness and that I will slip up, think again. I have been on the battlefield for most of my life. I may not be fast, bu I sure as hell know where each attack ising from. My sense of battle has been honed through the years." Shen Qiang smiled. He then raised his sword higher, and it started shining with a yellow glow. A manifestation appeared behind Shen Qiang. It was that of a battered looking man. Someone on the battlefield, it would seem. His armor in tatters, and his eyes visible to tell everyone the horror he had been through. This was a general on a battlefield, the mot peculiar manifestation that Liu Feng had ever seen to date. And this general locked eyes with Liu Feng. Liu Feng was moving around, circling Shen Qiang, but wherever he was, the general seemed to know. Every where that Liu Feng got to, he could sense the eyes of the general. "One sword to kill a hundred!" Shen Qiang shouted as his sword shed toward Liu Feng. The sword came crashing toward him, but he felt something stronger that was binding him where he was. A force that felt nothing like the Yuan Principle. It was something different. It was something terrifying. It was a will that came from Shen Qiang. The will to sh down his opponent. The will to fight. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 344 Realization Liu Feng knew the moment heid his eyes on the sh that was slowly inching closer, that he couldn''t dodge. This sudden power stopped him from moving his legs. But he could raise his spear and battle though. And that he did. "Flowing Cloud Spear Art! Sixth Form!" The smell of blossoms filled the sky, and the sight of cherry blossoms covered Shen Qiang''s sight. But still, the manifestation of the general above was not fazed. Liu Feng could see through the blossoms, and the general''s eyes unblinking, locked onto him. But the sword that wasing down, trying to cut him, met resistance. Lu Feng''s spear became flexible, bending around the sword, trying to neutralize it. Around him, all these blossoms tried to stop the sword from advancing any further. And Liu Feng wasn''t at a total disadvantage. He was in the seventhyer of the Soul Evolution Stage while Shen Qiang was in the eighth. Sure, Liu Feng even defeated someone who was in the ninthyer, but everyone knew that it just wasn''t the same. Gu Hai was someone who came from the Gu family, an alchemy family. His cultivation was forced and even though he had a ton of Qi and reserves that was far vaster than Liu Feng''s and Shen Qiang''s, his purity of the Qi was absolutely terrible, and filled with impurities from the pills he consumed and his terrible cultivation techniquepared to the ones used by battle sects and Liu Feng. Meanwhile, Shen Qiang here was not the same. Not even by a long shot. He spent his whole life fighting, and even if he didn''t have a cultivation technique at the same tier as Liu Feng, he was strong, and that was indisputable. There was a reason that the True Martial sect was ranked fourth in the sects even though they had only two Soul Evolution Stage experts, both of them with the same cultivation. The sword that came toward Liu Feng slowly changed direction. If it was any other sword, it would have moved with the first will of the spear, but this sword was just humongous. Liu Feng still felt it not safe. The moment that the sh was deflected and just hit thin air, Liu Feng felt his restriction lifting, and he quickly moved back, creating some distance between him and Shen Qiang. "You actually defended that! And quite well, I might add. You are much stronger than I expected. When I was going up against someone who had a lower cultivation than I did, I thought that it would just give me a little fun. But this is going much better than I thought." Shen Qiang grinned. "For this mad man, the only thing that I can do to remotely stop him from asking me to battle him again and again is win convincingly." Liu Feng decided. But not for a single moment did he even consider the chance of throwing the battle away. In all of the time that he had been battling, he had not lost a battle in thest two years. And his undefeatable Dao was simply unmatched. The buff that it gave him was much, much stronger than the buff that a simple ''cultivator'' title would give from the system. He vanished, appearing above Shen Qiang this time. The General behind Shen Qiang looked up, his eyes locking with Liu Feng''s. "This is supposed to be a goddamn manifestation. Why does it feel so real, like this is an actual general who came from the battlefield?" Liu Feng wondered. But he didn''t stop. His sword was shing blue. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fourth Form! Blue Dragon Soars through the heavens!" His spear left his hand, and the moment it did, Liu Feng himself disappeared. But Shen Qiang''s eyes were focused on the spear that wasing toward him. He raised his great sword and swung upward as well. This time, the sword gave a shining glow, and a visible sword light was exhumed from the sword. It was sword Dao, the terrifying thing it was. The sword light immediately collided with the blue dragon that coiled around the Ethereal Spear, flying through the air and trying to reach Shen Qiang. Both attacks collided, and all that could be heard was a loud st. Even a few hundred meters below, the disciples could feel a giant recoil from the simple aftermath of the collision. Many who were below the Xiantian realm could feel their very internal organs shake a little. But they stood there still, looking up at the fight that was going on with intent eyes, It wasn''t everyday that their sect master had an opponent to spar against that was not Shen An. Cai Guo was also on the ground, and he red at Shen An. "Why didn''t you protect your disciples from the attack? So many of them will get injured from the aftermath! They might lose some of their cultivation even to this." He said. "If that is the case, then let it be. If they don''t know their limits, what use is there in teaching them? And this is a fight that rarelyes. They can look at it and learn from both sides." Shen An said, her eyes not missing a single piece of the action that was happening outside. She wasn''t bothered about what Cai Guo said. All she wanted to do as watch the battle that was happening outside, and she couldn''t care less about what happened around her. Cai Guo shook her head. "I should have just left this ce out. We don''t even know if we are going to get their support. In hindsight, this feels like a trap. A trap to slow Liu Feng down so that the crown prince can get to more prince- Wait a minute!" Cai Guo''s eyes widened. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 345 Coming To An End The moment he had this line of thought, it just wouldn''t leave Cai Guo''s mind. He couldn''t help but ask the woman in front of him. ,m "Shen An. If I find out that this I just a tactic to stall the Young Noble from meeting other princes, then I will make sure that you will regret it." He clenched his teeth. "Huh? What are you talking about?" Shen An looked at him with confusion, as if she was actually surprised as to what he was talking about. "You better not be ying ay tricks with us. The Cai family is going to do anything it can to try and win this fight. Anything we can." Cai Guo snarled. "I don''t know what is wrong with you. There is a wonderful fight going on right above us and you are talking about some random thing that I have never heard of." Shen An shook her head andpletely disregarded him. Her eyes were locked above. They were only for the fight above. ng! Liu Feng''s spear returned back to his hand while Shen Qiang''s great sword was trembling in his arms. In the middle of the de, a small crack could be found right where Liu Feng''s spear hit the great sword. And it surprised Liu Feng. For so long, his spear did quite the damage to other weapons, and yet remained so sturdy. He had a feeling that as long as he could find a way to upgrade the one he had right now, it would be perfect for him. "To think that my great sword was damaged in this attack! If I didn''t defend it, it would have taken my head off in one strike!" Shen Qiangmented. "And you did, so what''s the problem here? Do you not want me to go full tilt?" Liu Feng yawned, trying his best to taunt the old man in front of him. But Shen Qiang had been through too much to fall for this. He shook it off and smiled. "I was just eximing with surprise. You really are powerful. No wonder Gu Hai fell to your hands. I have no doubt that if you tried your best, you will definitely beat me with ease." He said. "If you wanted to win so desperately, then you would bring out the imperial artifact that your sect probably controls. None of us have used our biggest trump cards yet. This is not a true battle without, and in a true battle, well, I only fight with my truest strength against those who do not tell a tale after." Liu Feng said. What was this other than a threat? The only oue of those who go up against his true strength would be death. One side or the other. "Well that is not what we want, is it? Let us go another round." Shen Qiang nodded as he dashed toward Liu Feng. "I should finish this battle. It is taking too much time and it is kind of irritating at this point." Liu Feng decided. His spear shone as he disappeared once more. There was a blue line that was circling around one point. And in that one point, a secondter. Shen Qiang appeared. His great sword shed empty air, while a blue streak circled him. This blue light wasing from the spear, or rather, a familiar blue dragon that was coiling it. Shen Qiang''s face was solemn, and he held the sword hear his waist, holding its hilt up, de down, with a majestic look on his face, The sword shone with a yellow light, and the general manifestation appeared again. The general immediately started turning slowly, following Liu Feng''s movement. And then, the general stopped, just as the blue light changed directions and dashed toward its enemy. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Blue Dragon Breaks through Hell!" "One sword to kill a thousand!" The two attacks, both of them evolutions of the ones each of them used before, dashed toward each other. This was a final performance, and they were all in on this one attack. The heavy sword hit the spear, and Liu Feng''s figure reappeared, supporting the spear, trying to push forward. But the great sword''s weight seemed too heavy. Even as the dragon tried its best to push the sword away, it roared with pain because the general that was above forced his own manifested sword onto the dragon. This battle of manifestations could not be won by Liu Feng. Not when he was in a disadvantage like this. But the battle didn''t need to be won. The path wasn''t important. The moment the manifestation of the general struck down, Liu Feng and the spear disappeared. Only a light after image of the dragon remained, and it eclipsed the surroundings. But the general did not seem to change where he was looking. His eyes were locked on the slowly dissipating Blue dragon until it disappeared. And then, the general seemed to be in the same state as Shen Qiang was in. No idea where Liu Feng had gone. Swish! Shen Qiang felt a strong wind rush by him. A wind that woulde when someone fast rushed next to him. Liu Feng was ying him now. He knew that Shen Qiang couldn''t know where he was. That was because there was a limit to what the general could do. And Liu Feng was testing that until now. There was a limit to the speed the general could sense. After a point, sheer speed would prevail. ng! A soft attack hit Shen Qiang from the back, and he fumbled forward, trying to stabilize himself mid air. But at the same time, another attack came, and this time, from the side. ng! The spear connected with Shen Qiang''s torso, and obviously, there was an armor there. But Shen Qiang''s face was not looking good. He was taking attack on attack and he knew that he was at a disadvantage. "Let us finish this now then." Liu Feng''s voice whispered in his ear. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 346 Result Shen Qiang turned around, waving his sword around. He could not sense his opponent. That was a first for him. He was flustered. Not knowing where the attack coulde from, he was flustered for the first time in the current century. "You forced me to do this." He said with a low tone as his eyes suddenly lit up. His hair started levitating, blowing up, standing like he was in a super saiyan mode. His great sword also shone, and Shen Qiang waved it around him slowly,pleting a full circle. A yellow halo of sorts appeared around him, created by the simple wave of the sword, and it stayed. It didn''t move like a normal sword light would. It just stayed in ce, creating a sort of a barrier. Liu Feng stopped moving, and stood right outside this barrier that was created. Shen Qiang and the general manifestation behind both looked at Liu Feng, both of them having the same shining eyes, and both of them having a look on their faces that gave Liu Feng chills. It wasn''t anger, it wasn''t rage, but rather a smile. A wide smile that gave Liu Feng a shiver. "Found you." Shen Qiang said as he shed his great sword toward Liu Feng. The circle of light started moving toward Liu Feng slowly, but what was faster was the yellow sword light that dashed toward Liu Feng from the sh of the great sword. Liu Feng disappeared once more, and the sh just passed right through his afterimage. He was gone once more, and into the wind. Shen Qiang grit his teeth and was about to move his sword, when he heard a frigid voice behind him. The voice was normal but he felt cold for some reason. And that was when he looked down to see that his feet were frozen for some reason. Unbeknownst to him, Liu Feng had used the Dao of Ice to tie Shen Qiang in position. "You lost, Sect master." Shen Qiang could feel a sharp point at his nape, and a little further and it could potentially even kill him. This would be a fatal attack if Liu Feng didn''t stop any sooner. "Hahahahaha!" Shen Qiang burst intoughter as Liu Feng took back his spear. "In the decades that I have lived, to think that I would actually loose to someone so young, and someone who has a cultivation lower than mine!" He cackled. "This must be god''s reckoning. The younger generation is really here to take over the world. To think that I have to give way already." He shook his head as both Liu Feng and Shen Qiang started descending down back to the ground. Once their feet touched the ground, Cai Guo appeared behind Liu Feng while Shen An appeared behind Shen Qiang. "To think that you would lose against a child. Have you no shame for yourself? You have thrown away the pride of the True Martial Sect. And in front of all the disciples no less." She chided. And she was right. A few meters away, dozens of disciples that were watching the fight all had wide open mouths. Never in their lifetime did they think that they would witness a fight that their sect master would lose, and lose so convincingly. It all happened so quick in cultivator terms. And not a single injury on either side. The battle was not a long one. That only meant that one side was clearly stronger than the other, and that it wasn''t close. And which disciple could ept the fact that someone who was even younger than them could defeat their sect master? Their eyes were filled with a sense of despair as they looked at the unsurmountable mountain that was Liu Feng. If the younger generation that they were a part of had a monster like this, then who else could stand out? This world was going to be his and his alone. "The fight is over. I have done what you requested and fought with you. Can we talk about the important stuff now?" Liu Feng said. "And this hurts me even more. You defeated this old man and you don''t even rejoice, like it is the most normal thing that could happen. I don''t know what is worse, the fact that you don''t value the victory that you achieved, or the fact that you care about something so silly as a throne more than the joy of fighting." Shen Qiang shook his head and sighed. "Not everyone is like you madmen, fighting all the time!" Liu Feng wanted to say, and it took all of his power to keep it bottled in. "Young Noble is right. We need to meet up with the seventh prince and talk about the details and what he wants in exchange for the support of the true martial sect." Cai Guo asked. "Well, that will not be necessary," Shen Qiang shook his head. "The seventh prince will not be supporting you in the war that ising ahead." he said. "I knew it. I knew that you were here to waste the Young Noble''s time. I knew that this was a stupid tactic that would waste as much time of the Young Noble''s as you could. And now, the crown prince is one step ahead." Cai Guo was furious, but Liu Feng held his hand up to stop him from saying anything else. "You said that the seventh prince will not be supporting me. What about the crown prince. Will he be supporting the crown prince?"Liu Feng asked. "You are a sharp one. The seventh prince has decided that he willpletely remove himself from the equation. He and his imperial advisor are not going to participate in the war." Shen An said. "But that leaves you. Who are you willing to support?" Liu Feng said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 347 Support Of The True Martial Sect "Hahaha! You read my mind so well!" Shen Qiangughed so hard that the very ground began to shake. Liu Feng looked straight at his eyes, unwavering, waiting for an answer. "The seventh prince might be taking a back seat, but is the True Martial Sect going to follow him? Or are you going to choose someone that you actually believe can be the king?" Liu Feng asked. "You are the best contender that I have seen in thest few session wars. You think so well, and you even fight so extraordinary. Someone like youes once in a millennia. Do you think that I would let this opportunity pass?" Shen Qiangughed heartily. "So I take it that the True Martial Sect is going to stand behind the Young Noble?" Cai Guo asked. "That is exactly the case. I don''t know what you were saying, Cai Guo, but we are not liars here at the True Martial Sect. If we want to do something, we battle for it. And battle we did. This young man has battled me to satisfaction, so it is only right that we help him out." Shen Qiang nodded. "I wonder what the seventh prince will feel about this. You promised to stand behind him, and now that he is sitting out, you chose another faction." Liu Feng''s mouth curled up. "What is wrong with what we did? We chose the seventh prince because he promised us that the battles that would be fought were going to be legendary. And then, he left the battle. We are unsatisfied. The True Martial Sect always goes to battle, and if it not under the seventh prince''s banner, then it shall be yours." Shen Qiang rubbed his hands. "Fine. If you are so eager to fight, then you shall be in the front lines. I do not want to take the excitement away from you. Now that we have convinced you both, I think that there is somewhere else that we need to go? Family head, who do we go to next?" Liu Feng looked at Cai Guo. "You are leaving already, Young Noble?" Shen Qiang also adopted the homer, Young Noble, as he called upon Liu Feng. "What is wrong with that? I need to convince as many people to help me out as I can. I need to win this battle no matter the cost." Liu Feng said. He had no intention our desire of bing the king, bu he knew that if he failed the story quest, the only penalty that he would gain was death. And that was terrifying to even think about. When he failed his first story quest, all the way in the Spirit Jade pool, he got quite the threatening message from the system telling him that losing was absolutely out of the question. "We did finish the deal, young noble, but don''t you think that we need to go through custom to talk about the details? We will be battling under your banner, but we know you too little to be convinced just yet to let you go." Shen An said. Liu Feng frowned though. "I think that the details can be spoke to with the family head? I do not handle logistics. A leader leads, while someone else should take care of the logistics. As I said, I need to talk to as many people and convince them to join my banner as fast as I can." He said. "And that there is the problem, Young Noble. We do not wish for you to take any more under the banner that you fly." Shen Qiang disappeared and reappeared right behind Liu Feng, blocking his retreat. "What is the meaning of this? So you are going to stop us from talking to any others?" Cai Guo raged. Liu Feng stopped him once more. "I think I understand where the sect master and his¡­panion are talking about." He didn''t dare assume whether Shen An was his wife or his sister, as it wasn''t apparent. "If I am not wrong, I know exactly why you chose the seventh prince. He was the weakest, wasn''t he? The one most probably to lose, so he would be the first target that everyone would face. More fighting for you." "And now, you want to fight alongside me, and hope that the crown prince gets as strong as he can so that you can fight even more. Fight even stronger people." Liu Feng surmised. "Hahaha! You are like my unborn son, Young Noble. You understand me so well! To think that you took my line of thought so far! You really are the right choice. So then, please understand my reasoning. For your two newest experts, are you willing to let go of three or four lowly imperial advisors, all of them in the Low ranks of the Soul Evolution Stage?" Shen Qiang said from behind Liu Feng. But Liu Feng wasn''t having it. He was about to flip out, when he heard a dreadful sound. A sound that he knew couldn''t mean anything good at this stage. Ping! It was the sound of the system saying something. [Story Quest!: Do not allow any other members into your party. Win the session war with only those you have below you right now. Reward: Extra Rewards will be distributed uponpletion of prior story quest Penalty: Death] The penalty shook Liu Feng. To think that the system took things so seriously. "You have to be kidding me. Whoever is behind the system really loves a good movie. Why do they want me to be the underdog?" He cursed inside, but tried his best to maintain a normal face. "Ahem!" He cleared his mouth and looked at Shen An in front and Shen Qiang in the back. "You are right, Sect master. What fun is there in winning with everyone in our time. We are already very strong. Let us use our current strength and do things on our own from here on. I agree to your request. I will not be going anywhere else." He nodded. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 348 The War Finally Begins One Week Later, Badum! Badum! Loud beats rippled across a gigantic in. It was only a deserted ce a few days ago. A ce that only a few travelers would chance upon when they were visiting the capital and they strayed their path. But now, thousands upon thousands gathered here. And these here thousands were not normal people. They were cultivators. Each one of these cultivators could be considered a true expert of their own right. In a small city, they would be treated like kings. And yet, they were the weakest of the weak. Not a single cultivator below the Core Formation Realm could be found. And even those in the Core Formation Realm were frowned upon, because of their weakness. And as for the number of Xiantian experts, this was probably the biggest concentration of Xiantian experts in a single ce of Tiandu since twenty years ago. There was arge strip ofnd between two sides. Two armies faced each other off, with their strongest experts hovering above everyone else, coldly looking at their opposition. ? "To think that they have so many Soul Evolution Stage experts. Looks like we will have to work for this victory." Liu Man was standing right next to Liu Feng, calmly analyzing the situation. "You know my problem. That happened. I was forced to stop." Liu Feng said. "One day or the other, you should drop everything that you are doing and should go find whoever gave you that blessing that acts like a curse." Liu Man sighed and shook his head. Behind Liu Feng and Liu Man, there were a few familiar faces. Shen An, Shen Qiang, Min Wan, Cai Guo, and the rest of the Cai family''s Soul Evolution Stage experts. Clearly, the Cai family did not send the Soul Evolution Stage experts to the front lines like promised. They had a total of ten Soul Evolution Stage experts on their side. Thest one being Tian Xiu''s Imperial Advisor, who was in the very back, calm as he could be. He was also privy to the deal between Liu Feng and Tian Xiu. Few were, but clearly, Tian Xiu trusted this imperial advisor enough to tell him. Liu Feng looked straight at the man who wasn''t hovering in the air, but was still surrounded by the experts of the opposition. The crown prince was not in the Xiantian realm. He was in the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm, and didn''t seem to have a wonderful affinity to cultivation. But his mouth was clearly glib enough. His side had a total of thirteen Soul Evolution Stage cultivators. Five from the Tiandu Sect, three or four from the Imperial Pce, and many more from his brothers'' factions. Convincing all of these people was only made easier by Liu Feng himself, as he did not pursue anyone else. He had to stay put because of the annoying quest that came form the system that he was forced to obey. No one from either side moved. Liu Feng looked to the left, where the capital of Tiandu was very much visible. The area around the capital wasn''t very developed, even though there were trade routes everywhere. The city just swallowed everything around it and became the size that it was, and that meant that there was no business to be done outside. So there was a desert on one side, ins on another, roads that led to the rest of the kingdom on the remaining two. The war here was happening on the in. It was called a war, but both the crown prince and Liu Feng received the scroll from the imperial pce. Casualties were not tolerated for the Soul Evolution Stage cultivators, and that when someone was in his or her death''s gate, that person needed to admit defeat and refrain from fighting any longer. Liu Feng understood why they needed to do that. Losing six or seven cultivators alone made the king flip out so much that his curse acted out and he suddenly died. Clearly, each Soul Evolution stage cultivator was treated like a national treasure, and he also didn''t feel the need to take lives. He just wanted to finish the fight and take the throne. But another thing was constantly stressing his mind out. The fact that they were not in the capital. The war here wasn''t to be the king. That was clearly the side effect. Everyone wanted the throne that the position came with more than the position itself. The throne clearly gave more power than the position did. So leaving the throne unguarded seemed a little counter productive. While Tian Hun and Tian Gan were clearly within the pce, as they were not visible anywhere near here, it was obvious that they were not strong enough to fight off whoever was going toe for the throne. Liu Feng needed toplete what was to be done here, and go im the throne for his own. Having all that power in his hands, even if it was going to be for just a few hours, was worth it. "What are we waiting for, family head? Why is neither side moving? Why aren''t we starting the war already? We have wasted an entire week doing nothing at all." Jake said. "That''s right. We did nothing. We couldn''t even fight because you kept saying that we shouldn''t waste our energy. Now, the fight here didn''t even start. I am getting way too bored." Shen Qiang nodded. Liu Feng looked at him wierdly. He had the gall topare his impatience to Liu Feng''s worry? "Just a few more minutes, Young Noble. We are waiting for someone toe here and start the war officially." Cai Guo said. "What is going to happen? Who is going toe?" Liu Feng asked. "Oh! He is here!" Cai Guo straightened up, and everyone above looked down at a ck spot within the wide chasm between both armies. One maning to the center of the battlefield. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 349 War (Part 1) It was not someone that Liu Feng recognized. Someone old and weak, just in the Xiantian Realm, was in the center of the battlefield. In his hands, a giant horn, with jewels studded on it. This was a battle horn, and it was probably going tomemorate the start of the war. Liu Feng stood still. His hands caressed the shining engravings on his spear, glimmering in the morning sun. The battle was going to start with the start of the day, and it would pause in the night. They were the general battle rules, because the battles of Soul Evolution Stage experts were going to take days toplete, and the gaps between the battle made sure that the experts could recover a little. Since the experts would recover slightly, that meant that the battle would only go on till one person was in the disadvantage, but not to the point where that person would die. But it would be a little different for this battle though. Because those on Liu Feng''s side were not the usual strong. They were stronger. Liu Man was a legendary constetion beast, and even though he wasn''t in the peak of the Soul Evolution Stage, he could easily match one in power. Liu Feng even defeated Gu Hai, who was in the ninthyer of the Soul Evolution stage, while he also beat the strong and battle fanatic Shen Qiang. Shen Qiang and Shen An, well, they were the duo from the True Martial Sect, people who spent their whole life just fighting and doing nothing else. Min Wan was a genius of her own right. She was a little older than Liu Feng, or maybe just as old, Liu Feng never dared to ask, but she was still in the fifthyer of the Soul Evolution stage, and as a genius, her fighting power reached beyond just the fifthyer. And Cai Guo was strong enough to keep the sect leader of the Tiandu Sect, Tian Jiang, at bay. During this time, the goal was simple. They needed to defeat a few people so that they could start thinning out the numbers. They needed to start gaining the advantage. And Liu Feng did not trust that Cai Guo and his family, or even Shen Qiang and Shen An were strong enough to take care of their opponents. It was going to fall upon him, and he needed to make sure that the battle was going to be win. The old man in the center of the battle field brought the shining horn to the tips of his mouth, and blew. The sound of a ring horn, its noise traveling to the ends of each battle field in an instant, made every warrior below shudder. The protections to stop casualties were not made for them. For them, this was going to be true war, and their lives were on the line. They couldn''t afford to make a single mistake now. The horn was blow, and the battle was underway. Liu Feng looked at Cai Guo and nodded. He raised his spear and shouted. "To victory!" His voice, crisp and clear, without a hint of hesitation or fear, reverberated through the battle field, on his side of the war and on the other. To have a confident leader was important. The moment he said this, the entire army on his side cheered. All those from the True Martial sect were already ready. After all, they had prepared for this for years. Everyone knew that even if the battle was one-sided, the True Martial Sect would be battling in the session war, and they always would go down swinging. Liu Feng hovered forward, slow in his own standards as he was still quite visible to those below. And seeing the leader step forward, it was a sign that the battle started. "Charge!" The generals below, peak level Xiantian Stage cultivators from the Cai family and the True Martial Sect, shouted, and they also charged. Every one was bare foot except these generals, who had to be shown as above the others. The horses were not ordinary horses though. Ordinary ones were far too slow. These horses were special horses from the True Martial Sect. Fire Spirit Horses, of the Nascent Soul realm. Fast enough to cover the distance of the chasm between the two armies in a few seconds, and that they did. The moment they shouted the word, ''charge'', the horses went amok. Running toward the enemy in a menacing way, the entire army behind them charged alongside to create a frightening disy for those in the opposite side. No one wanted to be the defending side in a battle that was in a in. If this was protecting a castle, defending was easy. But when battling in a singr in, having the first move was essential in dictating flow. Liu Feng flew to the center of the battle field, lookin straight at the crown prince, who was in the air now, in front of all of the Soul Evolution Stage experts, using some sort of artifact and hovering using that. "You are in a disadvantage. You should give up now, and there will be no casualties on your side. Be sensible." The crown prince said, but it went through one ear and out the other. Why would Liu Feng give up now. Especially if bing the king or not dictated his life. "There is now way that I am giving up now. On the other hand, all this shows is your weakness. I guess you are not as confident as I am that you can win this war. Then why don''t you give up instead?" Liu Fengughed. "Please." The crown prince scoffed as he retreated a little, behind therge man that seemed to be the strongest here. The sect leader of the strongest power behind the imperial pce, the Tiandu Sect. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 350 War (Part 2) "So you are the one behind this campaign. The one pir that everyone here relies on." Liu Feng looked at Tian Jiang. "And you are the genius, the son of the dragon princess. It is a pity that you were born in the era of His Highness, the crown prince, and you are not destined to be the king of Tiandu. It would be interesting to see the throne''s choice be fruition." Tian Jiang chuckled. "Looks like you know my mother more than I do." Liu Feng chuckled. "This fight doesn''t need to happen, Young man. You do not need to fight to be someone that you are not. You were never destined to be the king. Whatever you want in the kingdom can be yours as long as you shy away from this fight here." Tian Jiang said. "I don''t understand you people. There was a whole week between the now and when I first arrived at the capital. And you don''t speak about this even once at that point, but right when the war is about to start, you start trying to negotiate?" Liu Feng shook his head as he looked down. The two armies on either side met slightly on the opposing side. Liu Feng''s army led the charge, so they were pushing back the crown prince''s army back "Then it looks like fight is all we can do." Tian Jiang sighed as he snapped his fingers. In his hands, a giant spear appeared. Liu Feng was pleasantly surprised. At this stage, Tian Jiang was the only other spear user that he had seen. In the past, the only other spear user he had seen was¡­ well, he didn''t remember. All his fights were almost two years ago, and at that time, fighting was not what he cared about. He was trying his best to survive with the whole world trying to take his life for some reason. "You will not touch our Young Noble. Trying to bully the juniors. Do you have no shame Tian Jiang?" Cai Guo appeared next to Liu Feng, his blood red sword in his hands. Both Cai Guo and Tian Jiang were in full power, both of them donning Imperial Artifacts that were probably the most precious treasures of their family and sect respectively. Liu Feng looked to Tian Jiang''s side, where the twelve other Soul Evolution Stage experts of the crown prince''s faction. Liu Feng stretched his hands. "Who do you want to take?" He whispered to his left, which was seemingly empty. But Liu Man appeared there the next instant. "Give me the two over there. They seem like they can be taken care of with ease." Liu Man chuckled. The two that Liu Man was pointing at, a man and a woman, looked at him with clenched teeth. At their stage, they were experts who were revered so much! And Liu Man basically said that they were useless. Liu Man suddenly disappeared, and all of the thirteen of the Soul Evolution Experts of the crown prince''s side looked around. The two that Liu Man chose though, felt a sharp chill on their back. ng! The man and woman had swords in their hands, and yet they were not where they were before. In a single attack, which they defended perfectly, they were pushed back by a surprise attack of Liu Man. Liu Man was standing where the two were, his handspletely changed, with ws in them. Standing right next to those who were supposed to be his enemies, he was unfazed. "You dare?" All of them tried to impose their pressure on the person who appeared in front of them so suddenly, but before they could lock onto him, he was gone once again. The man and woman were frightened at the ferocity at which thest attack came at them, and seeing that the man that they were supposed to be going against disappeared once more, they looked around with fear. "Ah! Looks like that match is in the bag. Should be over before you know it." Liu Feng chuckled as he turned his head to the remaining eleven. Tian Jiang was obviously going to be taken by Cai Guo. That was the best course of action, and the strongest on both sides would reserve their strength and keep the other at bay. No one wanted to see a loss in personnel. They were going to use the same strategy they used against the Hong family. "Young Noble. If you give me permission, can you permit me and my sister to choose our opponents?" Shen Qiang asked. "So she is your sister!" Liu Feng realized, but once again, he made sure to keep his thoughts and realizations private. "That is up to you, sect leader. You can choose whoever you want. The only thing that I ask of you is that you do not lose." Liu Feng smiled. "That is obvious, young noble." He nodded and then looked at a particr direction. "Brother Ping. I think that it is time that weplete our battle, don''t you think? And since we are down one person, I guess we will be forced to take one more of you in this fight." Shen Qiang smiled. He and Shen An moved, and so did the man that he called Brother Ping. One other man to the right of this man named Ping moved as well. While the former met with Shen Qiang, thetter met with Shen An, who also moved. But both of the opponents were sted away with a force that gave a shockwave throughout the battle field. "Impossible! You advance to the eightyer? I thought that you were still stuck in the seventhyer of the Soul Evolution Stage!" The man named Ping shouted with shock. "Looks like you are the one who remained stagnant. You cannot take us on your own. Bring another." Shen Qiang looked expectantly at the remaining opponents to choose from. "He WANTS to battle two versus three? Such an oddity." Liu Feng shook his head and looked at the remaining people. "Now, who is the strongest here?" He wondered. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ? Chapter 351 War (Part 3) Liu Feng''s eyes scanned through everyone in front of him. Sans Tian Jiang, everyone else''s cultivation stats appeared in front of him via the Mind Eye. He could see who was the strongest and who was the weakest. Luckily, for those left from the Cai family and for Min Wan, there were opponents who were equal to them in cultivation. There was one person that was dangerous though. One person in the ninthyer of the Soul Evolution Stage. He did not seem to be from the Tiandu sect, but rather the imperial pce. Liu Feng suspected that this was the imperial advisor of the crown prince. "I will choose you then. You will be my opponent." Liu Feng smiled. The imperial advisor nced at Liu Feng, but did not even respond to it. He acted like nothing was said and nothing was heard. "Do you think that this is your yground, for you to choose your opponent? We will be the ones to control the battlefield boy." The imperial advisor, Tian Bo, scoffed. He moved, only his afterimage remaining. But Liu Feng knew what was going to happen next. Just like his side was going to try their best to decrease the opposition''s numbers, it was obvious that they were going to attempt to do the same as well. Liu Feng''s figure also became illusory, and then disappeared all of a sudden. ng! The Cai family experts turned around to see that there was a spear connecting with a sword. Liu Feng had just blocked a fatal attack for them. They didn''t see himing at all! "Now then, why don''t you pick on someone your own strength?" Liu Feng smiled back at Tian Bo. "To think that you could move that fast. The rumors aren''t exaggerated at all. You are a once in a millennia genius." Tian Bo nodded with respect. "Then why don''t we take this fight elsewhere. It is getting a little crowded here." Liu Feng smiled, and his right hand''s grip on the spear hardened. Hyup! He swung the spear as hard as he could down toward the imperial advisor. Tian Bo hastily blocked the attack, but he just didn''t expert that the attack would be so powerful all of a sudden. He flew back a few meters, and Liu Feng moved in the direction that Tian Bo was falling toward. He hesitated for a moment though, and turned back to look at Cai Guo and those behind him. "Make sure that no one loses. It doesn''t matter if you are not able to win. Soon enough, all of us will be able to win a few matches, and we will be able to help you guys out. Until then, you will have to hold out." Liu Feng said. Before anyone could even respond to that, he vanished. Gone, just like that. ,m "He is so fast. I don''t know how anyone can raise a genius like this. Just what did his father do? I thought that he disappeared somewhere, but he must have hidden next to Liu Feng, raising this genius." Cai Guo shook his head and looked at Tian Jiang, who was going to be his opponent without a doubt. "Looks like it is just us now. How ironic. It''s my Cai family versus your Tiandu Sect. Everyone left is from the Tiandu Sect." Cai Guo chuckled. "That was by design. Do you think that you can match our Tiandu Sect? Your puny family? Elders! Come together! Let us show them their ce." Tian Jiang said. "Haha! I knew that this woulde to us four remaining. That is why we didn''t stay still thest week. We came prepared." Cai Guoughed again. He then started moving his hands at an insane rate. Behind him, the remaining three Cai family elders made a diamond shape behind Cai Guo. Their hands were also moving at the same rate as Cai Guo''s, and they were also making the same signs. "You learnt a formation? Impossible!" Tian Jiang understood what they were doing. He quickly moved, his spear trying to reach Cai Guo, trying to stop him before the formation could bepleted. But Cai Guo was prepared. In front of Cai Guo, a talisman appeared, and the moment that Team Jiang''s spear reached him, the talisman burnt into ashes, and a blue barrier appeared in front of Cai Guo. "Hahaha. I knew that you were going to be so cowardly. But you are toote, Tian Jiang. Watch as your arrogant sect will get destroyed by the Cai family." Cai Guoughed. "Until now, everyone looked at the Cai family like we were the weaker ones. The Hong family even dared to go against us, and tried to stomp on us. This is what we had prepared to counter them. But our Young Noble helped us in the right time, and we were able to keep this a secret for just a little bit longer." Cai Guoughed. "Come then. I will see what you have prepared for us. Elders! Prepare yourself!" Tian Jiang shouted. Tian Jiang''s spear glinted in the sun as he raised it in front of the diamond formation that Cai Guo and the Cai family had made for themselves. Cai Guo rose in altitude, above his elders, and to his sides, two others stepped up. One in the top, one to the east, one to the west, and one to bottom. A diamond formed, and they seemed like points that contributed to something much, much terrifying as a whole. Qi flew from their bodies into the center of this diamond. It created a core, and from this core, a manifestation came that covered them. It was a shield that was made with Qi, and it covered them all, masking their position in the formation. From the outside, no one could see where the ones who controlled the formation were. They could only see the monster that the formation made. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 352 War (Part 4) The formation that the Cai family elders made was just terrifying. Everyone in the skies, and down under obviously had a eye out for their surroundings, and out of the many fights that were going on, two of them stopped. Liu Feng and Shen An looked at the direction of the Cai Guo and his experts fighting against the Tiandu sect. In front of Tian Jiang, was what was nothing short of a monster. It was huge, and the diamond like formation that the group made was nowhere to be seen. It was covered with an armor of Qi that seemed almost imprable. After all, this was the Qi of not one, not two, not even three, but four Soul Evolution Stage experts. All that qi to use, and as one whole. There was a reason that Tian Jiang tried so desperately to stop Cai Guo frompleting the formation. Because once a formation waspleted, it would be too difficult to stop. And now, they had to go against a formation like this. "Do not fear! All we need to do is swarm." Tian Jiang tried to calm the elders next to him, but he found a few lumps in his own mouth. If Cai Guo was not in this formation, then he would haveplete confidence that he could break apart this formation. But he was, and now, Tian Jiang had to go against this terrifying entity. The Tiandu sect long gave up on defeating the Cai family in this battle. The formation that they made might have been sloppily put together, with only a minute of preparation, but it was still a formation with proper attack and impable defense. The first few attacks from Tian Jiang were reflected off the armor that the monster bore. It told them what they needed to know. It was better to defend than waste their energy and Qi trying to attack it to no avail. "Hahaha! What were you saying, Tian Jiang? Something about my family being nothingpared to your sect? Do you really think that we came here unprepared? Unlike your arrogant likes, we are actually true to our cause. We will be the ones to triumph in this war." Cai Guo''s cackles could be heard from inside. Everyone could hear these shouts. Liu Feng shook his head. "It was a wonderful disy, but everyone needs to tone things down. Too much confidence is never good." He thought to himself as his spear quickly moved to defend against a sword attack that came straight from Tian Bo. "You are a tough opponent. To think that even though you were distracted, you could still react fast enough to defend." Tian Bo praised. "And you are shameless enough to fight against someone that is looking elsewhere." Liu Feng scoffed. "War is war. Everything is fair in war." Tian Bo shook his head and chuckled. "All of you people. You just annoy me. You act and talk like you have already won this war. You realize that the war is not even going in your favor right?" Liu Feng shook his head and sighed. He looked at the one direction that he was waiting for news from. It was Liu Man''s fight. If there was one person that he knew could deliver, it was Liu Man. Sure, he was going up against two opponents instead of one, but they were both in the fifthyer of the Soul Evolution Stage, two minor realms lower than Liu Man. Liu Feng also wanted to finish off his opponents as fast as he could, but he didn''t want to use his trump cards unless absolutely necessary. He didn''t want to use the Heaven Sealing Art yet, because it would bring about the tribtion from the heavens. Last time, Yue Zhe was the one who graciously defended Liu Feng from the tribtion. So he had no idea how strong it was, but remembering how charred Yue Zhe wasing out of that strike, Liu Feng didn''t want to face it unless absolutely necessary. ng! His spear hit the sword again as he moved to the side this time. "You are very distracted, boy. I take that as an offense. Am I too weak for you?" Tian Bo''s voice rang in his ears. ,m "To be honest, you are nothing to be too interested in." Liu Feng smiled. He disappeared all of a sudden. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! First Form!" His spear appeared right in front of Tian Bo, out of seemingly nowhere. But Tian Bo was ready for this, and the spear was parried by the sword. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Second Form!" The spear moved, curving to the side, and sweeping the sword away as it tried to strike the torso. But Tian Bo was agile, and he moved to avoid the attack. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fourth Form!" This time, a dragon roared as his spear and a dragon that coiled around it tried to piece the opponent in front of Liu Feng. "To think that you were not using your full strength until now. I am truly offended. Am I not worth using your full power against?" Tian Bo asked, his voice trembling as he himself was from the impact of blocking the spear with his sword. His arm was shaking as he quickly put some distance between him and Liu Feng. "You are weak. For some reason, you seem weaker than even that Gu Hai that I battled. That doesn''t make sense." Liu Feng frowned. It didn''t make sense indeed. Gu Hai was someone that used pills and elixirs to get to the Ninth Layer of the Soul Evolution Stage. Tian Bo was supposed to be much harder to battle. And yet, Liu Feng felt like Tian Bo was retreating after too little had transpired. Something wrong was happening here. "You aren''t the only one who is hiding his strength boy." Liu Feng heard a whisper next to him all of a sudden. And then a chill. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 353 War (Part 5) Tian Bo was rushing around Liu Feng, forming a vortex with Liu Feng at the center. But Liu Feng was just unfazed. He turned slowly, but he couldn''t possibly be keeping up with the speed of the vortex that was swirling around, could he? Tian Bo''s sword suddenly appeared next to Liu Feng, threatening to scrape his neck. ng! Liu Feng''s spear found the sword, and then, it moved toward the hand that held it. "Found you." Liu Feng smiled as he reached toward Tian Bo, his spear about to piece through Tian Bo''s head, when Tian Bo disappeared once more. "I am surprised. You are the first speed oriented cultivator that I have faced in a long time. You are going to be a tough opponent to beat." Liu Feng nodded. He also moved this time, as the vortex that Tian Bo made before had been broken. And this time, Liu Feng did not even intend to be caught. If anyone looked at this battle from the ground: and they were, all they could see was bright shes of light. No one could see Liu Feng and Tian Bo, as they were no on full speed, dashing past each other. Only they could see each other, and that was because they were near each other. And at this close distance, they were able sense each other with their divine senses and their phenomenal speed. Liu Feng was impressed by his opponent. It was not everyday that he could be matched in speed. Gu Hai couldn''t do it. Neither could Shen Qiang. But clearly, Tian Bo was a little different. He was hiding his strength till now, and he was a true ninthyer expert. Much stronger than whatever Gu Hai mustered up. So Liu Feng could not afford do use anything but his best. "Kun Peng Transformation Arts!" He whispered as his voice turned hoarse. He was still invisible to the enemy, who could only sense him, but Tian Bo suddenly stopped as he looked at a direction in horror. Liu Feng has stopped in his tracks, and looked up to the skies. His back was adorned with giant wings, and his face had changed. He looked no longer like a human, but like a monster. He hadpletely transformed into something else. "A kun peng! He transformed into a kun peng!" Tian Bo whispered with realization, that soon turned into frustration. A Kun Peng was considered the symbol for absolute speed. One p of the wings of a Kun Peng could travel miles and miles. It was able to traverse the small distance between Liu Feng and Tian Bo within fractions of a second. If Liu Feng was even half a Kun Peng in speed, he would be able to escape the very heavens with his speed. Liu Feng''s wings pped once, and he disappeared. Just like that. There was no afterimage, nothing. He was just gone. Tian Bo looked around. He wanted to move, but his instincts told him that it was a bad idea. His sword unsheathed and ready to defend against any attack that woulde at him, he looked around, turning to the sides. He even looked up and down, not sure where Liu Feng was at all. He just disappeared into thin air. But Liu Feng appeared right where he least expected it. "Looking for me?" His voice whispered. Tian Bo turned back to the front, where he came just inches away from Liu Feng''s frightening face that was no longer human. Liu Feng''s mouth, which could barely be considered a mouth, was curled all the way to his ears, as his spear suddenly struck Tian Bo''s torso. Spurt! Tian Bo coughed out blood as he fell back. His clutched his abdomen and looked at Liu Feng with fear. "You monster! How can someone like you exist in this world?" Tian Bo asked, unnerved by what had happened. The spear didn''t go through Tian Bo''s abdomen. It stopped at the exterior, because of the armor that Tian Bo was using. It was a thin hide, but it did its job once. But Tian Bo still sustained a few internal injuries from this attack. That was how strong the attack was. If it weren''t for the armor, he would have been seriously injured. "Monster? Yeah, I guess you can call me that." Liu Feng paused before he moved once more. This time, Tian Bo was utterly terrified. He mustered all the strength that he could, trying to move away from where he was standing. Once was enough. He didn''t want to go through another attack like that again. "Toote." Even as Tian Bo was trying his best to retreat from where he was, he knew that the speed that Liu Feng had just shown off was something that he could not possibly attain. It was just astronomical. And then, he heard those two words. He stopped, and it was a good thing that he stopped. Because the moment that he did, a sharp object pointed at his neck just slowly retreated. Someone was right behind him, and if he moved even an inch more, he would have retreated straight to his death. "How are you so fast?" Tian Bo asked, shocked. "Trade secret." Liu Feng''s normal, human voice came out from the other end. He was no longer in his transformed state, and he didn''t need to be. The match was over. Liu Feng had shown the ultimate mercy by not piercing that spear into Tian Bo''s nape. "If you can admit your defeat and retreat from this war, it will be nice to see." Liu Feng smiled from behind. "It is too bad. To think that out of everyone, I was the first one to go." Tian Bo sighed. "Actually, you weren''t. You were just too engrossed in your running that you haven''t noticed that nothing about this battle was going your way." Liu Feng chuckled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 354 First One Down Tian Bo looked around, shocked at what he heard. Someone had already fallen? He did not know this! He didn''t hear anything. There was no resistance! How could someone fall so quickly? Liu Feng was a monster, but how many monsters could exist, and how many tigers would share the same mountain? None. Common sense would dictate that Liu Feng was an anomaly. There shouldn''t be anyone defeated yet. But he found where the defeat, or rather, defeats were. In a corner of the battlefield, two people, a man and a woman, sat there, their faces as sour as they could be. It was like kids made to sit out as a punishment. It was funny to see the Soul Evolution Stage experts sit out like that. "Impossible. How is the battle going like this? How did they lose even thought they were double teaming against that man?" Tian Bo whispered with shock. "The reason? They were up against a monster that even I am not sure I can beat." Liu Feng chuckled. "Well then. You are done with. Leave the battlefield. We have followed the rules till now. Please go to the corner that your friends there are sitting at." Liu Feng said. "Rules are rules. They exist so that we can still stay alive. I will not be a sore loser." Tian Bo sighed and he disappeared, reappearing next to the man and woman. "What?! Imperial Advisor Bo? How is it that you also lost? Against that long horn of all people?" The man asked, shocked. "What? You lost even though you were battling two versus one against that boy, and I cannot lose?" Tian Bo raised his eyebrow. But he could only sigh inside. This was ast ditch attempt to save face. How could he face his crown prince now? He lost, and so early at that! To someone who was clearly in a lower cultivation realm than he was. It was just shameful to lose against a junior, but that junior also happened to be in a lower realm that he was in! "I don''t know what unlucky star that the crown prince went under, but nothing that you have promised came true, Brother Bo. You told the eleventh prince that victory was all but decided. And yet, we lost three people, and they are now one number higher than usual. And the two that have defeated us, they are not weak ones. They can easily turn the tides with ease." The woman said, shaking her head. "The existence of someone like my opponent and yours, how will any one predict these oues? They are people that aren''t supposed to exist. Anomalies that the heavens should not tolerate." Tian Bo sighed. "This fight is not ours to win, Imperial Advisor. We should cut our losses before we lost too many." The man said. "I will talk to the crown prince. Nothing seems to be going our way. Even the sect leader is facing difficulty against Cai Guo." Tian Bo sighed. The battle was not just a sweep. It was utter annihtion. This was the tone that everyone could understand. Below, morale was terrible. And above, everyone in the Crown prince''s side was barely able to keep up with their opponent. Liu Feng locked eyes with Liu Man. "You are done as well. I can never seem to reach your level of fighting speed. How are you able to close your fights with such ease?" Liu Feng shook his head as he asked Liu Man. "You cannot use your strongest attack in the realm of beginnings. And you don''t have thousands of years of experience like I do." "It must be the first reason, mostly." Liu Feng chuckled as they both looked at the opponents lett to take right now. Liu Feng nodded at Liu Man, and they knew that they didn''t want to touch Shen Qiang'' s and Shen An''s opponents. But everyone else were free game. "Help out Min Wan while I help out the Cai family. But that formation of theirs is holding out so nicely." Liu Feng noted as both of them disappeared, moving toward different direction. In one corner of the battlefield of the sky, Min Wan was panting, looking at her opponent. Her pale blue sword was covered in blood. Some her own, some her opponent''s. This was probably the only proper duel that was happening out of all the ones around her. Liu Feng and Liu Man were monsters who were able to defeat their opponents with ease. Cai Guo and his family were able to make that formation that was so strong. And as for Shen Qiang and Shen An, the little time that she spend with them told her that they were both lunatics. And now, in the fight that they were battling, Min Wan also saw that they were lunatics that were also able to battle against one more opponent than usual. While she, she was the only one battling normally. Her against one person. This opponent of hers, also a woman, one of the rare few on the battlefield, was in the sixthyer of the Soul Evolution Stage, one higher than Min Wan. But they were almost equal in strength, and she was able to hold her own. Until the moment that her opponent burst in one huge attack that almost injured her to the extent of stopping the fight. But she persevered. She was covered in blood as she faced a slightly battered middle aged woman. "This is too disappointing. To think that we would lose so many battles. But once I take care of you, I will try to hold them back as the sect leader willpletely take care of the Cai family, and then, your whole side will be demolished." The middle aged woman smiled. Min Wan stopped though. She stopped moving as she looked nkly at her opponent. "So you finally gave up?" The woman asked. Min Wan shook her head though, and all she did was point to behind the woman. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 355 Dominoes The woman turned around. She was absolutely confident that no matter what Min Wan had in her cards, there was no way that this youngster could defeat her. She had experience, a stronger cultivation base, and was just the stronger fighter, who had been winning every exchange until now. But when she turned around, her face changed. That was because there was someone standing behind her. Someone that she recognized. The two opponents in Min Wan and the woman were both monitoring what was happening outside their own fight quite well. Their fight wasn''t as heated as all the others, so this woman knew that the man that she was looking at, the monster that had white hair and a freakishly fast attack, was the one that defeated two Soul Evolution Stage cultivators on his own. Two! That was a difficult task to aplish even for someone in the ninthyer, or even the peak of the soul evolution stage. She wasn''t sure that even her sect master could do something like this in such little time. The battle was over before it even began. She knew, as she followed it quite closely, hoping that her side would have the first win and start a turnaround with wonderful momentum. But the exact opposite happened. And now, she was facing two people at the same time, and the terrified her. "Do not worry. I have no intention of barging into this fight and taking someone else''s prey. That is beneath me. You will not need to worry that we will double team you." Liu Man smiled as he said. "But let me tell you that there will be no chance that your opponent will lose. Min Wan. If you are in the straits of losing, then do not forget to call for help, and I will step in at that time." Liu Man told her. Min Wan just nodded, but she had no intention of letting someone else join in on her fight. She wanted to do this on her own. She wanted to beat someone on her own. The fight against the one who betrayed her, and someone else stole the kill. She was taken by the Moon Pavilion, and someone else had toe and save her. The fight in the Hong family, and someone else stepped in to take her opponent because she could not finish off her opponent fast enough. All of that was eating away at her. She was no ordinary woman! She was the city lord of the city that dared call itself the city of heavens, one that had only those above the Core Formation Stage in cultivation. She was able to be the strongest in apetitive world like that because of her talent and her ferociiousness, and she just could not take the fact that someone else was stealing her kill every single time. She was done trying to rely on someone else. "I am sure that you will have other fights to rely on, friend of Liu Feng. I will handle this woman by myself." Min Wan said, her sword shining. "That is admirable, but unfortunately, there are no more- oh right. There is that person that came from the princess. I can help that guy out." Liu Man vanished, leaving Min Wan along with her opponent. "Hahaha! Even your friend has left you. Now, he will regret doing that." The woman that she was facing smiled as she dashed toward Min Wan. But Min Wan didn''t even move. The encounter that just happened gave her the motivation to win. It gave her the push that she needed. "Blue Frost Light." She whispered. Immediately, dozens and dozens of bluish sword lights started dashing toward the woman, all originating from Min Wan''s sword. But this didn''t stop there. As Min Wan walked forward, the ferocity of these sword lights increased, pushing back her opponent. "What is this sorcery? Only one that has sacrificed to follow the heavens is allowed to do this. How is this happening?" The woman was bbergasted. "There are more ways to gain the heavens'' power than just being subservient to them." Min Wan said. What she said though, was foreign to anyone who happened to be listening. Because the ways that she was speaking of had long been lost. Millennia ago. But she didn''t know that. In fact, she didn''t know that the very skills that she used weren''t supposed to exist in this world. She moved like a sh, trying to cut down her opponent, but her opponent was no joke. There was a reason that Min Wan was on the losing end on almost every encounter. But there was something about Min Wan''s attack that seemed different now. There was a gleam to her attacks, a silver shine that seemed to make her attacks slightly stronger. "Ah! That Yue Zhe just couldn''t take it, could he? He wanted to activate her constitution as fast as he could. Well, it became easier because Liu Feng took away her primordial Yin. But activating her constitution at this stage, she will need guidance." Liu Man was looking at her fight. He was as interested in her as Yue Zhe was. Heavenly constitutions such as hers were rare. Rarer than any heavenly treasure. "It is too bad. I would have found out if I had my true body all that time ago. But I found out toote, and Yue Zhe found her first. Guess I am just not fated to ever raise one with the Heavenly Yin." Liu Man sighed. He then looked at the Imperial Advisor of the tenth princess. Out of everyone of Liu Feng''s faction, this was the only person that could be said to be losing. He was being beaten around like nobody''s business. Panting, he raised his sword once more. "I will make sure that my leige will be the King!" He shouted as he charged toward his stronger opponent once more. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 356 Disruption The Imperial Advisor was about to strike down when he was sted away. Cough! He coughed out blood as he looked at the man that he was facing. Another fellow advisor, for another prince, looked down at him. "Tian Zhi. I told you that siding with the crown prince was the best way. Why did you have to stay with the tenth prince? I told you that you would lose." He coldly said. "Look around. What part of this looks like you are winning?" Tian Zhi chuckled. "Now then, Fan Hong, what are you talking about? Winning? I must tell you, you have chosen the wrong side indeed. Your prince has chosen wrong." Fan Hong looked down upon Tian Zhi and shook his head. "Once I am finished with you, I will take care of everyone else. Soon enough, the war will be over." Fan Hong smiled. "Sigh. While you keep talking, valuable minutes vanish. Why don''t you finish this match, or let me enter it. I am way too bored." Liu Man''s voice rang in both the imperial advisors'' heads. They stopped moving and looked up at where Liu Man was hovering. "You are that Liu Feng''spanion. The one in the seventhyer as well!" Tian Zhi said. "Are you willing to continue the battle, or are you going to let me do this?" Liu Man asked, while Fan Hong was just watching them. "We can band toge-" "No." Liu Man immediately shook his head. "I am not going to ever let you hurt my pride like that. If I can''t defeat this man here on my own, then what I do is useless. My life is pointless." Liu Man chuckled as he vanished, appeared in front of Tian Zhi. "I am going to be your opponent then. This man here is clearly not strong enough to face you, so I am going to humor you for a while." Liu Man smiled. "What, you joking kid? Do you think that this is funny? I am not going go easy on-" Swish! Fan Hong''s face changed as he raised his sword and turned around. His sword shivered as he fell back a few steps. In his ce, Liu Man appeared, his hand outreached, with ws in the ce of fingernails, and a white furry paw. This was the paw of the white tiger, that was partially transformed. ng! The moment that his sword hit Liu Man''s ws, he sted back a few feet. Then, he looked at Liu Man with shock. This much fire power and attack power was not expected from someone this young. "What is this? How could someone so young have such strength?" Fan Hong asked, his sword and hand shivering. "I am too bored of this battle. It doesn''t give me the thrill that fighting those two gave. I should just finish this fast." Liu Man sighed as he looked at his palm. On his ws, which were wless and did not have a scratch on them, there was a silver glimer that slowly changed. The ws started growing longer, and so did the fur on his hands. The fur reached for his shoulders, and then disappeared into his robes. Then, his robes disappeared, and Liu Man transformedpletely. He was a tiger through and through now. His white fur shined even among the bright sky, and everyone''s eyes were glued on him. "You better put up a fight. I don''t want this to end so fast." Liu Man said, a little steam escaping his mouth. Then, he disappeared. Fan Hong looked around, trying to find his new opponent. But even though he looked around, he could not find Liu Man. But then, he turned around. His instincts told him that Liu Man was going to appear then. And then, he felt it. A sharp killing intent that was aimed at him. And it certainly wasn''ting from the front. It wasing from behind him, where he just turned away from. "How did you get there? This is impossible. How can you be so fast, and still have attack power like that?" Fan Hong asked, his voice shivering. The killing intent did it for him. The killing intent was so strong that it froze his very blood. "You were good on this prediction. Your instincts were right and on point. I was indeeding from there." Behind Fan Hong, Liu Man said. "But your instincts are still not fast enough. I am much faster." Liu Man coldly dered as his sharp ws stopped just millimeters away from Fan Hong''s nape. And Fan Hong knew that it was pointed to his neck. He could feel it. "How are you so fast? How are you so unbeatable?" Fan Hong murmured. Fan Hong lost so fast that he couldn''t even react. The battle wasn''t just one-sided. It was a simple massacre and there was no other exnation to it. Liu Man was just too insanely strong, and Fan Hong had already used up a little Qi fighting against Tian Zhi. Even thought Fan Hong was winning with ease till now, this wasn''t as simple as defeating him and going on to the next opponent. Unless one was four or fiveyers above the other one in cultivation, it wasn''t going to be as simple as defeating the person with ease and going on to the next opponent. And yet, this monster that he faced defied everything thatmon sense stood for. Fan Hong was just shocked still while Liu Man was still standing there. "I need you to give me your word. Do you give up or not?" He asked. "I- I give up." Fan Hong nodded, a cold sweat appearing on his forehead. He would rather give up than fight against this monster. He didn''t love the crown prince as much as the Tiandu Sect did. But when he looked at where he needed to go, he was just shocked even more. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 357 Winning The crown prince was looking at this from the side. He was not strong enough to join the fight, but the fight below was too dangerous for him to join in. He wasn''t strong enough to join any of the fights above or below actually, as he wasn''t even in the Xiantian realm. And so, he had nothing do, except for watching his men getting battered by Liu Feng''s side. When he saw Liu Man take care of two people on his own, he was shocked. And then, Liu Feng defeated his Imperial Advisor, causing his side''s strength to drop even more. The Tiandu Sect was losing against the Cai family, and was in the disadvantage for the entire fight. As for the other fights, even though one or two were beginning to show promise, Liu Man went to join one of them and defeated another Soul Evolution Stage expert. And that woman from Liu Feng''s side suddenly went god mode after Liu Man interrupted her match, and now, even that match didn''t seem to be going his way. "What is happening? How is this happening? How are we not winning a single match?" The crown prince murmured. "That? That''s cause you guys really underestimated how strong our individual strengths were. Sometimes, numbers aren''t the only thing that mattered. You focused on getting five more experts, all of them in the third and fourthyers." "But our side? We focused on just adding two more experts. Both of them in the seventhyer and the eighthyer. The difference in quality is just too huge." Liu Feng''s voice came from right next to him. The crown prince looked to the right with shock. "Don''t turn so fast. You are going to break your neck." Liu Feng nonchntly said as he continued to look at the matches. "And why do you waste so much Qi using this artifact, I wonder. You could just watch your loss from the ground right? That would be much better." Liu Feng chuckled. "What do you want? Are you going to attack me now?" The crown prince asked, afraid of the moves that Liu Feng could make. "Don''t worry. I am not a coward. I am not trying to win like that. But what you don''t understand is, one of my people is someone who likes to have killing sprees for some reason. And two others, they won''t stop until they have their fill of battling. Three madmen. Don''t you think that you should stop this battle before something terrible happens to your men?" Liu Feng said calmly. "Do you think that I would give up so easily? No way! I will still win the war and -" "Don''t be such an idiot. In what universe do you think that you even have a remote chance of winning? Just use somemon sense, really. Where do you picture yourself winning?" Liu Feng interrupted him. "And every minute that you postpone this loss, Tiandu itself will pass by the grip of the Tian family." Liu Feng said. "You winning will give us the same result." The crown prince growled. "Ah! But it won''t, will it? I heard that you are the only prince that knows that the tenth prince is actually a girl? Well then, what would you say if she became the queen, huh? Wouldn''t the Tian family still be the one with the throne, in a way?" Liu Feng said. "You are going to marry Tian Xiu?" The crown prince was shocked now. And as for Liu Feng, he was just shocked speechless. "Was that how you understood it?" He shook his head, sighing. "Well then, it looks like there is no saving you. Fine. Imagine that is the case. Your Tian family will lose nothing if I be the king. And I am not even going to try and take your life of anything. My goal spans beyond this kingdom. So I will be gone within instants. Giving up is the only logical thing to do." Liu Feng said. st! In the other edge of the battlefield in the air, someone fell on the ground, sted there from this height. It was Min Wan''s opponent. And one didn''t need to look at the opponent to know that Min Wan had won. This was her victory. "Wow. Min Wan also won. And so quickly. I am surprised. Did she be stronger in this time?" Liu Feng wondered as he apuded her effort. "See. One more down. I think that means that there are only seven from your side left? Four from the Tiandu sect and what, three who are facing the sect master from the True Martial Sect?" Liu Feng pointed out. "In fact, you could actually prolong the war a little more. Tomorrow, when we start again, the Cai Family will be facing just the sect master of the Tiandu sect alone. Me and Liu Man, we will begin clearing the Tiandu Sect, and then we will wait another day." "And in that day, we will take care of the opponents that the sect master of the True Martial Sect is not able to finish off. And then, it will only be the sect master that is supporting you against the formation of the Cai family, as well as all of us. How do you think that is going to turn out?" Liu Feng said. "You are not going to possible win against them all. No cultivator can guarantee a victory." The crown prince scowled. "Use somemon sense. I defeated your imperial advisor. And surely, you know how strong he is. He was the strongest other than the sect master of the Tiandu Sect. Who else here can stop me?" Liu Feng scoffed. "This doesn''t mean that-" Suddenly, the crown prince''s spatial ring started lighting up. And something in the corner of Liu Feng''s eye also lit up. ,m It was Tia Jiang''s hand, where the spatial ring was also lighting up. The formation of the Cai family also suddenly split up. Cai Guo''s spatial ring was also lighting up. Something was happening, and it was clearly something bad. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 358 Problem In The Capital Battles started halting. Even below, the men stopped fighting. Generals of both sides stopped the battle. Liu Feng looked at the crown prince, waiting for a response. The crown prince was tensed as he retrieved a talisman from his spatial ring. The talisman burnt to a crisp immediately, and a voice came from within. "This is a urgent message to everyone! The Capital is under siege! Come to defend the throne as the more qualified of the two will take the throne immediately!" The voice said. Liu Feng looked at the crown prince, who looked back. "So it turns out that the throne was never destined for me. But we cannot allow the throne to fall into the hands of someone that can potentially destroy all of Tiandu. We need to go to the capital and take back what is rightfully the Tian family''s." The crown prince said. Swish! People appeared behind the crown prince and behind Liu Feng in an instant. "Young Noble. We must go to the capital." "Your Highness, we must go to the capital." In unison, Tian Jiang and Cai Guo looked at the ones that they were supporting and told them. "Yes. I am aware. We need to go to the capital so that I can im my throne. One that I rightfully earn." Liu Feng nodded. "What? Only the crown prince is capable to taking the throne at this time!" Tian Jiang said, exuding some pressure. "What did you say?" Liu Man''s cold voice,bined with the same pressure from Liu Feng, Cai Guo, and everyone else from Liu Feng''s side came at him. "You lost too many, and if this battle continued, many more would be lost. If you do not want to ept your loss, then I would rather fight this out here and then go to the capital." Liu Feng coldly said. "Leave it, sect master. This throne is just not meant for me. We have lost this battle and we all know it. We were too overconfident with our power, and we did not ount for this oue." The crown prince sighed and said. "But Your Highness! Tian Jiang was about to protest, when Cai Guo snorted. "Is this what your priorities are? Your prince will not die today if Young Noble takes the throne. But if anyone else takes the throne, then all of us are dead." Cai Guo said. "He is right, sect master. We must move, and we must all move fast. The message that came from the pce was short, but it didn''t give us any details. I am worried that there is something terrible going on there and that the pce is not able to defend." An old man from behind Tian Jiang said. "We must move. Let us go to the pce first." Liu Feng nodded. The moment he said this, his side all disappeared. In the battle field, where Min Wan still was, she also heard this, and her figure also disappeared. Everyone on his side disappeared, while everyone on the crown prince''s side, including the ones that lost, were waiting for what the crown prince was about to say. "What are we waiting for then? This is not a small matter! The throne might be lost! We cannot afford that! Let us all move!" He shouted. Everyone nodded, and while Tian Jiang took the crown prince and disappeared so that even the crown prince could travel to the capital as fast as possible, the others disappeared on their own. The people above all disappeared, while the people below stopped their fighting. Everyone was just confused, except for the Xiantian experts, who got a message as well. "People! The war is over! The other side is not the enemy! Everyone in the Xiantian realm here must go to the capital, but if I find that someone here instigated a fight, then I will have his head!" The general on the crown prince''s side shouted. The general on the opposite side nodded, and he gave the samemands to his army. And then, the Xiantian realm experts also started disappearing one by one. It was interesting to see. Within just a few minutes, from a war that was happening with such pace and viciousness just stopped and came to a standstill. Every expert on the field just disappeared after calling a truce. "What is going on? I thought that throne was on the line. Who would give up a battle like this when we are winning it?" Someone whined on Liu Feng''s side. They knew what was going up there. They could see the people slowly fumble ande down to refrain from battle. Their side was beating the other one ck and blue, and it was not even apetition. Not one from Liu Feng''s side had fallen as of yet, which was a littleic in a way. "Shut up! Did you not understand, instigating a fight? Keep your mouth shut." A more experienced veteran with more white hair and a stronger cultivation base shut him up instantly. The strongest among them, someone in the peak of the nascent soul realm, tookmand. "We must not engage! Go back and create a gap between the two armies!" He shouted, as the armies on both sides started retreating. Once again, a chasm was created between both armies, so that they wouldn''t identally fight for no reason at all. ***** Meanwhile, in the Imperial Pce, When Liu Feng and his group of experts arrived at the imperial pce, he was expecting to see a battered up pce, with experts fighting everywhere. But he didn''t see that. He saw none of that. All he saw was that there were more guards on the perimeter. He didn''t see any signs of a fight taking ce. "What is going on here? Is this a prank?" Liu Feng frowned. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 359 Becoming The King (Part 1) "Is this a prank?" Liu Feng frowned. But a few swishester, the crown prince and his faction also appeared next to them. This wouldn''t be something they orchestrated, because they were in sight for now. "What is going on? What is the trouble that the imperial pce encountered?" Tian Jiang''s domineering voice thundered through the pce grounds. All of the guards cowered, but they didn''t raise their weapons. They knew who the person speaking was. It was the sect master of the Tiandu sect. Who didn''t know the sect master of the strongest power in the entire kingdom, bar the imperial pce? And the Tiandu sect was an indispensable ally of the imperial pce, with the sect mastering to the pce so often that they memorized his voice by now. "Answer me! What has happened for you to disturb the session war? This has never been done before! How dare you break this tradition?" The sect master raged. Until now, he had a chance. The crown prince had a slim to none chance that they would win this war. Maybe Liu Man and Liu Feng could miraculously be defeated, and they would defeat the unbreakable formation that the Cai Family created. But now, even that was out of the picture. The crown prince raised the white g. He had given up. The king was Liu Feng now. There was nothing stopping that. Liu Feng nodded and looked at what the guards were about to say. He was interested in knowing what their answer was going to be. "The prison¡­ sect master. The prison! Someone had broken in!" The guard said, shivering. Liu Feng froze. He knew exactly what happened then. And he knew that he had to get to the throne as fast as possible to be the king and be anointed with that power. Because the moment that they found out who it was, every sword here would be pointed toward him, and he could kiss the crown and his life goodbye. "What are we waiting for? I should take the throne and be the king so that I can fend off the attackers!" Liu Feng said. "There are far too many procedures to do now that you are not of the Tian bloodline. We should give it to the crown prince instead. It will be much easier." Tian Jiang protested again. But Liu Feng wasn''t having it. "I AM of the Tian blood line as much as your crown prince is. So why don''t you drop the act. You lost. None of you can beat us. And I still havent revealed my true strength, and I am sure that neither has Liu Man. If you want to fight, then fine. I wille and fight with you. And whoever is inside will get what he or she wants. I guess this is all the the crown prince''s word counts for." Liu Feng scoffed as a spear appeared in his hand. "Enough! I am a man of my word. Brother Feng should be the king. The threat is real, and the battle had been lost already. We were just prolonging it." The crown prince shouted. "And this is not the only problem that we will have at this time. There are many more enemies that will try to get the throne. We must let him refine the throne." he said. "Listen to the crown prince, Tian Jiang. We do not have time. Let us go in and take the throne room and make sure it is safe first." Cai Guo said as he moved first. The guards did not move to block any of them. First, even if they wanted to, they couldn''t. And more importantly, these were the people that would take care of the situation inside. Not them. Cai Guo led the way and rushed toward the pce in godspeed. Liu Feng quickly followed, keeping with Cai Guo with ease. They passed through the pce walls when Liu Feng realized that they were going to another section of the pce itself. After all, the first section was dedicated to the king and his chambers. When they got to the section with the throne room, which had not a single person in, Cai Guo mmed the wall next to him. The wall did not crumble though. Runes appeared on the wall, absorbing the impact. "How dare they just leave the throne like this for everybody to take. They have no sense of priorities." Cai Guo cursed as he waved his hands. The giant doors to the throne room opened, and Jake was able to see what was inside with rity. The throne room was golden. Golden thrones, smaller than the one in the center, were lined up in two rows facing each other, and a nice red carpet in the middle for the people to take their seats. But who would even care about these golden thrones, when the true attraction was in the center of the hall, for everyone to see. Liu Feng''s eyes were fixed on the treasure that was called the most precious in the entire kingdom, or even the entire Realm of beginnings. And he understood why. Because there was not a single guard in here, but there were statues of guards here. And these were definitely the Terracotta Army. Without a doubt, this was the power that the throne controlled. Liu Feng disappeared, and a momentter, he appeared in front of the throne, studying it from up close. This throne was different from every other one. While the others would be considered mortal, with gold shining and precious jewels ordaining the armrests, this was different. It felt like it was made with simple y. But any cultivator who looked at it would be drawn to the aura that it possessed, and that was what made it the center of attraction. He stroked the throne, and he felt a chill the moment he touched it. [Ping!] [Throne of Terracotta detected. Refine?] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 360 Becoming The King (Part 2) His eyes widened as he heard that sound. He could refine the treasure with his system, so surely it would be quicker and much easier than normal. "Young Noble! You musn''t take the throne by force! You need to wait! Only one who has the final piece of the throne can refine the throne!" Cai Guo stopped Liu Feng before he could do anything. "The final piece of the throne? What is that?" Liu Feng frowned. "It is the heirloom of the Tian Family. The final piece of the throne that can force a member of the Tian family to take the throne and refine it without suffering the bacsh of the curse of the king immediately." Cai Guo said. But Liu Feng just smiled and shook his head. "So the curse of the king is what you guys are worried about. Then do not worry. I am not going to get a problem." Liu Feng said as he took another step forward and sat on the throne, the throne that he rightfully earned. [Throne of Terracotta detected. Refine?] "Yes." He said. [Refining Throne of Terracotta] [Curse detected.] [Story quest reward: Cure for the Curse of the King will be given out] Although Liu Feng felt an odd feeling with his chest heating up, it slowly lightened and he felt nothing more. The curse was definitely gone. [Refining 1%. Expected time: 28 hours] Liu Feng''s eyelids fluttered. He did not expect it to take this much time. He looked at Cai Guo, who was looking at Liu Feng with pity for some reason, and Tian Jiang''s mouth was curled up in a smile. "What happened, family head? Why are all of you in such a terrible mood?" Liu Feng asked. "You should have listened to me, Young Noble. The only oue to someone who forcefully sits on the throne without the permission of the throne or without the heirloom is death. Too many people have died to this throne in the past." Cai Guo said, shaking his head. He was truly distressed. After supporting the young man through thick and thin, and taking him all the way to victory, his impatience cost them the final fight. He was going to die early, and the crown prince would be the king eventually. The Cai family would lose everything. They invested too much into this fight, and the crown prince might be merciful, but he would never allow someone who supported an outsider to keep flourishing. Now, the Cai family''s future was all but destined to be doomed. And he could do nothing about it. But Liu Feng smiled and looked at Liu Man. "The refining process is going to take a small while. I will need your help, Liu Man. I need to stay on the throne for twenty eight hours to refine it." Liu Feng transmitted to Liu Man. "I am guessing that mysterious system of yours will take care of the problems that these people are worrying about? That can be the only reason that you are so calm right now." Liu Man asked. "That is indeed the case. I will finish refining the treasure in twenty eight hours. But any time now, these people might turn against me. After all, we remember the discussion that we had all those days ago in the Sky Heavens sect. The intruders may well be my father and master." Liu Feng transmitted. "I will make sure that you survive the next twenty eight hours. But after that, you should be able to use the throne and deal with everyone. I am interested in seeing what the throne''s powers are. I have heard too much about it. To call something the greatest treasure in the Realm of Beginnings, it has to be something extraordinary." Liu Man said. "If you are able to keep things going for twenty eight hours, then I am sure that after that, no matter what happens, I will be take care of what problemse next." Liu Feng assured. He then closed his eyes, crossing his legs on the throne, and putting his hands together as he started circting his Qi and slowly transmitting his Qi into the throne itself. Ping! [New refining method detected] [Merging detection methods] [New time of refinement: Twenty Hours] Even though the time decreased, Liu Feng didn''t intend to tell Liu Man. Better have everyone believe that Liu Feng needed all the twenty eight hours to refine the throne. He slowly started supplying the Qi to the throne, cutting himself off all the distractions. Everything around him started fading away and he waspletely concentrated on refining this treasure. Swish! Liu Man''s hands were fluttering, and one rune started forming, which slowly hovered closer to Liu Feng. It then stopped a few inches away from his face, and just hovered there. Going a little back, anyone could see that it was one of thousands of runes that Liu Man had just formed in a few instants. This was a temporary barrier that he created to iste Liu Feng from any distractions that came from outside. Even though Liu Feng was a cultivator who could cut himself off from the world if needed, Liu Man knew that this would be a better thing to do. He then looked at Tian Jiang, whose face ofughter turned into one of anger. "Why the hell are you still tolerating this stupid behavior, Cai Guo? You know that his life is forfeit. Are you really going to waste a whole five days on this man? Everyone knows that it will take a long time to refine the throne. The person who invaded the pce and went to the prison within isn''t the only one we need to be worrying about." Tian Jiang cursed. But Liu Man interrupted. "I do not know what you guys think. I don''t care what happens inside the pce or out. But whatever you are worried about, you guys should stop worrying about. Liu Feng should be able to refine this treasure. But if anyone intends to disturb him, then I will have to bring out the white tiger of yore, and I know that no one wants that." Liu Man''s face was calm, and yet his eyes were chilling. The moment he said this, the nearby temperature went down a few degrees, and even Tian Jiang took back a few steps subconsciously. Even he was afraid to the slightest degree! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 361 Tian Xin The Imperial Prison, Deep within the imperial pce, there was a hole. A hole where the strongest prisoners of the kingdom were held. Sure, some of them deserved it and others didn''t. But it was well known that once you entered the prison, there was noing out. No one ever broke out of that prison until this day. Three men stood at the edge of the hole, peering in. "Do we have a sword strong enough the cut those chains?" One of them asked. "Do you think that I wouldn''te here if I wasn''t prepared enough? Let us get this over with as fast as possible. Feng''er did his job. Now, we just have to rescue Xin''er." The man in the middle said as he took one step forward, falling into this hole that no-one knew the depth of. The moment he did, all he could see was darkness. Until he used his divine sense, that was. As he extended his divine sense, he could see so many people in this god forsaken hole, all of them just sitting there, cross legged, meditating like not a day had gone by. But these people weren''t going to ever break the chains that bound them. The chains were special. They were unbreakable by normal swords. And these chains sucked the Qi out of the ones who bore them. So whoever had these chains on were never going to be strong enough to break out of them. They were destined to stay here, stuck, until someone was able to break through the dozens of Soul Evolution Stage cultivators within the Imperial pce ande all the way here. But three did. They prepared for years just for this. And now, it was time. The man who was in charge hovered for a moment, slowing down his speed, and stopped in front of one of the cells in they cylindrical prison. This was hundreds of meters deep in. And inside this cell, was a woman. A stunning woman whose beauty made the world wallow in pain that such a woman was stuck inside a prison like this. "Xin''er." The man called out softly. The woman''s eyes fluttered open. She looked forward, and even though she had no Qi left in her, no power to use her divine sense, and no capability of seeing through this pitch darkness, she knew who the one who came was. "Ling Tian. You are finally here." She called out, softly. Her voice cracked. This was maybe the first time that she spoke in years. No one came here, and everyone wanted to save their energy. They were cultivators, all of them. So the pce didn''t even bother feeding them. They absorbed Qi from the atmosphere, let it run through their body once, and the Qi left through the chains, drifting away out of reach. These people all barely survived like this, the woman even more so. Her lips were blue, her eyes were reddened, and her entire body was as frail as it could get. And yet, she was still strong enough to stand up ande closer to the prison cell''s bars. "Why did youe all the way here? I told you to stay with him, make sure that he isn''t in any danger." She said softly, the emotion in her voice boundless. "He is strong enough to fend for himself now. He is in the session wars, and he is the one who is winning." Liu Ling Tian proudly said. "I told you not to let him risk his life for that goddamn throne that cheats everyone out of their life! Do not let him sit on that throne! I made you promise me that!" She shouted. "Calm down, Xin''er. Wait. I will bring you out of here." Liu Ling Tian said as he took out a sword. A sword that shone so bright that all of the prisoners in this prison here finally saw light for the first time in decades. Aaaargh! There were shouts all over, not able to withstand this light. But Tian Xin, the woman of the hour, didn''t say a word. The sword slowly touched the prison bars, which just curled away, breaking away to create a path for Liu Ling Tian to step forward and embrace his beloved. The both of them became one, and inseparable, until someone interrupted them. "I hate to interrupt you guys, but we have to go. Right now. If anyone finds that it is us who did this, then guess who they have to use against us? Liu Feng is in the pce, and I just heard that he stepped on the throne to start refining it." Li Tian appeared behind them. "He did what?" Liu Ling Tian broke out of the embrace and turned around. His furious expression was visible through the light of the sword. "Bring me to the throne. I will speak to the divine spirit. I will beg it to forgive my child. It will listen to me." Tian Xin said, as weak as she could be. "All of you! This discussion can be had forter. The men from the session wars have arrived. We have to go now! Tian Hun and Tian Gan will no longer stay guarding the throne. They wille for us." Liu Qian appeared as well. "Fine." Liu Ling Tian said as he raised his sword once more. It fell down on the chains that bound Tian Xin to this vicious ce that her own brother imprisoned her in. The moment that the chains separated, all of the Qi that was here, which was quite abundant, started creating a vortex around Tian Xin. It started funneling into the peerless beauty, and soon enough, rosiness appeared on her lips, her face, and she was no longer as weak as she was. It would take a few weeks to recoverpletely, maybe even a year, but she wasn''t going to copse now. "We should go now. I will not tolerate losing my son before I even meet him." Tian Xin said fiercely. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 362 Handu Arrives Outside the Imperial Pce, The guards were looking around. Now was a tense time. Everyone didn''t know what the hell was going on. Some weren''t even sure if at this rate, the pce would still be standing at the end of this storm that wasing. The guards looked at each other, and then back beyond the walls. Nothing was visible to them. They were just Nascent Soul realm and Xiantian realm cultivators after all. No matter how much they wanted to, they wouldn''t be able to detect Soul Evolution Stage cultivators unless those cultivators wanted them to. Pan De was one of these guards. He was better than average. In the peak of the Nascent Soul realm, he would have been such a powerhouse anywhere outside the capital. And he certainly would have been something more than a mere guard on the castle walls. But there were benefits of being a guard on the Pce walls. The resources that the Imperial Pce gave out were just way too good for him to pass by. For anyone who wanted to be a strong cultivator, maybe even have a chance to break through to the Xiantian realm, then they would try to enter the Imperial Pce, which was a haven for wandering cultivators. And now, he was stuck here, looking beyond the wall for a living. But as he was doing that, he noticed a small irregrity. Beyond the vast gardens that surrounded the pce, and the few buildings in the horizon, he could see a dust cloud. It was very far away. The vision of cultivators was far and beyond a mortal''s eyes. But so was the speed of cultivators. And this dust cloud was getting bigger and bigger. "I spotted something! Something ising here!" Pan De shouted. He pointed toward the dust cloud, and the guards next to him looked at the dust cloud as well. Someone appeared next to him. It was a captain, someone in the Xiantian realm. He was strong alright, and he could see further than what Pan De could see. And his face changed. "Activate the defending array! Everyone that matters is here anyway! Activate the array!" He shouted. The guards immediately took out a few tokens from their spatial ring. They raised the tokens, and the tokens brightly lit up as they poured Qi into the tokens. The Imperial Pce was probably the one power in the entire kingdom who had enough people to use Qi to start the opening of an array. But the Xiantian expert disappeared the next moment. There was much more to be done to raise a defending array. This expert appeared at the center of the courtyard of the pce and made a few signs. The fountain that he was in front of suddenly started moving, and an altar raised in front of him. He then proceeded to put a high ranked spirit stone in it. "What is going on here? Why is the protecting array being raised?" A loud voice shook this captain. It was one of the Imperial Advisors on the crown prince''s side. He looked coldly at the captain. Raising a defending array took a high grade spirit stone, something that was still very expensive, and was a waste to just use. "Yes, third Imperial Advisor. Enemies have arrived. They are numbered more than we can go against at the moment. Not when our forces are spread so thin trying to go against the enemy within the pce walls." The captain said. "An enemy?" The imperial advisor frowned as he disappeared, reappearing next to Pan De. Pan De was shook. This was the first time in his five year stint as a guard here that he was looking at an expert of this caliber so closely. He was star struck for a moment, but the Imperial Advisor couldn''t be bothered in the slightest. He looked forward at the dust cloud that was almost upon them. Now, the number of people within were visible to Pan De, and his eyes popped out of their eye sockets and went back in. He could see thousands of people here. And in the skies, previously hidden by the dust, were dozens of experts. They were either in the Soul Formation Stage, or in the Soul Evolution stages, and for some reason, Pan De felt like it was thetter. But the Imperial Advisor, the imperial advisor knew. The moment he looked at them, he knew who he was looking at. He hovered above as the protecting array was being cast, and looked coldly at the approaching army. "Does the Handu Kingdom really want to die so badly? Do you really want to give up your life and try to attack the Imperial Pce?" He shouted. The guards were shook. It was the Handu Kingdom that was attacking? That was a KINGDOM? Who would have thought that the first person to attack them at this time would be a freaking KINGDOM? And the Imperial Advisor''s face was frigid, but inside, he was screaming. They just got out of a tough fight with those monsters in Liu Feng and Liu Man. But now, they had to go against the Handu Kingdom? And right then there were people inside the pce breaking into the prison? Everything was happening in the wrong time. "I need to tell the sect master." The Imperial Advisor realized as he was about to turn around. "Imperial Advisor! Is the protecting array going to hold?" Pan De asked. He was genuinely concerned. Were they going to hold until someone was going toe to help them out? The people on the ground, maybe they could manage against. But the guards knew that when the experts above would make their move, the entire pce would shake, and only destruction was going to prevail. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 363 The Throne Speaks Back "What is that presence? Who is attacking the very imperial pce?" Tian Xin asked. She was in Liu Ling Tian''s embrace, who was carrying her through the vast pce and toward the exit. "We have a problem." Li Tian suddenly appeared next to Liu Ling Tian and Liu Qian. "What happened?" Liu Qian asked. "The Imperial Pce. It is under attack. We have to go to the throne room either way. There is no other exit here, and sooner orter, we will be found." Li Tian said. "We were going there in the first ce." Tian Xin said, but Liu Ling Tian looked away, a small bead of sweat on his forehead dropping on the petite beauty in his arms. "You- you wanted to leave our son here in the hands of these monsters?" Tian Xin''s brow trembled. "I was going to stay here, if that helped. And, he is in good hands. The White Tiger himself will be next to Liu Feng, protecting him." Li Tian said. "Go there. Right now. I don''t know what came over you, but I want to meet him. Now." Tian Xin said, her voice trembling with sorrow and anger. "He is gone, Xin''er. You don''t need to do this to yourself. The moment you see him, you will want to take his burden away. And the throne, it is greedy. It will want to take you along with him, and I cannot lose you both." Liu Ling Tian shook his head. "No. I will not ept this. Take me there. Now!" She shouted. "We have nowhere else to go, Brother. We have to go there either way. The throne room is the safest ce. Especially now that the pce is under siege." Li Tian said. "Fine. Who is in the pce? Tian Jiang, I suppose?" "Yes. Him and Cai Guo. I mean, Liu Feng knocked up quite the racket, destroying the Hong family and all. He got the support of the Cai family like that." Li Tian said. "He did what?" Tian Xin coughed. "He destroyed the Hong family. Oh right! You were here! You and brother gave birth to the strongest genius that the entire world has probably seen in thest couple thousand years. I mean, he is already in the Soul Evolution Stage! How does one get so strong so fast? And I checked him. No demonic energy within him. He is as clean as one can be." Li Tian said. "I remember. I felt it once. He broke the seal that I put on him. And that part of my soul is independent of me, and I need to meet him tomunicate with it. But he opened his Spiritual Root. I don''t know if his Spiritual Blood and bone are activated as well, but his spiritual root, you remember the dazzling light that came just from his light." Tian Xin looked at her husband. "It is a pity that he-" "It is not set in stone. I know that you can move faster. Get there as fast as you can, Tian, or I will get on my own two feet." Tian Xin said. Liu Ling Tian sighed, and he suddenly disappeared, as did the other two next to him. The Throne Room, "I am telling you, Cai Guo, this is going to be the death of the Tiandu kingdom. All because you are not allowing me to kill that brat and let the crown prince do what he has to!" "He sat on the throne before he had thest remaining piece. He is going to be cursed! He will die in a few days. You know that! We cannot waste time. There is too much to be done!" Tian Jiang shouted at Cai Guo, who turned a blind eye to what was transpiring. "He is different. He is the dragon princess'' son, isn''t he? He could change the throne''s conditions. Maybe the throne will ept him." "The people who havee first are the Handu! The moment theye to the throne room and the throne isn''t refined, the throne''s artifact spirit will jump at the nearest prince with enough Handu blood and all that we will have worked towards will be lost!" Tian Jiang scowled. In front of them, Liu Man was sitting cross legged, eyes open, and straight at the people who threatened to attack Liu Feng. Next to him, Min Wan also stood to defend Liu Feng. She wasn''t sure if she was strong enough to go against the giants, but she could stall the weaker ones. And Liu Feng himself was within the barrier that Liu Man put up. He was trying his best to refine the artifact and he just realized something truly interesting. There was something about the artifact that was trying tomunicate with him, and also trying to resist him. He eventually gave in, and tried talking to the artifact. And the moment he did, he regretted it. "You #$%^& $%^& $%^&* $%^&* a$$ hole. How dare you forcefully try to refine me? And you don''t even have the final piece that you idiots broke from me." A pissed off voice resounded in Liu Feng''s head. He shook his head. The amount of profanity that was heard could only be censored. "What are you? An artifact spirit? It looks like this artifact is even better than what I imagined. I thought that artifact spirits were only seen in the Ancient Realms." Liu Feng wondered out loud. This was something he had done some slight reading on, as it interested him. "Of course I am an artifact spirit. You have a wierd smell though boy. You smell really interesting, and a little familiar. Do you know someone called Tian Xin?" The voice asked. "Tian Xin? Who is that? Wait, could you be talking about the dragon princess?" Liu Feng asked. Now, he stopped pouring Qi into the throne and his ears perked up as he listened to what the voice had to say now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 364 Throne Artifact Spirit Ping! [Refining Speed has decreased.] Liu Feng knew why, but he couldn''t help it. This was his mother that they were talking about after all. He really wanted to know more about her. Even though he didn''t have any contact with his father as his father, he felt like his mother was with him for some reason. He wanted to know more about her, just like he wanted to know more about his father. They were mysteries in this body''s life that he just needed to uncover, or they would remain as regrets that he couldn''t get through. "So you are rted to her. It has been a few years since I talked to her. It is a pity that she didnt be the queen though. It would have been nice if she became the holder of the artifact." The artifact spirit sighed. "What did you know about her?" Liu Feng asked haggardly. His desperation was quite apparent in his tone. "Looks like you were quite the admirer of her. But I don''t know what you want to know, boy. She was just a child when she first sat on her father''sp as he was on the throne. And I knew that her blood was special. She was someone who could truly use the throne here to its true power. No one wants to be underutilized." The artifact spirit said. "There are more features than the Terracotta Army? Features that are not being used?" Liu Feng asked, surprised. "Of course. Did you think that something that descended from the Ancient Realm would be so weak as to only have a few Soul Evolution Stage cultivators? Don''t be stupid. The throne canmand a lot more power. I was the corner stone for a dynasty boy!" The artifact spirit scoffed. "Then what caused you to such dire status? How about this. After I refine you, I will let your power be used to the fullest. Deal? Stop resisting my refining and we can do this." Liu Feng proposed. "Get lost. Do you know how many kings of your blood have promised this? None of them are strong enough tost my power. And they dare to call it the Curse of the King. Such fools. All it is, is that they are a bunch of incapable fools." The artifact spirit scoffed. "It looks like you are too underutilized." Liu Feng smiled as a thought appeared in his mind. "What if I do this? What if I promise to use your full power once, but in the future?" Liu Feng asked. "What are you talking about?" "I am going to go to the Ancient Realm the moment that the portal opens. Unfortunately, I don''t think that I can take you away. I want an artifact as strong as you all to myself, but I cannot just take it away. Too many people will stop me. But there is a battleing here. If you want, you can help me. Or else, you can forcefully be refined." Liu Feng said. There was no doubt that at the end of the refining process, the system would do exactly as promised. It would give him the throne as a refined artifact, that was his to use. And it would also give him the three minor realms in increase. All of this wouldbine to give him a wonderful power that would make him as strong as any other in the Realm of beginnings, where the limit was the peak of the Soul Evolution Stage. "You are so haughty, boy. Do you really think that you can go to the Ancient realm and see yourselfe back here?" The artifact spiritughed. "You came back. My father managed toe here. Why wouldn''t I?" Liu Feng chuckled. "What? Your father is from the ancient realm? And he managed toe to the Realm of Beginnings? Don''t tell me, oh wait. I should have recognized that smell. The smell of the Ancient Blood. A bloodline that I should have recognized. It wasn''t activated so I couldn''t recognize it immediately!" The artifact spirit suddenly shouted with shock and realization. "Fine. I will take you upon this deal. I will let you refine me. And when youe back in the future, I will want you to use my power to the extreme." The artifact spirit said. Jake smiled as he gripped the sides of the throne as he sent torrents of Qi into the throne. And this time, he could feel the resistance of the throne bing non existent. Ping! [Speed of refining artifact increased drastically!] [New time of refinement: 10 Hours] Liu Feng raised his eyebrows. This was surprising. It had halved the time just by helping out. Talking to the artifact really was a good thing. But he had to finish this fast. Even though he technically couldn''t do anything, and this was the maximum output that was possible, he wanted to finish this as fast as possible. Outside, too many people were gunning for this very throne. The powers that Cai Guo had told him returned to the top of his mind. ns that had secluded themselves. Mysterious men who wanted this power all to themselves. The Handu Kingdom. Every other kingdom. But there was one quiet power in all of this that made Liu Feng shiver with anticipation. He really wanted to meet with Long Xian again. Time and time again, he thought back to the day that he was held by Long Xian, by the throat, and ridiculed for his strength. He was weak back then. He couldn''t fight back. The only thing that he could do to survive and stall was beg the system for a way to get to the tribtion. Thinking back, it was shameful. And he wanted to get back at him. Now, as long as he finished refining the throne, he would be the king, and he would finally enter the Peak of the Soul Evolution Stage. He would be the peak of the entire world in cultivation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 365 Arrival Knock! Knock! The giant throne room had closed doors, and the fact that someone was outside, knocking toe in, unnerved Min Wan. The whole time, she was not sure if there was a fight about to happen or not. It was on the brink of total destruction. Just a small tipping point, and the whole throne room would crash and burn. So when someone knocked on the door, it gave Min Wan a terrible feeling. Like there was someone there who would change the whole situation and they would have to fight. This was not fear that she had. She had no fear for the people in front of her. She grew up in an environment like this. But she didn''t want to fight today. This was protection, and the person that they were protecting was going to be defenseless this time. She could not afford to have this person die. For some reason, she just couldn''t. She didn''t know what it was that she felt, but it was better to sort her feelingter than do this now. "Who is it? All of us are here." Tian Jiang looked around. He knew where everyone of the pce. Some were here, and some were preparing to defend the pce. "I don''t know. All of the Cai family is here. Our entire faction is here." Cai Guo shook his head. Liu Man didn''t say anything this time, but he did know who was behind the door. It was a familiar presence. Or rather, three familiar presences, and one foreign. The trio that had greeted them when they returned to the Tiandu Kingdom was over here, and they had one more person with them. "Could they be enemies?" Cai Guo supposed. "And do you think that enemies would be knocking on our door politely? Go. Maybe it is one of the guards." Tian Jiang shook his head as he told one of his elders. The elder sighed. Years of cultivation and he was reduced to opening doors. With a wave of his hand, the door opened, and for people beyond the door were visible. The moment that they came into view, suddenly, the pressure of the room increased ten fold. "You.... Liu Qian! Li Tian! To think that you would betray the kingdom? To think that you three were the ones who broke into the prison!" Tian Jiang shouted. Immediately, Liu Ling Tian''s eyes red. He raised his hands, and suddenly, Tian Jiang flew to the back, crashing into the walls. "Don''t you dare make a move. Any of you. I came here because I want to see my dying son. If anyone here dares stop me, I will make sure that they will suffer a fate worse than death." Liu Ling Tian coldly said. Tian Xin, who was in his hands, had her eyes closed, She was already exhausted, and the fact that she was able to stay active for so long was already surprising. Liu Man looked at them with some interest. He wanted to see what was going to happen now. He didn''t expect to get any reinforcements, so he was pretty satisfied. "Do you want to go against the entire kingdom, Li Tian? And you¡­ I can''t believe you people." Tian Jiang coughed as he looked at Liu Ling Tian. But even he didn''t dare sat Liu Ling Tian''s name. Because it was ouwed by the heavens itself. Who would dare go against the heavens just to say a name? "You cannot go against us. We are three people stronger than all of you. If you move now, I swear, I will wash the capital in blood. I won''t even care that you have other enemies out there trying to swallow you whole." Liu Ling Tian coldly said. He stepped forward, and no one dared step up against him. He was just like Yue Zhe in a way. He was too strong for them to fathom. He was only limited by the restrictions of the Realm of Beginnings. The truth was that he was far stronger than a mere Soul Evolution Stage expert. But when Liu Ling Tian stopped in front of Liu Man, Liu Man stopped him. "Move aside. I thank you for protecting my son for this long. I have no doubt that without you, he would have been eaten alive by these vultures." Liu Ling Tian said. "I am afraid that I cannot do that." Liu Man shook his head though. "What did you say?" A sudden pressure came from Liu Ling Tian, forced entirely on Liu Man. But Liu Man didn''t even budge. "If you think that you can intimidate me to moving, then think again. You forget who I am. And do not worry, you all punks. I do not move because I want to see him dead. After all, the moment he dies, I do as well." Liu Man shook his head as he looked back at the people that were trying to get Liu Feng off the throne. "You¡­ I know you. I heard about your existence." Tian Xin opened her eyes as she pointed to Liu Man, weakly saying. "You must be Liu Feng''s mother. I was wondering who would give birth to a genius like him, with his extraordinary Spiritual Root and blood." Liu Man smiled as he nodded toward the woman. "Xin''er. Don''t exert yourself." Liu Ling Tian said with concern as he gently looked at Tian Xin. "I want to speak with the throne artifact spirit. Surely, it will remember me. It will be willing to take me instead of him. I will bear the curse." She said as she coughed. Liu Man shook his head though. "I am afraid that I am not going to allow anyone to touch Liu Feng now. He is at a critical position. He needs to refine the throne. After he does that, you can do whatever you want. But until then, I will not allow anyone to get any closer to him." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 366 Furious "What are you saying? He will die if he keeps this going. Just sitting on the throne alone will give him the curse. He won''t be able to handle it." Li Tian, who was on the side, said. "He will not die. He will not get the curse. Do you not trust me? I have thousands of years more experience than you fools. Do you not think that I would have a way to handle the curse?" Liu Man scoffed. "You have a way to handle the curse of the king?" Liu Qian''s face shone as he thought of the possibilities. If the curse was gone, then Liu Feng would be on the throne for years toe. The entire world could be for the taking if such a terrifying king was at the helm of the Tiandu Kingdom. "No. I do not. He does." Liu Man didn''t even attempt to lie. It was beneath him. "And you believed him?" Liu Ling Tian raised his eyebrows. "You may have observed him for a long time, but I was with him, by his side during his most crucial times. The moment he dies, I die as well. And the moment I die, he does as well. A contract of equals. That was what he have together. I will not let anything happen to him, and he will do the same to me. If you want to pass, then I will have to battle you, because he will have to be king today." Liu Man said, getting up now. He was not the slightest bit afraid of this genius from the ancient realm. He had seen thousands of geniuses before, and none of them stood a chance before him. "Sect master! We have a problem! There are people at the front lines. Other powers have appeared!" Arge shout came as a guard rushed through the open doors. Liu Ling Tian frowned as he turned around to see what was happening. Tian Jiang had long gotten out of the crater that he made for himself. "What happened? Who is here?" Tian Jiang asked, dusting off his clothes. He was not ashamed of losing to Liu Ling Tian in a single move. He was at this same position a long time ago. Liu Ling Tian was someone from the Ancient Realm. Even there, he wasn''t the low rungs. He was someone from the top who came here to hunt down the dragon that was Long Xian. There was nothing shameful in losing to Liu Ling Tian. "I do not know, Sect Master! They im to be the Zen Family. I have never heard of them, but they have dozens of Soul Evolution Stage cultivators! The Handu Kingdom seems to know them, because they have started fighting the moment that theyid eyes upon each other!" The guard said. "The Zen family? This is concerning. I didn''t think that the Zen family woulde out so early." Tian Jiang''s face was serious. He growled as a sword appeared in his hands. It was the Imperial Artifact of the Tiandu Sect. "I will let him live for a day. After he dies, the crown prince will have to take the throne." Tian Jiang growled as he hovered, going straight through the doors. "Elders. Come with me. We have to defend the pce. And Tian Xin, if you have any remaining feelings for the Tian family, then-" "Don''t you dare say anything to her. You were her grand uncle, and you allowed her to be imprisoned in that hell hole for years. You do not have the right to say anything to her." Liu Ling Tian growled. "The only reason that you are still alive if because she made me promise that I would not fall into a path of revenge. Don''t forget that when all of this is settled, I will be there exacting payment for all that you have done to her and my family." He growled. Tian Jiang was unfazed though. "This is the royal family! We do not operate like a normal banner. And the person that you should be looking at is Tian Long. He already left the world. You are always wee to go to the yellow springs to meet him there." Tian Jiang scoffed as he disappeared. The elders of the Tiandu Sect also disappeared and the only ones who remained were those from the Cai family, only the allies of Liu Feng. "That went much better than I expected. I thought that they would attack us first. The Zen family or whatever came at the right time." Liu Qian chuckled as he sighed with relief. "There is nothing good about the arrival of the Zen family. It only means that there are more people who are going to try and take the throne. I didn''t know that my brother died. When did you n on telling me this?" Tian Xin said, looking at her husband. "He didn''t care enough. None of us did. All this time, he was focusing on trying to get to you. It only became easier because of his death. You should be happy that prick is dead." Liu Qian said. "He is still my brother." Tian Xin sighed. "I don''t know why you still care for him. He isn''t the same person you know. Ever since he met Long Xian, he changed." Liu Qian shook his head. "Ah! It looks like all of you have some free time, since you are able to chit chat." Liu Man interrupted. He was back on the ground, calmly sitting. "Since you have the free time, why don''t you help this son of yours out a little? He needs another twenty hours to refine the throne. To survive till then, the enemies outside need to be handled. Now how will those fools be able to handle dozens of Soul Evolution Stage cultivators on their own, I wonder." Liu Man said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 367 The Real War The front lines were struggling. The barrier had one key disadvantagepared to normal arrays. It was based on the guards, and not array gs or something like that. And so, when an attack came toward the barrier, the guards had to expend their own Qi to resist that attack. But what these guards were doing, it was just temporary. The Imperial Pce wouldn''t have such a shoddy array as its main defending array. If this was the main defending array, then it would be a shame. The Imperial Pce had a much better array, but it also took a lot of time toplete. And the pce knew that they would need a buffer. These guards were that buffer. A few minutes worth of buffer so that the true barrier could be put in ce. Multiple Soul Evolution Stage cultivators, led my Tian Hun, were in different parts of the Imperial Pce, getting the protecting array together. And because the pce was a smaller area than most sects, it was cheaper to activate the array. It was huge standalone, butpared to the other powers, it upied the least space. After all, it was in the center of the Capital. If it took the entire capital''s space, what else would fit in here? As they were focusing on creating that barrier, the two forces outside were still fighting each other. "Zen Han! I will never let you leave here alive. I will make sure that your family will stay dead this time!" one of the old men from Handu shouted. These two forces had some problem alright. They just couldn''t handle the sight of each other. It was a rivalry thatsted centuries, and wasn''t something that they could work out in a single day. So even though they had a singr enemy in front of them, a singr barrier that they could focus on tearing apart, they didn''t. Instead, their focus was on killing each other. "The barrier is up!" Tian Hun sighed with relief. A whole twenty High Grade Spirit stones had gone into activating this barrier. It was an astronomical price, but there was a reason that they had done this. The twenty spirit stones were not going to waste. Infact, they were going to be very useful in killing those reckless fools who let them prepare for so long. "Guards! Retreat! You no longer need to waste time on the walls!" Tian Hun shouted his voice reverberating throughout the entire pce''s walls. All of the guards stepped down, disconnecting from the barrier that they were all an integral part of. Slowly, the first barrier started having holes in the middle. The blue tint decreased, and the barrier itself was dissolving into thin air. This was the first step. For a small moment there, the two parties outside stopped fighting and looked at what was happening. The barrier was going down? Wasn''t that good for them? But the moment that the barrier went down, they were met with another one. The forces on the ground, the Xiantian and lower realm cultivators, were butting headfirst into another barrier and this one was even more powerful. "Haha! Now, you shall all witness the true power of the Imperial Pce." Tian Hun smiled as he started making a few signs with his hands. The walls of the pce, the perimeter itself, started shining. They started moving, and giant objects starteding out of the walls. The moment that the people from the Handu kingdom saw this though, their faces paled. "You shameless people! You use something that is not yours against us?" The leader of the Handu Kingdom, their king himself, shouted. "What is yours? What is ours? Only the stronger one is king. Everyone else is just a whining loser. Now you shall ept the consequences of going against us." Tian Hun smiled as he made another sign. These objects started lighting up and then suddenly blew gigantic balls of light toward the armies that were gathered in front of the pce. Some were aimed at the Soul Evolution Stage cultivators. And these balls of light were fast. As fast as sound itself. Faster even. Everyone could see the balls of light reach their destination before they heard the sound of these cannons. Boom! The first sound was the dyed one that came from the cannons itself. But the second one, the second one came immediately after and it shook everyone there. st! The balls of light blew up. Below, all of the Xiantian Experts and below were picked apart and thrown out like candy. These cannons were way too powerful for mere Xiantian experts to handle them. And so, they were gone alright. Entire armies were extinguished because the Imperial Pce''s preparations were way too powerful. "If you thought that the throne was the only reason we remained the true rulers, then you are wrong Han Kim. We are stronger than all of you even without that throne." Tian Hun shouted. "Fine. You cowards who hide behind your barrier. I dare you all toe out and then show me what you can do." Han Kim shouted back. He was furious at those who had upied the throne that was rightfully his. But why would Tian Hun do that? This battle was theirs as long as they did exactly what they were doing now. Thin out the ranks by sting cannon balls at their opponents. They didnt need to do much else. The Zen Family didn''t have the numbers that the Handu Kingdom did. But they had aparable number of Soul Evolution Stage experts. That was what made them terrifying. If these two powersbined forces, then the pce would fall instantly. But they didn''t, and Tian Hun was going to make sure that it would stay this way. "You Zen bastards. Your father, Tian Jiang is here! You dare attack the Imperial pce? I will make your family regret that you have ever lived!" Arge shout took away the attention this time. Another peak Soul Evolution Stage cultivator arrived. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 368 The Real War (Part 2) With the arrival of the second peak Soul Evolution Stage cultivators, the morale of the pce increased considerably. It was already at an all time high when the cannons arrived, basting away their enemies. But it went to new heights when their second pir of support arrived. Tian Jiang was in the air, coldly looking at the two groups that wereid in front of him. Some were fighting each other, some were trying to break through the barrier, and the remaining, basically two or three of the strongest in each camp, were immobile. The strongest wouldn''t fight until the very end, and they would wait. They would wait for the fight to reach its climax before they would step in. After all, they were going to be the turning point in this fight. "Han Kim! I thought that our kingdoms had an agreement! It looks like the Handu kingdom is reneging on that deal. After I am done dealing with you, I will make sure that the entire kingdom will fall. The Handu kingdom has no reason to exist anymore. I was always unsure why our kingdom was so docile, allowing people like you to stay alive. This will all change when the crown prince gets on the throne." Tian Jiang shouted. He was about to dash forward, when Tian Hun stopped him. "Wait. Do not let your blood flow to the head. We need to stall. How long before the crown princepletes the refining process? Wait. I thought that the crown prince lost the battle?" Tian Hun transmitted this to Tian Jiang. This was all private, and it was best if no one was hearing what they spoke. "That idiot Liu Feng sat on the throne without having the final piece of the throne. He will get consumed by the curse of the king before the week ends. After two days, the crown prince will start refining the throne, and I will help him out by supplying enough Qi. That should speed up the process." Tian Jiang said back. "Wait, he sat on the throne without- Fine. I never liked that bastard who had no manners. But why don''t you just throw him out of the throne? You can just do that right? The crown prince can start refining the throne immediately. It should only take a week for that to happen." Tian Hun said. "Well, I wanted to do that. But the goddamn brat''s parents are here. Who would have thought that the three to break into the pce at this time would be the three peak soul evolution stage cultivators who already shook the capital once." "Those three are here? Tian Xin is out?" "Yes. Thess has broken out of that hole. But luckily, they are not going to go against us, and for now, that is all that matters." Tian Jiang said. "The moment that they decide to take the throne for themselves, who is to stop Tian Xin from refining the throne? All of us know that the throne chose Tian Xin a long time ago." Tian Hun said. All while they were speaking, the barrier was being attacked. Still, the two were chatting like nothing was happening. That was their confidence in the barrier. It was so strong that it couldst even a month as long as they kept supplying it with spirit stones. But they couldnt keep it going forever. That would be way too expensive. They would need to stop at some point, and it was better if it was as early as possible. They were still in their own territory. Their kingdom was in danger. The only reason that the enemies were trying to break into the pce was because they were under the impression that someone was also inside, trying to refine the throne. The moment that they understood that it was going to take a little more time than normal, they could hold the entire capital hostage. "And why the hell do I not see everyone here? Every single power. Call everyone here. Where is the Ding family? I can see that the Shen siblings can''t hold it in their pants there, but I don''t see any other sect here. Those bastards happily stayed a part of the kingdom when all was going well. But the moment that there is a problem, they disappear? Call them all. Remind them why they exist." Tian Jiang scowled. "Do you think that I am chilling here? Tell your elders to do this menial task. I have an array to control." Tian Hun scoffed. "You know better than I do that this array is not too important. If those peoplee, we can finally put everyone here and fight. I am sick of staying in this shell like a tortoise." Tian Jiang said, clearly irritated. "The others, I get. I don''t know how this happened, but two huge powers of the kingdom disappeared in such a short time. But I don''t know where Ding Jing? I can''t reach him. The entire Ding family acts as if they have disappeared from the world. What is going on there?" Tian Hun asked. "What do I know? I just came back to the capital. And even then, the Ding family refused to talk to me. It looks like they need a good beating. Do we have anyone outside that can go to the Ding family? Anyone?" Tian Jiang countered. "I don''t know what is going on there, but they better have a good answer. Go back and tell Cai Guo toe out of the throne room. The bastard doesn''t need to protect a dying young master. He needs to help fight back these enemies." Tian Hun said. "You can go tell him yourself." Tian Jiang shook his head. "I am not your servant." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 369 Inside The Ding Family The Ding Family, "Family head! We just got some news from the imperial pce!" A young guard ran through the hall of the family head, through to the center of the giant hall. He knelt on the ground, not daring to look up at the family head. Thest few weeks in the family were quite tense. All of this because of the mysterious guest that had taken over the entire family. No one knew who this person was, but no one liked it. And yet, who would have the courage to speak up? For even the family head, one of the strongest existences in the kingdom, to bow his head, this guest was far too strong for them to offend. And now, this guest was also in the hall. And shockingly, he was seated in a throne that was right next to the family head''s. This was a sign. A sign that said that the guest was of the same stature as the head of the entire family, and that was within the family itself. "What is it, Ding Zan? What happened? I can feel the trembling of the ground. What has happened at the Imperial pce?" The family head asked. "Yes, family head. Something happened. There are enemies within the Imperial pce. We do not know the details yet, but the elder in-charge of the information hall told me that they need our help to fend off the enemy." Ding Zan said. "I see. It seems like someone has finally attacked the imperial pce. I knew that this would happen sooner orter. It looks like now is theter." The family head sighed. "We have to send reinforcements. If the imperial pce will fall, then so will the Ding family. We have to help them out." The family head shouted. "What are you doings family head? Don''t you think that you are moving a little too hasty? Don''t you think that you should ask me first before you do anything?" The devil that was sitting next to the family head spoke, quieting the hall. "Young Master Xian. Forgive me. I didn''t think that you would want to concern yourself with the attack of the pce." The family head stuttered as he looked at the guest that was sitting to his side. "I told you before, didn''t I? I am very much interested in the treasure that the kingdom is running on. The Throne that all of you talk about. I want to see what is so special about this Terracotta Army as well. For a treasure that has fallen from my realm, I want to know if it is worth something." The young master said. "Young Master Xian! The treasure is an indispensable part of the kingdom! If we lose the throne, then-" "Do you think I care if you will die tomorrow? I don''t care as long as it doesn''t effect me. Now then, why don''t all of you stay here? I know for a fact that that bastard Liu Ling Tian is currently inside the imperial pce. We should wait until the pce falls, and he falls with it so that we can go in and im my prize." The young master smiled. "But if the-" The guest looked to the side, and he moved. He was like a blur. One moment, he was sitting on his chair, as calm as one could be. The next, he was next to the wall, the family head himself in the guest''s hands, pressed up against the wall. "I told you once. I will not repeat this once more. If you dare go against anything that I have instructed you to do, then your heads will roll." He spat at the family head before dropping him on the ground. "Well then. I need to pass my time. I heard that your grand daughter is quite the ravishing beauty. Maybe she can apany for the day so that I can wait for this war outside to conclude." The guest said as he started walking slowly, heading out of the hall. The family head clenched his fists, but he didn''t say anything. "Are you deaf, you fool? I asked you something. Do you want me to go on a rampage? You are lucky that I have controlled my instincts this much. Now then, send me your grand daughter, as well as a few more women. If you keep me waiting, then I will have to go around this nice little manor of yours and choose for myself. And this time, I will not be very forgiving. The outside is also a wonderful ce for union." The guest said as he left the hall, leaving a stunned group of elders, and a family head whose dignity was trampled on. There was silence for a few minutes, before one of the elders finally spoke. "I waited. For days, I endured this disrespect. How can you allow this to happen to our family? We are many. That is just one man, and a few subordinates. We can easily take care of him. Why don''t we do that? We are in our element here. We can take care of this bastard with ease!" The oldest looking elder said. "If I could, I would, Elder Jing. But I am not strong enough to go against this man. Even when he was injured heavily, he was able to take care of the monster that was Li Tian. Do you think that any of us will be able to stop a fully healthy Long Xian?" "This is not a normal guest we have here. I can only me the heavens for our terrible luck. If we got his enemy as our guest, then our time here would have been so much easier. But we have no choice. The family will have to remain closed for now. Our guest has forced us to stay put. Inform everyone that no one can leave the family." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 370 Liu Ling Tian Steps In The smug smile of Tian Hun died down as he looked at what was happening in front of him. The two enemies, sworn enemies that had never reconciled in the thousands of years that they had existed, started topletely disregard each other and attacked the barrier that was blocking them. At this rate, forgetsiing a few weeks. They wouldn''tst the day. "The cannons aren''t making any dent in their forces. The Soul Evolution Stage experts are making too big a difference. We have to thin the crowd. Cai Guo! Tian Jiang! Both of you! Go take their leaders. If we had two more peak Soul Evolution Stage cultivators, then this would have been so much easier." Tian Hun cursed. "We do have more Soul Evolution Stage experts. But as for whether you can convince them to help you or not, that is up to you." Tian Jiang said. "Who is it? Liu - That man? I am not going to go ask him. I don''t want to associate with that mad man right when he came together with his wife for the first time in neen years." Tian Hun shook his head. "I am not talk- I''ll just go call them instead." Tian Jiang sighed as he disappeared. In an instant, he appeared within the throne room. In the center, Liu Feng was still on the throne. Just thinking about this, Tian Jiang ground his teeth. This was a losing battle, all because they couldn''t rely on the biggest treasure and power that they had: the throne. If the crown prince was refining the throne, then they would have a clear time table. They would know till when they would need to defend. But now, they had no idea. And it was killing him. "What are you doing here? I thought that you had enemies outside that you have to face?" Li Tianzily asked. "It seems that I am not the only sect master of a sect of Tiandu here. There seems to be another. But all he is doing right now is wasting time. If you want to protect your dear boy for just the little bit longer, then shouldn''t you help us make sure that the pce doesn''t fall down?" Tian Jiang spat out. He was swallowing all of his pride bying here to ask these two to help him out. Li Tian and Liu Qian. He didn''t even want to ask Liu Ling Tian. He would rather go fight in a suicide mission than go to this mad man again. Thest time someone truly offended him, it still gave him shivers thinking about that day. "You want us to help defend the pce?" Li Tian raised his eyebrows. "Don''t act like you are doing me a favor. The kingdom is the reason that all of the powers within are able to develop as they are. If it weren''t for the protection that the kingdom offered, your sect would have been ravaged by the forces outside." Tian Jiang said. "I never said that I wouldn''t help you out. I am not a monster. I will not betray the crown at this time." Li Tian chuckled. "I already informed the elders of the Sky Heavens sect. All of the grand elders will be here very soon. They are all using our best monster toe here, so you will know just how much we are putting into this. Three Soul Evolution Stage cultivators, and me. All of us will be entering the battle field." Li Tian nodded. "Aizzz." Liu Qian sighed as he got up and stretched his hands. "You are putting me in a tough spot, Li Tian. Now, you are practically forcing me to me fight." Liu Qian sighed. "This is your lucky day, Tian Jiang. You now have two more Peak level Soul Evolution Stage cultivators than what you started with. Why don''t you go run around with joy as we take care of things." Liu Qian said. Both Liu Qian and Li Tian moved, and they just disappeared. Tian Jiang, someone who was at the same realm, couldn''t follow their speed. They were that fast. "I knew that I should have pushed the previous king to force the Sky Heavens sect to hand over the dragon gate. It is just too over powered. It just manufactures strong talents." Tian Jiang sighed as he turned around. "I suggest that you don''t do that. I took a look at the dragon gate. It is not your average artifact. It only exists in the Sky Heavens sect because Li Tian is there. And if he leaves, then it will leave with him. The moment that you try and take it from him, it will lose its value." Liu Ling Tian suddenly spoke. Tian Jiang froze as he looked at Liu Ling Tian. He didn''t realize that he was speaking aloud. "Don''t worry too much about it. Even if you wanted to, you wouldn''t be able to force the Sky Heavens sect to do anything. You are too weak to do that." Liu Ling Tian shook his head. Tian Jiang didn''t say anything, and he was about to leave, when another voice stopped him. "Grand Uncle. How many enemies are outside? How many Soul Evolution Stage experts?" Tian Xin spoke up. "Absolutely not. You are not going to join battle now. You are far too weak." Liu Ling Tian shook his head. "Although I would love to tell you, littless, he is right. This is not your battle to fight. I have already wronged you enough. I am not going to ask you to do anything else." Tian Jiang sighed and left for real this time. The moment he was gone, Tian Xin looked up at Liu Ling Tian. "You should go help him out. He needs your help. You need to help keep the pce alive until Feng''er is done." Tian Xin said. Sigh! Liu Ling Tian gentlyid Tian Xin on the floor. He didn''t even try and refute her, because he knew how stubborn she was. "This shouldn''t take that long." He said as a sword appeared in his hands. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 371 The Monster Of The Past (Part 1) When Tian Hun turned around to see Liu Qian and Li Tian enter the field on his behalf, he was overjoyed. These were two experts who could change the direction of the battle on their own. Who wouldn''t be happy that he was fighting, and on the their side? Liu Qian had a special sword in his hands, a familiar sight if Liu Feng was here. The reason? It was the sword that the Sky Heavens Sect had taken from Hong Jimin all those years ago. This was the Imperial Artifact of the Hong family, other than the one that was in Liu Feng''s spatial ring of course. The jewels on the sword shone with brilliance as Liu Man wielded it. A sword like this could only show its true power in the hands of an expert, and it was wasted in Hong Jimin''s hands. "So then. We just need to take care of the experts there. That''s it right?" Liu Qian asked. "You know, this fight shouldn''t take that long. I don''t know why you are worried about these people. We have the numbers here as well." Li Tian smiled. He had his own Imperial Artifact in his hands. Together, this ce had more imperial artifacts than any other congregation in the kingdom. "Here. You will need these tokens to leave the barrier." Two lights shot from Tian Hun''s hands, and theynded in the hands of Li Tian and Liu Qian respectively. The two lights were revealed to be wooden tokens with one words on them. ''Tian'' Gripping the token, the two nodded at each other and then looked at Tian Jiang and Cai Guo. Four different Peak Soul Evolution Stage cultivators were now going to battle. Behind them, they had multiple experts to support them. But this was the main force. They were going to battle like no other. "Let us go. What are we waiting for?" Li Tian said as he shot forward. They left the barrier of the imperial pce and entered battle. "You must be Li Tian! The sect master of the Sky Heavens sect. So it looks like you have given up on your life, for you toe charging at me with no regard." Zen Han, the leader of the Zen family, chuckled. "Cai Guo. You can take anyone else. This guy is mine." Li Tian said as he shot toward Zen Han. Cai Guo nodded. It was an undeniable fact that Li Tian was one of the strongest in the kingdom. He was the reason that the Sky Heavens sect became the second strongest power outside the Imperial Pce. He was strong, way too talented, and was just a heaven defying genius. Cai Guo knew that it was better to be battling lower ranked experts and defeat them than stall. This was just two enemies. There could be more in the horizon, waiting for the right time to strike. As for Liu Qian, he was facing Han Kim. And the person supporting him against the Han family was Tian Jiang. The remaining misceneous experts were taken by the Shen siblings, the people from the pce, from the Cai family, and so on. There were a lot of experts here from the session war. Most of them were too reliant on the Imperial Pce to allow it to fall. The fight was in full swing, and the barrier was standing tall and strong. Scrape. Tian Hun turned around. "What is that sound?" He wondered. He knew what the sound was, but he was curious as it wasing. It was the sound of a sword scraping on the ground. But who would do that? Who would disrespect their sword to let it scrape on the ground like that? He turned around to see who it was, and he almost fell down on the ground from where he was hovering. His concentration almost slipped to the point where the entire barrier flickered. If not for the entrance of Liu Qian and Li Tian, who helped them charge to the opponents to keep them far from the barrier, it may have fallen. But that was not what Tian Hun cared about anymore. The person that he most feared in the entire battlefield was not outside the barrier. He was in here. He was walking slowly toward the battle field. "Ah! Tian Hun. How long has it been since you threw your grand niece into the pit over there? It''s been a long time." Liu Ling Tian said as he continued walking forward. He didn''t even wait for a response. Behind him, a gigantic sword, the size of an elephant, was scraping on the ground. It was so huge that a giant could use it and it would be a heavy sword for even the giant. And as the sword was scraping through the ground, it was wreaking havoc. The ground beneath it was cracking. The weight of the sword was too much for the ground to handle. It was pitch ck, except for a tint of red that appeared on the de of the sword. And Liu Ling Tian was like a small dwarfpared to it, dragging it into the battle field. But Tian Hun recognized this sword. He recognized this look on Liu Ling Tian''s face. This was the face of a man going to war. "Wait! Are you going outside?" Tian Hun called out. Liu Ling Tian just nodded. Tian Hun was tongue tied. He knew for a fact that when Liu Ling Tian was entering the battle field, the opponents would be decimated. Thest battle that he fought stopped mid way because some mysterious third party intervened and forced both Long Xian and Liu Ling Tian to go back. Tian Hun threw a token at Liu Ling Tian. It was the token that allowed him free entry. "Don''t break the barrier please." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 372 The Monster Of The Past (Part 2) Liu Ling Tian chuckled as he grabbed the token. He was slow. He was unnaturally slow for a Soul Evolution Stage cultivator. It didn''t make sense that a Soul Evolution Stage cultivator was walking so slowly. And even though his sword was huge, it was still supposed to be nothing for cultivators. After the Xiantian realm, cultivators were strong enough to split mountains and oceans! Surely, they could lift a mere sword. But Tian Hun knew better than to think that. This sword was one that he hadid his eyes on before. A sword that was far more powerful than the Imperial Artifacts that everyone else held. And it wasn''t just the power of the artifact, but rather its wielder than made thisbo deadly. Liu Ling Tian crossed the barrier on the ground, and he was met with two armies in front of him. All of them were shocked that someone actually came from the ground to face them. The Soul Evolution Stage cultivators all entered the fight up there, while the remaining Xiantian experts and below tried to dent the barrier. They assumed that this new entry, Liu Ling Tian, was just someone in their realm, trying to stall them. "Ants." Liu Ling Tian said. His arms bulged as he started lifting the giant sword. As he brought the sword directly above him slowly, it showed its true height. Liu Ling Tian looked like a flypared to the sword that he was wielding. "What is this fool doing. Do you think that we would actually let you attack us?" The Xiantian realm expert who was leading the Handu Kingdom scoffed as he shot toward Liu Ling Tian, trying to attack him before the attack came. Swish! Liu Ling Tian''s figure suddenly disappeared. He appeared right a few steps away from this Xiantian Realm expert. The sword above created a perfect shadow over the entire Handu Kingdom''s army that had arrived here. It was so tall that it blocked the very sun! And this sword descended. This descent was swift. It came toward half of the army. The sword was quick enough that none of them could avoid the attack. They would be forced to defend. All of them raised their weapons. If they all worked together, they could easily defend against this giant attack, right? But who would think that they were not facing some Xiantian Realm expert, but someone who was probably the strongest person on the field? The moment that Liu Ling Tian''s sword came down, it crushed everyone in its way. But it didn''t stop there. The sword''s impact was three dimensional. The air above seemed to tremble. The ground below cracked and caved down. The sides were all decimated. And as for the army that Liu Ling Tian was facing, it waspletely decimated in a single strike. That was all it took to finish off the army. A single strike. He raised his sword back up and yawned. "You bastard! Do you have no shame? A Soul Evolution Stage cultivator acting abasing someone below the Xiantian realm." One of the Soul Evolution Stage cultivators from the Handu Kingdom understood who this new opponent was. Liu Ling Tian didn''t turn to answer this person. Instead, his figure suddenly became illusory. The only reason that anyone knew that he was no longer there was because the shadow that the sword had cast on the ground was gone. The Soul Evolution Stage cultivator who spoke looked around with shock. This man had just disappeared. He couldn''t even see where the man went. That was distressing. "Behind you." A whisper shook the cultivator. But when he looked back, he could see nothing. "Wait. Nothing? What is this shadow?" Everything became darker for some reason. It felt like the sun was blocked by a cloud or something. He turned around, a bad feeling creeping up to him. But when he turned around, he almost dropped the sword in his hands. This mysterious man was behind him once again, and this time, there was that giant sword that seemed like an illusion, towering above him, about to strike at him. But that was not the frightening part. An attack thatrge would take time tounch. He could surely move and dodge the attack, right? But he couldn''t. There was this mysterious force that was tying him to the spot. He just couldn''t move. There seemed to be something physical stopping him from moving anywhere, and even though he was struggling to move, he couldn''t. St! The sword came striking down without hesitation. It struck the cultivator that was mid air, but it didnt stop there. It kept going down to the ground. As it reached the ground, a small line was visible on the ground where the sword was about to strike it. And when the sword did hit the ground, it pierced right through. A giant crack was suddenly formed that was hundreds of meters wide, in the center of the capital. Tian Hun looked at this and he shook his head. "In one attack, he managed to kill a Soul Evolution Stage cultivator. How does he manage to do that?" He sighed. "And he also managed to destroy the gardens that the king was so proud of. With the end of this fight, the most damage done to the capital will probably be by someone on our side." Tian Hun shook his head. Liu Ling Tian pulled the sword back up and looked around. Many of the experts were taken on this side, but there was a whole other army that he could battle. "Liu Qian. Are you going to kill that king or should I step in?" Liu Ling Tian called out. "Don''te butting into someone else''s battle. Look for your own opponent. This meat is mine." Liu Qian immediately shook his head. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 373 A Terrifying Existence Liu Ling Tian shook his head. He knew inside that he couldn''t possibly steal Liu Qian''s and Li Tian''s opponents. He looked around, but every other Soul Evolution Stage cultivator was upied. "I did what she told me. All I need to do is protect the barrier so that no onees here." Liu Ling Tian sighed and he raised his sword again. This time, he flew to the barrier before facing the forces in front of him. The Zen family had a few people who were attacking the barrier before, but all of them mysteriously vanished. Maybe the mysterious man who had suddenly destroyed the entire Handu Kingdom''s army was a factor? Liu Ling Tian mmed the giant sword into the ground. It just went straight in, without any tremors. The giant sword disappeared, and all that remained was the giant handle that was still as tall as any man. Liu Ling Tian sat on the ground, in front of the handle, one leg raised up, his body leaning on the barrier itself, as if it was some sort of wall. The token that was supposed to let him enter the barrier was gone from his hands, probably in his spatial ring. He just looked forward, sharply at anyone who dared have any ideas who wanted to enter the pce. "This guy¡­" Tian Hun shook his head. This was better for them. He killed one Soul Evolution Stage expert,pletely exterminated any forces acting on the barrier itself, and now, he was making sure that no one approached the barrier itself. At this rate, even if the battle wouldn''t end any time soon, it wouldn''t be to the extent that the pce would fall. Liu Ling Tian looked to the side. "What is this force? I can feel this weird force in the area. Who is watching me?" He muttered. It wasn''t every other day that he had this feeling, and whoever was behind the scenes was certainly strong enough to elude his senses. "Zezeze." A sinister voice could be heard, and only to Liu Ling Tian. His eyes dted as he was about to reach for the sword. "Why fight? Don''t be stupid. I don''t want to break every bone in your body." The sinister voice got louder. A man appeared in front of Liu Ling Tian, standing in front of the sword. He held the handle, but didn''t pull. "You must be from the Ancient realm." The mysterious man said. He was devilishly handsome, but not anyone that Liu Ling Tian recognized. This wasn''t Long Xian, but it could be someone rted to him. "Who are you?" Liu Ling Tian asked. He had to be careful about who this was. Someone this powerful wouldn''t just be looking at this fight for fun. "Me? You wouldn''t know. I just came here to look at the fight. It is interesting, looking at how these mortals fight for the smallest of things." The mysterious man smiled. He then looked at the fight once, and then back at Liu Ling Tian. "It is a pity. Until you and those two arrived, it was a fair fight. Now, it became way too one sided. There is no fun watching this anymore." He sighed. "What do you want? Why are you here? Someone this powerful cannot exist in the Realm of beginnings. You must be from the Ancient Realm." Liu Ling Tian asked. "Me? It has been far too long since I returned to the Ancient Realm. I am not sure where I belong." The mysterious man sighed. He then looked at the barrier that was stopping him from entering. "I guess that boy, Liu Feng is inside? Refining that interesting little artifact? When I came here, it was quite interesting to look at. And now, the entire mortal world is looking for that paltry chair." He shook his head. "How do you know his name? What do you want with him?" Liu Ling Tian was on edge now. "You also know the boy? Now that I think about it¡­ You do look a little familiar. You look a little like him." The man nodded. "You must be his father. Interesting. So you are from that long blood line. That doesn''t make sense one bit. Why would someone from that long line be forced to steal from the very heavens? If he is from that blood line, he should have a heaven defying talent that is blessed by the heavens. You have that talent. Why is your sonpletely crippled?" The mysterious man asked. "How did you know about him so well? What are you to him?" Liu Ling Tian asked, on his feet now, his right hand gripping the giant sword. "This sword. It is quite a good sword. I think that I saw a sword that was like this one, but that one broke. It was a pity, that was a much better sword." The mysterious man sighed. "Ho-" Liu Ling Tian took a step back. What this man was talking about, it was a secret that was safely guarded in his family for a long time. No one was supposed to know about this. Not even Tian Xin knew what this was about, and if she was here, she would bepletely clueless about what this mysterious man was talking about. "You¡­ this.. how do you know about this?" Liu Ling Tian asked. "Me? I was there. Who do you think broke that sword?" The mysterious man chuckled. "What? What are you talking about? That happened thousands of years ago. Do you think that I am stupid? The person that destroyed that sword¡­ it was an existence that even the heavens couldn''t tolerate and yet couldn''t destroy." Liu Ling Tian scoffed. "Yes. Those were simpler times." The mysterious man chuckled as he took one step to try and enter the pce. But s, there was a barrier that was in front of him. "What is with this stupid barrier." The man said, and he just tapped the barrier. Crack! Crack! Crack! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 374 Return Of Yue Zhe The barrier suddenly had multiple cracks on it. With one tap, the entire barrier fell down, and the mysterious man stepped inside. Liu Ling Tian stood there, shocked still. He could also destroy the barrier, but not with just one tap! This was impossible for him! And this showcased one thing. The mysterious man was way too powerful for him to take. He was someone that he couldn''t stop. "You¡­ you are that monster! You are the monster that destroyed the Moon Pavilion!" Tian Hun shouted as he looked at the mysterious man. The mysterious man smiled. "I am famous, it seems. So then, you know that I have no interest in whatever you have to offer. Where is Liu Feng? I do want to talk to him about one thing before I leave." Yue Zhe asked. "How dare you destroy the barrier! Now we are defenseless!" Tian Hun shouted at Yue Zhe, but he didn''t take a single step toward Yue Zhe. This was the strongest person in the ce now. He was, without a doubt, the strongest in the entire kingdom right now. Yue Zhe raised his eyebrows as he nced at Tian Hun. "Like I said. I don''t care what happens in your mortal matters. There was this thin wall that was blocking me, so I just pushed it away. It isn''t my fault that you don''t have a door anywhere, or because it is so weak." Yue Zhe shook his head and said. "How? You really are that existence! You are the sealed beast that my n went against all those millenia ago. You are the sealed beast, Moon Devourer!" Yue Zhe shuddered. "I told you, didn''t I?" Yue Zhe shook his head as he looked at Tian Hun again. "Where is the room where the boy is refining the artifact? I have to ask him one thing before I leave." Yue Zhe looked coldly at Tian Hun. Tian Hun shuddered at the mere sight of Yue Zhe''s angry face. He unconsciously pointed to a certain direction. Liu Ling Tian grabbed his sword, and it suddenly disappeared into his spatial ring. Then, he chased after Yue Zhe. "What do you want with him? What do you want to say to my son? You might be stronger than me, but I will not hesitate to fight with someone so vile that the heavens does not tolerate them." Liu Ling Tian scoffed as he looked at Yue Zhe. "You? Do you know what situation you are in right now? I can sense the hate that the heavens has for you. Do you think it is fair? I sense no malice from you. No devilish aura. And yet, the heavens doesn''t tolerate you." Yue Zhe shook his head and kept walking. "I.." Liu Ling Tian didn''t have an answer. His name was ouwed by the force in the skies, which couldn''t tolerate the fact that someone dared to im this name. "I am not going to hurt your boy. You shouldn''t worry about it. If I wanted to hurt him, I could have done it a long time ago. Do you think that I would have waited now?" Yue Zhe shook his head. He sped to the direction that Tian Hun pointed to. "Don''t follow me. Although I don''t care about what happens in this war, I am leaving after this. I would rather someone strong protect this ce so that the boy leaves here with his life. I don''t want him to die and I am sure that you don''t want that to happen either?" Yue Zhe''s voice rang in Liu Ling Tian''s head. "This.. He dares order me around?" Liu Ling Tian was born and raised in a giant family. He was the young master of his family. And someone dared to order him around? But someone else pleaded Liu Ling Tian to stay. "Please do not chase after the man, Liu- Please. We cannot afford to lose any more people until the barrier goes up. Or else, any one can secretly enter the pce and we won''t be able to stop them." Tian Hun pleaded. Liu Ling Tian frowned. He didn''t want to waste any time here when Yue Zhe went inside, where both his wife and son were, defenseless. "Haha! Looks like your barrier is broken! What is going to stop us now? The throne will be ours!" A loud voice cackled as Liu Ling Tian heard someone fly toward the same direction that Yue Zhe was. Sigh. Liu Ling Tian shook his head. Boom! All of a sudden, the man who was flying toward the throne room was on the ground. Next to him was a giant crack. A crack that was whole six feet wide was right next to the man''s head. And in the center of the giant fissure created, was Liu Ling Tian''s sword. It cast a shadow on the pce as it stopped the first assant. "This is just stupid. What the hell are you fools doing? How the hell did someone get past your?" Liu Ling Tian shouted at Liu Qian and Li Tian. "How do you expect us to stop someone who suddenly started running inside? We may be faster than them, but we have our own opponents to fight." Li Tian shouted back. This man was from the Handu Kingdom. And he wasn''t a weak one. He was one of the stronger ones. He was in thetter stages of the Soul Evolution Stage. "I am forced to babysit these fools." Liu Ling Tian shook his head as he touched the de of the sword that was muchrger than he was. The de shivered, and the man who was on the ground suddenly spurted blood. "Whoever wants to enter the pce, please do it as fast as you can. If all of you are dead, then this noise will die down and we can finally get some peace over here." Liu Ling Tian roared at all of those aiming for the throne. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 375 Yue Zhe And Liu Man The throne room''s door burst open. In the center of the entrance, Yue Zhe coldly looked at the people inside. There were just three visible. Liu Man, Min Wan, and one other woman that he didn''t recognize. "Took you long enough toe here." Liu Man said as he nodded at Yue Zhe, acknowledging his existence. Min Wan trembled as she didn''t say anything to the new entry. She didn''t enjoy the thought of having someone stalking her because of her body, quite literally. "Who are you?" Tian Xin asked, her faceposed. "You shouldn''t worry too much about him. He is not someone who would want to harm your son, and even if he wanted to, you can''t stop him. Even I might not be able to, for now." Liu Man said. "You jest, Baidu. You and I have always been stuck on a stalemate, and even right now, it will have the same oue. Sure, you might not have the same power that you had in the past, but our true power doesn''t lie in this stupid cultivation." Yue Zhe chuckled as he approached the throne in the center. "So the boy is inside? Remove the barrier. I want to speak with him." Yue Zhe said. "No. He needs to concentrate on refining the throne." Liu Man shook his head. "A stupid cause. This is more important." Yue Zhe shook his head. Yue Zhe was about to take a step forward toward Liu Feng, when a sharp line appeared on the ground. "He bet his life on the line. He cannot stop now. He has toplete the refining. Wait for a day, or just tell me what you want to tell him." Liu Man shook his head. "His life on the line? For what? To be a king of this slum? Is this where his ambitions end? In this pathetic ce? Then surely, I misjudged him. He doesn''t deserve this power then." Yue Zhe shook his head. "Don''t be ridiculous. Do you think that I would be with a person who chose to restrict himself to the Realm of Beginnings? Shut up and sit to the side. Wait. Or you can always tell me what you want to tell him." Liu Man barked. "This is not a matter I would entrust to a dog of the Heavens." Yue Zhe scoffed. ? "What did you call me?" All of a sudden, Liu Man''s white hair started floating in the air as his eyes turned red. He stood up and looked like the god of ughter descending into the world. "What did you just say, you bastard dog who has spent thest three thousand years pathetically trapped by mortals?" Liu Man roared. "You dare?" Yue Zhe was also incensed now. This was his reverse scale. An absolute humiliation to him. Min Wan''s face changed. She knew exactly how terrifying these two individuals were. If they faced off each other, she knew that the results would be more disastrous than what was happening outside. "This is not like your usual fights, where you can trick your opponents into thinking that you are so powerful. Do you think that I don''t know what your tricks are? That your ws contain the most of your power?" Liu Man said. His hands were slowly transforming, and they were about to move, when they heard a sound. Crack! Both of them looked at the same direction. The direction that Liu Feng was in. The barrier around the throne was suddenly cracking. "What is happening? He told me that he needed twenty four hours. It has been only ten since that time." Liu Man was confused. While the fights were happening, a lot of time progressed. Time just flew, and ten hours had already gone past. Crack! The barrier had cracks all throughout, like broken ss. And for broken ss like this toplete break, all that was needed was the simple push. Crash! The barrierpletely broke down, and one person was seen inside. "Come on, Liu Man. I thought that I was so concentrated on this that Ipletely let go of what was happening outside. But to think that there was an array here to block off everything that was happening outside. What is wrong with you? Why did you raise my expectations so high?" Liu Feng said. "You are done already? I thought that you needed twenty hours." Liu Man asked. "Yes. I was supposed to. But I had this talk with the artifact spirt and I-" Liu Feng stopped talking. He noticed that there were two people in the room that weren''t there since the beginning. One of them as Yue Zhe. Liu Feng wasn''t too surprised that Yue Zhe was going to be here. He did want some enjoyment, and what better ce than here, where the biggest fights were about to happen? But the second person was who froze Liu Feng up. He had neverid his eyes upon this beautiful fairy before, but he knew that he recognized her. He could feel it deeply. "Mother?" Tian Xin''s face trembled as she slowly turned around to look at Liu Feng. "My child." She bit her lip as tears welled up in her face. She disappeared, and appeared in front of Liu Feng, gently stroking his face. A bright light appeared from Liu Feng''s ear, and it flew into Tian Xin''s eyes, for some reason. But Liu Feng knew what just happened. This was a part of Tian Xin''s very soul. And what he didn''t know was that it was also responsible for protecting him from certain death. She was the one who protected him from the Xiantian expert all those years ago in the spiritual attack. And now, Liu Feng finally put a face to this mysterious person who had influenced his life so much. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 376 Message From Yue Zhe Before he could even react, Tian Xin pulled Liu Feng into an embrace. She was a full head shorter than he was, so he could feel her sobbing into his chest. She was separated from her son for a whole neen years. Which mother wouldn''t be ovee with emotion? "Zezeze. Child, it has been a while since I saw you." A voice came from behind Liu Feng, disturbing their reunion. Tian Xin quivered as she separated from Liu Feng and looked at the direction of the throne. "You¡­ you are the artifact spirit of the throne!" She said. The throne behind Liu Feng shone as it grabbed the attention of everyone in the room. Yue Zhe looked closer to the artifact and shook his head. "It is an interesting one. To think that it could stay in the realm of beginning for so long." He shook his head. "Some people don''t want to go where themotion is. And an artifact like that just can''t move on its own. It will need to be refined and taken out of the world for this to happen." Liu Man shook his head. "You refined the throne?" Tian Xin asked. Liu Feng nodded. He had to. He couldn''t hear any notifications from the system yet though, so that meant that even though he refined the throne, he wasn''t considered the king yet. He would need to do a little more to be the king. But he did get one notification from the system. He was rid of the curse of the king. He wasn''t going to face a problem here. Tian Xin didn''t know that though. So she shook her head. "Why did you do this? Why did you have to sacrifice your life to be a king? What is in this position that drives you men crazy?" She asked. Liu Feng sighed. He didnt want to go through the fact that he resolved the curse of the king. So he just smiled. "Ah! Now that you are out, I need to speak with you boy. Looks like things are working quite wonderfully for me right now." Yue Zhe said, yawning. Liu Feng locked his eyes with Yue Zhe now. With the throne, he had control of the most terrifying force in the entire kingdom, but what he wasn''t sure of was if he was strong enough to deal with this terrifying person. Could he deal with Yue Zhe? Someone who was strong enough to go against the heavens itself? "Now then, why is everyone so tense? I can''t believe that you don''t have even a little trust in me. I am hurt now." Yue Zhe clicked his tongue as he shook his head. "Fine then. I just wanted to tell you the one thing anyways. I am going soon enough. I need to go to the Ancient Realm. So this will be our farewell for now. But just remember. This is not your stage. The Ancient Realm is not your stage either. The true stage is much higher. So you will need to get stronger." Yue Zhe said. "When you get to the Ancient Realm, you might meet many people. You might meet more Sealing beasts. You might meet more constetion beasts. And when you look at them, you will understand what power you will need to get to before you can truly inherit the path that you have started on." Yue Zhe said. "Fine then. I have said more than enough, and if I influence you any further, the heavens above, and even master will not forgive me. I have to go now. I will meet you in the Ancient Realm." Yue Zhe said as he turned around. Before Liu Feng could say anything, he disappeared. He was gone, just like that. "I thought that the only way to enter the Ancient Realm was to get through the portal that could be activated here in the capital?" Liu Feng asked. "That is one of two ways to enter the Ancient Realm. The second way, that is only possible for people like Yue Zhe, who are strong enough to enter the spatial rifts and get to the Ancient realm." Liu Man said. "You can only enter through the former method. If you go through thetter one, that would just be suicide, so I cannot let you do that." Liu Man said, smiling. "I see." Liu Feng said. "Well then. You are done refining this throne aren''t you? Then aren''t you the king? Aren''t you done?" Liu Man asked. "It appears like there is a little more to be done. I need to finish the fight outside so that someone can officially coronate me as the king. Only then can the condition bepleted. But after that is done, we will be ready for the Ancient Realm." Liu Feng nodded. "I am also interested in seeing what will happen with three minor realms. Will the heavens try to strike you down?" Liu Man said. Tian Xin and Min Wan didn''t understand what was going on, but they knew that it was something private between Liu Man and Liu Feng. "Now that I havepleted refining the throne, I will need to understand the uses of the throne. I need to control the Terracotta Army." Liu Feng said. Tian Xin gave him some space as Liu Feng sat on the throne, gripping its sides. He then closed his eyes, sending Qi into the throne. He could feel the existences of thousands and thousands of people right beneath his feet. Right beneath his feet! He opened his eyes as he looked down on the ground. "What a wonderful ce to hide the true power of the crown. Right beneath the throne room." He said, smiling. He intuitively knew what to do. The other parts, the artifact had told him a few hours ago. His hands moved as he made a few signs, and then, the throne room itself began shaking. Outside, Tian Hun turned around. "What is happening? Isn''t this what happens when someone summons the Terracotta Army?" He thought to himself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 377 The Terracotta Army The ground started shaking. Liu Feng looked down and he raised his hands up. Cracks appeared on the floor like snakes, slowly erging and awakening. They spread all over the throne room, but it was as if these cracks knew where the people where. The cracks avoided the people within the throne room, but that wasn''t necessary. Everyone here was in the Soul Evolution Stage after all, so they wouldn''t need to care about whether the floor was going to hold or not. If the floor didpletely break, everyone here could just float up. And they did. Seeing the floor crack and about to break, Liu Man, Min Wan, and Tian Xin started floating in the air. It took a minimal amount of Qi to hover in the air. The cracks grew bigger and the sound of the ground shaking grew louder. Only one ce was free of this. That was the ce the throne was seated at. Even the other thrones of the throne room were not safe. They all had shaky foundations. Liu Feng made one more sign with his hands, and that was the tipping point. The entire groud shook once more and the floor fell down. The thrones, the designs, everything except for the pirs that kept the roof up. And when the floor went down, what was beneath was visible. The sight of what was below made even Liu Man shake his head with disbelief. It was an army beneath Liu Feng''s feet. Rows and rows of men standing with swords, spears, sabers, and all sorts of weapons in their hands. All of them were standing there, immobile. And the reason? They were all made of y. They were not real men. If anyone looked at this, they would dismiss this army. They would dismiss it as a simple project that a king had to have this wonderful marvel. But this wasn''t the mortal world. This was the cultivation world. And in the cultivation world, nothing was what it seemed. When Liu Fengid his eyes upon this Terracotta Army, he felt chills all over his body. This was a strong force. The strongest in the world. At the forefront of the Terracotta Army was a single man. He was bigger than every other soldier and had a horse beneath his feet. This was the general of this army. Liu Feng made the right signs, and lights appeared in certain parts of the Terracotta Army. The most light was concentrated on the general of this army. The y started to crack, and the general started to move. And then, the horse neighed. It came to life and kicked the air as it neighed. The general behind also moved, clutching the reins and holding his spear tall and proud. "Which master has called upon us?" A loud and deafening voice pierced everyone''s eardrums. "So this is the peak of the Soul Evolution Stage. No. This man is more powerful than just that. I can feel it. He is like Liu Man, Yue Zhe. He is like my father. He is someone far stronger, capped by the restrictions of this world." Liu Feng realized. "Come forth, warriors of y. Your time hase." Liu Feng said. The general jumped from his horse, the only animal that was sealed along so many others. He hovered in front of Liu Feng, and bent the knee. So close to the terracotta general, Liu Feng could see the general in his truest form. He was made of y. His eyes were made of y, just a darker color. And the y was peeling off, like it wanted toe of. And yet, this general still stayed alive, and far stronger than most in this world. "How many in the Peak of the Soul Evolution Stage do youmand?" Liu Feng asked. "Seventeen, Your Majesty." The general said. "Call upon eight of them. Today, we will wash the capital with blood." Liu Feng said with a glint in his eyes. "As you wish, Your Majesty." The lights in various parts of the army started breaking certain soldiers out of their stupor. Exactly eight soldiers jumped up from the basement and hovered in the air, in front of Liu Feng. They all kneeled in front of the king, the one who was on the throne. "We greet Your Majesty. What do youmand us to do?" they said in perfect unision. "Good. Follow me. I want to see you fellows in action." Liu Feng smiled. He nodded at Liu Man. "Let us get out of this stuffy ce. I don''t like it anymore. When there is a fight outside, we had to stay here most of the time." Liu Feng said. "Good. I can finally stretch my limbs." Liu Man smiled as he stretched his arms, cracking his knuckles. Both of them suddenly disappeared, and left two people alone in this creepy ce. With so many y men who seemed inanimate, yet not, this was the very definition of creepy. And the two people left alone here? Tian Xin and Min Wan. "You¡­ you are quite the genius, aren''t you? So young and already in the Soul Evolution Stage?" Tian Xin looked at Min Wan. "I am nothingpared to your son. When someone like that at the fore front, his light shines so bright that nothing else can show itself." Min Wan smiled bitterly. "Your words¡­ It is like you have something against my son, but it feels like you care for him. Who are you? What are you to Liu Feng?" Tian Xin asked her. "I¡­ I am nothing. I am just someone who is repaying the person who saved my life." Min Wan said. "There is something else between the two of you. I know it. You are more to each other." Tian Xin shook her head. "I wish the same as well." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 378 Landslide (1) Tian Hun remembered thest time that the Terracotta Army came out. It was decades ago. That day, thousands of dots covered the sky, and they banded together topletely vanquish the army that tried to go against the kingdom. The one thing that Tian Hun remembered about that day was that it was aplete and total massacre. Not one terracotta warrior was destroyed. And yet, every single one of the enemy was beheaded. It was that day that he realized that as long as the imperial pce had someone able to control the Terracotta Army, the kingdom would never fall. The Tian family would be the strongest family in the world. That was thest time that he saw the Terracotta Army being used. He never saw it again, not even when Liu Ling Tian stormed the capital twenty years ago, and caused a blood bath. The reason? The king, Tian Long, refused to act against Liu Ling Tian. He refused to risk his life, which would always be the case when someone used the Terracotta Army. Every time that a king used the Terracotta Army, the curse of the king would be stronger, and the king would die faster. But now, he saw it before him. Not the same sight, but a simr one. He saw nine men before him, all stronger than him in aura, and all of them with the peeling y for skin. This was the Terracotta Army. There was no doubt. And it was impossible. The fastest that anyone had refined the throne before was five days! Tian Hun was ready to hold the pce for a whole two weeks, preparing for Liu Feng''s death, and the crown prince''s refining speed. But the throne had been refined? And Liu Feng was strong enough to actually control the Terracotta Army? All of this seemed like an illusion by the enemy. This couldn''t be possible. But the appearance of two men before him only told him that this was exactly what was going on. Liu Feng and Liu Man appeared in front of Tian Hun, as strong as men could be. There was no crippling curse that was forcing Liu Feng to remain bed ridden even though the army had been summoned. He wasn''t showing the signs that all of the kings before him showed. This was not what was supposed to happen. "So then, what is the situation like? What is left to handle? I can''t see any one left. We outnumber them, and we are even winning against them. I really wasted my time. I thought that I could test the power of these soldiers out." Liu Feng shook his head and sighed. He looked around and saw a lot of familiar faces. He saw his father, his master, his foster father, and he saw Tian Jiang and Cai Guo, all fighting. Well, his father wasn''t exactly fighting. His father was sitting in front of the pce walls, with a giant sword handle in front of him? A handle? The handle itself was as big as a normal handle. That didn''t make any sense. "Hahaha! To think that I was right. Your blood, your talent, it all makes sense. Your blood is from that long line. And it gets so hrious. Yue Zhe actually passed this sword as he came inside? It must have took all of his will power to not fight right then and there." Liu Man burst intoughter. "What are you talking about?" Liu Feng was not following. "Your father there, the sword that he holds? That is not a sword that is meant to be used by humans. That is a sword meant only for giants. True giants. Giants who used to guard the gates of the heavens. They had these swords." Liu Man said. "This is a weapon that came from the heavens?" Liu Feng was shocked and surprised. He didn''t think that his father had such a good weapon. "No. Not this one. That weapon was inherited by the guards long after they were banished from the heavens. This one, this one is a mere prop. A mere replica made with a sliver of the real weapon''s true power." Liu Man shook his head. "And even with that sliver, I can sense that it is much stronger than an Imperial Artifact! How powerful was the real weapon?" Liu Feng asked. "Strong. It was unbeatable until it went against the wrong opponents." Liu Man chuckled. "The strong opponent? Who was it?" Liu Feng was too curious now. "Yue Zhe. He broke the sword because it was able to scratch his fur and almost cut his head off." Liu Man shook his head and sighed. "That was a good fight to be a part of. But it was a long time ago. It doesn''t matter anymore." He shook his head. "But you said that this sword was a part of a line of giants that guarded the heavens? And you said that they were banished? What was that about? How am I connected to the giants? Why were they banished?" Liu Feng had too many questions unanswered. "Ah! I have already spoken too much. This is a matter that we can only talk about when we go to the Ancient Realm. As much as I consider myself on the same level as the heavens, they have be too arrogant these past few centuries. I would rather not risk your life by talking about this now." Liu Man shook his head and sighed. "Then you have got to stop talking. You lure me in with all of these interesting questions, and then you tell me that we aren''t supposed to be talking about this here." Liu Feng shook his head. He looked at his father one more time. This was too interesting. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 379 The Fight Concludes Liu Feng nodded at the Terracotta Soldiers and the General. "Fight those who are trying to breach the pce walls. Those on our side, well, they are on our side." Liu Feng pointed to the people who were fighting to protect the pce walls till now. He nced at Tian Hun. "Can we just call them back? It is pointless for them to fight now. All of these nine are in the peak of the Soul Evolution Stage, so they should be able to take care of the enemies with ease." Liu Feng asked him. Tian Hun nodded. He then barked at them all. "The throne has been refined! Come back. It is time for the Terracotta Army to show itself to the world. Let us show the world why the Tiandu Kingdom should be feared!" He roared. Liu Feng shook his head at the exaggeration that Tian Hun was giving. But his words had some effect. Everyone stopped fighting for once and looked back. They all saw that Liu Feng was hovering in the air, and in front of him, nine people stood. All nine of them were giving out a terrifying pressure, and all of them had y for skin. These were Terracotta warriors. And who here didn''t know that the Terracotta Army was incredibly strong? Most surprised here was not the Han family, nor the Zen family. It was Tian Jiang. "I could swear, it has been only twelve hours since he took up the throne. How is he not coughing out blood and suffering from the curse? How is he still standing even though he even summoned the Terracotta Army?" Tian Jiang muttered. Liu Feng nodded at his master and Liu Qian. Both of them looked at him and sighed. With a single step, both of them retreated from where they stood, while the others also slowly retreated. Why risk their lives when someone much stronger could finish the match? "Terracotta Soldiers! Go forth! Finish them off!" Liu Feng barked. The soldiers nodded and swiftly moved. Within an instant, they were gone, matching up against the numerous experts in front of them. Meanwhile, the experts who were relieved of their fighting role appeared in front of Liu Feng. "How the hell did you manage to refine the throne in such a short time?" Li Tian was the first one to ask the question. "Me? I asked the throne nicely, and it allowed me to refine the throne, as well as get rid of that irritating curse." Liu Feng said. Next to him, Liu Man snickered. There was little truth in what Liu Feng said. "The throne is refined. The king is all but decided. I guess the surname of the king has changed for the second time in thesends." Tian Jiang sighed. Liu Feng didn''t refute him. "What is the procedure to name me king? I want you to do that immediately. I need to be dered the king." Liu Feng said. "To be dered the king? You will have to wait. There is a force that is in front of the pce, trying to push through. What will we do against that? The Terracotta Army is still fighting. But in any case, the coronation will happen next week. When the capital stabilizes." Tian Jiang said. "No. You will do it tomorrow." Liu Feng shook his head. "What is wrong with you? You already have the throne. No one is going to refuse your right to the throne. You only have to wait." Tian Jiang frowned. "He is right, Young Noble. You only need to wait. The throne is all but yours." Cai Guo said. "You were there when I swore, weren''t you, family head? Then you know what I am worried about? Please make arrangements for the entire world to know that there is another king here. Let them all know that the new king is Liu Feng." Liu Feng domineeringly said. "I understand, Young Noble. Your fears are warranted. I will send word to all of our subsidiaries to spread the word." Cai Guo sighed and nodded. "What is this, Cai Guo? What are you talking about? This is the coronation! This cannot be hastily done! This is the mark of the king! We need to solidify the power of the king in this coronation." Tian Jiang shouted. "This is not the only- Just trust me when I say this. You will want to finish this as fast as possible." Cai Guo sighed and said. "Sect Leader of the Tiandu Sect. I will only tell you one thing. At the moment, I control thergest force in the entire kingdom, is that not right?" Liu Feng red coldly at Tian Jiang. Tian Jiang only nodded. He was unsure where this was going. "Just remember that I am doing you the greatest respect by not killing you right here. After all, everyone here was the reason that I was crippled as a child, my mother locked away, and my father forced to live in hiding. Don''t forget that for now, all of you are my b*ches." Liu Feng spat out. Tian Jiang bit his lips. st! At the same time, the cries of the battlefield behind them made the effect of Liu Feng''s words even greater. The battle behind them was being won in terrifying speed. None but the strongest among the enemies could resist the power of the terracotta soldiers. They were all falling like dominoes, only showing how powerful an entire army of Terracotta warriors was. "Fine. You will have your coronation. But just remember. These two, they are not the only enemies that the throne will face. There are far more enemies that you will face. There are many tribtions that the kingdom will face in the days toe." Tian Jiang said. "There is just one tribtion that wille, and I will make sure that I am ready for that one. Let us see when he wille. Let us see where that dog, Long Xian will hide now." Liu Feng''s eyes sparked. He was ready today. He was ready to wash away that humiliation that he faced with blood. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 380 Coronation Two Days Later, The Capital was in a different mood that what it was in just a week earlier. The tension was gone. The reason? Everyone knew that there was a new king in town. The enemies were fended off, and now, there was a new protector of the realm. And it was someone that they had never heard of before. It wasn''t the crown prince that had be the king. It wasn''t even someone from the royal family. It was someone else. It was the son of the dragon princess, ording to some. The son of the man who shook the capital decades ago. But one thing was sure. The throne was safe, for now. Some were happy, but many were writhing in anger. Crash! "You bastards! I asked you one question! ONE QUESTION! It was a simple one. How long does it take to refine the throne. And all of you tole me the exact same thing. It takes a week. And yet, look at what happened!" Long Xian was enraged. And his anger was felt throughout the entire Ding Family. "Now, the throne is no longer in reach. And he has control of the Terracotta Army. How many Soul Evolution Stage experts is that? You don''t even know. You know nothing." Long Xian mmed the wall nearest to him, caving the entire wall. A hole was created in his chambers, and he could see what was in the next room. "Forgive me, Young Master Xian. It wasn''t the fault of our information collection. This was something that has stumped even those within the imperial pce." The family head was in the room with Long Xian, trying his best to calm Long Xian down. "Now, I have to wait until reinforcements arrive before I can handle that bastard Liu Ling Tian. I can''t believe it. I have to wait even more time." Long Xian cursed. The Family head''s face was drained of blood. More time? His family was falling apart just because of the little time that this arrogant prick had spent here. His grand daughter hadmitted suicide and their family was forced to give this guest offerings like they were a small vige trying to appease a god. He couldn''t do this for more time. He couldn''t wait for another month. Not like this. "As you wish, Young Master. I will go and see what I can do." He said as he disappeared. "Goddamn pricks, all of these." Long Xian smirked as he fell into his bed. In the pce, The entire pce was rebuilt in just a day and half. That was the power of cultivation. With the power of Qi, they could easily make sure that all of the cracks were sealed, and it was like a fight had not even urred. The only problem were the cracks that Liu Ling Tian had created outside the pce. The gardens wereid waste to, that was for sure. They were beyond repair. It would take some time for them to return to the level that they were in just a week before. "Where is the king?" an old man appeared and asked one of the many guards who were standing in a line. "In the chambers, Advisor. He is¡­ renovating the chambers." The guard said. Sigh. "Based on what he saw in that ce, I would be surprised if he didn''t." The old man nodded as he walked to the royal chambers. He knocked on the doors. "Enter." Liu Feng''s cold voice came from inside. The old man opened the doors and saw that the entire room, which was supposed to bepletely studded with the most exorbitant jewels and treasures, was sparse. There was nothing here. There were people inside, setting a bed down. This was big, but again, without decor. "Your Majes-" "I don''t care for honorifics. I was not born snotty. Tell me what happened. There must be a big reason that the Imperial Advisor himself came here right?" Liu Feng cut him short. "Indeed. I am here because the coronation is ready. Invites had been sent out, and everyone arrived. The entire kingdom will be here to witness the coronation of the greatest king to eve-" "Again, I am not in the mood for this. The coronation is ready? Is everyone ready in the throne room?" Liu Feng asked. "Indeed, Your Majesty. We are waiting for you. I can see that you are also ready." Tian Gan noted that Liu Feng was dressed in the Imperial robes. Gold and red intertwining in these robes, which signified that he was the king of this ce. They were majestic, and they were only worn during times of court. This only meant that Liu Feng was also ready for the coronation. "I was the one who was kept waiting. Fine then. Let us get this over with. The throne room? I will be there. You can go there as well. I am faster than all of you after all." Liu Feng chuckled. "As you wish, Your Majesty." Tian Gan swiftly disappeared. Liu Feng took one final look at the room. "One final gift to you, Tian Xin. This shall be our parting gift and a gift that signifies our partnership." Liu Feng thought to himself. He also swiftly disappeared from the ce, leaving itpletely empty. Outside the throne room, with the doorspletely ajar, a few hundred people were standing. There were people inside as well. The ones on the thrones, they were the leaders of the major powers of the kingdom. Li Tian was there. So was Tian Jiang. Shen Qiang took one of the spots, and Cai Guo another. Many were looking at the one spot that no one expected to fill. That was the one taken up by the Ding family. Even the Ding family head had arrived. But a momentter, the entire ce became utterly silent. They all stood up and looked to the entrance. There was the figure of the person that they hade for today. The King had arrived. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 381 Coronation (Part 2) Liu Feng looked at the arrangements made for his coronation. At the end, he caved in and said that he would wait another day so that the arrangements could be made for the coronation to be proper and grand. For the leaders of every sect and major power to gather to witness the uing of the new king. And he had to saw, he was impressed. The arrangements made were certainly grand. In just a day, they managed to put together quite a scene. And alongside this, they also managed to patch up the pce from the attack of before. Sure, there were not many problems within the pce except for the attacks that came from the pce''s side. The most destruction to the pce was by Liu Ling Tian, followed by Liu Feng when he opened the Terracotta Army. Liu Feng shook his head and chuckled just thinking about it. He stepped foot on the red carpet that led the way straight to the golden throne that was to be mounted. The curtains that draped the sides of the throne room were red once again, with golden lining that seemed to be the theme of this morning. Everything was red and gold. His robes, his path, the ce itself, and the throne. Everything was too interesting. As he started walking down the red carpet that wasid in front of him, he could hear the noise that was supposed to permeate through a crowded throne room such as this die down in an instant. Everyone was looking at the man of the hour. Liu Feng recognized a few faces here. But many of them were new to him. Luckily, he could see their names, and he already memorized the major names of the sect leaders for the day. It was a small gesture to show that he was a little invested in the kingdom. His eyes stopped in the upper corner, where he saw someone sitting next to Cai Guo. He was the only one stealing nces from Liu Feng. The reason? His surname was Ding. Without a doubt, this was the family head of the Ding Family. And for someone from the Ding Family to be here, certainly, that man had to have guts. The Ding Family lived within the capital, and yet they were nowhere to be seen when the attack on the capital urred. If they ever showed their faces in the pce, they would be in for a certain thrashing. And yet, the Ding family appeared here. "Well, if they didn''te even now, they would stop being our retainers, and they would lose their protection." Liu Feng understood. He didn''t stop walking. He begrudgingly moved in the mortal speeds that he was walking in. It took all of him to stop himself from just moving to the throne room in a moment. After all, the king had to show his presence to everyone, didn''t he? So he had to parade himself like a model, letting every one look at him. Shaking his head, he slowly walked up to the throne. Tian Gan was there, standing, waiting for him. Liu Feng had to admit, this old man was pretty fast for his age. He got here at the same time that he did, and even though Liu Feng didn''t use his full speed toe to the throne room, as his robes would be ruined, the same could be said for Tian Gan, who had pretty luxurious green and gold robes on himself. "Imperial Advisor." Liu Feng nodded at him. "Your Majesty." Tian Gan slightly bent his knees. Liu Feng smiled as he took the next step and stood in front of the throne that was his now. "You are finally here. Guess it is time for your coronation, is it. The useless traditions that you mortals have." The artifact spirit sighed as it said. Liu Feng couldn''t help but agree to what the artifact spirit was saying. But he had no choice now. He sat on the throne, one leg on another, both arms gripping the arm rests, and looking domineeringly down at the many who looked up to see their new king. "All Hail the new King!" Tian Gan shouted. But there was no chanting from the audience. This wasn''t the general public. These were the strongest of the strong gathered in the room. To be even a guard in here, one needed to be a Xiantian realm expert. And as for the guests, there were few who were beneath the Soul Evolution Stage. And those few were princes and princesses who were forced to attend. Liu Feng smiled. Ping! [Host haspleted the Story Quest with exceptional performance.] [Host has been awarded partial awards.] Ping! [Host has advanced two Minor realms.] Ping! Liu Feng could feel it. The moment that the rewards of the story quest arrived he could feel the ceiling that everyone was talking about. The ceiling that no one could go against. This was the peak of the Soul evolution Stage. And anyone who touched the ceiling would be forced to stay down unless they retreated to the Ancient Realm. No one in the Realm of Beginnings was allowed to enter the Soul Transformation stage after all. He took a deep breath and gave a blinding smile. He was happy alright. For a brief moment, he was at the peak of the entire mortal world. But there was a slight problem that he had now. He had exactly one week before he had to abdicate the throne. Or else, he would die. In that one week, he intended to hunt Tian Xin down and make sure that he regretteding down to the Realm of Beginnings in the first ce. He raised his hands and looked at the family head of the Ding family first. "Now then. Let us skip the formalities. Family head of the Ding Family, Ding Wen. Where were you and where was your family when the pce was in dire status?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 382 Long Xians Whereabouts Ding Wen could feel his heart tighten just thinking about it. Right now, the fact that he was here was something that Long Xian didn''t know. Everyone in the family was under the impression that their family head had entered closed doors. No one knew that he ran here to the pce. Ding Wen stood up and approached Liu Feng. "Stop where you are." Tian Hun was on the other side of Liu Feng, as the captain of the imperial guards. He looked upon Ding Wen with cold eyes. Even though their defense was perfect, it would have been easier if the Ding family hade immediately. So Tian Hun had everything against the Ding family. Ding Wen took a deep breath and started bending down. Amidst the gaping mouths of everyone, someone at the peak of the cultivation world bent his knee and kneeled in front of the king. "Your Majesty! The Ding Family is undergoing a tribtion that we have never faced in our life. The entire family has been taken hostage within the manor! We are not able to resist. I was barely able toe out. Please, save us." Ding Wen said, his voice clearly heard within the entire pce. Someone who had spent their whole life cultivating would know that a peak stage Soul Evolution cultivator like Ding Wen would rather die than lose his dignity. And yet, he was kneeling? "What is this tribtion that you are facing that stopped the Ding family froming out for months?" Liu Feng raised his eyebrows. He was skeptical of the disy in front of him, but the man kneeled. While everyone was standing, he kneeled. "One man, Your Majesty. One Man. Long Xian." Immediately, the temperature of the room dropped by a few degrees. And the reason wasn''t just Liu Feng. Everyone was split. Those closer to Liu Feng looked at him, who was exhuming killing intent that he never gave out before. Just hearing the name, he gripped his fists harder and his eyes glinted with anger and rage. But the other half looked at another direction that gave even more killing intent and an even more terrifying aura. It was Liu Ling Tian. Disregarding everything, Liu Ling Tian stepped up to the center of the court and walked up to Ding Wen. "Do you understand what you are saying, mortal? Long Xian is in your family''s grounds?" Liu Ling Tian asked Ding Wen. Hepletely disregarded Liu Feng, who was supposed to be the master of the court. But Liu Feng didn''t care. First, Liu Ling Tian was his father! And second, both of them shared the same hatred toward Long Xian. "He is in your family still?" Liu Feng also asked. "Yes, Your Majesty." Ding Wen nodded, and looked back at Liu Ling Tian. He knew that this would be expected. For so long, Long Xian bragged about his conquests and how he forced Liu Ling Tian''s son to create a cure for him. But to think that that very son would be the king, and would control the Terracotta Army. "Then nothing else needs to be said. Court is adjourned. I will take care of this piece of sh*t that humiliated me two years ago." Liu Feng coldly said. "Your Majesty! This is your coronation! We need toplete a lot of things!" Tian Gan hastily said, but Liu Feng''s ears had no ce for Tian Gan''s meaningless customs and traditions. "Create an inescapable around the Ding Family''s borders. Now!" Liu Feng barked as he clutched the throne. "As you wish, Your Majesty." someone from behind came out of the shadows and bent down. The moment he appeared, everyone in the throne room suddenly took a step back. They were one step away from taking out their weapons. Seeing someone appear out of nowhere, and have a Soul Evolution Stage cultivation at that, was disconcerting, and many reacted adversely to that. "Take everyone with you. I will not tolerate someone like Long Xian. Today, he will have to die." Liu Feng coldly said. Rumble! This time, it was not the throne room that rumbled. Liu Feng knew better than to put his soldiers below the ground once again. Instead, he decided to put them all in another room. And even then, he didn''t take all of them. He didn''t want to waste his Qi controlling useless soldiers. Only those in the Soul evolution stage were taken out of the ground, and they were the ones responsible for creating the around the Ding Family. But there were dozens of them, and Liu Feng understood that the information he got from Cai Guo was wrong. The number of Soul Evolution Stage experts within the Terracotta Army were numbered much higher than twenty. There were hundreds of them. But it wasn''t Cai Guo''s fault that this happened in the first ce. It was because no king before could handle all of those experts. The bacsh of the curse was too much for many king to handle, so the limit before was twenty Soul Evolution Stage cultivators. Swish! There was a ceiling that blocked everyone''s view of the sky, but they didn''t need to look with their eyes to know that dozens of powerful existences were leaving the pce for the Ding family. "I wasn''t joking. Court is adjourned. Today, I am going hunting." Liu Feng coldly said. With one snap of his fingers, his robes changed. He was now wearing the robes that he usually wore for fighting. In his hands, his trusted spear appeared as he took one step forward. "Are youing, father?" He looked at Liu Ling Tian. Liu Ling Tian''s reaction to Liu Feng calling him father was minimal. His eyes were consumed with the rage that he held for Long Xian. This was no rivalry that they had. This was pure hatred. "I will tear his head off this time." Ping! [Story Quest: Kill Long Xian Reward: Unknown Penalty: Death] "You didn''t need to give me this for me to do it." Liu Feng thought inside. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 383 Drawing The Rat Out The Ding Family, Long Xian looked down at five people who were kneeling in front of him. "Tell me again. What happened? How many enemies surrounding us?" Long Xian asked, his face as ugly as it could get. "Dozens, Young Master. There is no escape. I don''t know how Liu Ling Tian got so many helpers, but they created a around the manor, and told everyone of the Ding Family to leave." "The only one who hasn''t left is the woman that is on your bed right now." Another added. "This one?" Long Xian looked to the side to see the frightened poor woman who clutched the bedsheets to cover up the shameful act that he hadmitted without her consent. "Meh." Long Xian waved his hands and the woman''s face froze. Then, it suddenly warped before bursting into a hundred piece, sttering blood all over the bed that he was sitting on. "Are we sure that these people are all on Liu Ling Tian''s side? They could be third parties who don''t know what they are doing." Long Xian asked. "They are all of the Terracotta Army, young master. They only obey the orders of the king of the kingdom, and as for right now¡­. That king is the boy that you almost killed two years ago. Liu Ling Tian''s son." one of the men said, hesitant to say it. "That kid? He became the king? He is the one who dared to steal my throne away from me? Let us wait for father to send reinforcements. I will see who will dare touch me then." Long Xian clenched his fists. "That is a problem, young master. The reinforcements cannote. Before, Tian Long was the king. He supported us, and decided to show the blind eye toward us. He promised us that if the Long Family would send reinforcements, he would open the Ancient Portal in exchange for a small price." "But that is no longer the case. The king right will definitely not open the portal for you." The fifth man said. He was taller than everyone else, and his eyes, green as green could be, shook with worry for his young master. "This is outrageous. Come. I will fight that Liu Ling Tian. I know him. He will not rely on the forces outside. He will fight me one on one, and I will kill him once and for all. If the main piece falls, the rest will topple like dominoes." Long Xian got up. "Please listen to reason, young master. We are not as strong as you are. We were mere attendants and we cannot go against the other experts. You will be in danger if -" Before the man who spoke could say anything, he suddenly flew back and crashed against the wall, falling a few walls further before he stopped. "Did you dare just refute what I said? It seems like all of you have lost all reason just because there is an enemy outside. Remember. If you daremit this offense again, I will kill you." Long Xian coldly said. The man that he just threw all the way back got up, dusting himself off. He coldly looked at Long Xian. "What is with that look? Bend down, you ve." Long Xian frowned. "For twenty years, I braved the odds and bent the knee to you because you were a true dragon and all I had was a little blood of a dragon. You might be of a big n, and you might be stronger than I am, but this is the tipping point." The blue eyed man said, clenching his fists. "I am done supporting the young master who thinks only of himself, and has no regard to his subordinates. You allowed Go Haizang to die as well. You want us to die in your ce now as well. I warned you again and again that staying here was dangerous, and you didn''t listen to me. Now, you are just reaping what you sow." The man said, gritting his teeth as he turned around to leave. "You dare?" Long Xian was furious. At this time, his subordinate was turning his back on him? That was uneptable. "Go and kill him. I will not tolerate betrayal." Long Xian looked at the green eyed man. The green man suddenly disappeared and only reappeared next to the blue eyed man. "Looks like we are really doing this." He sighed and he joined the blue eyed man in the walk out. "You both¡­ you both are going to turn your back on me now? When my father hears of this, he will-" "Wake up you stupid idiot. By the time your father can react to the fact that you are surrounded by enemies all as strong as you are, you will either be dead or you will be tortured for a long, long time. I will not help you in this fight. I would rather die an honorable death rather than help you any longer." The green eyed man said, shaking his head. "Fine. If all of you are not willing to act, then I will do this myself. I will take care of you both myself." Long Xian''s eyes gave a red gleam. As he stood up, his stature seemed to increase. And therger he seemed to get, the more the two that defied him cowered. "You should have remembered that you are all suppressed by my bloodline. That is the difference between half breeds like you and a true dragon like me. We will never be the same. I will always be your masters." Long Xian shouted. As he slowly hovered in the air, his wings unfurled. They were muchrger than the room that they were in, so the very room crumbled, and the walls were destroyed. He looked coldly at the traitors. "I will make sure that you regret everything in your life." He scowled. But before he could do anything, he was stopped by another voice. "Long Xian, you dog! Where the hell are you? I havee to wash away the humiliation I faced two years ago." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 384 Confrontation Long Xian''s eyes narrowed. This voice, he remembered. It was the kid that injured him slightly using that tribtion lightning all those years ago. He returned. "That puny idiot in the Xiantian stage daresmand me toe out? I will show him what it means to go against a true dragon." He growled. His eyes turnedpletely red, and his skin was turning ck. Scales appeared on his skin, and they ripped as he grewrger andrger. His entire body morphed until he became the dragon that he was. His ck scales shone in the light and the building was all butpletely ruined. With one p of Long Xian''s wings, the walls of the buildingpletely vanished, as did the roof. They were all in the open now, and they could see what the situation was like. Long Xian saw that there were people on every corner. This was an unescapable for sure. There were peak stage Soul Evolution Stage cultivators at every edge. They might not be as strong as he was, but they could sure as hell stop him from leaving. Long Xian locked his eyes with the duo that faced him. Liu Feng and Liu Ling Tian stood there, side by side, and looked at Long Xian. Liu Ling Tian was about to take the first step, when Liu Feng stopped him. "Please, father. This is my fight. If I cannot defeat him with my own two hands, I fear my Dao heart will always be unstable." Liu Feng said. "He is in the peak of the soul evolution stage. You are not. This is not a fight that you can win." Liu Ling Tian shook his head, but Liu Feng smiled. "Those are odds I like." Liu Feng took the first step and appeared in front of the giant dragon that came out of the rubble. Spear in hand, he pointed it toward Long Xian. "You bastard. Back then, all you could do was bully a junior. And now, that hase to bite you back in the a$$. How does that feel like?" Liu Feng asked, gripping his spear even stronger. "You are a mere junior, and you wish to go against me? The impudence. I will kill you in front of all of these people and the throne will no longer have an owner, is it?" Long Xian roared. All he saw was an impudent junior who was giving up his life. That blinded him. Long Xian took the first step. He dove toward Liu Feng and his jaws came frighteningly close to Liu Feng, about to swallow him whole. But Liu Feng didn''t move. He was frozen in ce. "Frozen in fear, are you?" Long Xian chuckled as his jaws covered Liu Feng''s world and the jaws closed. Liu Ling Tian''s face suddenly changed. He was about to move, when a hand stopped him. "Why do you all have to be so impatient? Why don''t you all look at the battle for what it is?" a calm voice said Liu Ling Tian turned around to see that it was none other than Liu Man. "What are you doing? Liu Feng! He-" "Is still alive. Guess this advancement made him truly fast. All of you can''t even see him anymore." Liu Man shook his head and sighed. He pointed to Long Xian, who was turning around with confusion. "You rat! You escaped!" Long Xian roared. "What he swallowed was a mere afterimage. Liu Feng had moved long before Long Xian got to his position, and what remained was an afterimage." Liu Man exined. "Above you, you fool!" A sound came from above Long Xian. Being as big as he was, Long Xian slowly looked up at the direction of the sound. He could see Liu Feng look down upon him arrogantly. Long Xian roared as he swiped up in the air, trying to swat the man away. But all he swatted was an afterimage, once again. "You are too easily tricked." Liu Feng''s voice came not from above, but from below. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fourth Form! Blue Dragon Soars through the heavens!" A blue dragon appeared and it hit Long Xian right in the jaw. The blue dragon that was manifested was smaller than Long Xian, and as it hit Long Xian''s jaw, he instinctively grabbed the blue dragon by the neck. The manifestation disappeared in an instant, and Liu Feng''s spear appeared back in his hands. "His grip sure is frightening. I should be sure not to ever face one of his attacks head on." Liu Feng made a note. Long Xian was by no means, weak. This was someone who hade from the ancient realms. He was not in the Soul Evolution Stage. He had gotten to a stage much higher a long time ago. This was merely his nerfed version. And he was still this powerful because his physical body was a terrifying thing that couldn''t be suppressed by the heavens. Liu Feng knew this when he went into battle. This was because he knew that even if the wasn''t a battle that was going to be easy, it was one that he had to win for sure. Swish! Long Xian''s w swiped at Liu Feng once again, and once again, what it hit was not Liu Feng, but rather his afterimage. Liu Feng was to the side now, and his spear dug into Long Xian''s skin. But as much as it tried to pierce the thick ck hide, the scales of this ck dragon were too tough to pierce. Liu Feng''s sword stopped at the edge, and they just wouldn''t go further in. Liu Feng moved back once again, creating some gap between him and Long Xian. "I need an attack that can properly pierce his scales." He thought to himself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 385 Power Of A True Dragon Liu Feng took a deep breath and disappeared once again. He had been avoiding every attack that came his way. If he actually took a single one of these attacks straight to the face, that would be game over, that was for sure. And Long Xian was angry alright. He was enraged. "You coward. Come face me like a man. Running around like a rat! Is this all that you know?" He bellowed. He was virtually unharmed no matter how many attacks Liu Feng threw at him. And yet, Liu Feng knew that this was a battle that was slowly edging toward his direction. Long Xian was getting irritated. One wrong move and Liu Feng could start targeting the few parts of his body that were not covered in scales. His belly waspletely uncovered and Long Xian knew that. Long Xian was protective of this part of his body till now. But as enraged as he was, he was slipping. Constantly, the underbelly was being exposed. But Liu Feng didn''t jump for the bait. He was not up against some random person who managed to be an expert. A true dragon was noting to scoff at. In the Ancient Realm, he was sure to have been someone with a lot of power, and someone like that would have gone through a lot of battles and tribtions to get to where he was right now. Surely, he knew that his most vulnerable part was open. And he was probably waiting for Liu Feng to pounce. While Liu Feng needed a lot of attacks to damage the behemoth that was in front of him, Long Xian needed one, maybe two topletely decimate Liu Feng. "Fine. Let me try it out." Liu Feng thought about it. He wanted to test the waters. As Long Xian was flying toward Liu Feng, Liu Feng moved rapidly, a blurry afterimage left behind showing that Liu Feng was no longer there. Long Xian smiled this time, and his ws glowed with a red hue. This was the power of a true dragon. Complete mastery over an element. "This is the power of Dao! The Dao of Fire! Dragons are really too powerful! To think that he would have theplete mastery over the Dao of Fire!" Liu Feng eximed. But he could see that Long Xian was waiting for him. Long Xian''s ws swept exactly where Liu Feng moved, right beneath Long Xian''s underbelly. "This is the difference between you and me, you fool! You are nothing in my eyes. You are a mere child, going against a dragon. This is the only oue that you can fa- hmm?" Long Xian stopped talking and looked down. The feeling of swatting a fly was not apparent. He felt nothing. Liu Feng wasn''t there. "Ethereal Spear Arts! Spear of Gungnir! One spear to pierce everything!" Suddenly, Long Xian felt a sharp light. It wasn''t to the side or anything. He could see it directly on his face. A sharp light that grew brighter and brigher, until it suddenly dug itself into his face. "Aargh!" Long Xian shouted as his giant body stumbled back. In the air, the giant ck dragon trying to stabilize itself looked humorous to some. But Liu Feng couldn''t be bothered. His spear returned to his hands and he looked at the situation. This was the first attack that properly went through and the damage that it did was not as significant as Liu Feng hoped it would be. There was absolutely nothing that happened, other than Long Xian screaming with pain. He could still see, that was very much apparent. And when Long Xian red at Liu Feng, Liu Feng could see that there was no visible scratch to Long Xian''s eyes. It looked like it was untouched. "Damn it. Just how tough is a true dragon''s exterior? They can''t be invincible. No creature is." Liu Feng thought inside. There had to be something about Long Xian that Liu Feng could exploit. But Long Xian wasn''t going to wait for him. "You brat! You dare?" Liu Feng felt a mounting pressure on him. Around the battle field, Liu Ling Tian''s and Liu Man''s expressions changed. They knew what was happening. "That mad man! He is breaking through the barrier of the world!" Liu Ling Tian eximed as he was about to take a step forward, but he was stopped. Stopped not by Liu Man, but by one of the terracotta warriors? "Forgive us, but His Majestymanded us that unless he is about to die, no one is allowed to step in." The soldier said. "That bastard. He IS going to die if we don''t step in." Liu Ling Tian said. Above, the heavens understood what Long Xian was going to do. The skies turned dark in an instant, as if waiting for Long Xian''s move. "Do you think that I am going to be afraid of mere sparks anymore? Thest time, I was injured. But that is no longer the case." Long Xian roared up in the air. Liu Feng grit his teeth. This pressure was new to him. This was no pressure of someone in the Soul Evolution Stage. This was something greater. This was a pressure that wasn''t supposed to exist in this world. He couldn''t move his legs. And he could see the approaching Long Xian''s giant ws, reaching out to reap Liu Feng''s life in one blow. Liu Feng did the one thing that he could do. His weapon of choice changed in an instant. His spear was gone, but what reced it was not the ethereal spear. The ethereal spear served him well thest couple of years but it was time for a much needed upgrade. What he took out was the shield that he found in the Hong Family''s treasure. "Ethereal Shield Arts! Final Form! Perfect Defense!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 386 Almost Dying The gold light of the brilliant shield, the only Imperial Artifact in Liu Feng''s possession, shone throughout the dark vastness. With the skies darkened by the tribtion clouds above, the golden light that came from Liu Feng''s shield blinded many. But it wasn''t the brightest in the fight. Long Xian''s ws were a terror inducing red, a red that made bloods boil. This glow made Liu Feng feel like hell itself came to him, boiling him where he stood. And the attack wasn''t near him yet. The moment he assumed his defensive stance, the barriers that came from the skill that he used stacked up against each other. They had a blue tint, and felt like multiple bee hives sandwiched together. And from an angle, it looked like a mirror. Liu Feng bit his lips. His lips had already turned blue by now, and his eyes were shaking, his legs trembling. This was not from the pressure. The pressure that came from Long Xian had long disappeared the moment he put up this gigantic defense. He was draining all of his Qi by mounting this defense. The skill was that draining. And he just barely put it together, when the red ws collided with his barrier. His arms shook. They shook so widely that his bones rattled, yet his skin and muscle remained where they were. But a secondter, the shockwave came. His skin shook, rippling like an ocean right when a tsunami would arrive. He fell to his knees, digging into the ground as the ws came closer and closer to him. He could feel the barrier cracking. He could hear the sound, like that of ss cracking. And the louder the sound, the louder his heart thumped. This was thest barrier between him and certain death. He didn''t expect Long Xian to behave like this. Long Xian was going against thews that the heavens had implemented here. Liu Feng tried to fight back, but how could he? This was too powerful for him to escape. It pinned him on the ground, and all he could do was muster onest stand. Inside his spiritual sea, the spiritual heart seemed to understand what situation its owner was in. It started rotating frantically, trying to send in Qi to supplement and bolster Liu Feng''s defense. But what good would that do. There was a limit to how much Liu Feng could output. Liu Feng did not give up. He clenched his teeth, bit his tongue to keep the adrenaline rushing, and looked up with defiance. If he was going down, he was going down swinging. "What pitiful resistance can you muster? This is your death, you fool." Long Xian bellowed. Crack! Crack! The entire barrierpletely cracked and shattered, and the ws came even closer to Liu Feng. They stopped just inches above Liu Feng''s heart. The one thing that stopped Liu Feng from dying was his shield. It''s golden shimmer did not dim in the face of adversity. Instead, it shone with even greater brilliance. But in the skies, a light came to Liu Feng''s rescue. He could see an arc of light that beautifully went across the skies. And then, a secondter, the sound came. Rumble! The sound of the anger of the heavens shook Liu Feng, but it also did the same to his opponent. Liu Feng could feel the pressure he was feeling loosen to the point where he could move. And the moment he could, he did. He had no reason to stay in that dangerous position for even a second longer. The next moment, he moved a few dozen meters away and red at Long Xian. Then, a high grade spirit stone appeared in his hands. The glimmer that the stone gave died the moment that Liu Feng held it. All the Qi inside vanished and flew to Liu Feng''s dantian. Liu Feng didn''t even hesitate in using up a precious stone like that when he was about to face the grim reaper. The high grade spirit stone was a small price to pay for him to regain a little strength in this crucial moment. The move that he executed, the perfect defense, was one that took almost all of Liu Feng''s Qi. But it also had a few benefits. When Liu Feng looked at Long Xian''s giant talons, which had a red tint to them. But most surprising about them was that for the first time, Long Xian seemed to have actually suffered damage. But this damage was negligible for the dragon. Long Xian looked up in the sky, at the darkened skies, his face filled with fury. But Liu Feng saw it. A hint of it in those red eyes. Fear. Long Xian was afraid of what wasing. Long Xian was afraid of the heavens. All of what happened was a show. And perhaps he was counting on Liu Feng''s death, for with Liu Feng''s death, the terracotta warriors would no longer be a problem. But even that did not happen. Defying all odds, Liu Feng survived this attack. And now, Long Xian had to face a tribtion. But would Liu Feng leave him alone? When this much was done to him? With the high grade spirit stone replenishing his stores, he had some energy left in his body. His spear moved, and his figure vanished. While Long Xian looked up in the skies, preparing for the inevitable strike of lighting, he saw a glimmer in the edge of his eyes. "You coward! You dare try tounch a sneak attack?" Long Xian shouted as he tried to swat the glimmer away. But his ws were too slow. He could see another light shine near his eyes. And before he could close them, the spear already went through. "Aargh! I will kill you!" "Rumble!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 387 Lightning Powers Through A beautiful arc of blue light that looked like veins, with slight protrusions that were like roots, struck the distracted Long Xian right where it hurt. In a moment of weakness and pain, Long Xian turned to look at Liu Feng, who had pierced his eye. And that was the moment that the heavens decided to strike him. The lightning struck him right on top of Long Xian''s head, and even though he had scales all over his body to protect him, this was no ordinary attack. When Liu Feng, who was near Long Xian now, felt this attack, he felt tremors in his blood. The lightning was nothing like he had ever seen. It was strong. Stronger than anything that Liu Feng had seen before. It was like the limits of the Soul evolution Stage had also been breached by the heavens and they decided to punish Long Xian the same way that he broke the rules. And as the lightning struck Long Xian, Liu Feng could see that the slight space around the lightning''s arc seemed to be breaking apart. Small rifts were being created along the sides of the lightning, like space itself was being torn apart. It was a scene that he remembered seeing during the long scale teleportation in the Sky Heavens sect. The esoteric dao of space had always eluded him, but at this moment, he had a feeling that the reason that these rifts had appeared was that the attack was too strong for the space to handle it. The heavens might not have been totally unfair. Liu Feng had a feeling that they reinforced certain rules because the results without the rules could potentially be catastrophic. "Roar!" Long Xian roared with pain as the lightning struck him. He no longer looked at Liu Feng, who was the reason why he was distracted by the first attack. Surely, he shouldn''t care about a little pain when the heavens itself was attacking him. So he turned his back to Liu Feng and looked up in the sky. Liu Feng snickered though. He looked up as well, and could see that the clouds above had no intention of moving just yet. So he leapt forward. He vanished, his spear already glowing. And as he moved forward, a blue light tracked his movements,ing from the spear. Maybe that light would be a problem a few minutes ago, when Long Xian was facing him, trying to destroy Liu Feng. But now, Long Xian no longer wanted to bother with Liu Feng. He looked up at the heavens, a heavy pressure emanating from his person. This pressure was increasing by the moment, just dissipating into the surroundings. And Liu Feng felt the pressure hard. He didn''t expect Long Xian to suddenly release such pressure. But when Liu Feng looked back up at Long Xian, he wasn''t looking around. His concentration was still straight up,pletely focused on the behemoth of an opponent that had his death in sights. Rumble! The lightning struck again, arcing mid air to try to reach his underbelly. But Long Xian moved, trying to avoid it. Still, the lightning followed Long Xian, and even though it wasn''t able to reach the underbelly that it intended to, the lightning still struck Long Xian. He decided to take the attack head on using his hands. That¡­ that was a mistake. He never realized that when Liu Feng unleashed that defense, that his scales were starting to loosen right around his arms. He never realized that his impervious body could actually be pervious. But what if his own power was used against him? What if his attack was reflected to some degree. What if his own attack was reflected by the defense that Liu Feng had mustered, and now, he was vulnerable. When the lightning struck his hands, the blood of his hands spilt. When Liu Feng saw the blood that was split, there was a desire that was born upon him. A desire to take that blood, for he felt the power that each drop of blood contained. But he forced himself to stop. He didn''t to waste his time and energy taking something that would be in abundance the moment that Long Xian would fall. Instead he wanted to try and do actual damage to Long Xian and maybe force him to despair, and that would push him off the edge. Since an attack had just arrived, it was certain that there would be a few moments before the lightning would strike again. And so, Liu Feng moved. He was closer than ever to Long Xian, who was hovering in the air, asionally pping his giant scaled wings. This time, he appeared not in front of Long Xian''s eyes to strike the same ce once more. Long Xian would see that. This time, he decided to take the attack that he wanted to multiple minutes before. The underbelly, which was the only unguarded area of the dragon. His spear struck the unscaled area, which was a few feet wide. In the giant body of the dragon, this was a rtively small window. A small patch that could be guarded with ease. And certainly, if Liu Feng was going against Long Xian alone, then that would be what would happen. The patch would be guardedpletely. But now, Long Xian was preupied. So when he felt a sharp pain right where he did not expect it, he felt like he was kicked in the nuts, except much worse. "Blue Dragon Spear Art! Fifth Form! Blue Dragon Breaks through Hell!" A blue dragon pierced through the soft skin that the underbelly sheltered, and Long Xian roared with pain. But for the first time, along with the pain, there was also blood. Liu Feng finally drew the first blood. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 388 Ascent To The Heavens Before Long Xian could look down, the heavens took this moment of weakness and struck. This time, the lightning that came down was colored. Three different colors of lightning merged and struck Long Xian straight at the center of his face. Long Xian started falling down to the ground. Before he could get crushed by this giant beast, Liu Feng moved to the side, avoiding the falling giant. As Long Xian fell to the ground, the entire ce shook. It was like an earth quake. The tremors were big enough for the surrounding area to get ttened. This created a clearing right in the middle of the dense buildings of the Ding Family. A giant circle with Long Xian in the middle. A ck dragon that fell from its graces. Long Xian looked up at the heavens, wounded and in pain, his eyes shing with fear and repentance. But there was also an undying conviction not to give up. His ego and arrogance did not allow him to bend the knee. He would not ask the heavens for forgiveness. "Do you think that I will sit still, taking all of this? Since you decided to strike me down, I will also smite you." Long Xian roared up at the skies. His voice was loud enough for the surrounding mile to hear him as clear as day. But the mile radius was already cleared. Liu Ling Tian knew better than to allow innocents to stay in the area where a ck dragon would manifest. He made sure that no one was present in a three mile radius. The capital was slowly being evacuated because of the fight that had started here. The only reason that the capital was doing this without a single question was because this was under the order of the father of the new king. Surely, they couldn''t disobey the one who showed such a show of strength just two days ago. Long Xian got up from the crater that he created for himself, and without dusting himself, pped his wings. With every p of his wings, he rose dozens of meters into the air, and Liu Feng could see him slowly go out of reach. There was a limit to how high Liu Feng could go up in the air. But arial creatures were different. They were born for the skies, and they weren''t going against the heaven''sws when they flew up. Liu Feng took a deep breath. With every passing second that he wasn''t in battle, he was recovering vast amounts of Qi that he could use. So he decided to. His eyes started turning ck, and his back started twisting. The next instant, his bodypletely metamorphose. He was a different creature now. He turned to his Kun Peng form once again. And his wings unfurled. Although his body was small, when the wings unfurled, wing to wing, he was as big as the terrifying ck dragon that was flying above him. He pped his wings, and the moment he did, instead of going up a few meters, he disappeared. That was the difference between a Kun Peng and a dragon. While a dragon had scales all over, impervious skin, and a death like grip, a Kun Peng was fast. Scary fast. With one p, Liu Feng covered what Long Xian covered in the past few moments with such effort. The height that each monster could reach was already predestined. Some birds could only reach a certain height. And after even a mythical monster reached its heights, it would be going against the heavens, and in that case, the heavens would not allow it to pass any further. The ceiling of a dragon was not that high. It was higher than many mortal creatures, but among the mythical beasts of the air, it wasn''t that great. And at the same time that Long Xian was reaching his limit, a beast appeared to the side. He knew exactly what monster this was. "A Kun Peng? In the Realm Of Beginnings? Impossible! The conditions for a Kun Peng to appear, it would need a dragon''s gate!" Long Xian was distracted from his current goal as he looked at the monster that appeared next to him. Liu Feng''s inhuman face smiled. He split from Long Xian, creating some distance between him and Long Xian. At that exact moment, the clouds above gave another sound. This time, the lightning that struck Long Xian was that of four colors. When Long Xian was struck, he spat out blood. For the first time, Liu Feng saw Long Xian actually show a major sign of injury. The lightning that the heavens above were giving were quite strong. Strong enough to damage the scales and innards of a dragon. But with each attack, Liu Feng could feel the space around him grow weaker. It was like thews of space around him were being tampered with. They were losing their strength. But Liu Feng couldn''t care about that. Another attack of the heavens came and went, and this time, Long Xian didn''t budge. Even though the attack that came from the heavens was stronger, he still continued his ascent. And even as he was injured, his aura continued climbing. "He still hasn''t unleashed his full power! If he does, then this world might not be able to handle it!" Liu Feng realized. Before Long Xian did something stupid, Liu Feng decided to intervene. He disappeared, his speed much more terrifying than what he showed before. In the peak of the soul evolution stage now, he could reach much higher peak speeds, and that was what he used. He appeared under the belly of Long Xian, staring straight at the wound that he had created. Long Xian seemed to sense that someone appeared at that area, and he tried to swat away Liu Feng. But he wasn''t fast enough. Liu Feng''s hand, or rather, w shot forward scratching the wound even further before Liu Feng retreated. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!