For the first time in his life, Li Feng became so profound. Sitting by the pool with his eyes narrowed and his arms wrapped around his knees, his entire body was shrouded in an aura of utter desolation—grim, cold, and almost bleak. Zhao Yue'er stood more than two zhang behind him. Though a single glance showed that Li Feng's cultivation was not particularly high, she had a strange feeling that she could not see through him at all. She could not tell what he was thinking, or what he wanted to do.
Zhao Yue'er remembered what Liu Xingzi had told her before entering seclusion to heal his injuries, after glancing at the dazed Li Feng. "This boy is a heartbroken man." Because he was hurt, he used that mask of reckless mischief and those nonsensical antics to hide himself. Because he was hurt, he seemed lustful, greedy for wealth, and fond of pleasure, when in truth it was only because he had no confidence in himself and merely wanted to clutch a few more things in his hands.
Vaguely, Zhao Yue'er seemed to understand a little of what Liu Xingzi had meant. Perhaps Li Feng himself had not realized that he had already treated everyone in the Yiyuan Sect as plasters for the holes in his heart, plasters to mend the wounds of his soul. To put it more bluntly, Li Feng had developed feelings for everyone in the Yiyuan Sect—feelings he would never admit to and had not even noticed himself. That was why he reacted so violently when he discovered that the people he cared for had been harmed.
"Ahhh! Fuck your ancestors! Even if those old bastards and scraggly old priests have to die, they should die from being pissed off by me! Damn it, Emei Sect, just you wait!" Li Feng suddenly sprang to his feet, jumping about as he let out a thunderous roar at the sky, startling Zhao Yue'er badly.
After stomping around and venting for a while, Li Feng formed a sword seal with his right hand. A streak of cold light shot from his mouth as he released the Cold Sparrow sword. A continuous stream of True Essence poured into the sword light. With a loud clang, the two-zhang streak of cold light suddenly split into more than a dozen sword lights, darting and stabbing through the air. The sight was filled with flashing radiance and biting chill. Zhao Yue'er hurriedly clapped and laughed. "Congratulations, congratulations! I never expected you to comprehend the Thousand Sword Art already."
Li Feng drew back the sword light and said dejectedly, "What use is comprehending this thing? It just splits the sword light into a few more strands. Sigh, I still can't beat those old Daoists."
Zhao Yue'er froze for a moment, then walked up and slapped Li Feng hard across the face. "What kind of nonsense is that? If you want revenge against Old Daoist Wu Shen, you need to cultivate even harder. Are you afraid you will not have a chance to avenge yourself? Old Daoist Wu Shen has cultivated for only three hundred years. If his damned late master had not poured all of his True Essence into him while dying from grievous injuries inflicted by the Heavenly Tribulation, he would never have attained such cultivation."
"Even after taking such a huge advantage, he still is no match for Senior Brother and the others. No one expected that old bastard to be shameless enough to launch a sneak attack. Our Yiyuan Sect's Qi Refining methods surpass theirs by far. As long as you cultivate diligently, with the help of the elders, one day you will surpass Old Daoist Wu Shen... You may not even need his level of cultivation. So long as you have cultivation close to his, I can steal the One Yuan Pearl for you to use in the future, and you can still beat him until he is crawling all over the ground looking for his teeth."
A determined light gradually shone in Li Feng's eyes. He nodded. "That's right. Our Yiyuan Sect has so many magic treasures and spirit medicines. One day, I'll catch up to him. Then I'll splash the filthiest things all over Mount Emei. Damn it, I refuse to believe I can't defeat him... And Master, don't forget that you made a bet with me. I'll definitely reach the Nascent Soul realm before you do. Hahaha! I absolutely will not carry Little Cat around Mount Hua three times on my back. That fellow is way too fat."
Little Cat, following behind Li Feng, was so furious that she bared her teeth and claws. She shot a distinctly malicious glance at Li Feng's backside, seemingly pondering how to bite down so it would be more satisfying.
Zhao Yue'er nodded repeatedly. Seeing Li Feng's spirits rise again, she secretly rejoiced. In her momentary excitement, she blurted out, "Uncle Songzi lent you the Purple Pole Heart Sutra. Hmph, hmph, you got quite the bargain, though unfortunately you have no way to comprehend the heavenly scriptures inside it right now. Mm, if you want to raise your cultivation more quickly, I do have a method. Among the hundred-odd volumes of Heavenly Mansion Daoist Scriptures hidden by our sect are spells of astonishing power. Come with me to the Purple Palace Abode now. Memorize their contents first."
Li Feng blanked. "The Heavenly Mansion Daoist Scriptures are that powerful?"
Zhao Yue'er nodded. "That's right. They record spells supposedly used by immortals of legend. Unfortunately, they contain only the incantations and lack detailed Qi Refining methods, so they consume far too much true qi. Without cultivation above the Golden Core stage, one simply cannot use them. But they also contain many marvelous methods. You could call them shortcuts to spellcraft; cultivation progresses extremely quickly with them. But you must be careful. You cannot become addicted to spells. You must deepen your own cultivation."
Li Feng agreed again and again. "Naturally. I don't want to end up like yesterday, when I unleashed a bolt of Heavenly Lightning and all my True Essence was drained dry, leaving me without even the strength to stand... But I have already learned many incantations. Martial Uncle and the others said that if those incantations were cultivated to their utmost depths, they could steal the heavens and exchange the sun, capable of anything. Could the Heavenly Mansion Daoist Scriptures really be stronger than the incantations I know now?"
Zhao Yue'er shook her head, thought for a moment, then explained, "Not exactly... Mm, let me give you an example. The Lightning Control Art you are learning now is like a blunt axe. As long as you slowly familiarize yourself with it and continually study it, it will naturally become incomparably sharp in the future. It will also become one with your will—summon it and it comes, dismiss it and it goes. Its power can be great or small as you please. But the Thunder Thousand Miles recorded in the heavenly scriptures is like an axe that is already incomparably sharp, except it is extraordinarily heavy. Its power will certainly be astonishing when you wield it, but it is too powerful for you to control. You could very easily hurt others and yourself."
Zhao Yue'er bit her lip. "Still, this kind of spell would be truly suitable for dealing with that old Daoist from the Emei Sect. What a despicable, shameless old bastard. Once Senior Brother and the others recover from their injuries, we will not need to wait for Father and the others to leave seclusion. We can go directly to the Emei Sect and demand justice. If it had not been a sneak attack, how could Daoist Wu Shen have succeeded so easily?"
Li Feng fell silent for a while before asking somewhat awkwardly, "The old Daoists are all right, aren't they? Didn't they say Master's Golden Core was nearly shattered?"
Zhao Yue'er shook her head repeatedly. "Don't worry, they're fine. Their True Essence was merely depleted too severely, and their physical injuries were too serious. I opened Father's Alchemy Room and took out eight Heaven Grade Two Spirit Pills, Nirvana Pills, for Senior Brother and the others. Once they divide and consume those pills, then recuperate with other spirit medicines, they will recover completely in half a year at most. During these six months, you can learn more powerful spells and choose some that your current level can use. When we go to Mount Emei, you'll be included too. I know you want to teach their disciples a lesson."
Li Feng nodded repeatedly, a vicious aura appearing on his face. Zhao Yue'er looked at his suddenly sinister expression and was startled inwardly. What kind of life did Fengzi live as a child? How could he have such fierce baleful intent buried so deeply in his heart? Eldest Senior Brother Ling Guangzi may be dull-witted to the extreme in his dealings with people, but his art of discerning people is extraordinarily subtle. Yet he said the same thing Mother did. That really confuses me... Fengzi is usually as amusing as Little Cat in front of me, isn't he?
Lost in thought, Zhao Yue'er led Li Feng deeper into Qingyun Flat. Along the way, they passed the Nine Yang Gathering Yuan Array and the Heavenly Spirit Spring. Zhao Yue'er waved her hand, dispersing strand after strand of white mist to reveal a small gorge. The two of them, with Little Cat in tow, crossed directly through the gorge and arrived somewhere Li Feng found utterly incomprehensible.
Stars filled the sky here, while strange ripples of energy permeated the surroundings. As Li Feng walked, he felt almost as though he were floating through water. He even seemed able to hear faint hissing sounds in his ears as those nearly tangible energy waves passed through his body. Beneath their feet was the ground—no, there was no ground at all. They walked through black void, and with every step they took, a ring of white ripples spread from beneath their soles toward limitless horizons.
Li Feng was stunned and could not help asking, "Where is this?"
Zhao Yue'er said solemnly, "The true core of the Yiyuan Sect. When Yellow Dragon True Man, the Chan Sect immortal who founded our sect, shattered the void and ascended during the Investiture of the Gods War, he cleaved open this Lesser Celestial Realm using half of his own True Essence. It exists in the mortal world, yet at the same time lies along the road to the immortal realm. Even among the Daoist Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens, this is the place closest to the immortal realm. It is also where Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy is most abundant, and where immortal spiritual qi occasionally spills forth."
Li Feng swallowed hard. Unless one saw the real thing, it was impossible to know just how powerful the Yiyuan Sect truly was. The place closest to the immortal realm? That meant the force required to shatter the void during ascension would be much smaller, while the power of the Heavenly Tribulation would weaken considerably as well... To put it simply, being close to the immortal realm was like standing at its front gate. The Heavenly Tribulation was like a bomb. Those immortals were not fools—would they use an overly powerful bomb at their own doorstep?
Especially that so-called immortal spiritual qi—it was a treasure ten thousand times purer than the spiritual qi of the Nascent Soul realm. So long as a cultivator could absorb a single thread of immortal spiritual qi, even if he were thrown into a place utterly devoid of spiritual qi, like a desert, he could still form a Golden Core within a hundred years. Li Feng licked his lips and muttered, "My god, why aren't any Yiyuan Sect disciples cultivating here?"
Zhao Yue'er shot him a sidelong glare and muttered, "What do you mean, none? Whenever I enter seclusion, I cultivate here. But this place cannot be disturbed by too many people. If more than three people enter at once, fluctuations in True Essence could cause the energy here to become unbalanced. In the end, the entire Lesser Celestial Realm could collapse. So usually Mother brings me here to cultivate. Senior Brother and the others only come in occasionally to consult the records."
The two of them and Little Cat continued forward across the pitch-black ground. Little Cat was greatly puzzled by the white ripples appearing beneath her paws. She lowered her face close to the ground, only to suddenly discover that it reflected her own face. Frightened, Little Cat frantically swung her right paw and smashed at that tiger face on the ground. "Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss!" Countless white ripples scattered outward. When Zhao Yue'er turned back and saw it, she burst into laughter.
"Idiot, that's you. Stop hitting it... There are things here that cannot be explained. Obviously there is only void beneath us, yet it is like a mirror and can reflect many things. Especially things we have never seen before. I've heard that sometimes you can even see the past and future here, though I don't know whether that is true."
Li Feng froze. "You can see the past and future?" An exceptionally wicked thought immediately surfaced in his mind. If I'm lucky, wouldn't I be able to see whether, two hundred years from now, you'll be holding my son, and my son will call you Mother? Heh heh... Still, that would depend on luck. As he thought, the notions in Li Feng's head grew increasingly improper. At last, he could not resist asking, "Master, I'm just curious. Can cultivators marry and have children too?"
Zhao Yue'er's body paused. Tilting her head, she shot Li Feng a glare and examined him for a long while before pouting. "Hmph, hmph. Why are you asking that? I know you find it strange that Mother and Father had me, but you have to blame Father for that. While refining the Seven Orifices Supervisory Grass, he aroused the jealousy of heavenly demons, who slipped into his heart-sea through the subtle gaps and ignited his inner yang true fire. It nearly turned several hundred years of painstaking cultivation into nothing. Fortunately, he and Mother were cultivation partners who practiced dual cultivation. Mother used her pure yin True Essence to assist him, and after three years, they refined the heavenly demon in his heart. His cultivation advanced greatly, but he also accidentally leaked a little primal yang, which was how your Master came to be."
Li Feng suddenly understood. "Oh, so the sect master suffered qi deviation." He immediately drifted into thought. Damn it, if I were disturbed by a heart demon once too, wouldn't I be able to... with Master... heh heh... But at my current level, those extraterritorial heavenly demons probably wouldn't even look twice at me. Sigh, even stirring up inner yang true fire would be difficult.
After continuing forward for around twenty li, a gentle violet glow suddenly shone from ahead. Li Feng looked closely. A violet pillar of light descended from some unknown height in the heavens. Dots of transparent spiritual radiance drifted back and forth within it, while powerful spiritual qi surged out in wave after wave. Enveloped by the pillar was a small courtyard without walls. Within were little bridges and flowing water, mountains and waterfalls. Beneath the mountains stood an exquisite residence, its jade corridors adorned with wire inlay and openwork patterns of birds, flowers, grasses, and trees. The residence appeared to have only five or six rooms, with black tiles, white walls, and green window frames, exuding a uniquely tranquil feeling.
The two humans and one tiger entered the courtyard on light feet. At last, Li Feng set foot upon solid earth. He took a breath and nearly choked to death on the abundant Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy. The spiritual qi here was almost liquid, filling the space around them. Li Feng felt as though he had been submerged in water.
Zhao Yue'er pointed at the winding stream. "Look carefully. That isn't water. It is Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy in liquid form."
Li Feng froze. Liquid spiritual qi? He suddenly understood how he should continue cultivating at the Early Qi Condensation stage. He had already entered the wondrous innate realm from the acquired realm and could communicate well with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy. So long as he did not use spells and merely punched and kicked like an ordinary martial artist, his true qi would basically never run dry. What he had to do now was continuously condense his True Essence, condense it again and again, until quantitative change became qualitative change. Then it could transform into Misty Violet Qi and finally form a Golden Core.
If he could not refine his True Essence and simply remained at his current level, he would be no more than an innate master of the martial world—and might not even be a match for one. Although he had stolen two secret manuals from the bedroom of the previous Mount Hua Sect master, he had never practiced them and did not understand a single move.
That was idle talk. Once Li Feng grasped this realization, joy surged through his heart. He watched the stream flow to its end, where it immediately transformed into dots of spiritual radiance and scattered away, like a waterfall flowing upward into the sky. Myriad-colored light shone from within that radiance. Li Feng threw back his head and laughed three times. "Ha! So this is what the Qi Condensation stage is about... Hahaha, this young master finally understands!"
Zhao Yue'er smacked the back of Li Feng's head and shouted, "You idiot! You only realized it now? What did you even read those Qi Refining formulas for?... All right, pick a room and go in. You cannot take the Daoist Scriptures out of here, so you can only memorize them here. Let me warn you especially: you must never practice spells or refine magic treasures here, or the spiritual qi you draw in may burst you to death. At most, you can refine qi here, and it is best not to do so for more than one shichen each day. The spiritual qi is too dense for you to adapt to yet."
Li Feng nodded repeatedly, while Little Cat had already sprawled on the ground and closed her eyes in meditation. That was Little Cat's cultivation posture.
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