The Sealed Genius

Young Master Nicholas, whom everyone in the family had always regarded as a useless cripple incapable of cultivation, had actually been overflowing with talent before the age of seven. He had once been considered by the current family head, Derek, to be a genius rarely seen in the family in a thousand years.

Yet because of the firm opposition of Nicholas's mother, Doreen, Nicholas had never been allowed to cultivate any technique. And for some unknown reason, Derek had actually tacitly permitted it. He had even deliberately sealed off the news, resulting in there being no third person in the world, aside from Nicholas's birth parents, who knew Nicholas had been a genius before the age of seven.

And in the year Nicholas turned seven, on the night before his mother Doreen died, Nicholas had been called over by her. In the end, after exchanging only a few words with his mother, he had fallen unconscious.

After he woke, his mother had already passed away, and Nicholas's meridians had begun to clog, thoroughly turning him into a useless cripple incapable of cultivation.

And Liu Feng was not unfamiliar with this technique of using energy to clog the meridians. From his memories, he learned that this was actually one of the extremely rare, heaven-defying techniques on the Falan Continent—the Seal!

The reason Nicholas had become a cripple was not because of any innate flaw, but because he had been sealed by someone when he was seven!

Having deduced this, Liu Feng's entire body began trembling violently, and a deep look of horror appeared in his eyes.

The Seal technique had enormous restrictions on its use. One had to reach Saint Rank strength to perform it, and even then, not every Saint Rank expert could use it. It appeared extremely rarely on the continent.

Moreover, because the Seal itself was an exceedingly cruel technique, its use was forbidden on the continent.

And now, this Seal technique had been used on a child of barely seven years old. What a terrifying thing was that?

Who was it? Who had been so cruel as to completely seal a youth who might have been a genius into a cripple? Amid his shock, Liu Feng also grew confused.

Judging by the time and place at which the matter had changed, the greatest suspect was undoubtedly Nicholas's mother, Doreen. But from his memories, Doreen seemed to have been a weak woman without any strength at all. Besides, how could a mother be so cruel as to seal her only child, turning him into a cripple mocked and humiliated by others day after day?

Liu Feng could not understand it, and he dared not think too deeply about it. The more he thought, the more he felt an inexplicable chill enveloping his whole body. Even though Liu Feng had always been bold, at this moment he actually felt an incomparable terror.

"Could there be some unknown secret hidden behind this?" Liu Feng gasped for breath, and after finally managing to suppress that immense panic, this conjecture surged into his mind.

The more he thought about it, the more possible this conjecture seemed. Moreover, only this could explain something that looked so cruel and strange.

But what kind of secret was it? After his panic passed, incomparable curiosity welled up in Liu Feng again.

Unfortunately, he could no longer find the slightest clue in Nicholas's memories.

"Young Master Nicholas, why are you still here? The butler sent me to invite you to dinner!" Just as Liu Feng was still deep in thought, an honest, low voice rang out behind him.

Following the voice, a young man with black hair and black eyes, a head of messy black hair, a rough appearance, and an extremely sturdy build well over two meters tall appeared behind Liu Feng.

"Turner, I don't want to eat for now. Go eat by yourself!" Without turning his head, Liu Feng knew who had come. The reason was simple: within the Count's Mansion, the only person who would call Nicholas "Young Master" and even add the word "invite" was Turner.

Turner, eighteen years old, was said to be of the Barbarian race. Several years ago, he had been bought back from the slave market by Derek, the current head of the Palister Family, and had become Nicholas's attendant—his only attendant.

"Young Master, your body is already weak to begin with, and you still haven't recovered from the injury last time. How can it be all right if you don't eat?" Turner grinned honestly, his gaze sincere. In this mansion, only he had never shown even the slightest decrease in respect because his young master was a cripple.

"Fine, then let's go eat!" Liu Feng sighed helplessly and stood up from the pond.

Turner was good in every way except that his mind was rather stubborn. If Liu Feng did not go eat, this big fool would absolutely keep persuading him like this forever. Liu Feng did not want to die yet—at the very least, he did not want to be nagged to death by an otherworldly version of Tang Sanzang.

"Where are we eating?" Liu Feng had just put on his clothes when he thought of this question.

A flash of anger passed through Turner's eyes, and the big fool answered in a muffled voice, "We'll... we'll eat in the kitchen!"

A grand young master had to go to the kitchen to eat? Liu Feng froze, and memories flashed through his mind.

The Palister Count's Mansion naturally had a dining hall, and it was even decorated very luxuriously. However, that place did not belong to Nicholas. Ever since his mother died ten years ago, Nicholas, the eldest young master of the Count's Mansion, had never eaten a single meal there.

In the words of Second Young Master Gilbert, "A cripple sitting in the family dining hall with its glorious history to eat—don't you feel ashamed? Even the ancestors feel ashamed!"

So from then on, the place where Nicholas ate was changed to the kitchen, a place where the servants dined.

"Forget it, Turner. Just get some food and send it to my room!" Liu Feng said with a helpless sigh.

Although Liu Feng did not mind where he ate, he also could not be bothered to go look at the mocking faces of those servants.

After dinner, the sky had already grown late. Liu Feng's body had only recently recovered, and on top of that, the changes in his mind and spirit had truly been too great. Drowsiness could not help but surge up, and he fell asleep in a daze.

A genius before seven, a cripple after seven; a mother whom everyone had always believed to be a weak woman might actually be a terrifying Saint Rank expert; sealing her own son; that strange necklace that did not match his status; the Magic Beast Crystal Core inside his body...

All sorts of jumbled things kept tangling in Liu Feng's mind, and he actually had countless strange and absurd dreams.

In the end, Liu Feng dreamed that he had turned into an enormous monster, and he was even shouting, "Gaga, I'm a freak! I'm the freak!" His manner was so wildly arrogant that he seemed unmatched under heaven. Then, a huge group of strangely dressed people holding all kinds of weapons began shouting as they chased him down...

With a jolt, Liu Feng woke from the nightmare. He wiped away cold sweat and found that the sky was already bright.

After breathing out deeply several times, Liu Feng shook his head hard, forcefully throwing those jumbled things out of his mind. Then he washed his face with cold water, and his spirits finally felt much better.

After eating the breakfast Turner brought over, Liu Feng had Turner stand guard outside the door and allow no one into the room. He once again sat cross-legged on the ** and began circulating the Devour skill.

Since he knew this body was not born crippled, Liu Feng began to gain confidence in cultivation.

Although the Seal technique was basically unsolvable in the eyes of others on the Falan Continent—unless one found an expert above the Sub-God Rank, which had not appeared on the Falan Continent for several thousand years, to break it—for Liu Feng, it was not much of a problem.

Because the Devour skill Liu Feng cultivated was precisely the bane of all energy, and what had been sealed inside his meridians was still energy, only there was quite a lot of it.

Liu Feng believed that as long as he was given some time, he could absolutely dissolve that energy bit by bit, thoroughly open up his meridians, and restore this body to normal.

His terror toward this world, coupled with his extreme desire for strength, left Liu Feng with no time to think about anything else. He could only suppress all his thoughts and throw himself wholeheartedly into cultivation.

The Devour skill slowly began to circulate inside his body. Perhaps because it had already absorbed a bit of energy yesterday, the Devour skill's power was now slightly greater. As soon as it began circulating, Liu Feng could clearly sense the sealed energy slowly being drawn out by him.

Knowing that this clumsy method really did work, Liu Feng's confidence grew even stronger, and he began circulating it with incomparable focus.

Strands of glowing energy were slowly drawn out from his meridians, then sucked into the energy cluster formed by the Devour skill. As this energy entered, the circulation speed of the Devour skill also became faster, and the speed at which it absorbed energy slowly began to rise...

Several more hours passed without his noticing. Liu Feng's mind had already sunk completely into cultivation, and he only wanted to absorb all this energy as quickly as possible. He did not notice that the Devour skill seemed to have a certain limit to how much energy it could contain. Gradually, this energy no longer entered the energy ring formed by the Devour skill, but instead began accumulating in his sea of qi.

At this moment, the Magic Beast Crystal Core, which had remained dim all along, suddenly lit up faintly, and strands of glowing energy began to be absorbed into it...

Liu Feng did not notice the strange change in the Crystal Core, but this was just as well. The energy in his sea of qi would not accumulate too much and create the danger of his body exploding.

Not until the sky outside had turned completely dark, with another entire day having passed, did Liu Feng still show no sign of stopping. Instead, the Devour skill circulated faster and faster, while the sealed energy also began surging out in large quantities, entering his sea of qi, then being absorbed by the Crystal Core, repeating in this way again and again...

Finally, the energy the Crystal Core had absorbed seemed to reach a certain limit. Suddenly, its radiance swelled violently. Then, after a muffled bang, the originally dim and lightless Crystal Core actually turned into a dazzling little sun, incomparably brilliant.

Liu Feng's body shuddered at the same time, and at last he slowly opened his eyes...