The body that went to Heaven Mending Pavilion was the one represented by the Da Wa Panel, dressed in understated black robes.
When the time came, Deer-Chasing Academy, as a leading power, would also arrange for people to enter the Hundred Broken Mountains. Xiao Tian was confident that his other body, the Sixth Calabash Brother's Body, could enter the Hundred Broken Mountains as well.
Seven and a half months later!
Xiao Tian's Sixth Calabash Brother's Body traveled eight hundred thousand li and arrived at the foot of an immortal mountain wreathed in purple mist and crowned with splendid halls. Though Deer-Chasing Academy was called an academy, it stood atop the mountain. From afar, all the spirit mountains were shrouded in purple haze, with clouds billowing and rosy light streaming through the swirling violet vapor. Everything appeared hazy and indistinct. Halls stood upon the peaks, ethereal as an immortal realm, detached from the mortal world.
Even in the outer reaches, he could sense how extraordinary this place was. It was every bit the equal of the forbidden grounds where his Xiao Family's Sacrificial Spirit resided. Green peaks rose over emerald valleys, clear springs chimed and burbled, and lush vegetation flourished. Many plants seemed to possess spiritual awareness, with tiny gleams flowing over their branches and leaves.
Just then, the cry of a Five-Colored Luan Bird rang out. This bird also possessed cultivation at the spirit transformation realm. It was the very Primordial Remnant he had encountered in the Void God Realm, the one the War Goddess used as her mount.
When enemies met, their eyes blazed especially red.
A Five-Colored Luan Bird was a bird, after all, and loved flying freely through the sky. Thus, the War Goddess had told it that Xiao Tian would be coming and asked it to keep an eye out for strangers approaching Deer-Chasing Academy over the past few months while it flew.
As the saying went, perseverance rewarded the determined bird. The Five-Colored Luan Bird had truly waited him out-more than half a year!
Five-colored flames flowed over the Five-Colored Luan Bird as it dived straight toward Xiao Tian. Its azure claws gleamed with the cold sheen of bronze. Clearly, this Primordial Remnant, whose intelligence had long since matched a human's, wanted revenge and intended to seize the chance to teach Xiao Tian a lesson.
Xiao Tian had long anticipated something like this. Unhurried, he manifested white wings of light, like an angel descending in holy radiance. The blazing flames around him became a midday sun. A white-hot Great Sun hung across the sky, scorching all ten directions, its powerful aura making many people tremble. He easily evaded the Five-Colored Luan Bird's attack.
After its strike missed, the Five-Colored Luan Bird grew angry with humiliation. It was a spirit transformation realm Primordial Remnant! At this boy's age, even if he was a prodigy, what did it matter if he had opened eight Heavenly Grottos at most?
It traced a graceful arc through the air, truly a darling of the skies. Trailing a five-colored rainbow, it appeared before Xiao Tian again in an instant and reached for him with its sharp claws. Today, it would seize this brat like prey and deliver him to Big Sister Meiren for a lesson.
The War Goddess had raised the Five-Colored Luan Bird from childhood. It was two months younger than her and had always called her big sister.
"Stupid bird!"
Blazing holy light flowed around Xiao Tian, dazzlingly brilliant. His hair looked as though it had been dusted with bright silver powder, and two rays of fierce silver radiance shot from his eyes as he snapped those words.
He raised his fist and struck straight at the Five-Colored Luan Bird's reaching claws, refusing to yield an inch. His fist was like a towering mountain, majestic and immovable, yet also like a Great Sun crashing toward it, so brilliantly radiant that no one could look directly at it.
"Clang, clang..."
The Five-Colored Luan Bird cried out in pain. Its great claws, seemingly cast from bronze, spasmed involuntarily. It felt as though it had collided with a Primordial Divine Mountain.
Xiao Tian leaped lightly onto its back. Using some of Da Wa's divine abilities, he enlarged his hand and gripped its neck. His voice was gentle, yet brooked no argument. "Take me to the War Goddess. I don't want to injure you. That would make Meiren sad."
The Zuo Commentary, Duke Zhuang's Twenty-Second Year: "The phoenixes flew together, their harmonious cries ringing clang, clang."
The Luan Bird felt that this fellow was simply a Pure-Blooded Fierce Beast wearing human skin. He was terrifying. That blow had even awakened its ancestral memories. It had sensed the aura of the fierce beast White Marsh: a radiant Great Sun, the virtue of a king, upright and luminous.
You sound so gentle, but you're still squeezing my neck.
What's so great about you? Isn't it just showing you the way?
Hmph. Scoundrel.
The Luan Bird indulged its pride, inwardly cursing Xiao Tian and feeling considerably better. It had learned that last word from the War Goddess. Lately, it had often heard her use it to curse that rotten seed, Xiao Tian.
Xiao Tian could not read minds and had no idea the Five-Colored Luan Bird had so much inner drama. He could sense quite a few people studying him from the shadows, probably mountain-guarding elders of Deer-Chasing Academy or the like.
After all, he was still three li from the foot of Deer-Chasing Academy's mountain. The mountain was quite tall, at least three thousand meters high. Its summit already pierced the clouds, wreathed in mist like an immortal realm.
Riding the Five-Colored Luan Bird, he headed toward the private courtyard where the War Goddess cultivated. From afar, he could see silver waterfalls cascading and ancient trees towering overhead, their branches vigorous and powerful like coiling dragons. Aged medicinal plants and spirit herbs dotted the grass, filling the air with rich fragrance. Spirit birds danced overhead, rare beasts roamed, and divine springs burbled.
There were also lush lawns like neatly laid green carpets, winding paths leading into secluded depths, fragrant flowers and trees, and pools so clear he could see the bottom, where fish swam at leisure. This was a fine place.
One breath filled him with abundant spiritual energy. No wonder so many great powers were willing to send their disciples to places like this to study. Deer-Chasing Academy was as renowned as Heaven Mending Pavilion. In the original story, Heaven Mending Pavilion had been destroyed, while Deer-Chasing Academy remained. That alone spoke volumes about its foundations.
Xiao Tian reckoned that Deer-Chasing Academy must also have a powerful Sacrificial Spirit protecting it.
Chasing the deer: heroes rose together to contend for the realm.
"Qin lost its deer, and all beneath heaven pursued it."-Records of the Grand Historian, Biography of the Marquis of Huaiyin.
The land was picturesque, its beauties enchanting; with golden spears and armored steeds, heroes chased the deer beneath heaven.
The name alone told him that this school surely believed strength reigned supreme.
Xiao Tian soon saw the War Goddess. Today, she had changed into a long azure dress, with an azure silk sash softly outlining a waist slender enough to encircle with one hand. Her dark hair was slightly tousled by the wind. She lacked the sharpness of their first meeting and possessed a little more gentleness, yet she remained indescribably beautiful. Like an azure lotus in full bloom, she stood peerless and apart, an elusive orchid in an empty valley.
The War Goddess felt that an extraordinary prodigy like Xiao Tian was worth the trouble of a proper conversation, so she could help him see reason.
Her master, who was both Deer-Chasing Academy's headmaster and her grandfather, had also discussed the matter with her.
In the end, her grandfather had suggested that, as a young woman, wearing armor all day could make a young man feel pressured and ignite his fighting spirit.
Thus, the headmaster had advised her to change into feminine attire and have a proper talk with Xiao Tian. Ideally, she would persuade him to stay at Deer-Chasing Academy. In recent years, competition between Deer-Chasing Academy and Heaven Mending Pavilion had been fierce. They badly needed an extraordinary prodigy like Xiao Tian, especially when that Bear Child would be joining Heaven Mending Pavilion.
Of course, the War Goddess might have thought her grandfather was merely making a casual suggestion, taking his words at face value. In truth, the old man was very likely looking for a grandson-in-law.
The old headmaster knew his granddaughter's strength perfectly well. For that boy to tease her three times in succession and finally make her leave the Void God Realm in anger, he naturally had to possess something exceptional.
The War Goddess's parents had fallen in the Hundred Clans Battlefield years ago, leaving behind only their three-year-old daughter, Yu Meiren.
This had become an eternal ache in the heart of her grandfather, the old headmaster Yu Fengxiang.
Perhaps because of an old man like him, combined with Deer-Chasing Academy's combative culture, the War Goddess had grown up like a boy. She fought to be first in every battle, was fierce and competitive, and cultivated with extraordinary diligence. At fifteen, she had already become the new generation's senior sister representing Deer-Chasing Academy in the outside world.
As soon as the Five-Colored Luan Bird discovered Xiao Tian, Yu Fengxiang had hidden nearby to watch secretly. He had even driven away the other elders who came after hearing the news.
Xiao Tian's performance pleased Yu Fengxiang immensely. He was powerful and domineering, yet knew when to advance and retreat, keeping everything under control. He had subdued the Five-Colored Luan Bird with ease. Through a secret technique, Yu Fengxiang had also determined that Xiao Tian was only twelve.
He was just right for his granddaughter-a talented groom and a beautiful bride.
If this boy matured, Deer-Chasing Academy would have a worthy successor. Even when his own allotted years ran out, he could smile in the netherworld.
Of course, that depended on luring both the boy himself and his heart into Deer-Chasing Academy.
On this point, the old man was quite confident.
For the first time, the War Goddess, Yu Meiren, was wearing an ordinary dress to meet an outsider. She felt terribly awkward and could only keep a cold expression and remain silent.
Yet this made her even more beautiful, so much so that Xiao Tian could not bear to speak and disturb that tranquil, secluded serenity.
He leaped lightly down from the Five-Colored Luan Bird's back. Once it landed, the bird immediately whimpered and scurried over to the War Goddess, full of grievances, to complain.
"If you can't beat him, I might not be able to either."
The War Goddess spoke very seriously.
She was someone who took things very seriously. As a Primordial Remnant, the Five-Colored Luan Bird had clear innate advantages. In a fight against someone in the same realm, it held an edge even over some accomplished Human Race geniuses.
Measured by the blood moving realm and cave heaven realm, most Primordial Remnants could reach the thresholds of eighty thousand jin and eight Heavenly Grottos. This was their racial gift.
As for true ancient Pure-Blooded Fierce Beasts, ninety thousand jin and nine Heavenly Grottos were normal. With some effort to bring out the advantages of their bloodlines, one hundred thousand jin and ten Heavenly Grottos were the standard of their heritage.
The Human Race had first pursued these realm limits precisely to catch up to the combat strength of ancient Pure-Blooded Fierce Beasts.
In this world, myriad races rose together. The Human Race was merely one race among them, and one born at a disadvantage.
For example, even the young of an ordinary wild beast could walk on their own after a brief rest.
Human Race infants, on the other hand, could wither away at the slightest mishap, more delicate than flowers.
Fortunately, the Human Race was not without strengths: intelligence, comprehension, and the fact that the human form was among the forms closest to the Dao. Many living beings were willing to assume human form in the final stages of their cultivation.
"Fairy!"
Xiao Tian wore blue robes, as open and bright as the sky. With a jade-like bearing and looks handsome enough to make women jealous, he spoke with elegant grace.
For some inexplicable reason, seeing Xiao Tian like this reminded the War Goddess of herself at that moment, dressed in these clothes and feeling utterly uncomfortable.
Their first meeting had felt more genuine.
Back then, Xiao Tian had been imposing, bold and unrestrained, heroic and domineering. He had made a powerful impression on the always competitive Yu Meiren.
Ever since childhood, the War Goddess had felt that no man beneath heaven was worthy of her.
The present Xiao Tian did not feel like himself.
"Big Sister Meiren, are you stunned by my air of 'a man like jade upon the path, a young lord without equal in the world,' and this peerless face with dragon brows and phoenix eyes? Don't worry. I'm used to it. Look all you like. We have plenty of time."
Xiao Tian took out a folding fan, snapped it open, and spoke with a warm smile.
The War Goddess, Yu Meiren, could not help rolling her eyes. Now she could be certain: it was indeed this scoundrel.
(End of chapter)
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