Chapter 252: Old Pond Golden Turtle
“Right, right, right, that’s the name. I heard that my maternal ancestor participated in such a war, but I didn’t know the exact name of it!” Chi Xiaodao continued on with excitement: “You really do know a lot. No wonder why you are here to see my Chi Clan’s ancestral temple!”
“Yep, in order to remember the great hero of the human race and recall the glorious memories of the past!” Li Qiye said while looking at the statue.
The excited Chi Xiaodao couldn’t help but become dejected. He glanced at the statue and softly sighed: “Unfortunately, both my Chi Clan and my grandfather’s clan are no longer the same as before. After my grandfather’s clan fell, he then came to the Eastern Hundred Cities and eventually met my grandmother. They got along well, but our family only had my grandmother as the main descendant. He then passed down the Lion’s Roar Country and Lion’s Roar Gate to my grandfather so, in the end, he became a live-in son-in-law for the Chi Clan.”
Chi Xiaodao couldn’t stop himself from feeling this sad pathos. Both his Chi Clan and grandfather’s clan used to be extremely powerful heritages. Unfortunately, his grandfather’s clan had completely collapsed in the present day. Even though the Chi Clan of now still controlled a country, it was no longer as powerful as before.
“Time is heartless, declination is a part of nature; even a more powerful heritage, like an Immortal Emperor lineage, will not escape from the eventual fall.” Li Qiye smiled and comforted him.
In the end, Chi Xiaodao was a cheerful person. He lifted his head and smilingly said: “You are right. However, I still hope that one day, I will be able to revitalize my Chi Clan!” He clenched his fists as he spoke, but he became melancholic again after thinking about his own situation.
After conversing with Li Qiye, Chi Xiaodao then left towards the old pond again. Li Qiye looked at him and asked with a smile: “Are you staying at this place?”
“No, I stay at another location.” Chi Xiaodao shook his head and replied: “Recently, I wanted to train. I heard that my ancestor used to train near this old pond and became powerful. Starting from this place, he finally became an invincible existence! I want to train at this place to see if I could get pointers from the ancestor’s spirit, to become enlightened and break through my own shackles.”
“I’m afraid your ancestor’s spirit will not be able to guide you from your current situation!” Li Qiye shook his head and continued on: “I know one or two things about your situation.”
“You know–?” Chi Xiaodao suddenly turned around and said with some emotion. Li Qiye smilingly responded: “I can see it. You are stuck at the Soul Creation realm! The most important thing about the Soul Creation realm is to pay attention to the True Fate, to control the Inner Physique, and to support the Life Wheel! However, your Inner Physique cannot control your True Fate! During your stagnation, you can clearly feel a mad force breaking out and suppressing your True Fate, rendering you unable to channel your Fate Palace and thus resulting in a halted blood energy. It should be just like being unable to breathe!”
“… How do you know this?” Chi Xiaodao was extremely shocked. Li Qiye’s words revealed the full extent of his situation — all of the main signs.
Li Qiye elaborated: “Like I said, I like reading ancient texts the most. Regardless of whether it is a random one or a secret scroll, I like them all. I have seen your situation in an old classic; this is the lion biting the turtle from the legends! I understood it better once you explained the situations of your ancestors. You have a Turtle Fate, but also a Lion Physique…”
“The truth is that your Fate Palace is a truly rare type. Most Fate Palaces are King Fates or Saint Fates, but you are a Turtle Fate; this situation is really rare. Meanwhile, your grandfather’s ancestor is Lion Monarch Ba Xian. Even though you didn’t inherit his Furious Immortal Tyrannical Physique, you obtained the Houtian Physique — the Tyrannical Lion Physique. Coincidentally, your Fate and Physique oppose each other — lion biting the turtle! This results in your True Fate not being able to control your physique, thus you are stuck in the Soul Creation realm.” Li Qiye elegantly explained as if he had it memorized just like the palm of his hand.
“Is this curable?” After hearing him outline his situation so clearly, the emotional Chi Xiaodao stared at Li Qiye and urgently asked after witnessing a sign of hope.
Li Qiye pondered for a moment and said: “In a different old book about alchemy, I had seen a method that can change one’s Fate. Your Fate is a turtle and it cannot suppress a Lion Physique. If we can change your Fate and upgrade it one level to a Heavenly Turtle Fate, then it will be able to suppress your Lion Physique.”
“Fate changing!” Chi Xiaodao was in a daze. He had heard of such theories before, but they were out of his reach.
Fate changing was a technique that belonged to the legends. Only Legendary Alchemists and even Emperor Alchemists would be able to change one’s Fate. It was because this was the most profound technique of the alchemy dao.
After hearing this, Chi Xiaodao was like a deflated ball as he lost all strength in his body. He bitterly smiled and said: “Fate changing — this is an alchemist technique only found in the legends. Who will know of such a technique in this world…”
“This is such a coincidence.” Li Qiye calmly spoke: “I coincidentally am practicing a few alchemy arts and maybe I will be able to change your Fate for you.”
“Really?” Chi Xiaodao’s heart trembled after hearing Li Qiye’s words, but he quickly regained his mind and cautiously asked: “What are your conditions? What do you want?”
Chi Xiaodao was very cautious; it was as if he was watching out for thieves. This made Li Qiye unable to hold back his laughter: “It seems like you don’t believe me and think that I am swindling you.”
Chi Xiaodao was a straightforward person. He embarrassingly smiled and said: “You and I met by chance, and it is indeed a bit too coincidental. I have found many alchemists and I was swindled badly by a little thief. He cheated a large number of medicinal materials along with refine jades from me when he swore that he would fix this issue of mine. Thus, you cannot blame me for this. After being fooled once, I have learned to be more cautious.”
“I don’t blame you.” Li Qiye smiled and said: “I would be cautious as well.”
At this moment, the two of them had arrived at the old pond. Even though Chi Xiaodao was wary of Li Qiye, he still didn’t give up. He couldn’t hold it back and asked: “My problem can really be fixed?”
“Do you trust me?” Li Qiye smiled.
“This…” Chi Xiaodao hesitatingly stared at Li Qiye before finally replying: “Frankly, we have just met once. It would be a lie if I were to say that I trust you.”
Li Qiye let out a smile and then looked at Chi Xiaodao to say: “How about this, you will swear for me. Then, I will let you know a secret. You will never tell anyone about this, not even your closest family members. Use your True Fate to swear!”
“This, this is not possible!” Chi Xiaodao shook his head and rejected the idea: “Using a True Fate Oath is too serious.”
A True Fate Oath was not ordinary and would have implications throughout one’s life. They were just strangers, so how could he make this oath!?
“I understand. Wait for a while until you trust me, then it will not be too late to make a True Fate Oath, right? If not, then I can only leave!” Li Qiye smiled and said.
“What could be so serious?” Chi Xiaodao noticed that Li Qiye was not messing around and asked with some confusion.
At this time, Li Qiye was staring at the old pond ahead and leisurely said: “Have you ever been down this old pond?”
“I have.” Chi Xiaodao couldn’t help but shiver after this old pond was brought up, then immediately said: “This pond does not seem that big, but it is unbelievably large down below, just like an endless cavern with countless branches underground — just like a labyrinth. I went down it once and almost died there.”
At this time, Li Qiye stood next to the pond at a specific location and said: “You jump down from here. After diving a bit, you will see many caves. Then, go into the thirteenth cave on the right and keep right. After going into the underground river path at the thirty-second layer, you need to calm your mind and focus to listen. After you hear a particular sound, follow that sound. I trust you will find something nice.”
“Umm…” People would not dare to believe Li Qiye’s words for they sounded just like he was reciting an old tale.
“Jump down!” At this time, Li Qiye put on a solemn demeanor and spoke with an unquestionable and dignified manner.
With a trembling heart, Chi Xiaodao took a deep breath and then jumped down the pond; he suddenly disappeared from sight into the water.
Li Qiye quietly stood next to the pond as his expression became natural. He was at ease again; it was as if he was enjoying the scenery. He had his reasons for selecting Chi Xiaodao. The boy’s nature was not bad and was worthy of passing down some teachings. The more important part was because the Chi Ancestor was extremely loyal to him back then, and he also made great contributions. At the same time, he had agreed with Lion Monarch Ba Xian about having a good karmic relationship with his future descendant back at the Heavenly Ancient Corpse Burial Ground! These two things combined and resulted in a great choice for Li Qiye. Because of this, he selected Chi Xiaodao and will train him for a bit. Whether he will be successful or not will depend on his personal efforts!
Some time later, with a splashing sound, Chi Xiaodao’s head suddenly sprouted from the pond as he excitedly exclaimed: “I found something, I found something! Look, what is this thing?” He was talking while raising his hand at the same time; he was holding an item grasped in his palm.
There was a golden turtle in his hand. It was not big and seemed to be alive. In fact, it was not a living golden turtle but rather a golden colored stone turtle.
Chi Xiaodao jumped up from the pond and opened his palm, then he cheerfully spoke: “It is too amazing. The moment I held this golden turtle in my hand, I felt my halted blood energy flowing again; it was as if this golden turtle was made by the heavens just for me!”
Compared to the excitement of Chi Xiaodao, Li Qiye — on the other hand — was quite calm. This was within his expectations. Only he and the dead ancestor of the Chi Clan knew this secret.
“What is this treasure?” Chi Xiaodao handed the golden turtle over to Li Qiye and asked him with astonishment.
However, Li Qiye didn’t take this golden turtle. He simply smiled and said: “This is yours. This treasure belongs to you. Its last name is Chi.” 1
Chi Xiaodao couldn’t help but become startled. In a short period of time, he changed his expression many times. It all seemed so coincidental and unbelievable.
1. I forgot to make a note about this, but this chapter made it a bit more clear. Chi means pond.