Chapter 257: The Most Pressing Matter
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"There are three things that I insist you must take note of," Lin Feng looked at Xiao Yan and impressed upon him, "Firstly, you are still not exactly adept at merging the fires, so you should not use it as you wish. You should know very well that this is still an incomplete technique that you have not mastered completely."
Xiao Yan nodded; he agreed with this judgement: based on his current level of mastery, the risk of merging the fires remained high like walking on a tightrope. If something was amiss, and he failed to merge the fires, he could end up immolating himself.
Merging the two Primordial Flames was his ultimate killer move. Unless absolutely necessary, he would not use it.
Lin Feng put up two fingers, "There are two ways to get around this: the first one is to reduce the strength of the flames after merging. Use two flames – one is the Grand Sun Primordial Flame and the other is the fire formed using your own Mana – and this will increase the stability and safety of the fires. Of course, the impact will drop."
Xiao Yan nodded, "You are right. The Nefarious Spectral Primordial Flame is too savage. On its own, it is still usable. But as soon as it is merged with another fire, there is a multiplied increase in the safety risk."
Lin Feng continued to say, "The second way to get around this is by raising your level of Mastery. I predict that, when you reach the final level of the Aurous Core Stage, you will have a success rate of more than 70 per cent when merging the two fires."
"One day, you will successfully complete the Soul Formation, and enter the Nascent Soul Stage. When it comes to merging the two fires, it should not be a problem to you at all then."
Xiao Yan replied seriously, "I will put in great effort to practice. Even if I am not at Mount Yujing and Master will not be around to push me, I will not slack off, not even a bit."
"I am glad that you recognize the importance of this too," Lin Feng nodded his head satisfactorily, before continuing, "The second matter that I am going to tell you – you need to be mentally prepared."
"During your journey to search for Zhener this time round, it might not be a smooth one and many unexpected things might happen. If indeed an accident happens, you must bear in mind to never have conflicts with Xiao Zhener’s family."
Xiao Yan frowned slightly. Lin Feng took a look at him and said, "Based on the letter Xiao Zhener left for you, her family background is a unique one. A small mistake, and it will be a huge setback for you."
Lin Feng continued slowly, "I am not asking you to suffer in silence and swallow all the insult and humiliation. I just want to remind you to consider each of your action thoroughly and to not behave rashly. You should not let any conflicts escalate. In fact, you should do your best to not let them happen in the first place."
"If you suffer any indignities or humiliation, always remember that you are my disciple. We, the Celestial Sect of Wonders members, will never let others take advantage of us!"
At this point, Lin Feng raised his hand and did a motion in the air, "And this will be the third matter that I want to tell you."
He used his Mana to produce a talisman mid-air. Once it had taken shape, the talisman fell into Xiao Yan’s hand.
"If you find yourself in a very tricky situation, you don’t have to suffer alone. Our sect will always be your pillar of support and we will always back you," Lin Feng said with a calm expression, "Carry this talisman at all times with you. If something happens, crush it and I will immediately sense that something is amiss."
"This talisman has the ability to locate you in any space or dimension. It will inform me your exact location. Even if you are not in the Greater World, or if you are trapped in any Middle World or even any void, I can still determine your exact location."
Xiao Yan accepted the talisman solemnly, and said softly, "Master, please rest assured that I will not forget your words."
Lin Feng nodded, and then laughed loudly, "Go, my silly boy. Go and bring home my daughter-in-law. I will be waiting for both of you to pour me some tea when you marry her."
Xiao Yan was a prideful person and laughed after hearing this, "Master, just wait for my good news."
Xiao Budian chuckled beside them, "Big Senior, are you going to bring home a little sister-in-law for me?"
Xiao Yan laughed, "You silly boy, you should not be calling her ‘little sister-in-law’, she will be your big sister-in-law. She is definitely older than you."
Yue Hongyan also laughed, "Wishing Big Senior the best in bringing home the beauty."
"Thank you, Fourth Junior Sister, for your auspicious remarks," Xiao Yan laughed heartily as a pair of flaming wings extended on his back, taking him on a flight to the sky, "Master, I take my leave now!"
Watching Xiao Yan gradually become a small dot and eventually disappear from the sky, Lin Feng sighed and rubbed his eyebrows.
He thought of the letter Xiao Zhener left for Xiao Yan and smiled bitterly deep down, "I also want my spouses, many of them. I want spouses with lots of nuptial gifts!"
Lin Feng shook his head, and turned to look at Xiao Budian, thinking, "Hmm, it will be quite a while before this little boy can swindle on my behalf to get nuptial gifts?"
Looking at Xiao Budian, Lin Feng thought of Wu Qingrou and Prince Chong Yun, and subsequently of the name that even he had heard of plenty of times.
The Man with Polycoria, Shi Tianyi.
Not only within the Shi family, not only within the Great Qin Empire, the entire Divine Lands, the entire Grand Celestial World, his reputation was known to everyone like thunder piercing the ears.
The Shi family and the Great Qin empire had the Alternate World Time Zone which expedited the passage of time. Accordingly, even if it was based on the Alternate World Time Zone, Shi Tianyi was only fourteen or fifteen years old.
It was notable that this teenager of the age of fourteen or fifteen had long reached the peak of the Aurous Core Stage. Long ago he secluded himself from the outside world again, this time hoping to ascend to the Nascent Soul Stage.
In the course of human history, very few can be compared to him in the speed of cultivation.
As crude as it sounded, even if he were to pass away now, he would still enter the history books as a legendary person.
Lin Feng’s Celestial Sect of Wonders disciples were already reputable for their peculiarity and aberrant abilities. The only ones who could match them, if not eclipse them, would be the Great Void Sect and Shi Tianyi.
And Lin Feng had sufficient reasons to believe that Shi Tianyi’s Aurous Core must have its uniqueness.
Shi Tianyi had stolen Xiao Budian’s Supreme Spiritual Altar a few years back. That, coupled with his unparalleled and outstanding talent, had ensured his remarkable achievements thus far. Combining these two factors, and given that no accident happened, Lin Feng would wager a bet that he would not only form the Purple Pill but that his Purple Pill would differ from the rest.
With such a strong foundation, coupled with his remarkable talent and the Shi family’s dedication in nurturing him, his ability and powers would certainly enable him to challenge cultivators from other realms and stages. In fact, his actual fighting ability far superseded the average Aurous Core Cultivators.
"Xiao Yan’s matter has come to an end for now. Even though Zhu Yi will be back to the Great Zhou Empire to take part in the examination soon, he and the Marquis of the Xuanji, Zhu Hongwu, are still in stiff relationship," Lin Feng considered carefully, "The most pressing matter at the moment should be regarding Xiao Budian."
To be fair, Xiao Budian had already cultivated the Aurous Core at a young age of merely eleven. If one must compare, Xiao Budian was arguably more aberrant than Shi Tianyi.
Not long after Xiao Budian’s birth, Shi Tianyi and his mum dug up his Supreme Spiritual Altar. That meant that Shi Tianyi had started directly from the middle level of the Foundation Establishment Stage.
And after encountering that disastrous event, Xiao Budian was already almost four years old when he first met Lin Feng. By that time, Shi Tianyi, who was at the Intermediate Foundation Establishment Stage, had already been cultivating diligently for more than three years.
Having already had a starting point ahead of the rest, together with a longer cultivating period, Shi Tianyi’s impressive achievement today was not without reason.
On the other hand, despite the huge gap between them, Xiao Budian could catch up with Shi Tianyi so fast. It was indeed a feat that he could catch up with him to where he was today.
Without a doubt, though, if the trajectory of things continued the same way, the gap between them would remain, unless Shi Tianyi’s Soul Formation was never successful and he was stuck in the final level of the Aurous Core Stage for a few years.
However, judging from Shi Tianyi’s talent and speed of cultivation in the past, it was unrealistic to hope that he would stagnate at the final level of the Aurous Core Stage for Xiao Budian to catch up.
"The little boy has to quicken his pace of learning and increase his powers," Lin Feng thought hard, "But, more haste, less speed. I must be mindful of that. If I am too obsessed with progressing through the stages fast, and his foundation is not good enough as a result, then I would only achieve the opposite effect."
He raised his head to look at the sky and said suddenly, "Jieyu, please stop."
Black Dragon Jieyu followed his command and stopped mid-air. Lin Feng said to his disciples, "You all wait for me here." Then, Lin Feng disappeared from Jieyu’s back. He teleported through thousands of miles in altitude, appearing above the clouds. He continued his flight higher into the sky.
Soon, Lin Feng had reached the Heavenly Squall Layer above the Nine Heavens.
Here, the place was covered in the Nine Heavens Formless Squalls that could literally destroy anything.
The squall here was drastically different from the Nine Heavens Formless Squall cultivated through the Aeolus Sect Mantra, with the former clearly overpowering the latter. The Nine Heavens Formless Squall that the Aeolus Sect Cultivators were cultivating was formed by acquiring a small bit of squall using their individual powers and then combining it with their own powers.
But only here in the Heavenly Squall Layer, the Nine Heavens Squall was the authentic and original one. It could tear literally tear through anything. Even Immortal Soul Cultivators might not survive it once within, much less Nascent Soul Cultivators.
The danger it posed was comparable to the Void Storm in the Void’s Turbulent Flow which made all cultivators cower at the sound of it.
Lin Feng arrived at the place and, by forming Celestial Small Worlds with the Heaven-revolving Purple Clouds, attempted to take away a small part of the Nine Heaven Formless Squall. However, his Celestial Small Worlds were instantly destroyed completely by the Nine Heavens Formless Squall.
"Incredible indeed," Lin Feng raised his eyebrow, extended both of his hands and opened up his arms.
On his left, he wielded the Fences of the Heaven; on his right, he wielded the Dual Dimension Vacuum Charm.
First, he used the Fences of the Heaven to insulate a space. The violent squall was momentarily cut off. Then, he used the Dual Dimension Vacuum Charm to immediately substitute the space at which a small part of the Nine Heavens Formless Squall was. This had the effect of removing the small part of squall from the Heavenly Squall Layer.
All of these were completed almost all at once in an instance. Right after that, the violent squall managed to break through the barrier formed by the Fences of the Heaven, resuming its normal flow.
And at this point, Lin Feng performed a different charm with his hands and formed the Celestial Small Worlds again. He used the Celestial Small Worlds to trap the part of the Nine Heaven Formless Squall that he managed to separate.
The most primitive, but also the most powerful Nine Heavens Formless Squall did not cease its turbulent flow even though it was now trapped within the Celestial Small Worlds. It churned non-stop like an unbridled wild horse, trying to break through the Celestial Small World and escape from it.
But Lin Feng decisively strengthened the Celestial Small Worlds, thus effectively trapping the squall within.
"Having the squall alone is not enough," Lin Feng mumbled to himself. With a long wail, the bright light above his head opened up as a small child rose up slowly. His look resembled that of Lin Feng closely – clearly, he was Lin Feng’s Nascent Soul!
The Nascent Soul came out of Lin Feng’s body and pointed his short and fat arm at the sky. Thunder started to rumble in the Nine Heavens.
The next moment, a merciless flash of lightning passed through space, directly striking Lin Feng.
Lin Feng felt confident and was not nervous at all. He dealt with the Lightning Tribulations the same way he dealt with the Nine Heavens Formless Squall.
First, he used the Fences of the Heaven as a barrier, then he used the Dual Dimension Vacuum Charm to detach a part of the lightning, before finally trapping it with the Celestial Small Worlds.
Once he had collected enough Squall and Lightning, his Nascent Soul returned to his body. Despite being immensely powerful himself, his face started to show some exhaustion.
What he had been through today was almost tantamount to braving through the Lightning Tribulations multiple times.
"Nonetheless, it was all worth it," a smile appeared on Lin Feng’s face. He passed through space before returning to Jieyu’s back. He looked at a confused Xiao Budian with a wide grin, thinking, "Little boy, be prepared to face my specially designated torturous training regime."
Xiao Budian was not sure what was exactly happening, but when he saw the grin on Lin Feng’s face, he could feel a chill run down his spine and trembled uncontrollably.