Chapter 1036: Imminent Battle
"The gray one is the samsara cycle vision." Zhang Fei [5] raised an eyebrow as soon as Tang Ying said that. Although he was not a religious person, he naturally knew the meaning of the samsara cycle, which shocked him. "You're right, I can pierce through the veil of reincarnation and witness the past lives, karmic burdens, and lingering soul fragments of any living being—humans, beasts, or demons. Throughout my life, I have met several reincarnators, but there is only one person who terrifies me the most."
"Feng Yao."
Tang Ying nodded at Zhang Fei [5]. "Among all the reincarnators I have encountered in the past, Feng Yao stands out as the most terrifying, having experienced numerous reincarnations. Her soul power was too terrifying, and she could destroy the souls of all living creatures that exist now if she wanted to. Moreover, there is a powerful female fire spirit by her side, and she is no less terrifying than her master."
"Huo Ling."
"That female fire spirit is far more terrifying than you can imagine." Tang Ying looked scared when she said that.
"Hmm?" Zhang Fei [5] himself had long been aware that Huo Ling was not an ordinary fire spirit. "What exactly is her identity?"
"Huo Ling is the spirit of the Primordial Flame."
Zhang Fei [5] froze, and his eyes widened in shock after hearing that. Back then, Feng Yao told him that the primordial flame once existed in the Temple of Forgotten Flames established by the primordial beings, but it suddenly disappeared several million years ago. Moreover, the flame is the lifeblood of the Forgotten Land, and that place became isolated after it disappeared.
"Master." Tang Ying looked at Huo Diqiu, who had just come out of Zhang Fei [5]'s body. "Master, if this woman is correct that Huo Ling is the spirit of the Primordial Flame, that means the flame never disappeared in the first place, and it is inside Feng Yao's body now."
Zhang Fei [5] nodded at him with a serious expression. "No wonder Feng Yao's mastery of the fire element is so amazing, and her flame power is also incredibly terrifying. Uncle Luo said that the people in the past nicknamed one of her reincarnations as the Flame Spirit Empress, Huo Yanling. Moreover, her first identity was a primordial being, Shen Yuanzhi, so it was natural that she had the ability to take on the Primordial Flame."
"Then, why did the two of them lie to you, Master? They said that they didn't know anything about the disappearance of the Primordial Flame, but in fact Huo Ling is its soul, which means the flame is in Feng Yao's hands now."
"Phew." Zhang Fei [5] exhaled heavily. "I don't know their real purpose in lying to me, but we don't need to think about them now. The two of them have long since gone to the Paradise Realm, so they are far beyond my reach now, and I will focus on myself for now."
"All right then." Huo Diqiu immediately entered Zhang Fei [5]'s body.
Zhang Fei [5] then asked Tang Ying. "Has Feng Yao ever said anything to you, Senior? I'm sure she knew your abilities, and she wouldn't just keep quiet about it."
"Feng Yao never said anything about my abilities." Zhang Fei [5] gave Tang Ying a distrustful look. "Instead, she ordered me to wait for you, and she also ordered me to help you improve your soul power."
Zhang Fei [5] folded his forehead. "Why did Feng Yao order you to wait for me? Why did you obey her orders?"
"Do you think I dare to refuse her orders?" Tang Ying responded by shaking her head. "Feng Yao didn't enslave me or do anything else to me, but her and Huo Ling's strength frightened me so much. Therefore, I chose to obey her order, and I kept waiting for you to come to this realm."
"When did Feng Yao order you?"
"The day she left for the Paradise Realm. Additionally, she asked me to follow you when you go to that realm in the future."
"Two years ago, huh?" Zhang Fei [5] muttered to himself as he thought about Feng Yao's reasons for helping him to that extent. "Where did you get the Eyes of Samsara technique?"
"Guess it." Tang Ying responded with a smile.
Zhang Fei [5] immediately guessed it without thinking twice. "You are a reincarnator, and your technique is your past technique."
"You are right that I am a reincarnator, but the technique is not my past technique, and I obtained it after my soul entered the circle of reincarnation." Zhang Fei [5] found it hard to believe that Tang Yin obtained such a powerful technique after her death. "Even though I am a reincarnator, I do not have a deep understanding of reincarnation and the like, so I cannot explain the details to you. However, I did not lie to you, and I obtained my technique at that time."
"Can you teach me?"
"No." Tang Ying shook her head. "Even though you have died once, you have never entered the circle of reincarnation, especially since that little girl revived you. To learn the Eyes of Samsara, you must have experienced a real death and passed through the circle of reincarnation once, so I can't teach it to you. How about you bring me into your space? Your soul power will increase faster if we dual-soul cultivate there, right?"
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After he contacted Wei Xiaoya and informed her about it, Zhang Fei [5] immediately brought Tang Ying to the pavilion, and the two sat together in the main garden. The two immediately held hands, as did their souls.
Zhang Fei [5] then activated his soul domain, surprising Tang Ying a bit. "My soul domain has almost the same effect as my lust domain, and it will boost the results of our dual-soul cultivation by about twofold. Since your soul power is much higher than mine, my soul power will probably break through to the early stage of the Venerate Soul level soon. However, that is not enough for me, and I want to reach the Divine Soul level as soon as possible."
"Your cultivation and soul power have already far surpassed the cultivators of your generation, so why do you have to be so hasty?" Tang Yin responded by shaking her head.
Zhang Fei [5] released a soft sigh. "Strong enemies keep appearing to block my path, and they won't give me time to relax. For now, I have many allies to sort out my problems, but they won't be able to help me forever, especially when I go to the Paradise Realm. Therefore, I have to let go of my dependence on them, and I must keep improving myself to reach their level as soon as possible, or I will die at their hands."
"All right, let's start now, and I will help you increase your soul power." Tang Ying frowned when Zhang Fei [5] sat her on his lap. "What would you do?"
"Nothing." Zhang Fei [5] shook his head and closed his eyes. "Let's start."
Tang Ying did not speak further and closed her eyes, and the two of them began their dual-soul cultivation.
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Meanwhile, the ancestors of the Cao, Sima, Bao, and Gu Clans gathered in one place. Almost all of the gathered ancestors were gloomy and furious due to the incident a week ago when Serpentera destroyed their chimeras, while only Gu Changsheng remained calm and unperturbed by the situation.
"What should we do now?" Cao Yunbai asked the others. "I, Cao Feihong, and all my clansmen have been trying to find the mastermind since a week ago, but we still haven't found any clues. I suspect that the mastermind is more than one person; one of them blew up our passageways, and the other wiped out our chimeras."
"What can we do?" Bao Yundong shook his head in response. "It took us a few months to create one chimera, but our hundreds of years of hard work were destroyed in a single day, and we still don't know the identity of the mastermind."
"I think we focused too much on finding the masterminds, and we overlooked other factors." All of them turned to Sima Huiqing directly. "I've checked the main city before, and I found a shop that had not been opened for long. The natural races own that shop, and they sell a lot of extraordinary pills there. However, I couldn't go there, so I ordered Sima Yunfeng to check it out, but they forbade members of our four clans from entering. He tried to force his way in, but he suddenly sensed a deadly aura locking him in, forcing him to retreat."
"A deadly aura?"
Sima Huiqing nodded to them. "I tried to find the owner of that aura, but that person blew my senses away. However, I felt strange because that person didn't attack me, and he or she also didn't say anything to pressure me. Perhaps that person just wanted to protect the shop and didn't want to do anything else, so I doubt that person was one of the masterminds."
"Where did you find that person?"
"I didn't find the person, and he or she found my action, so I don't know his or her exact location." Sima Huiqing's answer left all of them deep in thought. "Do you know anything about that person, Old Gu?"
"Yes." Gu Changsheng nodded at her. "I also sensed the presence of that person about three weeks ago when I checked the eastern forest, but that person didn't do anything and only scared me, so I gave up my intention to investigate further."
"Three weeks ago?" Cao Yunbai and others looked at Gu Changsheng with a frown. "What were you doing in the eastern forest at that time? Why did you never mention anything to us?"
"Didn't you listen to Old Sima just now? Do you think that person wouldn't find out if I mentioned him or her to all of you? That person didn't do anything to me, but I could feel my death when his or her aura suppressed me, so I chose to keep this matter to myself." Sima Huiqing stopped the others when they wanted to ask Gu Changsheng again. Regarding my reason for going to the eastern forest, I sensed a change in the Gu insect that is inside Ju Xing's body, which prompted me to investigate it. However, the formation protecting the forest was very powerful, and that person scared me away when I wanted to try to break it. After reflecting on everything, I came to believe that the mysterious person was the protector of the natural races, so we should think twice about messing with them."
"To be precise, that mysterious person is Jia Yuyan's protector."
Cao Yunbai nodded in agreement with Sima Huiqing. "You are right, Old Sima. Jia Yuyan is a cultivator from the Paradise Realm, and she herself is much stronger than us. However, we do not have any in-depth information about her, so the mysterious person is most likely her protector. Since we cannot defeat them, we should wait for Ren'er to bring Qi Lai to this realm, and he might be able to do something about them. If he can get rid of them, we will no longer need those chimeras, and we will attack the Tian Clan and other clans head-on."
"Do you think we'll make it?" Bao Yundong asked skeptically.
All of them shook their heads at him because they didn't have the answer themselves. Cao Feihong then spoke. "Ren'er will arrive in this realm in a week, so we should disperse now and prepare our members. The success or failure of our plan will depend on whether Qi Lai can defeat Jia Yuyan and that mysterious person. If he succeeds in defeating them, we will make our move immediately, but we will have to postpone it if he fails to do so."
"All right, let's disperse."
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Inside the cave, Shangguan Lizhi smiled with satisfaction because she had experienced significant improvements in the past week, especially after she swallowed Zhang Fei's beast pills.
"You've become stronger, Lizhi." Shangguan Lizhi nodded to Tian Junfeng, who had just arrived. "That kid's basic pills are truly potent, and everything about me is stronger now. However, your changes are more significant than mine."
"Unlike you, I am a divine beast, and Yan'er also gave me that kid's beast pills, so my improvement is much more significant than yours." Shangguan Lizhi patted her side, inviting him to sit with her. "What about those people?"
Tian Junfeng shook his head at her. "I don't know what happened within their clans a week ago, but Cao Yunbai and the others were panic-stricken now. Jingxuan told me that their members kept checking all corners of this realm, but their search was only in vain because that kid was hiding in the eastern forest, and they didn't dare to check there because of Jia Yuyan."
"I see." Shangguan Lizhi nodded in understanding. "If I'm not mistaken, Cao Ren will return to our realm soon, and he brought a cultivator from the Paradise Realm with him. Although that kid has brought his acquaintances to this realm, it is our responsibility to protect our home, so we must prepare our clan members for the worst. Yan'er should have prepared them, but I don't know about your clan."
"Haha." Tian Jufeng laughed at that. "Jingxuan is not really stupid, so he and the others have prepared all their members. For now, we just need to wait for Cao Ren to return, and the big battle will happen then."
Shangguan Lizhi released a soft sigh. "I actually hate fighting because many lives will be lost, but we have no other choice. If we want peace to return to this realm, we must get rid of the Cao, Sima, Bao, and Gu clans."
"Me too." Tian Junfeng then laid Shangguan Lizhi on the bed. "Once this matter is over, we will come out of our seclusion and formalize our relationship, and we will bring our two clan members to the Moon Tower afterward."
"Yeah." Shangguan Lizhi then gave him a kiss until it moved on to intimate activities.
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Another week passed, and three notifications woke Zhang Xiaolong [3] from his cultivation.
[Congratulations! Your water element has been upgraded to the advanced stage.]
[Congratulations! Your water elemental law has been upgraded to the half-perfection stage.]
[Congratulations! Your ocean flesh scripture has reached the intermediate stage.]
Zhang Xiaolong [3] immediately opened his eyes, but he could not find Qian Shuang at the bottom of the life pond. After he got out of there and got dressed, he immediately opened the gate and returned to the main city.
Zhang Xiaolong [3] then went to the Shangguan Clan, where Shangguan Yan was gathering with Duanmu Luolan and the others. To his surprise, Leng Xueyan was also in that clan, and she had come to look for him on purpose.
The three women told him that their members were ready to fight, and they only needed to wait for Cao Ren to arrive in their realm.
Leng Xueyan wanted to talk to Zhang Xiaolong [3], but she felt awkward talking to him, especially because of her relationship with Zhang Fei [5]. Moreover, they were facing serious problems ahead of them, so she chose to wait for everything to settle down.
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[Congratulations! Your wood element has been upgraded to the intermediate stage.]
[Congratulations! Your wood elemental law has been upgraded to the intermediate stage.]
Zhang Fei opened his eyes after the two notifications appeared, and he turned to look at Jia Yuyan, who was looking at him with a smile. He gave her a brief kiss before returning her body to normal condition. "We've been dual-cultivating for almost two full months, so you should be satisfied now, right?"
"Hehe." Jia Yuyan giggled as she nodded. "Honestly, I'm still not satisfied, but Cao Ren is almost arriving in our realm, so we should stop first to settle them. Moreover, your other wives are waiting for you in the Star Tower now, and they'll think that I'm monopolizing you if you're gone for too long."
"Yeah, you're right." Zhang Fei took Jia Yuyan out of bed to get dressed. "I will send you back to your realm, and I will return to the Star Tower."
"Yeah."
- To Be Continued -