Since Feng Yingbai Set the Three-Month Deadline…
Drowning in grief was completely useless. After guarding Feng Yingbai for half a day, Gu Shi resumed his cultivation, pushing himself even harder than before. Now he only slept for two hours a day, heading out to hunt fierce beasts the moment dawn broke. Previously, he had held back his strength, but now he fought with reckless abandon, leaving the beasts with just a single breath left to sustain them. Three months passed, and not a single fierce beast remained within a radius of five hundred miles. Gu Shi had also successfully advanced to the Great Completion of the Golden Core stage.
During those three months, Feng Yingbai never woke up once. The temperature inside the cave dwelling grew increasingly high, to the point where even Gu Shi’s Golden Core Great Completion cultivation could not withstand it. That heat was not merely high ambient warmth; it was a heat capable of scorching the soul. He tried every conceivable method, yet he could not lower the temperature. The small fish in the pond had long since died. Finding the sight irritating, Gu Shi scooped them out and tossed them outside.
Gu Shi had also attempted to carry Feng Yingbai out of the cave dwelling, but the moment he reached the cave entrance, he was blocked by a layer of fiery barrier. Even with all his strength, he failed to shake the barrier in the slightest, and when he merely reached out a finger to touch it, the skin on his fingertip melted away instantly.
Feng Yingbai’s condition grew progressively worse, his entire body visibly withering away until he was reduced to a mere layer of skin. Gu Shi was frantic with anxiety yet utterly helpless, leaving him with no choice but to wait for the arrival of the three-month deadline. He clung to a sliver of hope; since Feng Yingbai had set the three-month deadline, there had to be a reason for it.
On the day the three-month deadline arrived, Gu Shi did not go outside, choosing instead to guard Feng Yingbai within the sweltering cave dwelling that felt on the verge of combustion. It was unbearably hot. During this period, he wore only a thin gauze robe inside the cave, but thinking that Feng Yingbai might wake up, he had specially put on an outer garment today. Yet the heat was so intense that he soon pulled it loose and disheveled.
Waiting all the way until afternoon, just as Gu Shi’s hope was gradually extinguishing, Feng Yingbai suddenly let out a miserable shriek and opened his eyes. In a single instant, sweat broke out all over his body, soaking him thoroughly as if he had been fished out of water, his hands gripping the bedding beneath him so tightly that the veins on his hands bulged like thick cords.
Startled and at a loss by this sudden turn of events, Gu Shi hurried to call out, “Senior, what can I do to help?” Before he could finish his sentence, a scorching force abruptly seized hold of him. Feng Yingbai flew up from the bed and bit down awkwardly and forcefully onto Gu Shi’s lips, chewing savagely on the tender flesh as if to vent every ounce of his bodily agony.
Gu Shi’s mouth was filled entirely with the taste of iron and blood; he couldn’t tell whose it was. His lips and tongue ached as though they were about to be bitten off, and fresh blood dripped from Feng Yingbai’s mouth in a steady stream, his facial features ferocious and distorted.
Gu Shi tightly embraced Feng Yingbai, feeling as though he were holding a red-hot mass of iron meant to sear him through and through. It was agonizing, but Gu Shi didn’t let out a single sound. If this could alleviate Feng Yingbai’s pain, he was willing.
Yet Gu Shi had overestimated himself. The already scorching air began to burn without warning, and he felt as though his bones, blood, and soul were all burning and trembling. This was no ordinary fire. The pain was beyond his endurance, and his agonizing groans could no longer be suppressed as he cried out in loud, piercing wails.
More and more fresh blood flowed from the corners of Feng Yingbai’s mouth, leaving him without even the strength to hold Gu Shi as he tumbled heavily onto the ground. Panicking, Gu Shi rushed forward to support him, but the moment he got close, Feng Yingbai suddenly raised his head to look at him, gave a fierce wave of his hand, and sent a rush of scarlet heat up Gu Shi’s throat, causing a mouthful of fresh blood to spray out.
A flash of white light swept past before his eyes, and the scorching temperature abruptly receded. When he opened his eyes again, he was already standing in the forest outside the West Continent Secret Realm. The terrifying, purgatorial sensation had faded, but Gu Shi was gripped by overwhelming panic, shouting loudly, “Senior, Senior.”
His voice merely startled the birds in the forest, sending them flapping their wings away into the distance with a rustling sound.
Unable to find the entrance to the secret realm anywhere, Gu Shi could only wait in place.
Meanwhile, inside the secret realm’s cave dwelling, the flames grew increasingly fierce, unleashing a full backlash of the energy that had previously been suppressed. Flames imbued with the power of the laws tightly locked onto Feng Yingbai. Blood spread outward, and his flesh began to melt; he couldn’t even scream out his agony. He lay distorted upon the ground, his body gradually dissolving until it finally transformed into a mass of scarlet fire that drifted mid-air to condense into a fiery red cocoon.
Suddenly, the cocoon split open, and a pair of burning wings emerged from within, a piercing cry piercing the vault of the sky. Immediately afterward, flames carrying the power of the laws locked onto it once more, dragging it down to the ground. The moment it landed, the phoenix transformed back into a human shape. Bizarrely, after undergoing such torment, his lip color was actually a shade ruddier than before.
Passively bathing in fire, passively reborn. Every single time brought purgatorial agony; the phoenix rising from the ashes meant an increase in cultivation with every trial.
He did not know how many times it repeated, nor how long had passed, perhaps half a month, perhaps three months, or even longer, until Feng Yingbai’s power was sufficient to suppress the array formation, and the cave dwelling finally quieted down once again.
Feng Yingbai stood within the pitch-black cave dwelling; even the star stones that illuminated the cave roof had been burned to fine ash. With a casual wave of his hand, a majestic surge of spiritual power surged straight toward the firmament, and the next moment several shining star stones fell into his palm. With a flick of his wrist, the star stones embedded themselves into the ceiling, driving away the darkness. There was nothing left inside the cave dwelling. Looking at the bare, desolate cave, Feng Yingbai’s eyes were very calm, as if he had long since grown accustomed to it.
Still wearing his pure white gauze robe, he walked over to the corner of the cave dwelling and began digging slowly. His patience was remarkable; the pitch-black soil stained his hands black as well, but he paid it no mind.
After digging for a long time, he excavated a large pit in the ground. At the bottom of the pit lay a storage bag. Feng Yingbai retrieved it, placed it on the ground, and then slowly filled the pit back up.
Feng Yingbai patted his hands, and the soil clinging to him vanished instantly. He opened the storage bag, took out the two jars of wine inside, and opened them to sniff, and they smelled fragrant. He dipped a finger into the wine jar to taste a drop, but the spicy sensation made him uncomfortable, so he set the wine aside. Then he dumped out all fifty thousand superior-grade spiritual stones from the storage bag in one go, piling them into a small mountain on the ground.
Feng Yingbai picked up a spiritual stone and held it up against the star stone light; it was crystal clear, with spiritual energy flowing like white mist inside, looking exceptionally pretty. Following the memories, he had flipped through, Feng Yingbai used the spiritual stones to construct little trinkets: a small house, a little horse, a little pig, and a long sword.
The years were long; within the cave dwelling there was neither wind nor sound, making no distinction between day and night. He needed a very, very long time to slowly grind away the passage of time.
On the other side, after emerging from the West Continent Secret Realm, Gu Shi immediately sensed a faint sign of a breakthrough. However, worrying that the heavenly tribulation would impact the West Continent Secret Realm, he kept it suppressed. Yet after holding it back for merely three days, it became impossible to contain any longer. The spiritual power within his body surged out of control, threatening to break through his meridians, which made Gu Shi very uneasy. As a cultivator, how could he possibly fail to control his spiritual power?
Gu Shi could not figure it out, and nor did he have the time to puzzle it out now. This tribulation lightning arrived with extraordinary speed and fury. Dark clouds churned, violent winds rose, and the heavenly lightning illuminated the entire firmament, as if intending not only to make up for all the tribulations he had previously avoided, but also to set things right with a vengeance.
With Feng Yingbai’s status unknown, Gu Shi dared not bring him any further trouble, and immediately flew toward the deeper, denser parts of the forest.
The anomalies in heaven and earth naturally drew the attention of various sects.
The Yuandao Sect, located closest to the West Continent Secret Realm, was the first to detect the abnormality. Almost instantly, Gu Yan, Wen Qingtang, and Yu Chanxin left the sect together, hurrying toward the West Continent.
Along the way, Gu Yan’s expression was grim. “The West Continent has never produced such a massive commotion.”
Yu Chanxin remarked, “Not just the West Continent; no one across the entire cultivation world has ever stirred up a spectacle this huge. Whatever Gu Shi is doing over there, he is bound to encounter a great opportunity.”
Wen Qingtang was full of worry. “Cultivation emphasizes steady, grounded progress. It has only been half a year.”
Yu Chanxin, on the other hand, was unconcerned. “A supreme fire spiritual root, cultivating right inside the West Continent Secret Realm, fast progress is perfectly normal.”
Wen Qingtang still had reservations. “Even if time inside the West Continent Secret Realm moves a month for every day outside, counting it fully it has only been twenty years. The only two Nascent Soul powerhouses in the world spent at least a thousand years cultivating, and they were also one-in-a-million favored sons of heaven.”
Yu Chanxin said, “Things have come to this; worrying is useless. Let’s just wait for the outcome.”
A few moments later, the Wuxiang Sect also received the report: a suspected Nascent Soul powerhouse had appeared in the West Continent Secret Realm and was undergoing tribulation lightning.
Yan Huayu, Sect Master of the Wuxiang Sect, immediately furrowed his brow. “Did Shen Yunsheng go to the West Continent?”
Chen Ci had just received the news from a disciple and answered him, “Yes, but he is currently with his sect disciples, so it isn’t him.”
Yan Huayu’s brow knitted even tighter. “To think that such an unknown powerhouse still exists in this world.”
Chen Ci naturally understood his concern. A Nascent Soul powerhouse was fully capable of shifting the geopolitical landscape of the world; this person had to be kept under their control. If they could not be controlled, the individual would have to fall prematurely.
He stated, “It is absolutely impossible for a Nascent Soul powerhouse to appear in the cultivation world without a sound. It can only be someone coming out of the West Continent Secret Realm. I will take the little red bird and go take a look, trying our best to bring them into the sect. If that fails, we can only do what is necessary.”
Chen Ci made a throat-slitting gesture. Yan Huayu meant precisely that: “Shen Yunsheng is in the West Continent; have him handle it. Make sure the job is done cleanly.”
Chen Ci replied in a deep voice, “Rest assured, Senior Brother, I know what I’m doing.”
Yan Huayu urged, “Take more people with you.”
“I know.”
Stepping out of the council hall, Chen Ci went to the spiritual herb garden and woke up the sleeping little red bird. “Little fatty, let’s go, time to work.”
The little red bird rolled its eyes, flapping its wings to kick straight at his face. Chen Ci skillfully raised a hand to block it. Over the past half year, the little red bird had eaten well and lived comfortably at the Wuxiang Sect, growing a full-size rounder and gaining strength in its talons, yet it still couldn’t scratch Chen Ci.
When the little red bird first arrived at the Wuxiang Sect, it found everything fascinating and constantly bossed Chen Ci around to tour various parts of the sect. Aside from not letting it leave, Chen Ci catered to its every whim. After a month, the novelty wore off, and the little red bird’s favorite two places became the scripture pavilion and the spiritual herb garden. It grew especially fond of a lush white tree in the herb garden, so Chen Ci built a spacious, two-meter-wide birdhouse for it up in the branches.
With its own birdhouse, the little red bird acquired a new hobby: frequently foraging around to pick things it liked and dragging them back to its little home. From Yan Huayu’s Sect Master token down to outer disciples’ glass beads, if it took a fancy to something, nobody was getting it back. On the day the Sect Master token was stolen, Yan Huayu had even sneaked in to retrieve it while the bird was out, but the little red bird caught him while he was sleeping and nearly pecked his eyeballs out. To this day, the Sect Master token still served as the front door of the birdhouse.
If even the Sect Master couldn’t get his belongings back, others dared not even dream of it.
Chen Ci casually picked out a few gemstones and glass beads from the birdhouse, handed them to the little red bird, and coaxed it gently, “Come on, let’s go meet an old friend.”
With that, paying no heed to whether the bird was willing or not, he hurriedly led it and his sect disciples toward the West Continent.