Beginning with the Ubume Bird

Chapter 143: Chapter 42 Sifan’s Invitation

Outside of the Fruit Deity Divine Jiazi Nine Hundred and Eighty-Four, the Feather Lord, in just a few words, took all matters upon himself.

However, in Yan Capital City, there was no room for error.

Bang!

Li Yan pushed open the temple doors and, accompanied by the wind and snow, stepped inside, his eyes sweeping the room.

The rich aroma of grain porridge burbled gurglingly in the iron pot, boiling with taro and other grains.

Lady Dan’s eyes shifted in response.

“My lord.”

Nine-Winged Sudu spoke out loud.

Lady Dan’s expression remained unchanged as her eyes met with Li Yan’s, giving a slight flicker.

Be careful.

Li Yan nodded and turned his gaze toward the man in the corner holding a sea bowl.

The man’s hair was disheveled, dressed in a wrinkled suit, swallowing large mouthfuls of hot porridge from the bowl.

Having encountered the strange, pale streamers along the way, Li Yan did not hesitate to use “A Fleeting Glimpse” on this man.

No reaction…

The man seemed to notice, pausing in his eating; he lifted his head, his mouth still smeared with porridge drips.

“I can’t use ‘A Fleeting Glimpse,’ so I just wanted to make sure, you are Li Yan?”

Nine-Winged Sudu craned her neck outwards, her view tightly blocked by Lady Dan.

“You’re looking for me?”

“Not exactly, I had heard of you before, just didn’t expect to run into you by chance.”

Li Yan fell silent for a moment before speaking softly, “Renegade?”

The atmosphere suddenly tensed.

The man blew on the steam rising from his bowl, his features reflected in the broth, presenting an exceedingly indifferent face.

“Having seen Taishuai, it is not strange you recognize me.”

The man smiled openly.

Li Yan pulled a carrot from his pocket, bit off a large chunk, and asked with a smile, “Brother, what do they call you?”

“Sifan, Feng Yi.”

Feng Yi, an ice deity, the spirit of the Yellow River.

“Sifan, is it an organization?”

Li Yan asked with evident interest. With his back to Lady Dan, he gestured with his palm outwards, indicating that it was an opportunity to leave quickly.

“Lingerers outside the realm of the Yan Fu Fruit, the stronghold of the Renegades.”

He held up his sea bowl to Li Yan.

“What do you say? Interested in joining us?”

“Me? What merits do I have?”

Li Yan laughed it off.

“Don’t sell yourself short; not everyone can have a 90% proficiency in the ‘Ten Cities.’

After a pause, Feng Yi continued, “The name Taishuai is the most painful scar for us in Sifan. We pay extra attention to everything about her, including you.

Before coming here, someone told me there was no need to seek you out deliberately, that it didn’t matter if you were dead, but if I happened to encounter you, I was to ask if you’d be willing to join Sifan.”

Li Yan gave an equivocal smile, not uttering a word.

“Think about it. We are serious.”

The gaze of Feng Yi was piercing:

“Yan Fu has the Ten Masters, Sifan also has the Eight Sufferings. Birth, aging, sickness, death, sorrow, lamentation, sadness, Hate Parting, Resentment Club, Unobtainable.”

“Two years ago, one of the Eight Sufferings, the Suffering of Death, Taishui Yu Shu rebelled against Sifan, and the Ten Masters took advantage of the situation. Birth, Old Age, Sickness, and Resentment Club died in battle, leaving Sifan greatly weakened. The positions of the Eight Sufferings were vacated, five spots in total.”

“You should understand, whether it’s the Ten Masters or the Eight Sufferings, these aren’t just hollow titles; they represent real coronets of power and strength. If you stay in Yan Fu, for a long time you won’t be able to reach this level, after all, the current Feather Lord has even forcefully suppressed the Fur Master, who once topped the Five-Insect Class. The chances of you wresting the position of Feather Lord from his hands are nearly impossible.”

“However, if you’re willing to join Sifan, as the newly appointed ‘Birth’ Suffering, I will recommend you to inherit the ‘Death’ Suffering.”

Li Yan thought for a long while before beginning to speak, “I have a few questions I’d like to ask you?”

“Go ahead.”

“Did you kill Pei Yunhu?”

“Hmm, that’s correct,” Feng Yi admitted crisply. “The imperial decree is also in my hands.”

Li Yan’s heart sank; his current situation was even worse than when Pei Yunhu was alive.

He then asked, “What is your aim?”

“I want to pave a way out for my people.”

“A way out?”

“Do you know why we are called Renegades?”

Li Yan shook his head.

Feng Yi explained, “According to legend, in Nanyan Futi, the precious tree that nurtures the world, each fruit represents a brand-new world, and the essence of Yan Fu Fruit, the source containing endless possibilities and vitality, is known as Yan Fu Fruit Core.”

“Normally, one only has a chance to obtain Yan Fu Fruit Core after a fruit naturally withers away, but…”

Feng Yi opened his palm, an eerie deathly pale color undulating within it.

“The power of Sifan is unique in Yan Fu, capable of stripping clean the flesh of Yan Fu Fruits.”

“Fruit falling off signifies the removal of the flesh from Yan Fu Fruit, leaving behind only the Yan Fu Fruit Core.”

“But because of this, some people call us the pests of Yan Fu.”

Feng Yi’s smile remained bright.

“Stripping the flesh and extracting the Yan Fu Fruit Core is something I’m doing for the first time as well. According to my predecessors, even a small-sized fruit ranked after five hundred holds a Fruit Core so rare, it cannot be compared to ordinary ‘legendary’ objects. With the Yan Fu Fruit Core in hand, Sifan is confident in breaking through Hou Tu’s blockade and returning once more to the Yan Fu world.”

Feng Yi snapped his fingers: “However, you’ve been only quoting my words without showing any intention of bargaining with me. It seems you’ve decided to decline my invitation.”

Li Yan pondered for a while before slowly speaking, “I…”

The temple bell sounded loudly!

The candlelight flickered wildly, cymbals hummed, and the flame atop the sandalwood incense burnt away a significant portion with a bright red glare.

Unknowingly, it was already midnight.

Midnight boiled over.

“Dong~”

A chubby kid wrapped in a red bellyband jumped down from the incense table, his belly touching the ground and bouncing like a ball, plump and round, terribly cute.

Feng Yi lowered his head, locking gazes with the chubby child.

The child pulled a face, kicked over the brass candlestick, and scampered outside, chuckling merrily.

Dozens of plump, fair-skinned children started making noise all at once, jumping down from the incense table, each one mischievously playful.

They tugged at the yellow drapes, ate the offering fruits, and a few even climbed onto the rafters, using the small ritual flags to poke at the straw on the roof, loosening many tiles.

Feng Yi frowned, his gaze fixed on these kids who had appeared out of nowhere.

Lady Dan tilted her face upward. Above the great hall, where the eyes of Yunxiao Lady were tightly closed, all the wooden sculptures of children that originally surrounded her were indeed nowhere to be seen.

“Clang! Clang!”

As the golden striker hit the chime stones, the chubby children turned their heads, saw a pretty, stern face, then quieted down and scampered into the darkness to vanish from sight.

The girl, with one hand on her hip, wearing a treasure-blue dress and twin pigtails, held the golden striker and shook her head helplessly.

In the side hall, a nanmu shrine inlaid with auspicious cloud patterns stood empty.

Only after the children had disappeared did she turn to look at the several people in the room, her voice crisply asking, “Are you visitors here to offer incense or to draw lots?”