NOVEL NEXT Chapter 52: Departure
When Tianyi returned to the immortal boat, he didn't say anything to Bai Tiezi or Feng'er and instead brought out an immortal flower wine. For the next day, he kept pouring cup after cup.
Bai Teizi wanted to go forward but was pulled back by Feng'er, who shook her head at him. He looked back at Tianyi, who was covered by an unapproachable air. Tianyi's immortal boat only had a single bedroom, but that was his for his own use, so Bai Tiezi and Feng'er stayed on the deck, hugging each other while waiting for Tianyi to speak to them.
The next day, Tianyi smiled at Bai Tiezi, seemingly returning to normal. "My apologies, the Bliss Earth Sect caused me to remember some unpleasant memories, so my mood wasn't quite right."
Bai Tiezi cupped his fist. "Senior is polite. Junior still owes Senior after all this. Dare I ask what sins did the Bliss Earth Sect commit?"
Tianyi secretly glanced at Feng'er before shaking his head. "It will do you no good for you to know. Perhaps you might even be affected by it. In the future, perhaps you will know." Tianyi said. "But the main matters I brought you onto the boat concerns the inheritance of an immortal."
"Immortal's inheritance?" Bai Tiezi spoke those words softly, and he recalled the token he had given Tianyi. "Senior is talking about the immortal's inheritance that token led to?"
Tianyi nodded. "Indeed, I feel that the inheritance is especially suited towards you."
Bai Tiezi's eyes brightened as a thought occurred to him, and his breathing quickened. "Do you mean?"
Tianyi nodded. "Indeed, I want to pass on the inheritance to you."
Bai Tiezi cupped his fists towards Tianyi. "Then I won't be polite. In the future, I will definitely repay this grace!"
He didn't try to decline the offer, even if he had to accrue more debt towards Tianyi. That was how important an immortal's inheritance was. Bai Tiezi didn't have the confidence to pass whatever test the immortal left. For him to receive it through Tianyi was something he had never imagined in his wildest dreams.
Like before, Tianyi directly sent the technique using a strand of his spiritual sense into Bai Tiezi's forehead. And just like before, Bai Tiezi sunk into a daze as his mind tried to digest the information.
Tianyi glanced at Feng'er for a moment before returning to his seat. Speaking of fate, he didn't really have much with the girl. There was nothing outstanding about her that he would notice either. Tianyi returned to his seat and piloted the immortal boat, while Feng'er stayed by Bai Tiezi's side and took care of him.
When Bai Tiezi broke out of his stupor, he released a sigh of admiration at the techniques. Spring Autumn Scripture, just the first few chapters, caused him to have a headache. At a glance, it was obviously superior to the cultivation technique that Tianyi had given him, but he had no confidence to cultivate it. Especially incomplete as it was.
What caused Bai Tiezi to be more excited was the Worldly Ubiquitous Spear Art. Compared to the esotericism of the Spring Autumn Scripture, he comprehended the Worldly Ubiquitous Spear Art far more and gained much from it.
It was only at this moment that Bai Tiezi realized that he was no longer on the boat. He looked around to see that he was in a wilderness and the only structure that was near him was a crudely built wooden house. Bai Tiezi's keen senses alerted him to another presence. Once he saw who it was, he allowed himself to relax.
"Feng'er, senior has?" Bai Tiezi wanted nothing more than to thank Tianyi's grace and sing praises of his magnanimity. He even had an urge to compose a poem about the mysterious senior's kindness! If Tianyi were to ask him if he wanted to be his student, Bai Tiezi would kowtow immediately.
"Senior has already left," Feng'er said, happy that Bai Tiezi had woken up.
Tianyi had dropped the two off in the wilderness after confirming it was safe. Other than helping Feng'er build the wooden house, he left a message for Bai Tiezi before leaving.
"Senior left a message for you." Bai Tiezi's eyes brightened at Feng'er's words. "Junior, I have to go now. What you want to do with the inheritance and the manual I taught you is up to you. If we have fate, may we meet again."
A smile graced his lips. He looked at Feng'er. The message was obvious he could do what he wanted with the manual, including imparting onto Feng'er. The thought had never occurred to him before because when one cultivated a technique, it was under the rule that they would not impart it onto others unless given permission.
Tianyi's word allowed him to do whatever he wanted to do with the techniques. He was endlessly grateful to Tianyi. Not only has he been bestowed an immortal's inheritance, but his life's biggest worry has been solved.
With their sect in such a state, why would the members of the Bliss Earth Sect bother to deal with a minor character like him?
Tianyi's action actually saved and preserved the Bliss Earth Sect. Had he not appeared, the original course of events would have led Bai Tiezi to exterminate the Bliss Earth Sect to the last member and regulate them to mere history on Tianwei Continent.
Bai Tiezi looked up in the sky with slight regret in his voice. "In the end, I didn't find out what senior's name was."
-line break-
Within Tianyi's dantian, his nine spiritual core had stopped moving. Even the spinning Taiji symbol had disappeared. The false cosmos within his body was still as if time had stopped. The reason was soon revealed.
It was only a tiny spark at first, but soon all massive flames engulfed all nine cores.
The Core Formation Realm had three Minor Tribulations: Wind, Flame, and Lightning. The Wind Tribulation polished the spiritual core, and so those who passed the Wind Tribulation are known as Polished Core State Core Formation Realm cultivators.
The Minor Tribulation smelted the spiritual cores, tempering them. Although the spiritual cores would decrease in size, their power would increase instead of decreasing. As such, those who passed the Minor Fire Tribulation were known as Tempered Core Stage Core Formation Realm cultivators.
Currently, Tianyi's nine spiritual cores were shrinking as the flames became larger. Within the flames, the originally indistinct Cores started becoming more and more visible. After an unknown amount of time, the flames dispersed, revealing his nine cores that had regained their original color.
The Eight Yang Cores began to orbit the Dragon Pearl Yin Core once more, and the illusionary Taiji symbol appeared once more. The true qi of chaos it produced became even more formless and transparent, its grade having once again risen to another level.
When Tianyi opened his eyes once more, he looked at the reflection of the full moon reflected on the endless seas. 'My realm is increasing quite fast. It's only been a few months since I left Tianwei Continent, but I've already reached the Tempered Core Stage. Even without me consciously doing anything, I can feel the Heavenly River within me refine the qi around me. It's like those idle apps back on Earth. Even when you leave it off, it will continuously accumulate. Of course, only when you enter the app and use the accumulation will it have meaning.'
Tianyi looked at his hands. Even after the color had returned to them, he still found it strange not to see it an unhealthy shade of white. 'Luckily, even though my cultivation has sped up, I have already found a solution to my greatest problem. I just need to return to the sect and have Mother perfect the method.'
He wasn't arrogant enough to believe that he could create a brand new method alone. His only venture was the Sole Yin, Eight Trigram Yang Core Revolution Formation, and that brought endless problems to him. The martial cultivation method he created—miraculously, he must add—just so happen to counter the problems of the Sole Yin, Eight Trigrams Yang Core Revolution Formation, and vice versa.
It was better to have his mother look at it before he entered the Nascent Soul Realm. He had a feeling that it would only take a year or two. 'Still, why hasn't Mother found me yet. With her power, she should have long found me. Did something happen back at the sect?'
The thought of something happening Xi Mengfei never occurred to Tianyi. Since young, he had heard numerous people regal him with tales of Mengfei's invincibility, and so the thought of her falling never occurred to him at all.
Tianyi stopped the immortal boat. An uncomfortable feeling had assaulted him. It wasn't strong, but to Tianyi, who had been flying upon an endless sea without any change, the feeling that suddenly descended was very obvious.
He frowned as he surveyed the area. His eyes could detect nothing: just the quiet sea, cloudless night sky, and the bright moon. Tianyi released his spiritual sense, and he still couldn't discover anything. Every sense Tianyi had was telling him nothing was wrong, but Tianyi felt it was better to be safe than sorry, so he prepared to take a detour.
At that moment, a dull red four-story tall pagoda appeared in the night sky. The pagoda was wider than it was tall and exuded a ghastly aura. Upon seeing it, Tianyi immediately commanded his immortal boat to fly away as fast as possible.
The only thought in Tianyi's mind was, 'Ambush!'
But it was already too late as Tianyi felt his immortal boat slow down as if it was stuck in a quagmire. He decisively abandoned the immortal boat and stepped onto his flying sword. Although he could imitate a grandmaster's ability to walk in the air, flying on an artifact was still faster.
Silvery shadows began to emerge from the water towards Tianyi. Upon them nearing, they were revealed to be transparent dolphins with a red slit mark upon their forehead. They emitted a ghostly yin qi that sent a strange coldness into Tianyi's body.
For Tianyi to attempt to leave now was far harder, he had discovered the peculiarities too late. Tianyi's face became solemn as he unsheathed his sword and unleashed sword qi at the dolphins. The dolphins continued their charge as if ignorant of the sword qi, but once the sword qi connected, the dolphin who had been injured recoiled as if in shock.
Tianyi's expression, however, became even more serious. Although his attack had caused damage, it was only the shock of being hit that caused the dolphin to recoil back. Even a grandmaster would have to be careful of that slash, but his attack barely damaged the dolphins. He couldn't sense the realm of those ghost dolphins. It was as if they didn't have any cultivation at all.
He unleashed Sword Formation as the World, and the area around instantly became his domain. He had given up trying to run at this point; there were far too many of those dolphins surrounding him. Tianyi unleashed a myriad of techniques, but some were ineffective and just passed through the dolphins while others were able to connect, but the damage done was still minimal. Tianyi's sword took on a black color that resembled ink.
"Ghost Kill (杀鬼)"
The moment Tianyi's sword connected against one of the dolphins, it was as he struck a live being, and a gash appeared on it. The wound was bleeding a silvery-white liquid, and there were even hints of ghostly organs within.
Seeing this, the other ghost dolphins began to back away, fear evident within their eyes. Tianyi used this chance to try to escape, but an overbearing pressure began to assault Tianyi before he could.
He finally knew what it was like to have a cultivator of a superior realm to use their cultivation base to suppress him like he had done many times before. If the user were in the Nascent Soul or Unity realm, then Tianyi wouldn't have been affected this much. He turned around to look at the immortal who had ambushed him.
In front of the entrance to the pagoda stood a youth seeming in his late teens. He wore a dull red robe, and his face was pleasant if a little ordinary. His eyebrows were black, but his long hair was completely white, and he had a horn growing out of his forehead.
Tianyi felt extreme danger from this man, and he clutched the jade pendant on his waist, intent on activating the Mountain and Seas Formation. At this moment, the youth in red's eyes locked onto him, and two fish-like shadows shot out towards Tianyi.
He didn't have a chance to dodge as they instantly entered his body. Tianyi's eyes became dull instantly as if his mind had stopped functioning.
