Chapter Eighty-Nine: A Blessing in Disguise

In the end, even the one who was supposedly the best at curing poison gave Taiyi’s bite wound a careful examination and came up empty-handed.

At last, he even had the nerve to ask, “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Brother Taiyi, are you sure this really was the bite of Xiaowa?”

“Xiaowa?” Taiyi was momentarily taken aback, then quickly came to himself. “What do you mean?” Inwardly, he grunted in displeasure: this brat changes his tune awfully fast.

Feng Jiu was delighted at the sight, and, hiding his smile with a touch to his nose, said, “Well, Brother Taiyi, don’t take it the wrong way. It’s just that I think this wound looks more like it was made by a venomous snake’s fangs. Still, you are an Immortal Lord now; all poisons must have long since become harmless to you. Such a minor injury should be of no concern.” Served him right for what he had brought upon himself. Fine, he admitted it was blatant schadenfreude.

Nonsense. Taiyi’s gaze swept over Feng Ke’er, who stood obediently on the cotton puff with her hands at her sides. His eyes shifted, and a faint, meaningful smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. He clasped his hands and took his leave. “Many thanks, Brother Jiu. Once I find Ximei, I shall send word to you again.”

Knowing full well that the words were only polite formality, Feng Jiu leaped back onto the cotton puff and returned the salute with a broad smile. “So be it. I shall await Brother Taiyi’s good news.”

Thus, Taiyi mounted an auspicious cloud and departed with his hands behind his back.

He is leaving already? Feng Ke’er stared after his retreating figure as though in a dream.

Feng Jiu took it in, covered his mouth with a fist, and coughed lightly. “Miss Feng, what do you intend to do next?”

What did she intend to do? Feng Ke’er shook her head in a daze. She was alone in the world, with no ties behind her and no burdens ahead. Aside from grinding monsters and leveling up, what plan could she possibly have?

Thinking of her usual ways, Feng Jiu felt that he had asked a needless question. He glanced around and said, “Are you hungry? How about this: I’ll go look for something to eat nearby first. Wait for me by the shore.”

Actually, while the two rivals had been sparring, Feng Ke’er had been diligently reciting a calming spell. So she was not hungry at all. But by the time she reacted, he had already set her down on a huge reef by the seashore.

Feng Jiu was still uneasy and warned her again, “Miss Feng, remember not to wander off. I’ll be back very soon.” He was not trying to frighten her. Rather, there were always many high-level demonic beasts in the sea. Right now none had emerged, which was probably because they had been startled by the strange events of the past few days and were hiding in the depths. Otherwise, he would not have needed to run so far to hunt.

Feng Ke’er waved at him and answered politely, “Understood. Hurry back.”

Feng Jiu gave a slight nod and soon became nothing more than a tiny black speck on the horizon.

After seeing him off, Feng Ke’er stretched her limbs a little, then immediately hopped down from the reef. She was no three-year-old brat, and she did not have a piece of irresistible flesh on her body that everyone would fight over. She was, at any rate, a proper fifth-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. What was there to fear?

However, before she had even managed to leave a few footprints on the golden beach, a flash of light appeared before her, and Taiyi was suddenly standing in front of her.

“You…” Bad! Feng Ke’er instinctively wanted to run. He had come back, and had even deliberately chosen a moment when Feng Jiu was absent. Could there be any good reason for it?

Unfortunately, before she could take a step, Taiyi had already seized her pulse point.

“How strange!” He lifted his eyelids and swept her with a suspicious look up and down, muttering under his breath, “How could this be… no, that’s not right…”

After a while, he still looked baffled. Simply releasing her wrist, he asked, “Little girl, you’re already at the fifth stage of Foundation Establishment. Quite fast. Who is your master?”

For someone of rather ordinary talent to successfully refine the marrow and temper the body, and then in such a short time rise from the early Qi Refining stage to the fifth stage of Foundation Establishment, that person had to be extraordinary. Quite possibly, the girl’s master was some expert from the higher realms. With Taiyi’s current cultivation, he was not at all certain he could accomplish such a feat himself.

The first instinct of the now-freed one was, of course, to flee. Unluckily, that sticky, glue-soaked sensation returned, and she had no choice but to stay obediently where she was.

“Sun Wukong.” Wasn’t he asking for a name? She opened her mouth and blurted out a random one.

There was such a person in the higher realms? He had never even heard of him. Taiyi frowned and asked again, “Where is he from?” The name was unclear, but within the three realms there was no place name he had not heard before.

“Flower-Fruit Mountain, Water-Curtain Cave.” Feng Ke’er answered with complete solemnity, without the slightest hesitation, looking so righteous that she might as well have had the words “honest and reliable” written across her forehead.

Taiyi drew in a sharp breath and angrily said, “How brazen of you, to dare deceive this sovereign!”

Feng Ke’er was startled. Could it be that this Immortal truly knew the past five thousand years and the future five thousand years? Then she thought again: no, that still did not make sense. There were several sets of five thousand years in between.

She had once heard Feng Jiu mention something to the effect that time was a restriction laid down by the Great God Pangu, impossible to break unless one was of divine level. The Heavenly Lord of the Primordial Path should count as a divine-level being, so he would naturally know her origins. But Taiyi was merely an Immortal Lord. He, like her, could not escape the shackles of time. How could he possibly know Sun Wukong? Hmph, this fellow was definitely bluffing.

With that thought, she steadied herself and did not even blink. Her mouth remained stubborn to the end. “Immortal Lord, please discern clearly. Every word this lowly one has spoken is true. I would not dare deceive you in the slightest.”

So he still dared to quibble! This time Taiyi truly grew angry. Narrowing his eyes, he gave a cold snort. “Impudent!”

The coercion of an Immortal Lord spread outward.

The area around them instantly fell into dead silence.

That familiar feeling of a mountain pressing down upon her returned once more. Feng Ke’er could not bear it and dropped to her knees with a thud.

Not good. This fellow’s cultivation is above the Phoenix Lord of the Phoenix Clan. The concealment talisman has failed! As the saying goes, if you walk many nights’ roads, you will eventually run into a ghost. Feng Ke’er silently wailed in misery. Even so, she braced both hands hard against the sand and still refused to yield. “Immortal Lord, please discern clearly. I truly did not lie to you.”

Experience had taught her that the higher a cultivator’s rank, the more arrogant they became, and the less they tolerated being deceived. Since changing her story now would also mean death, she might as well hold out to the end. In this era, there was no such thing as “confess and you’ll receive leniency.”

“Hmph!” The pressure increased by another notch.

In an instant, Feng Ke’er felt stars explode before her eyes. Her chest burned with searing pain, as though the front of her body were about to be crushed flat against her back. Both hands failing to support her, her entire body collapsed against the beach.

Damn it, what does it matter to you where I studied? If I won’t tell you, then I won’t tell you. What can you do to me? Her stubborn temper flared, and she clenched her teeth without making a sound.

Taiyi, seeing this, could not help finding it strange. He had already driven the coercion to its limit, yet he had not expected this girl to still endure it. Was she truly only at the fifth stage of Foundation Establishment? Could a cultivator at the fifth stage possess such formidable spiritual sense? A flicker of doubt crossed his eyes. With a frown and a cold snort, he warned, “Little girl, if you continue resisting to the end, do not blame this sovereign for being impolite and resorting to soul-searching art!”

Of course, that was only to frighten her. He, a lofty Immortal Lord, was actually unable to do anything to a tiny ant at the Foundation Establishment stage and had to use soul-searching art to obtain the information he wanted? If word of that got out, Taiyi would not be able to remain in the three realms any longer.

When those words reached Feng Ke’er’s ears, they struck like thunder. It felt as though every bone in her body was about to be crushed to pieces, and in agony she nearly lost consciousness. “No, no…” Soul-searching techniques were truly too cruel. So, Heavenly Lord, forgive me. A wise man does not suffer for trifles. You understand, don’t you?

At that moment, a clear phoenix cry rang out from the sky.

Taiyi turned toward the sound and gasped in surprise. On the horizon, a ball of blazing red fire suddenly appeared. If it was not that brat Feng Jiu, who else could it be? He had revealed his true form as a fire phoenix, wings spread wide, racing toward them at full speed.

Feng Jiu had a cold and proud temperament, and there were not many people he would protect so fiercely. Unexpectedly, this little girl was one of them.

Taiyi curled his lip, withdrew the coercion, and said quietly to Feng Ke’er, “Little girl, you’re lucky!” With that, he rose on the clouds and fled as if wings bore him away. The boy was in a foul mood at the moment and impossible to reason with. Even if Taiyi had a hundred mouths, he could not make himself understood. There would be time enough later; better to leave for now.

The mountain pressing upon her vanished in an instant. Feng Ke’er coughed up a mouthful of bloody foam and felt utterly relieved all over. Rolling once on the ground, she spread her limbs and lay flat on her back in the sand. She gazed at that streak of red in the sky and silently smiled, revealing bloodstained teeth.

Ah, so this is the legendary phoenix? The gray fluff ball has grown up and turned into a gigantic African fire bird.

Feng Jiu had no idea what she was muttering to herself, or he would have been driven to regret it. After circling once in the air, he descended, transformed into human form, and asked, leaning down, “Miss Feng, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” Feng Ke’er took a deep breath and waved it off. Whether it was an illusion or not, she felt that the qi in her body was actually even smoother than before. How could that be?

Suspicious, she quickly sat up and crossed her legs in meditation, intending to use inner sight to inspect her dantian.

Feng Jiu, however, mistook this for an attempt to regulate her breathing and heal her injuries. “Do you not have any medicine for injuries on you?”

“Mm, it’s nothing. I’ve got thick skin; this little wound is nothing.” Feng Ke’er forced a smile at him as an explanation. Then she closed her eyes and began using inner sight. Well, sorry, she had lied again. In truth, she really did feel quite well right now. But if she told the truth, the feathered bird would probably be even less likely to believe her. And she was eager to find out the reason, so she did not want to waste any more words.

Feng Jiu straightened up and stood with his hands behind his back. “Very well, I’ll guard you while you heal. Rest assured.”

As he spoke, he cast a fierce glare in the direction Taiyi had disappeared. That fellow was becoming more and more outrageous, actually laying hands on a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the lower realms and even threatening to use soul-searching art. Bah. Shameless.

Feng Ke’er soon discovered the reason: the gaps between the six large and small dantian in her body had somehow become nearly half again as wide as before!

At first, she thought it was because the dantian themselves had grown larger. But when she looked closely, she found the opposite: the space in her lower abdomen that held the six dantian had not grown at all. Rather, the white, liquid-like substance at the center of those six dantian had become more tightly compressed, and at the same time the five-colored rings wrapped around the outside had become wider. As a result, the intervals between one dantian and another had grown larger.

Under normal circumstances, true qi circulated at high speed around the dantian, and with this change, the space for its movement had become much more spacious. No wonder she felt so much lighter and smoother.

What was this called? A blessing in disguise. Feng Ke’er was delighted.