107: A Phenomenon Descends from the Heavens (Part Two)

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Chapter 107: A Heavenly Phenomenon Descends (II)

Along the path he had traveled, Qi Fei had endured what could be called the darkest period of his cultivation career on Mount Scarletcloud. First, he had been framed by disciples of the outer sect. Fortunately, he had borne the humiliation in silence, and only after encountering the Bloodshadow True Lord had he finally been able to avenge that deep-seated hatred.

It was precisely because of this that Qi Fei’s mind had become so powerful. He was no longer affected by external influences, and joy or anger had long ceased to show upon his face. Such composure would have been extremely difficult to cultivate without the deliberate training he had received from Child Crane.

Of course, although Qi Fei now recognized the flower as an extraordinarily rare and precious plant, he did not harbor too many thoughts about it. After all, there were already twenty such plants inside the Spirit-Communicating Jade. One more flower could not possibly make him risk his life. Thus, after pausing for only a moment, he smiled and continued watching the battle among the four beasts.

Perhaps because the aura released by the fully blossomed strange plant had now reached its peak, the eight-winged earthworm suddenly calmed down from its furious state. Then, with a single flap of its four pairs of wings, its entire body floated into the air.

Although it had occasionally done this before, Qi Fei’s painstakingly meticulous observation revealed that this time was entirely different.

The distance between them was considerable, but because he was looking down from above, he still noticed that nearly half of the eight-winged earthworm’s hundreds of clawed legs had split open slightly. It seemed that so long as the creature was willing, those legs could be shot out at any moment to attack its enemies.

Whether the other three beasts knew that the eight-winged earthworm possessed such a move, or whether their perception of hostile energy was simply extraordinarily sharp, was impossible to say. In any case, the instant the earthworm suddenly rose into the air, the several demon beasts stopped attacking with remarkable tacit understanding.

They stood hesitantly where they were, seemingly eager to strike, yet afraid that the earthworm might possess some devastating technique and that they would throw away their lives for nothing.

Seeing that it had once again cowed the other three beasts, the eight-winged earthworm let out a satisfied hiss. Then it suddenly gave a strange croak.

Without warning, an electric current shot from between its fangs toward the white eagle. At the same time, it twisted its body and lunged toward the fully blossomed strange plant.

In Qi Fei’s eyes, its intention was perfectly clear: it wanted to seize the strange plant first, whatever the cost.

The other three beasts evidently understood this as well. The moment they saw its movement, the white eagle, the Gold-and-Silver Wolf King, and the dragonfish all flashed forward from their positions, apparently no longer caring about the earthworm’s trump card as they attempted to intercept it.

Yet as the three beasts once again joined forces, a scene that Qi Fei found deeply intriguing suddenly unfolded before his eyes.

There was no need to mention the white eagle, which was struggling to evade the purple lightning that pursued it like a living shadow. The unexpected change occurred between the dragonfish and the wolf king on the ground.

Because they had temporarily formed an alliance, the Gold-and-Silver Wolf King had clearly lowered its guard against the dragonfish. Thus, when the eight-winged earthworm charged toward the strange plant, the wolf king and the dragonfish shot forward almost side by side, each seemingly eager to reach the earthworm first.

But while surging ahead at full speed, the dragonfish suddenly let out an incomprehensibly bizarre cry. Its head tilted, its body twisted, and its enormous skull slammed directly into the Gold-and-Silver Wolf King.

At the same time, its lashing tail curled around as well. Using both head and tail, it launched an extremely swift sneak attack against the wolf king!

How could this dragonfish be so foolish as to attack its temporary ally? Did it not realize that such an act would instantly destroy the alliance among the three beasts and shatter the hard-won balance they had established against the eight-winged earthworm?

And if the attack truly succeeded, only the dragonfish and the white eagle would remain. How could the two of them withstand the earthworm’s overwhelming might?

The dragonfish clearly possessed tremendous intelligence. Why, then, had it committed such an utterly idiotic act?

Qi Fei could not understand it at all. The sudden attack had not only exceeded his expectations; the Gold-and-Silver Wolf King had clearly been caught entirely unprepared as well.

Under the dragonfish’s assault, the wolf king’s rapidly moving figure suddenly halted. Then, like a kite with its string cut, it was sent flying straight through the air. Its body crashed into a massive hemlock stump beside the valley, smashing a round depression several feet deep into the wood before finally coming to a stop.

The Gold-and-Silver Wolf King remained buried in that pit for a long while without making a sound. Clearly, even if it had not been killed, its injuries were severe.

The sudden turn of events left Qi Fei staring in astonishment. Nor was he alone. The white eagle, which had still been dodging the purple lightning, froze for a moment when it saw what had happened.

Then, as the purple lightning struck its body, it let out a strange cry. Without sparing another glance at the situation in the valley, it spread its wings and rose into the sky. Within a few blinks, it had vanished into the endless layers of cloud.

Once it sensed that the situation had turned unfavorable, the white eagle had no interest in remaining—not only in competing for the strange plant, but even in staying there at all.

It had to be said that the white eagle possessed a whole range of virtues: boldness, caution, prudence, and more. When circumstances turned against it, it turned and fled without the slightest hesitation or hesitation’s attendant delay, revealing its decisiveness.

In Qi Fei’s estimation, a demon beast such as this already possessed a mode of thought comparable to that of a human endowed with a particular temperament.

Apart from lacking sufficient strength to seize the strange plant in the end, it possessed nearly every quality required for success. Unfortunately, its luck had been poor. The dragonfish had destroyed the alliance, ultimately forcing the white eagle to flee into the distance.

This thought merely flashed through Qi Fei’s mind before being replaced by other concerns. He was worried not only about the Gold-and-Silver Wolf King’s serious injuries, but also deeply suspicious of the turn events had taken.

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Indeed, that was the key point. As the old saying went, the dragonfish appeared to be a demon beast whose intelligence had fully awakened. It should not have been so foolish as to make a move that destroyed their alliance.

Why, then, had it suddenly attacked the Gold-and-Silver Wolf King? Could it truly have been nothing more than the fact that the two were natural enemies, with too much hatred accumulated between them in the past?

After thinking it over briefly, Qi Fei felt that such an explanation could not be correct.

Among high-level demon beasts, there were no eternal enemies and no eternal friends. As long as sufficient benefits were involved, even the most deeply entrenched relationship could be temporarily altered.

During the course of human cultivation, one was bound to clash or compete with others. Since demon beasts relied even more heavily on instinct, setting aside everything else for the sake of personal gain should have been even more natural for them.

Qi Fei’s thoughts shifted once more. Amid the thunderous rumbling behind him, he had no choice but to turn his attention back to the valley and seek an answer to his doubts.

The white eagle had fled, and the Gold-and-Silver Wolf King, having been ambushed, seemed unlikely to reappear anytime soon. Only the dragonfish and the eight-winged earthworm remained in the valley.

Qi Fei had originally assumed that since the dragonfish had made such a move, it would immediately unleash some powerful technique and confidently drive away the earthworm, thereby securing the strange plant for itself. That would have been the most logical development.

Yet when only the dragonfish and the eight-winged earthworm remained in the valley, Qi Fei discovered that events had once again exceeded his expectations.

After ambushing the Gold-and-Silver Wolf King, the dragonfish immediately stopped moving. It coiled into a ball and stared at the eight-winged earthworm from afar. Then it did nothing at all.

With the white eagle frightened away and the dragonfish ceasing its movements, nothing remained to hinder the eight-winged earthworm. It quickly reached the strange plant, turned its head toward the dragonfish, and gave a delighted hiss.

Then it extended its head and, with a sharp snap of its fangs, severed the eight-petaled plant together with its stalk.

After successfully obtaining the strange plant, the eight-winged earthworm appeared somewhat impatient. It hissed joyfully twice, then turned its head toward the dragonfish and uttered a series of sounds with an exceedingly strange rhythm.

Qi Fei could not understand what the earthworm was saying to the dragonfish, but he could tell that it was probably issuing some sort of command.

For upon hearing the sound, the dragonfish did not hesitate in the slightest. It slithered forward, gently took the strange plant in its mouth, and held it there.

The eight-winged earthworm then began to gnaw greedily at the petals.

At that moment, the dragonfish resembled a minister fawning upon his emperor, while the eight-winged earthworm accepted the flattery as though it were entirely natural.

The sight suddenly enlightened Qi Fei.

So that was it. The dragonfish was the eight-winged earthworm’s subordinate!

Just as the white eagle had its own underlings, relationships of subordination were also common among demon beasts. Once such a bond was established, it surpassed every potential rule, every trace of human nature, and even the instincts of demon beasts themselves.

At all times, the subordinate would place the interests of its master first. Even sacrificing its own life for that purpose was something it would often do without the slightest regret.

Having understood this, Qi Fei immediately realized why the dragonfish had attacked the Gold-and-Silver Wolf King.

The dragonfish itself was a subordinate demon beast of the eight-winged earthworm. Its earlier cooperation with the wolf king and the white eagle in attacking the earthworm had merely been an act.

The instant the strange plant finally blossomed, it had launched a sudden attack, clearing away the obstacles that stood between the earthworm and its prize.

As for its subordinate demon beast, the eight-winged earthworm clearly had no intention of treating it unfairly. After greedily devouring six of the eight petals, the hundred-legged creature stopped and left the remaining two petals, along with the flower’s stamen, for the dragonfish.

Although it had received only the smaller portion, the dragonfish was still extremely excited. It opened its cavernous jaws and swallowed everything that remained in a single gulp.

It then swam restlessly around the valley before finding a rather prominent stone and coiling itself around it. It seemed to have eaten too much and was carrying out its usual digestive activity.

The eight-winged earthworm, having consumed most of the petals, reacted even more violently.

This enormous demon beast, twenty zhang long, had already begun to emit a layer of azure electric arcs by the time the dragonfish swallowed the remaining petals. The appearance of those arcs clearly caused it tremendous pain.

Its entire body twisted into an extremely strange shape, while all the clawed legs along both sides of its body stretched, contracted, and writhed without pause, as though they might break free and shoot out at any moment.

“Even the bodies of these two beasts, powerful as they are, have reacted so violently. That flower must contain an extraordinarily savage energy,” Qi Fei muttered admiringly as he watched the creatures in the valley.

He then turned his head to observe the thunder tribulation behind him.

Although he had been watching the situation in the valley, he vaguely remembered seeing seven flashes of light behind him. Adding the electric dragon at the beginning, the thunder tribulation should already have delivered eight strikes.

The lightning that had struck him the last time had descended in nine bolts. If the tribulations were the same, this one should consist of nine as well.

Sure enough, when the purple lightning descended once more, the dense, roiling black clouds that had blanketed the sky suddenly seemed to be blown apart by the wind. In an instant, the clear sky stretching for thousands of miles was revealed.

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The power of the purple lightning was clearly no small matter. Although the white barrier had repeatedly blocked its descent at critical moments, beneath the final bolt the barrier, together with the electric dragon, shattered into countless points of light and dispersed into the air.

“The divine-soul imprisonment has also vanished. That is good news. I was worried that some restriction would prevent me from entering.”

At the sight of this, Qi Fei grinned and strode toward the hemlock grove. By then, he had cast every other matter out of his mind, whether it concerned the beasts in the valley or anything else in the surrounding area.

More precisely, finding the Iron-Yang Needle immediately was the most important thing to him.

The distance of several dozen zhang was nothing to Qi Fei and took him only a moment to cross. When he reached the grove, he immediately noticed that these hemlock trees seemed somewhat different from those he had seen before.

Not only had their leaves changed from their original oval shape into a slightly squarer form, but their trunks also seemed to radiate a faint blue glow, as though they had absorbed the power of the purple lightning.

“This must be the Iron-Yang Needle!”

Their appearance was so utterly different from that of the other hemlock trees that Qi Fei could almost be certain these were what he needed.

Overjoyed, Qi Fei did not waste time thinking. He reached out directly for the lowest branch.

According to Child Crane, a branch as thick as a man’s arm would be enough if it truly was an Iron-Yang Needle. There was no need to break off too much.

Relying on his immense strength, Qi Fei found it easy to snap off a thick branch several feet long. Once he had obtained what he needed, he naturally had no desire to linger.

As he turned to leave, he glanced at the dragonfish and the earthworm. Seeing that they remained in their respective states, he did not give them much further thought.

Before descending the mountain, however, he deliberately went to inspect the pit where the Gold-and-Silver Wolf King had crashed. He found that the little creature was still breathing and had struggled to move itself toward the mouth of the pit.

Qi Fei casually collected it, placed it inside the Spirit-Communicating Jade, and then turned and fled at full speed.

Several days later, Qi Fei returned to the stone chamber hall where he had previously stayed. Fearing that the winged centipede and the flood dragon might pursue him and cause trouble, he quickly shut the door after entering.

Only then did he take the branch from the Spirit-Communicating Jade. Looking toward Child Crane, who had been trapped by the Four-Aspect Thunder Restriction for so long, he asked, “Is this the Iron-Yang Needle you mentioned?”

“That’s right. You were gone for more than half a month, boy. I thought you had run into some kind of trouble. I never expected you to actually find the Iron-Yang Needle. It seems this old man will soon be able to escape.”

After examining the object in Qi Fei’s hand, Child Crane nodded with great satisfaction. He then instructed, “Come over here, boy. Stand this branch upright in the stone chamber, then use a metal object to connect it to the purple lightning along the outer edge of the Four-Aspect Thunder Restriction. That will be enough.”

Qi Fei nodded. “That sounds simple enough.”

He quickly arranged everything as Child Crane had instructed. At once, a marvelous scene appeared before him.

The blue pillars of lightning that had trapped Child Crane from every direction began to flow along the conductor Qi Fei had set up with his sword, as though lightning itself had been drawn by the attraction between yin and yang. With crackling flashes, the current traveled toward the upright Iron-Yang Needle.

These currents appeared incomparably immense, yet the moment they touched the Iron-Yang Needle, they vanished completely, like water flowing into the sea, leaving no trace of movement behind.

As Qi Fei watched in amazement, the electric light of the Four-Aspect Thunder Restriction continued to pour into the branch for roughly half an hour. At last, even the final thread of lightning disappeared from the Iron-Yang Needle.

At the same time, Child Crane’s delighted voice rang out.

“Heh heh, after being trapped for so long, I can finally escape. I have obtained the residence of a Soul-Departure cultivator for nothing. It seems the day when I reconstruct my body is not far off!”

“Reconstruct your body?!”

Qi Fei was stunned for a long while before he managed to force out those few words. After steadying himself, he could not resist asking curiously, “Grandpa Child Crane, what is a Soul-Departure cultivator? What level of existence is that? You once said that reconstructing your body required extremely harsh conditions. Could there really be something here that perfectly satisfies your requirements?”

“A Soul-Departure cultivator is nothing special. However, people of that level generally keep several incarnation pills on hand. Those are what I need.”

Child Crane chuckled and glanced around. “There are several stone chambers here. One of them must be used to store pills and materials. So, all we need to do next is break through the divine-soul imprisonment outside the stone chambers, and then we can find the pills I require. Perhaps it might even allow you, boy, to ascend to the Innate realm here.”

“How is that possible? Ascend to the realm of an Innate martial cultivator here?”

Qi Fei stared blankly. “Wait. Didn’t you say that reaching the Innate realm required traveling throughout the world? I have barely gone anywhere. How could I possibly find an opportunity to advance already?”

Child Crane pondered for a moment before suddenly saying, “Break through the void by force, and enter the Innate realm by strength!”