《The Martial Path》


 The Light of Dawn!

    A seemingly endless dark plain filled with the miserable corpses of both, humans and fey alike.


    The scene around Di Feng could exactly be described with those few words.


    He, a fifteen year old boy, stood upright while holding with his right hand a black spear of about nine feet in lenght that currently pointed straight at the eyebrows of the shadowy figure of a tall man.


    With an indifferent expression on his handsome face and with his body tattered and semi covered in blood, Di Feng''s azure eyes looked coldly at the opponent in front of him, one that he was about to fight for what he thought would be the one hundred thousandth time.


    This current scenario had already made him numb and he no longer felt scared, nor did he feel any fear, panic or anxiousness in the presence of such gore.


    Even that long forgotten awe he had for the man in front was something of the past.


    But even then, he kept on coming here because he needed to defeat this man, he needed to win! If he didn''t win, he would remain a useless trash forever!


    The figure of the man in front of him was obscured and because of that he seemed just like a shadow. Only two azure lights that glowed brightly on his head that seemed his eyes could be clearly seen. Those eyes watched him with a fixed stare that seemed to regard him as prey.


    In his left hand, the man held a ten foot long crimson lance which currently pointed straight at the ground.


    A desolate atmosphere filled the battlefield while Di Feng abruptly released a rolling killing intent as he stared at the man in front of him, ready to attack at any time.


    Di Feng''s eyes flashed and he moved, thrusting his spear forwards! He seemed to become one with the spear as his figure rushed at the man.


    Dark energy shrouded the tip of the spear, rotating in a spiral. As it passed thorought the void, that dark energy appeared to consume all light.


    The man clearly saw what Di Feng was doing but he clearly did not paid it much attention, his attitude calm and unhurried.


    It was only when Di Feng got a bit closer that the man moved. He stepped forwards and moved his lance to meet Di Feng''s. All the while, his azure eyes never looking away from Di Feng.


    "Hmph!"


    Di Feng coldly snorted. His spear strike suddenly accelerated. Flashing after images were left in its wake while space distorted in front!


    This strike resembled the dive of a black dragon as a tyrannical aura was released from the dark spear.


    Meanwhile, all time seemed to slow down around the duo while killing intent raged wantonly about!


    Their clash gave the impresion that it could crack the earth and divide the skies!


    Di Feng''s heart started beating erraticaly at this point. He couldn''t help it, victory was too important for him and he thought that he could finally have it today.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    In Di Feng''s eyes, the only thing that remained was that crimson lance, which didn''t emit any kind of special aura, nor did it even seem to release energy.


    Their clash was inminent!


    But...


    The man''s azure eyes lit up and a pitch black glow seemed to flash from them.


    "You, have not grasped yet the true meaning of darkness..."


    A grim and almost mechanic voice resounded in Di Feng''s ears, causing him to almost falter from surprise and his eyes to widen in disbelief at what happened next...


    The man''s crimson lance turned completely black and all light around it dissapeared. The crimson lance itself resembled a black hole as even sound was consumed in its wake. Even the shadows and spatial distortions produced by Di Feng''s spear strike were devoured!


    The difference was just too great... This was a much more advanced boundary of the power of darkness than Di Feng''s.


    The tremendous amounts of dark energy and strength accumulated on his spear strike were cleanly devoured in a split second before even colliding with the dark lance who continued on in its trajectory towards him.


    As it got near, his right arm started to disintegrate till it completely dissapeared.


    Di Feng''s azure eyes were wide, complete disbelief showing on them as he experienced this. He could feel no pain, just absolute emptiness start to consume him, while his entire body started crumbling...


    The man''s voice seemed to come from the abyss of hell as it reached his ear. A cold and indifferent feeling was transmitted over. Amidst that coldness, a strange kind of appreciation could barely be felt.


    "You passed, do not dissapoint me..."


    And in the next instant, his sense of self completely dissapeared with his mind turning black.


    .....


    The full moon hung high in the sky while the stars shone brightly, bathing the world with their astral light.


    Near an expansive forest filled with vegetation but almost no animal life, an ordinary wooden house was built. Currently, black mist was coming out of this wooden house, spreading towards the surroundings in a slow fashion.


    An aura of gloom was carried out by the black mist wherever it went.


    Going inside the house, one could see that it only had a living room, two dorms and only one bathroom. And inside the house, the black mist was even thicker while a faint aura of tyranny could be felt from it. If one looked at the dorm to the right, one would notice that the black mist was seeping out of it.


    On that room, a young man lay on the bed, with his body drenched in sweat and his clothes stuck tightly onto his flesh. His brows furrowed and his mouth clenched. From time to time, he would tremble and his body would glow with a faint red before releasing some black mist.


    Abruptly, the enchanting figure of a woman wearing white clothes stepped thorought the void and appeared in front of the young man.


    Quietly, she stood there and stared with mixed emotions at the young man.


    "It seems that you finally succeeded..."


    She sighed quietly as memories flashed thorough her soul and made her feel melancholic as well as somewhat sad and lonely. But when she looked at the young man, a smile filled with gentleness washed away her complicated mood.


    As time passed, the black mist only became thicker while the crimson glow being emitted by the young man became more frequent.


    Minutes passed, hours went by and dawn finally arrived...


    Now, all black mist had retreated back into the young man''s body which was currently enveloped by a crimson cocoon. This crimson cocoon emitted an aura of vibrant vitality and gave others a feeling of strength and tyranny.


    And at this moment, the cocoon cracked. Red light overflowed as the cocoon crumbled apart and revealed the figure of a naked young man. A loud thumping sound could be heard from within his body, resembling the beating of a heart.


    Red light surrounded his body, condensing over and over till finally forming the phantom of a dragon. The dragon flew around his body for some time before it roared and merged with the young man''s body.


    Cracking sounds resounded as true qi condensed inside his body and opened his first three meridians...


    At this moment, the door, that had been forcefully blocking him outside all this while, finally opened...


    Faintly, the light of dawn shone from the window and crawled up from the ground all the way towards the sleeping young man, illuminating his body and giving him some degree of warmth....

 Qi Condensation, The Nine Seals

    <hr>


    According to legends, thousands of years ago, humanity had to reconstruct their path towards absolute power that is cultivation from scratch due to the changes in the heavenly dao rules, making is so that cultivation was no longer favored by it. From then on, cultivation became something that, instead of going along the heavenly dao, it violated its rules. That is to say that cultivators from before followed the path that the heavenly dao showed them.


    Many years after the change in heavenly dao rules, human cultivators managed to rise from the ashes and create their own path, the martial path, a path where one would take and gain power from the heavenly dao and rise against it, with the only goal being that of completely surpassing the heavenly dao, defying its will and becoming eternal!


    Sadly, only ten realms exists within the current martial path of humanity and even upon reaching the tenth realm, that fabled goal is unachievable. It is even said that this is because the martial path isn''t complete, that it lacks something to be able of reaching that state of absolute power.


    As it is, the martial path consists of two main factors, that of energy which refers to true qi, and the dao, something that defines itself as one''s own path in comprehending the laws of the universe and their powers, as well as of the heavenly dao itself, to make it ones own.


    Qi condensation is the start of said martial path. It is where a marrial artist first condenses their true qi from nothingness using the spiritual energy of heaven and earth before then striving to refine it even further and open the full one hundred and eight meridians that exist within the human body, reaching then a state of completion.


    This realm is also known as the preparation to open the dantian, the inner dimension inherent to the human body.


    ...


    Di Feng opened his eyes and withdrew the green jade slip that he was reading just moments ago into his spatial ring.


    "Qi condensation..." He muttered to himself.


    According to its description, Di Feng currently could be considered of being in the first layer of qi condensation. His true qi vessel was deep and seemed to form a small stream, as thin as a hand. It was located within his first opened meridian and moved along between all three of his opened meridians.


    Now, Di Feng has to keep nourishing the true qi vessel and open more meridians so that a circulatory path of energy can be established within his body.


    Normally, ordinary martial artists would open eight meridians per layer of qi condensation while geniuses would manage to open ten or even twelve each time. Even then, to fully open the one hundred and eight meridians was definitely difficult and probably only one in a hundred million geniuses would be able to achieve this, if statistics could even be made!


    Di Feng suddenly took out a white pill the size of his pinky and sat down cross legged on the bed. This pill was called the Channel Opening Pill and contained a very pure and abundant spiritual energy that one could refine easily and the use it to impact the meridians so as to open them. It was only effective for those below the third layer of qi condensation however.


    Di Feng directly ate it and started breathing in an specific manner following his own Tyrant Dragon Method. The pure influx of spiritual energy traveled over his three meridians, nourishing his true qi vessel before moving towards another closed meridian.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    As the stream of spiritual energy got closer, its high amounts of pure energy directly forced open the meridian before moving towards another.


    Time passed and like this, the spiritual energy from the pill was drained dry but only five meridians ended up opening. Strangely enough, over half of the spiritual energy of the pill was absorbed by his heart, blood as well as his muscles, flesh and skin as he circulated it while trying to open them.


    Di Feng exhaled a breath of foul air before opening his eyes. His brow furrowed in the next moment as he recalled his recent cultivation.


    "Those damned seals, they not only block off my fey bloodline and bodily attributes, but also even supress the part that I just unsealed! Like this, apart from being able of cultivating, my bloodline can''t do much for me now... the only relief is that at least, my body got stronger and my affinity with the laws of darkness increased a bit..."


    Di Feng grumbled.


    He clearly remembered all the effort he had to put these last few years to not only pass the trials of the mysterious world within the first seal, but even more so to gain the approval of that shadow man so as to finally break said seal and gain the ability to cultivate. It was obvious that with that much effort, one would expect great rewards, but there weren''t many at all...


    For Di Feng, who was half ancient fey and half human, his ancient fey bloodline and bodily attributes were supposed to be his greatest advantages but now they were not only supressed, but even his cultivation would be slowed down by them due to their huge need for nourishment and in return, he would not get much more than the strengthening of his body and the nourishment of his blood and vitality, things that of course were beneficial but still would come at a great cost. Di Feng would only feel that it was worth it if he could release some of the power of his bloodline, which he currently couldn''t and probably for a great deal of time to come because of the seals.


    In turn, only by practicing the Tyrant Dragon Method, something that his father left behind, would he be able of making full use of his advantages and minimize his disadvantages.


    This method was one that was specifically made for him and one that perfectly let him practice human martial arts and one that would also nourish his ancient fey attributes, making them stronger over time.


    Di Feng sighed, feeling that his own martial path would be much more difficult than others. Well, it already was considering how he started later than anyone else...


    He proceeded to walk out of his room and what greeted him was the sight of his mother, Di Yue, meditating quietly in the living room.


    She was a tall woman, over half a head taller than even him who was over 1,7 meters in height. She wore a white robe that covered almost her entire body while her long and silky black hair cascaded down her shoulders.


    As she sat there with her eyes closed, a golden halo seemed to shine around her body, making her seem holy and untouchable.


    Di Feng silently walked over and sat in front of her. He always liked to sit beside her as she meditated. It strangely made him feel calmer.


    His thoughts then started to drift and he ended up thinking about his father...


    He knew almost nothing of him except his name, which was Long Chen. As for his feelings towards him, they also couldn''t be termed to as ''love'' or ''longing'', they instad were complicated and not easily described.


    After all, how would you feel about a father who you never saw and who decided to seal off a road that could have been marvelous to walk in? If it was just that, maybe disappointment or resentment would be enough without knowing the specific circumstances, but in Di Feng''s case, there were also events during his childhood where humilliation took place because of his inhability to cultivate and this in turn further complicated the matter.


    Humans were like this after all. When you are above all others, you would be envied and accepted everywhere while a small minority of people that are overly jealous would hate you, but if one is poor and lacks everything, either nobody would care about you or there would be people who would treat you as an ant who can be stepped on and no repercussions would follow...


    In the end, the main reason for his complicated emotions could be said to be because he didn''t understand the reason behind his father''s actions, even after carefully trying to think it over many times during the past years.


    Di Feng abruptly looked over to his mother, only to realize that she had already stopped meditating and was gently looking at him.

 Father, Long Chen

    "Were you thinking about your father?" Di Yue''s gentle voice entered Di Feng''s ears.


    He unconsciously looked away before responding while thinking; ''Was it that obvious?''


    "Yes..."


    At this, Di Yue sighed before asking with a more even tone.


    "Feng`er, do you resent your father?" Her expresion was earnest and she stared fixedly at Di Feng, with clear intentions of wanting an honest answer.


    Di Feng couldn''t bring himself to say anything for a while, his words stuck on his throat.


    In the end, all he could say was; ''Why would I?''


    Once again, Di Yue sighed lightly. She then moved her gaze towards the window and stared at the scenary outside the house, staying silent for awhile.


    Di Feng felt quite stiffled in this silence but he then heard his mother speak, her gaze still fixated on the window but if he were to look closely he would notice that her eyes were getting somewhat misty.


    "Listen Feng`er, I will tell you a story... But before that, let me give you a bit of background information. The place where the Human Realm, the place where thousands of planets, filled with life and an environment similar to what we could see around us, float in a vast sea of space, lives in, is a much more broader and grander sea of space called the universe. But the Human realm isn''t the only one of its kind, there are six others that are similar to it and each of them has a major race that stands above all others. Together, they form the seven universal realms and between them, a dimensional barrier exists that separates and limits all interaction with each other. Though, it would be bad if the relations between these major races were good, which in reality, they aren''t."


    At this, she paused for a few seconds.


    Di Feng became absorbed in that so called background of the story, but he still was sure that it wasn''t that simple and it was even possible that it was reality.


    As Di Yue was about to continue talking, her eyes seemed to become even more misty and distant...


    "In the Fey Realm, there exists a race called the Dragon Race, a very big race that posseses many variations in their bloodline which caused countless branches to extend out of it. Amongst them, the black dragon branch was a very powerful one since the black dragon itself is an existence comparable to a dark phoenix, signifying that their bloodline was as pure as any other true dragon. At a certain point in time, an unparalleled genius was born who was also part of the black dragon branch. He rose in strength very quickly and his character in turn gave him many friends and comrades. He was loved by his clan and very well known and reputable by the rest of the fey realm..."


    Di Feng''s expression turned weird while hearing this.


    ''That guy probably refers to father right?''


    Di Yue continued, not knowing what was he thinking, just being completely absorbed in her memories.


    "But, when he was at the peak of his life, an item that could have made him much more stronger was obtained by him but exactly due to this item, many people turned against him, even his friends and comrades! In just a few days, he became the public enemy of the entire fey realm and was forced to flee again and again, many times bordering on death..."Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Di Yue''s expression contorted a bit at this, unknown emotions flashing thorough her eyes.


    "Fortunately, he managed to somehow cross the dimensional barrier towards our human realm in a bid to escape a deathly pursuit, saving himself for the time being. Obviously, he wasn''t yet safe since he had arrived in the land of his race''s most hated enemy with heavy injuries. He spent days supressing his injuries till he reached a planet where not too long after he collapsed, unconscious. Once again, the heavens seemed to have taken pity on him as a girl happened to encounter him. She was very shocked at the sight of the injured man but since she didn''t have anything to do, she decided to save the man, who she thought didn''t seem a bad person, taking him back towards her own clan and tending his injuries in her own room..."


    An almost unnoticeable smile appeared on Di Yue''s face at this moment.


    Di Feng felt calmer the longer he listened, an unknown emotion was building up inside him as he saw the deep emotions reflejated on his mother''s face.


    "The girl had to spend a lot of effort, which she never thought it was a waste, to awaken the man. During that time, she even had to hide the existence of the man from her clan, in fear that trouble came knocking on her door. Finally, a year later, the man awakened... but the first thing he said took the girl aback and made her feel like punching him! Hehe, he said; ''Is this, hell?'' While looking weirdly at the girl with unfocused eyes..."


    Di Yue didn''t notice, but a tear silently rolled down her left cheek as she giggled to herself.


    On the other end, Di Feng was stuck with an unexplainable sense of loss, not only due to his mother''s deep emotions, but also due to his own. His own emotions towards his father that he found were somehow changing.


    ''If what mother just now said is true, then I can guess some things to the reasons behind the seals on my body but, why would he leave? Did he not have any other option? Was he being pursued? If he really was then the enemies must have been really powerful and he was just trying to protect us, unless there were other reasons! In the end, I now realise that I never hated him, I just felt puzzled about how he could be loved by mother so much even after he left and blocked off my path of cultivation... Even then, the real reason behind my complicated emotions came about because of ''those people'' and what they did, which I stupidly didn''t even see coming...''


    Di Feng didn''t notice that by now, Di Yue did not continue talking but had instead reverted back to how she was before the story, no traces of it left. Her gaze gentle as she stared at the thoughtful Di Feng.


    A while later, when he stopped pondering he finally saw his mother''s fixed stare and got a little embarassed.


    "Feng`er, Nowadays, other races are treated like slaves and you understand what does that mean right? You have to keep your ancient fey bloodline as hidden as possible. Furthermore, a half ancient fey and half human had never appeared before and it is even possible for people to want to capture you so as to examine your body or directly refine you... And the final thing is that, I myself didn''t want to tell you about all of this so that you could grow to accept things as they are and fight by yourself against the seals that limit you. After all, mother can''t be by your side forever and you need to take care of yourself. As for that past humilliation, you have to ignore it for now, not let it affect you. You''re a cultivator now after all, if you grow strong enough then no one would dare to humilliate you and for those that did, then you can directly kill them!"


    An almost unnoticeable glint flashed thorough her pitch black eyes. Di Feng noticed it, and it made him realize that he didn''t fully know his mother''s character against others that are not family or friends.


    As of now, Di Feng fully came to understand and put in order his emotions, an undescribable sense of calm and relaxation overcame him.


    ''The past is the past, and there''s no way for someone to only have happy events during their whole life, there would always be some sad event that pops out, no matter how small it is...''


    He smiled.


    "I understand mother. Now I can see things more clearly but still, I wouldn''t be me anymore if I don''t try to become strong enough to clarify what happened on my own and when the time comes, I also want to visit the dragon clan..."


    Di Yue nodded at this, seemingly satisfied.


    "One last thing and you can go cultivate, your father left behind a certain item which requires you to be at the fifth layer of qi condensation to obtain so work hard!"

 Training, Application of Darkness

    A whole week went by and Di Feng managed to succesfully open ten more meridians after a great deal of effort on his part as well as thanks to a few pills, which due to his body and bloodline, he absorbed cleanly and without any side effects. He didn''t break thorought in his cultivation base however, but he had still attained the peak of the first layer.


    As of now, his true qi vessel was the size of one arm while it was as thick as two palms, forming a mini stream that revolved around his opened meridians. His physical body was also nourished and right now, it too could be considered of being comparable in power to the first layer of qi condensation. On the other hand, even though his blood also strengthened, it didn''t manifest into anything too practical.


    As of right now, Di Feng stood before a green forest filled with trees and vegetation, surrounded by a peaceful athmosphere, ready to enter and train himself. He planned on having his first experiences in combat against real life fey beasts since he only had his share of combat in what he called ''a virtual world'' that was inside the first seal.


    Inside that virtual world, he only had a projection of his real self with most part being formed by his will power and soul force. This had to do with the rules governing that virtual world where he could have a much easier time doing things that in the real world he couldn''t. For example, comprehending and using the power of the elemental laws. Thanks to this, his willpower and soul force are very strong, to the point where even he didn''t really know how much and since he had no way of properly utilizing them, he could only discover one himself.


    In short, in the virtual world he gained things that now he needed to discover how to utilize them properly in the real world.


    Di Feng looked at the massive forest before him with anticipation and some excitement. Even with his usually calm and silent temperament, he couldn''t help it. During these last few days he had been preparing, now it was time to have practical experience!


    The place where the wooden house was located was just a few kilometers outside the outer sector of the Evergreen forest, which was one of the biggest forests that passed thorought the whole Azure Star Continent, being the home to many powerful beasts of the fey race as well as other natural death zones. Even then, it is also a good place to temper ones self as one can''t just become a powerful cultivator by just being in seclusion all day, one also needed to go thorough life and death battles to hone ones achievements in cultivation.


    After reviewing the information of the Evergreen forest, Di Feng stepped inside.


    ...


    A few hours later...


    Di Feng held his dark spear in a stance while facing a black bear double his size with a thick and powerful physique who was staring at him with a cold pair of golden eyes.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    This black bear had a power comparable to the second layer of qi condensation but his strong physique and powerful vitality would even let it fight a cultivator a at the third layer!


    Even though Di Feng felt somewhat nervous due to this being his first real battle he had gained some habits during his repeated attempts at breaking the first seal so he could retain a cool head and carefully analyze his opponent.


    The black bear roared all of a sudden as it choose to pounce at him!


    Di Feng gripped his spear thightly, a dark energy accumulating on its tip in the blink of an eye before he further powered it with his own true qi and thrusted!


    His heart beating somewhat rapidly, Di Feng had his azure eyes fixed on the black bear.


    The black bear swiped his right palm at the spear, choosing to meet it directly with its full physical strenght.


    In an instant, Di Feng felt his body tremble but his spear still managed to pierce thorought the palm of the bear ever so slightly. Its skin was very durable and much more powerful than Di Feng''s, it was only due to the dark energy which had corrosive effects that his spear pierced thorough.


    The black bear seemed enraged as it roared and swiped his left claw at Di Feng''s spear, wanting to break it. Di Feng reacted beforehand and quickly stepped back, removing his spear with his full strenght.


    Having missed, the black bear abruptly released a much more powerful roar as a gray energy containing an icy cold aura spread out from its left claw before it swiped it down at Di Feng!


    Di Feng suddenly felt a sensation of crisis envelop him. He then moved all his true qi and for the first time in a real battle, he controlled all of the power of darkness that he currently could, using it to release his most powerful strike to date!


    A dark spiral spinned on the tip of the spear, swallowing all light that came close to it like a black hole while a powerful presence of energy was released.


    And then, Di Feng spear moved to collide with that white energy!


    Weirdly, the collision didn''t produce any shockwave. As Di Feng''s spear strike hit the white energy, it was devoured! And his own move didn''t stop there, Di Feng then released the accumulated potential of the dark spiral, sending a black beam of light shooting straight at the black bear!


    The black bear didn''t have time to react before it was stuck in the chest, its body flying backwards for a few meters before stopping. But the dark energy, instead of dissipating, stuck itself onto its body, corroding its fur, skin and flesh!


    Di Feng was not perfectly fine either, his face was pale and sweat covered his body. He exhausted over eighty percent of his true qi in that attack, making him feel tired.


    But he could not take a break now, much less escape! He wanted to finish off the bear so he moved instantly, stepping on the ground like a ghost and almost instantaneously appearing in front of the stunned black bear, his spear pounding down at its heart!


    Almost all of his remaining true qi was used in this strike and the bear could not react in time. On top of this, the fur, skin and flesh on its chest had weakened considerably, giving Di Feng the opportunity to finish it off!


    Di Feng''s spear encountered some resistance but it still managed to pierce thorough its chest and shatter its heart. With a sorrowful cry, the black bear struggled and it gathered all its strength in a last attack, moving its left claw towards Di Feng, who couldn''t react in time due to his exhaustion!


    Viscousness flashed thorough his eyes as cracking sounds sounded thorough his body as he used all of his true qi left as well as his own physical body to forcefully resist that last ditch attack!


    "Fuck!" He shouted as the powerful attack sent him flying, his skin fissuring and some of his blood vessels rupturing. He flew for over fifteen meters before a giant tree stopped his body in its tracks.


    Fortunately, his body was strong and his vitality rich and thus he could survive the attack with only some small injuries and a single serious injury on his right shoulder, who was where he got hit and had dislocated. His greatest problem now was that only five percent of his full strength remained.


    Right now, he barely had any strength left while his entire body was filled with pain. He even almost lost consciousness. As for the bear, it collapsed onto the ground with another weak cry, the spear falling onto the ground after losing its support.


    Di Feng mustered strenght to weakly rise to his feet and slowly walk over to take the spear, extract the black bear''s beast core, and escape from here to somewhere safe.


    Despite his injuries, he was exited over his victory but he forced his emotions down and carefully went thorought the battle process once again in his mind, analyzing his mistakes.

 Absorbing the Beast Core, The Power of Ice

    It was the middle of the night and the moon hung high on the sky, its light spilling down onto the entirety of the Evergreen forest outer sector, creating a peaceful and serene atmosphere, with no fey beasts or plants even making a sound.


    Sitting cross legged on the rocky ground of a man made cave that was very well hidden, Di Feng quietly meditated while a white and crystal clear but uneven bean sized ball was held on his right hand.


    A few days had passed since the fight and Di Feng finally recovered. Right now, he prepared to absorb the beast core of the black bear and break thorough to the second layer of qi condensation!


    Di Feng, aside from healing himself with some pills, herbs and by meditating, had carefully analyzed every detail of his fight with the black bear before coming to a conclusion.


    He, had completely failed at using his advantage in intelligence as well as even his own power well enough. Di Feng had noticed that the bear was very stupid and he himself followed in on it''s footsteps, not thinking over his actions properly enough. It was a relief that he survived and the bear did not, but Di Feng still wanted to have this in mind the next time.


    Furthermore, he also realized how his use of darkness was still very unrefined, which was understandable with how low his cultivation base was as well as how his own understanding into it was not perfect.


    He clearly remembered the words of the shadowy man on the first seal''s virtual world. He mentioned the true meaning of darkness and how he had not grasped it yet. This could not be rushed however so he now decided to break thorough and try again then, to ponder over these words.


    Having finished thinking it over, Di Feng took a deep breath and thightened his grip on the beast core. His azure eyes flashed as he remembered some information.


    According to the jade slips he had read, all members of the fey race be either beasts, plants, or other species amongst them, they all have one when they are born. The differences these have, had to do with their size, purity and special qualities, which is something like an unique affinity towards an element. In turn, these are what they strengthen to become more powerful and also their most valuable thing apart from their bodies themselves. In addition, the fey cores normally reside near the heart, the brain or their dantian, though, this has more to do with their respective innate qualities.


    Dragons for example had a very strong vitality and body which could even be further strengthened with the presence of an elemental attribute that normally is fire or wood, thus their beast core would normally be in their heart or dantians. The sirens who possesses weak bodies but strong souls and energy attributes on the other hand are the complete opposite of dragons in turn would have their fey core on their brain...


    After reviewing this information, Di Feng''s was abruptly stuck with the thought of ''Why don''t I have a fey core?'' but he quickly laughed it off. He was part human as well after all.


    Once again focusing his mind, he spread his soul''s perception over to the beast core to inspect it. Upon doing this, he realized that the black bear possesed some sort of pure lineage as its beast core contained rich demonic energy as well as the attribute of ice!Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "It seems that my decision in killing it was not completely wrong after all..." He muttered to himself.


    On top of that, thanks to his strong soul force, Di Feng felt a very well hidden ferociousness within the icy demonic energy.


    "That''s probably the remnant soul of the black bear... But I''m confident of my own soul force and willpower to withstand it!" Di Feng determinedly moved the icy demonic energy within the beast core with his soul force towards his body thorough his right palm.


    As he did this, a viscious aura filled with killing intent rushed out along with the demonic energy, directly entering his body and shooting towards his brain! Di Feng was prepared however as his own soul force moved to intercept it like a wave.


    Shockingly, as his soul force moved towards the remnant soul of the bear, he could feel that as it saw his own soul force rush at it, it showed undescribable fear and tried to escape!


    Di Feng however didn''t flinch as he caged the remnant soul with his soul force. Only now did he realize how strong his soul was. The remnant soul, seeing how it was trapped, ferociously keep on trying to break the cage but no matter what did it do, the cage didn''t do more than tremble a bit.


    He was extremely at ease at manipulating his soul force. After proving a bit more how he could movilize it, he created a spear with his soul force and obliterated the remnant soul of the bear.


    Di Feng felt happy after realizing that his soul was probably his most powerful weapon but before delving deeper into this he proceeded to continue moving the icy demonic energy of the beast core into his body, refining half of it into true qi while the other half of it became nourishment for his blood and body. After all, he didn''t have any method of moving his soul force to attack outside his body so improving his cultivation base remained his main priority.


    As Di Feng absorbed and refined the icy demonic energy, the few impurities that were within were forcefully cleansed using his true qi. The greatest danger of absorbing a beast or any kind of fey core was in the remnant soul after all, the impurities were secondary in comparision.


    But during this process, he realized that the ice attribute of the beast core somehow resonated with his bloodline in an unexplainable way before it strangely separated from the demonic energy and rushed straight towards the nine seals located around his dantian.


    While for other people the dantian could only be perceived and have no form, for Di Feng, his dantian possesed the shape of an illusory big black door that quietly floated inside his lower abdomen. Around the door, nine circles filled with runic complex patterns floated while forming a line, with one behind the other. Each of these seals were of a different color, with the first one which was on the lowest end of the line being black and then, in an ascending order they were; white, gray, crimson, golden, purple, silver, yellow and azure.


    He then noticed that the icy part of the demonic energy was in reality being absorbed by the gray, third seal before dissapearing without a trace.


    As he observated this process, he could feel something within the third seal, something that very weakly called out to him. Sadly, he could not enter the virtual world of the third seal without clearing that of the second.


    Suddenly however, the air around himself turned cold as the temperature decreased inmensely. A cold air then invaded his body before rushing towards the third seal. He then noticed it much more clearly this time, how there was something within that absorbed the cold energy!


    Di Feng even thought that the icy attribute of the demonic energy was a catalyst that awakened that thing, thus giving rise to thse circumstances.


    But, though it seemed to be completely devoured, somehow, faint traces of cold energy also started rushing at and being absorbed by his body and bloodline, causing Di Feng to feel cold all over.


    In this cold that was almost unbearable, Di Feng became aware of how his very soul appeared to become closer with the cold within and outside his body. He noticed that this feeling was very similar to how he felt towards darkness, its power and its laws whenever he used or meditated over them!


    Soon, an hour went by and the whole process finally showed signs of coming to an end.


    Over time, his body accustomed to the cold and he didn''t feel pain anymore. On the contrary, he felt comfortable as the cold energy circulated within his body, giving nourishment to it.


    Di Feng also noticed that now, if he wished it, he could control to some extent the temperature around him and generate a kind of cold energy that could be used by him exactly like his already trademark dark energy, although weaker.


    With a thoughtful look on his face, Di Feng stood up.


    ''It seems, that my situation is not as simple as I thought it to be... There''s something more to the seals and another reason for them to have been made. As for how I just now came to comprehend a bit the power of ice and temperature, it also surely has to do with my bloodline, just like darkness!''

 A Month, Ji Qingyue Arrives

    *Boom!*


    A five feet long purple scaled snake was blown away, shattering a tree with three meters of circumference into pieces. That snake had red eyes that were filled with visciousness but it was currently heavily injured, with half of its body''s scales blown away, revealing its fissured flesh that was covered in its own blood.


    That snake was comparable to a cultivator at the fifth layer of qi condensation, but its strong body could even let it fight head on with someone at the sixth layer.


    Abruptly, a spear light containing an icy dark energy shoot out from between the trees aiming at its head. The purple snake couldn''t even react in time with its heavy injuries without even mentioning the speed of the spear light.


    *Puchi!*


    That spear light pierced right between its eyebrows but strangely, no blood came out as a layer of frost spread out from its injury before a dark glow then corroded and disintegrated it. The snake couldn''t even utter a cry as the light on its red eyes dimmed down.


    *Swish!*


    A nimble and tall figure wearing tight black leather clothing rushed out from between the trees and stood in front of the purple snake.


    With a pondering look on his face, Di Feng analyzed the injuries of the purple snake.


    "Even after a full month, I still didn''t manage to understand what the true meaning of darkness is, without even mentioning ice. I think that my cultivation is still what limits me aside from how I don''t know about the proper way of going about with further improving their respective powers... I should have asked mother before! Oh well, I will do so when I go back."


    Aside from this, Di Feng also realized how big the differences were between battles and training in the real world from the virtual world during this past month, something that had been on his mind ever since before he even came to train at the Evergreen forest. For example, in the virtual world he could use much more freely the power of darkness due to its overabundance whilst in the real world, he had a harder time doing the same.


    Even then, with this being the real world and the fact that darkness was most abundant at night, he didn''t realize that his current control over darkness and even ice was already abnormal for a normal human... Due to this unknown ease in elemental control for Di Feng, he had managed to even fuse the two elements which he found complemented each other into an attack.


    In short, even though he found it hard further improving the power of his control and of the elements he did control, it was mainly because of his lack of knowledge and of cultivation base while in reality, his ease at elemental control already exceeded the norm just that he did not know about it.


    As he muttered to himself, Di Feng extracted a crimson bean sized beast core from the purple snake. Lately, he had been hunting down fey beasts and plants so as to use their cores to cultivate but as this was just the outer sector of the Evergreen forest and his own cultivation base was lacking, he could only rarely find appropiate fey to hunt. There were many times where he had to run for his life when he suddenly encountered a fey much more powerful than himself.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    *Sigh* "My body is just too demanding, even after all this time, I''m only at the early fourth layer of qi condensation... Fortunately, I''m much more powerful than anyone else at my level thanks to the physical strenght it grants me as well."


    As of right now, his true qi vessel was as large as four arms while it had a width of three palms while his opened meridians even numbered at fifty five! This was absolutely no normal achievement as he had fifteen more opened meridians than a normal genius at his own stage. He had the ambition of opening all one hundred and eighty after all, so it could be said that the opening of meridians also had its own toll on his supposedly lagging behind cultivation base.


    It was just that Di Feng tended to ignore some details of the process as he aimed higher while his understanding of great or normal achievements bordered on the extremes only. This was just like how he thought that his progression in his elemental powers was also slow without even knowing the specifics or how it was for others.


    Di Feng was just about to turn around and leave but..


    "Brother Feng!!!!"


    A charming voice powered by true qi and filled with vigor resounded thorought the whole outer sector of the Evergreen forest.


    Di Feng was taken aback for a second before he sighed while rubbing his temples.


    "So she did come in the end... It seems that my training will have to stop here."


    Mixed emotions could be seen on his expression as he recalled some of his most precious of memories as well as some of those grim ones where he had to control his emotions so as to not let rage fill his head...


    "This is good moment to apologize. Ever since I understood a little the reasoning of my father as well as moved on from whatever humilliation I suffered in the past, I have been thinking about how idiotic I was acting when I said that to her four years ago... It was not completely her fault after all."


    Di Feng proceeded to rush straight towards the origin of the voice.


    As he got near, sounds of fighting entered his ears. There were enraged roars followed by booming sounds as well as charming laughter. It gave the impression that a huge commotion was occuring.


    He ended rushing all the way back towards the entrance of the outer sector and also from where he first entered.


    There, a beautiful girl with golden hair and crimson eyes flew on the air, approximately above fifty meters of the ground. She wore a black uniform with golden stripes and a badge with an also black background that had a golden star engraved on it. That seemed to be from a renowed academy as it was luxurious and even projected a spiritual aura. That uniform in turn completely enhanced the girl''s perfect figure.


    Right now however, the girl was laughing brightly while holding a silver longsword on her right hand. Below her on the ground and inside the cover of the forest, a completely white tiger with green eyes sneakily moved around the trees.


    The white tiger had blood on most of its fur but it was not seriously injured, at most they were superficial wounds. Around the two girl and tiger fighting, craters and shattered trees lay on the ground. No other fey could be seen as they had probably run far away by now.


    The girl''s eyes abruptly lit up as from the corner of her eyes she catched sight of a tall youth. Her smile widened a bit unconsciously while a cunning light flickered within them.


    "Hehe, you''re in no way a tiger, you have to be a scaredy cat for you to be running around like that!"


    The girl laughed arrogantly as she adopted the pose of a master swordwoman in absolute control of the situation. Her back straight, her expression dignified and her left hand behind her back. It was perfect and filled with an aesthetic beauty!


    Di Feng''s eyes lit up at the sight of this but he then moved his sight towards the white tiger and then his face fell and his lips twitched ever so slightly.


    In the next moment, the sun itself seemed to direct its light at the girl while her silver longsword even had flames that appeared sentinent coiling around it. A powerful forcefield created from a very concentrated true qi coming from the girl''s dantian then expanded towards her surroundings.


    She then said with an arrogant tone.


    "If you surrender now, I may spare your life and let you be my cute little pet!"


    At this atonishing show of force, the white tiger seemed to become very fearful as it started shaking all over before nodding frantically, as if its life depended on it.


    The girl, showing that her words had their desired effect, strangely dissapeared from her previous spot with a flash of golden light being left behind on her original spot and in just a blink of an eye she appeared attop the white tiger''s back, who remained quiet and tried hard not to shake.


    And just at this moment, the girl seemed to very casually look at her surroundings and ''coincidentally'' see Di Feng, whose forehead currently showed quite a few black lines. His expression was that of someone trying very hard not to shout or say anything while remaining deadpan...


    "Oh! There you are, Brother Feng! I came looking for you all the way here and even fought a hard battle with a ferocious fey beast before finally subduing it! very heroic right? Aren''t you moved? Do you not feel the urge to shout ''Big Sister Qingyue is awesome!'' in excitement? Aih, Are you too shocked to even speak?..."


    "Ji. Qing. Yue!" Di Feng gritted his teeth as he spoke, hoping that she would just stop speaking.


    "Yeah! That''s me, the most amazing genius girl!" A cheeky grin covered her face. An almost unnoticeable glint of happines flashed thorough her crimson eyes as she looked at Di Feng however.


    Seeing Ji Qingyue like this, Di Feng abruptly felt like not apologizing at all...

 Ji Qingyue, Bloodline of the Golden Lotus

    *Sigh* "Do you think I''m stupid enough to not see that you have already tamed this white tiger beforehand, even years ago?"


    Di Feng sighed as if releasing all the tension accumulated inside him before nonchalantly speaking.


    These words of his however... stuck right at the heart of the matter!


    "Gah!" Ji Qingyue jumped up in exaggerated atonishment before her expression suddenly changed.


    She stepped down from the back of the white tiger, who was apparently sweating bullets after hearing these words of Di Feng.


    "See! I knew that you didn''t have enough wounds! You really aren''t like a ferocious tiger at all!" Ji Qingyue, faking anger, pointed at the white tiger''s forehead and loudly berated it.


    The white tiger felt aggrieved but it knew that it''s master was now in a weird mood due to the azure eyed guy so it could only silently bear it.


    At this, Di Feng once again rubbed his temples but a gentle smile lit up on his face as he stared at that beautiful figure.


    "That''s enough Qingyue, that tiger is very strong and has great potential from what I can see so treat it well."


    His words once again made Ji Qingyue''s attitude to change as she turned around, a smile of satisfaction and pride on her face as she patted the head of the white tiger.


    "I know, right? I found Little White in the inner sector of the Snow Plains three years ago, it was just a cub back then and I..."


    Her words were cut short as Di Feng smiled and appeared like a ghost some centimeters from herself and before she could react, he huged her strongly!


    "I missed you, I''m also very sorry from those words I stupidly said four years ago, I was ignorant back then so please forgive me." He very gently said as he smelled the pleasant fragance of her silky hair.


    "Y-you..." J Qingyue''s cheeks blushed and she stuttered, trying to say something but words would not come out. Her crimson eyes even showed some panic.


    After what happened four years ago, she did as Di Feng requested of her and did not come to see him, she waited for him to come search for her instead. Because of this, she spent all her time training so as to not think about this matter and suppress her emotions. Like this, her cultivation soared and she quickly became someone adored by countless people and a genius known by almost the entire continent!


    When her mother told her about how Di Feng could now cultivate however, she wanted to immediately rush over since she knew this would be a special occasion and Di Feng could not blame her for this, but some things just had to keep her inside the academy, blocking her way. Finally, she managed to make a breakthrough and convince her master, who gave her permission to leave the academy and look for Di Feng. Her mother also went with her and now she was currently with Di Yue.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    She then came here but during the way she kept on thinking about ''What should I say when I see him?'', ''Will he be angry if he sees me?'', ''Should I do something cool and show him how awesome I am now?'', ''Will he be impressed by Little White?'' And so...


    She came up with a little scheme to try and trick Di Feng so as to surprise him but in the end it failed...


    As Di Feng maintained the hug, he felt incredibly peaceful and his mind and soul felt refreshed after finally saying something that should have been said long ago.


    He happily asked at her incoherent words.


    "Me what?"


    Di Feng sensed her body suddenly relaxing before she returned the hug as strongly as him. Her voice, that gave a fragile feeling, resounded in his left ear.


    "You''re an idiot, you know? I will not forgive you this easily..."


    Di Feng''s heart soured. But them he heard a cute giggle containing mischievous intentions.


    "If you want to apologize, then you have to say; ''Please forgive mee~ Big sis Qingyue!~'' Only then may I reluctantly accept it."


    Black lines once again showed on his forehead.


    "Oh, really?"


    She didn''t seem to notice the somber tone that was used.


    "Of course! I, this amazing genius girl, uh no, big sister! will not go back on her own words!"


    "Then forget about it." Di Feng smiled. Bad intentions clear on his expression.


    A premonition roused within Ji Qingyue, but it was too late...


    "Wai! What!? No, no no no! Stop it! Hahahahaha! Stop, tickling! Haha, Hahaha!"


    In a matter of seconds, the two were rolling over the ground, happily laughing and tickling each other...


    Loud laughter, curses and apologies resounded. As for the white tiger, all it could do was stare with perplexity at the two child-like youths on the ground...


    ....


    "How is your time training and studying in the Divine Stars Academy?"


    Half an hour has passed and they finally got tired of playing like children. The two were now resting on the verdant ground while looking at the blue skies, chatting. The white tiger named Little White had also shrunk itself and was now resting in between them with its eyes closed.


    As they talked about interesting but casual things, Di Feng abruptly asked.


    "It''s great, there are many people who treat me nicely but it''s just tiring. I, as a renowed genius, have to stay inside the academy most of the time and participate on various tournaments to win face for the academy. In turn, the people there are either arrogant pricks or boot licking dogs, there are few people that are worth befriending or have the power and are not idiots. Though, thats mostly from those of the younger generation. The seniors are much more laid back and serious about matters."


    Ji Qingyue spoke with a relatively even tone but Di Feng could clearly notice, as he knew her since they were just childs, that a definitive longing over having freedom hid behind her nonchalant attitude.


    She was always like this and he knew that she only entered the Divine Stars Academy to use it as a stepping stone to become more powerful. At the start, her goals were that of protecting him and being able of living freely without worries but thorought time, she came to know about other things, like the history and background of her father, Ji Xuan...


    In truth, her mother''s surname was also Di, just like Di Feng and Di Yue, but her mother, Di Yin, decided to let her use her father''s surname; Ji!


    According to what Ji Qingyue told him regarding this years ago, her father was ambushed in one of his trips with Di Yin, who at that time was already pregnant. The enemies during that ambush were many and all of them were very strong. Fearing that something could happen to the baby and Di Yin, Ji Xuan brabely held everyone back by himself while he forced Di Yin to flee by herself. In the end, his outcome was unknown but Ji Qingyue, as well as her mother, believed that sadly, he had died!


    And since Ji Qingyue inherited the special bloodline of her father, Di Yin decided to let her use his Ji surname. As for that bloodline, Di Feng heard her say that its origin was that of the Golden Lotus!


    More than this, Di Feng did not know but he found it weird how two absolute genius women from the Di family married and had kids with two outsiders who were unbelievably powerful but had unknown outcomes.


    These occurrences sure made one want to sigh at the coincidences of life...


    Seeing how Di Feng had a pondering look on his face, Ji Qingyue kept silent. With the two of them like this, only the wind that moved the clouds could be heard.


    Some time later, Ji Qingyue suddenly asked, rousing Di Feng from his thoughts.


    "Why did you never told me that those bastards of Li Tianyun and Arthur Austrich were bullying you?"


    Upon hearing this, Di Feng shuddered before an abnormally bright, red glint flickered in his eyes. It was only after a full minute that he managed to take a deep breath to calm himself.


    "As I thought, you did not completely got over those times, or rather it is better to say that you can''t because you absolutely refuse to!" While saying this, Ji Qingyue rose to sit herself and looked seriously at Di Feng.


    "Why, are you bringing this matter up?" A shadow seemed to cover his face, his tone somber.


    "Why wouldn''t I, I''m the one who caused those two idiots to bother you in the first place and I should be the one to kill them!"


    A faint but unbelievably cold glint flickered in her crimson eyes.

 Going back, the Di Family

    Di Feng rose from the ground and sat himself but his head kept looking at the ground for a few more seconds before he turned to look at Ji Qingyue.


    "Qingyue, the one at fault for that matter is me and my weakness, you have nothing to do with this. They were right at saying that I''m not good enough for you and even if you don''t care, I do. Even though I apologized to you, I''m not going back on my words. I will definitely become stronger to have the right of staying at your side and pay back the humilliation I sufered to those two and their lackeys a hundredfold!


    A viscious, almost frenetic even, red light flickered in Di Feng''s eyes as he stated this.


    Ji Qingyue could not say anything to this since she perfectly knew that this was Di Feng''s pride, his pride as a man and as a martial artist! He had to bear it silently before because he had no power and he himself would not lower his pride to ask her, a woman who was much more than a friend to him, to protect him.


    But now that he adquired the opportunity to gain the power necessary to regain his honor and clear his heart of the heart demons these two had left him with, of course he would do it himself without having to rely on anyone, not even her.


    Ji Qingyue sighed but did not try to argue any further.


    "Alright. They are all yours. Let''s go back now, we have kept Aunty Yue and mother waiting long enough."


    Before she could rise up however, two warm hands grabbed her own. She looked on in surprise, only to see Di Feng''s serious face right in front of hers. This caused her to almost jump in surprise.


    "I''m sorry for just now but this is my problem. It doesn''t matter that you were the reason for it to start. I''m the one who couldn''t do anything about them, not you. I hid it exactly because I knew that if you protected me then, you would end up protecting me all my life without giving me the necessary push to ever break the first seal..."


    At this, she smiled, more in satisfaction than anything. She didn''t completely let it go just then but since she knew that it was pointless arguing, she let it go, but now, she truly was convinced. She didn''t need to intervene and she also had this confidence that came from long, long ago that Di Feng could handle it himself without any problems.


    Furthermore, she also wanted Di Feng to become stronger since he too had a father that had disappeared...


    "Alright, I now understand that this is something necessary for you. In fact, they are in reality just your stepping stones for you to cleanse your heart and become more powerful! Hey, by the way, how strong are you now? Although those two bastards are total idiots, they are geniuses still and have their own strength and status to back their previous actions against you. Let me tell you that those two are already at the Profound Sea Realm and at a boundary I don''t know about. They are even over ten years older than you! Heavens! Do you even have any chance in overcoming them? What am I going to do if you die? I''m going to be single all my life you know?..."


    Although he knew she was saying this with good intentions and that it all even contained some certain points of importance, Di Feng, for probably the third time of the day, felt incensed at her nonsensical talk aimed at bothering him. She was obviously doing it on purpose to cheer him on but it was the manner in which she did it that was... well...


    *Sigh*


    Di Feng then turned around and started walking towards home.


    Ji Qingyue noticed this instantly and felt ignored.


    "Hey! Were you even listening? Ah! Why do you start running?"Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Then, two youths started running after each other at abnormal speeds with a white tiger exasperatedly trying to follow behind them....


    ...


    An hour later, they had arrived back at the wooden house. In truth, most of the time had been spent with them playing like children but this didn''t bother them at all and in fact, served as a way to wash away all of the bad feelings that surged over the years because of that single disagreement between them, bringing them even more close to each other.


    When the two saw the wooden house, they sprinted forwards so as to finally be back.


    But, when they entered, the sight of two beautiful women in long white robes sitting next to each other as they drank tea and chatted with an ordinary looking old man that sat in front of them invaded their sight.


    The two of them stood on the entry to the living room shoulder to shoulder. Meanwhile, Little White stood on Ji Qingyue''s left shoulder, looking curiously all around. As a fey beast with powerful strength and an unknown but rich and unique bloodline, having the ability to change its body''s shape was nothing.


    "Mom, Aunty Yue, we''re back! Who''s this old man?"


    As direct as Ji Qingyue was, these words could cause anyone to frown but the old man was the opposite, he smiled in interest and looked with praise in his eyes at her.


    The old man wore a black robe while he had a bald head with a white and long beard. His eyes, however, were as bright as the moon and black as the night.


    Before he could respond, the cold voice of the woman seated at the left of Di Yue resounded and stopped him on his tracks.


    "Qingyue, did you forget what the words ''be polite towards guests'' mean? Do I have to explain them to you again? Apologize and come here to sit, we were just discussing something."


    She was Di Yin, a woman as beautiful as a fairy but as cold and distant as the silvery moon. She had a pair of icy blue eyes and an indifferent expression on her face that further accentuated this description.


    The sight of her sitting beside Di Yue, who in contrast had a gentle air and gave a more approachable impression, could be said to be quite interesting to look at. On one hand you have this cold and distant woman and on the other someone who was the complete opposite while even then, they shared similarities in looks and also in their elegant poise and mannerism... It was interesting indeed!


    Di Feng clearly noticed this but remained deadpan. Inwardly, he suddenly thought as to how coincidental their experiences with love where, which gave a him a similar feeling.


    As Di Yin finished berating Ji Qingyue, who already had her eyes looking at the floor while fidgeting cutely, she then turned to look at Di Feng.


    An earnest expression taking over her previous indifference, Di Yin spoke, her words were at first casual before then taking over a tone that could chop wood and sever iron!


    "Sister Yue told me about your success, congratulations! But you can''t feel complacent yet, you have a long and arduous road to walk. This road may either be filled with all sorts of wonderful events or sad ones, but you can''t neither feel satisfied nor give up because of that, the martial path humanity forged is not to be traveled without a goal, without ones own dao! It is a road that a martial artist takes to transcend the heavenly dao, to defy the heavens! And that does not leave any room for those with a weak will!"


    Di Feng listened on attentively and noted all of that down inside his mind, never to forget it. He knew that she not only was saying this to enlighten him a bit, but also to widen his horizons and give a new perspective towards how he should view the exitence of the nine seals in his body.


    He nodded solemnly after Di Yin finished and proceeded to walk over and sit down at his mother''s side, who quietly watched from the side.


    Even Ji Qingyue turned serious as she listened. She then also sat down at her mother''s side.


    "Very proper and enlightening words Madam Yin, I''m impressed and honored to be able of hearing them. Now that Feng`er is here however, let me say a few things to him." The unknown old man offered a polite praise to the nonchalant Di Yin before turning and smiling kindly at Di Feng.


    For some reason, that smile gave Di Feng the creeps while the way the old man adressed him further accentuated it.


    However, before the old man could continue, Di Yue speaked first.


    "Feng`er, this is the family head of the Di Family, Di Zhen. You already know that in the past, I was from a big clan and that was the Di Clan, but unfortunately, due to various reasons it declined till its current state and changed to be the Di Family. I have called for Mister Zhen today so as to let him give you an offer as well as to tell you some things. I already told you that I can''t be at your side forever and I intend for you to go train further at the Di Family and grow stronger from there. That is not to say that I can''t accompany you, it''s just that now that you have obtained the ability to cultivate, I intend to go do something that I wanted to do a long time ago..."


    Whilst saying this, Di Yue''s expression was gentle but her pitch black eyes hid a deep reluctance and sadness along with an even stronger determination...

 The Iron Blood Country and Evergreen City

    "It''s okay mother, I understand."


    Although Di Feng smilingly nodded in understanding, his heart ached and he found it hard to remain tranquil. He had been with his mother all his life after all! Even if he was not with her, he knew she was watching him from afar, always taking care of him.


    Those things he had to go thorough and bear with silently did not have anything to do with his mother because he knew that even though it was saddening, she really couldn''t take care of him all his life if he did want to be a powerful cultivator and be able of living freely without any worries, it was reality!


    Before, he was ignorant and didn''t understand this, without even mentioning the reasoning behind his father''s actions, but now it was different and he saw everything clearly. Unfortunately, the time has already come where he had to put to practice his hard earned willpower and continue cultivating and strive to walk his own martial path towards its limit, alone.


    Di Yue sighed but did not continue talking about this, she let Di Zhen talk instead.


    "Mister Zhen, please tell Di Feng about the specifics."


    The old man nodded. His tone changing to a more serious one.


    "Di Feng, near this house, about ten kilometers south, there is a city. That''s Evergreen City and where my Di Family lives. In turn, Evergreen City is located within the borders of the Iron Blood Country and is just a second tier city that only has this status due to the materials and resources that it obtains from the Evergreen forest. If one takes the entirety of the country into account, Evergreen city is nothing, one could even said that it is a backwater city with almost no martial strength. And if one adds the entire Azure Star Continent then even the entire Iron Blood country is just a middle tier country!"


    He stopped here for a few seconds before continuing. His tone becoming a bit more casual.


    "As for the top factions of the entire Azure Star Continent, they are; The Divine Stars Academy, the Li Clan, the Austrich Family, the Wang Clan, the Five Major Countries, the Three Major Sects of Ice, Fire and Metal who each had a special cultivation method regarding these elements and finally, the Professional Guild."


    By this point, Di Feng fully concentated on listening, he buried the matter of his separating from his mother deep down in his heart.


    "Going back to the Iron Blood Country, it is ruled by the Neville Family while its other top factions are the Fang Clan, the Astor Family, the two national academies and the branch of the Professional Guild. On the other hand, in Evergreen City, the top factions are our Di Family, the Zhu Family and the Chen Family."


    The old man emphasized the word ''our'' causing Di Feng''s eyebrow to twitch.


    "As of now, a grand event is coming to Evergreen City with the reason being Princess Sophie, who lately has been going from city to city hosting tournaments between the factions in power in each one while adding on commoners. Her personal rrasons for doing this is unknown but it is rumored that she is taking on subordinates from those she fancied and then getting them to join the Iron Blood Academy. This was then connected with how she suddenly wants to fight for the throne, being years behind her brothers who started amassing forces long ago and caused quite the controversy. For you Di Feng, this could be a good opportunity to rapidly rise in position by showing your talent but it depends on you. She will be coming to the city two months from now so you stil have time to think it over as well as to prepare."


    He then stopped, letting his words sink in and for Di Feng to ponder.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there."A princess huh..." Ji Qingyue, who had been silent all this time, suddenly exclaimed.


    She was ignored however as Di Feng, with a frown on his face, asked.


    "She can''t be just wanting geniuses to form a force from scratch right? That would be too inefficient since they had to grow first and her brothers may not let them."


    Even though he was ignorant of most matters concerning the continent, Di Feng still understood the power struggles that happen inside families, clans, sects, alliances or imperial families. How, for the sake of becoming the one with the absolute say in everything, be either the family head, patriarch, supreme elder, king or emperor, there can be people who would adopt any measures and literally do anything to achieve it.


    The Neville imperial family was surely no exeption and there was nothing the Emperor could do to stop this unless he was immortal and did not want to pass down his seat.


    "Hehe, what, could it be that you''re saying that she may be looking for a husband?" The old man weirdly smiled as he said, a sly glint flickered in his eyes.


    "What!? Could it really be so? T-then... You want to marry the princess!?"


    Ji Qingyue abruptly stood up and looked with atonishment and a very well hidden panic in her eyes at Di Feng.


    "How come you suddenly thought of that!? Do you not see the old man having that weird smile!" Di Feng felt a headache coming his way and an urge to punch the old man in the face surged within him.


    "Oh my, Feng`er sure has grown!" Di Yue smilingly chimed in.


    "So it was true!" Ji Qingyue, who seemed to realize that she had reacted too quickly and was about to back down, abruptly had her eyes lit and a crystal clear but exaggerated anger shone in those crimson pupils.


    "You too mother!? Hey, Qingyue! Why the heck did you throw a fireball at me!? You seriously overreacted, it is not true!" Di Feng first looked with atonishment at his mother before suddenly having his right palm shine with an icy dark glow to extinguish the fireball that came his way.


    "Pfft." Unnoticed by all, Di Yin was covering her mouth with her right hand, hiding away her smile and laughter. Di Feng noticed her at this time however.


    "You too Aunty Yin!?"


    At this time, the athmosphere turned lively and the faint heavy feelings that Di Yue''s initial words bought were completely swept away.


    "If you fight back then it is true, you want to marry the princess!" Ji Qingyue came up with an absurd reason before she pounced at Di Feng! Meanwhile, Little White nimbly jumped out of her shoulder, not wanting to be swept up in this mess.


    "What kind of logic is that!? Hey! Wait, you''re going to destroy the entire building!"


    And then, the scene of one boy and one girl, one chasing and the other running away, was calmly observed by two mothers and a mischievous old man from the side...


    <hr>


    Fifteen minutes later....


    An old man looked with a hidden smile at the two youths before him, their two mothers having left to who knows where.


    While Di Feng, who had his clothes burnt here and there with smoke coming from the burnt marks, Ji Qingyue looked happy and filled with satisfaction. She was stronger after all and he could not do anything to her. In the end, he also realized that aside from her first reaction, the rest were just she playing along... Or at least for the most part...


    "Then, where were we? Oh, I remember now. Answering your question from before. There are some rumors in reality that said that the princess wants to nurtue geniuses that could potentially win some honor and backing for her during the grand tea party five years from now!"


    At the mention of this, Ji Qingyue''s eyes lit up and she interrumpted. Her mannerism changed as she adopted the air of an expert.


    "I heard about that thing! I''m also supposed to go and it is a tea party held by the Li Clan where every top faction''s geniuses on the continent would attend, it is even rumored that those from other continents would also come! As for the reason, my master told me that it is because someone from the Li Clan that became a core disciple inside the Heavenly Paragon Alliance managed to obtain the recognition of a powerful elder and became his personal disciple. The key factor however is that, that master of his would be present too which is also an opportunity for the geniuses from these factions that will attend to show their talent and hope to also be recognized. Even then, there would be no lack of opportunistic people who would want to show friendship to the Li Clan...


    As she spoke though, she became more earnest and when she reached this point her words stopped and she turned to look at Di Feng with a complicated expression on her face before adding.


    "Li Tianyun would be present there too..."

 The Great War of Time Immemorial

    Di Feng''s eyes lit up and a cold glow flickered within. But he didn''t say anything about this, instead asking with real curiosity.


    "What''s the Heavenly Paragon Alliance?"


    Ji Qingyue rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.


    "How come you don''t know? You seriously holed up training these last few years. Aih okay, I shall reluctantly tell you." Ji Qingyue then straightened her back and took the airs of a teacher, earnestly saying.


    "To understand it you first have to know how our Human Realm is composed. The human realm could be basically described as a big sea of space where ten of thousands of habitable planets are divided into solar systems, which are then further divided into star sectors. These star sectors are then once again divided based on their personal martial strength. In total, there are twelve star sectors, nine of which came to be known as the Martial Star Sector because they are all very close to each other and have a powerful faction backing each of them, while the remaining three are known as the Three Desolates Star Sector, who is the complete opposite. It is relatively far away from these and lacks in experts."


    Ji Qingyue cleared her throat upon reaching this point, but before she could continue, the old man, Di Zhen, continued from where she left.


    The old man had a glint in his eyes as he spoke, he didn''t notice the grumbling Ji Qingyue at the side however.


    "The Three Desolates Star Sector is also where our planet is located, if we take a very broad and general point of view. As Ji Qingyue said, star sectors are differentiated by their strength and ours was known as the most weak one. This could be so for many reasons but the most significant ones were in reality the lack of resources and a faction to lead and unify the star sector as a whole. Then, about six years ago, the Heavenly Paragon Alliance was created and somehow resolved the latter problem while the former is more difficult and would require much more effort to make up for. In turn, the alliance, as its name implies, is a faction formed from the conjunct effort of five clans and families that have a powerful martial force and a big influence across the entirety of the Three Desolates Star Sector."


    As Di Zhen stopped, Ji Qingyue, as if trying to get back at how he interrupted her, started speaking.


    "The Heavenly Paragon Alliance, although young, came to be very unified thanks to an unknown person who became its leader, but that''s all you can know about it for now as even I don''t know anymore."


    Saying this, she went silent and looked at the pondering Di Feng.


    "So, the grand tea party not only is a gathering of the strong and those renowned Geniuses but also the bridge that will connect the Heavenly Paragon Alliance with our planet right? The Li clan just got the honor of being the host thanks to them having a person inside. By the way, how did that person join the alliance?"


    Di Zhen''s eyes lit up. "That person is named Li Xiesu. He managed to do so because of the existence of ancient teleportation formations from time immemorial. It is even said that these formations were constructed back during the golden era of mankind, during a period long forgotten that goes back all the way before that fabled great war that divided the universe happened! Due to this, there are many that do not function anymore but there is one in our planet that even now, it still can be used. Rumors say that it was constructed by a supreme powerhouse of ancient times..." Di Zhen stopped here as he saw the lights flickering on Di Feng''s eyes.


    Di Feng felt his heart stir at the mention of this so called ''great war''. He never heard about this but he did remember that time her mother told him about a story, where she did mention that the relations between the different major races were hostile. Even though he could have guessed that a war happened, he could never have thought that a war could divide a massive entity like an universe, apart! Even if he did not completely understand how massive the universe was, it wasn''t something that Di Feng could not imagine.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    He put aside the matter of Li Xiesu and he instead asked something that interested him more.


    "So our universe was divided because of a war?"


    Even Ji Qingyue at the side had an interested expression, she also didn''t know about this.


    The old man smiled, an expression of ''I knew you would ask this'' on his old face.


    "There are many legends regarding as to what happened, even then, most of them all connect the facts to a great war. Nothing is proven however, they are mere legends after all. Maybe only the top factions of our Human Realm would know what happened in detail. Going back to that Li Xiesu, his clan used an exorbitant amount of spirit stones to sent him towards the planet that it led to, that coincidentally, is the current headquarters of the Heavenly Paragon Alliance. There, he used his own methods to join them and become a core disciple. As for how their hierarchy works, I don''t know."


    Silence then engulfed the place, lasting for a few moments before Di Feng then asked.


    "Then, about this Princess Sophie, do you know more about her? I mean, she seems to have suddenly decided to compete for the throne and since I may or not end up in her camp as it would be really convenient if I could directly enter the Iron Blood Academy and use its resources to train further without wasting too much time..."


    Di Feng abruptly stopped here as he felt very clearly how Ji Qingyue stared at him from the side, her gaze fixed and doubtful. He decided to ignore her, looking at old Zhen.


    The old man stroked his beard with a teasing smile but he quickly cleared his throat upon seeing the deadpan expression that even contained slight killing intent from Di Feng.


    "It is common knowledge that princess Sophie is only eighteen this year and yes, she only made her intentions know a year ago, so it is very sudden and anyone can tell how seemingly unprepared or weak her forces currently are. Aside from this, there isn''t much knowledge about her as nobody seems to be able of obtaining information about her past. The only ones who may know are her brothers but they too did never say anything."


    Di Feng frowned but couldn''t do anything about it, he would need to delve further by himself if he wanted more information, something that he did not have the time to do right now.


    Seeing Di Feng like this, Di Zhen chuckled strangely before saying.


    "Well then, Di Feng, about the matter of you coming to Evergreen City, just take your time, you have two months before the princess comes so there''s no hurry. If you do not have any more questions, then I will leave now as I see that there are matters that you need to settle."


    The old man stood up as he talked and either involuntarily or not he glanced at Ji Qingyue from the corners of his eyes.


    Before Di Feng could say anything however, he disappeared. Only now did he remember that the seemingly ordinary old man was in reality a wolf in sheep''s clothing.


    Suddenly stuck with curiosity, Di Feng turned to look at Ji Qingyue, who was unnaturally quiet.


    "Hey Qingyue, what realm are you at right now?"


    Ji Qingyue''s eyes lit up before a mischievous glint flickered within them.


    "Not telling!" She crossed her arms and turned her head away arrogantly.


    Di Feng''s mouth twitched. But then, his eyes flashed with a brilliant light.


    "Then maybe you''re not that strong after all! Come come, let''s spar a bit shall we? We both will only use fourth stage Qi condensation cultivation and the victor... Will ride on the shoulders of the other! Since you can fly, then you will not have any problems with carrying me right?" A cunning smile appeared on his face as he saw the fire lit up within Ji Qingyue''s eyes.


    "Hehe, that''s too little of a reward! Let''s add that whoever loses will have to cook for the winner!"


    Ji Qingyue stood up with a laugh before strolling out.


    "Hey! Don''t you think that''s unfair? I don''t want to taste your bad cooking anyway!"


    Di Feng chased after her.


    "What!? Oh right, you haven''t tasted my food for years already so you don''t know how I improved lots after going to survive alone in the wild for a few times already!"


    "I don''t believe you a single bit. At most you know how to roast meat."


    "...."


    Like this, two youths talked and laughed as they walked. A Little white tiger following behind them with a wry look on its face...