Chapter 721: Devour Heaven And Earth (I)
Inside an antiquated hall, two elderly men sat facing each other, leisurely savoring spirit wine.
"Old man, that brat still hasn't replied to you?" Ling Feng asked with a curl of his lips, casting Fan Hongwei a sidelong glance.
The agreed-upon date had already passed. He had been here for several days, yet the other party still had not shown up. Ling Feng felt that his old friend had been played for a fool.
Fan Hongwei frowned slightly. "No. I asked some friends in the Martial Alliance, but they haven't heard anything about that brat either."
Ling Feng took a sip of wine and chuckled. "That young fellow couldn't have quietly died in some forgotten corner, could he? These are troubled times. The major powers are stirring in the shadows, and all sorts of shady cults are causing chaos. From what you said, that brat possesses great providence. People like him are the easiest prey for ambitious schemers like you."
Fan Hongwei had told him about the plan and asked for his cooperation when the time came, so Ling Feng understood his objective perfectly well.
"Probably not. I performed a divination. Although the reading was unclear, he should still be alive," Fan Hongwei replied, shaking his head.
"Then that's strange. You said his fortune runs incredibly deep. Could he have encountered another tremendous opportunity? If his strength has advanced by leaps and bounds and he's also gained control of some powerful secret treasure, all your plans might come to nothing," Ling Feng warned.
Recently, he had seen quite a few talented juniors encounter tremendous opportunities while adventuring, causing their strength to skyrocket and leave him in the dust. Ling Feng was so jealous that his eyes had nearly turned red.
"He won't be able to cause much trouble." Fan Hongwei shook his head confidently, the corners of his lips lifting into a cold smile.
"Woo Yiyan was the successor upon whom the Woo Family had pinned great hopes, as well as their hope of rising to prominence amid this great calamity. His death utterly enraged Woo Tianlei. The Woo Family paid an enormous price to enlist the Directorate of Celestial Observation to divine the identity of Woo Yiyan's killer," Fan Hongwei slowly explained with a cold smile.
Before he could finish, Ling Feng could not help interrupting. "Was Woo Yiyan killed by that young fellow Xiao Yu?"
"It's unclear. The heavenly mysteries are currently in disarray, and Woo Yiyan died within the Shamanic Clan's inheritance secret realm, so the divination produced very vague results. Although it failed to reveal the true culprit, it did confirm that Woo Yiyan's death was closely connected to Xiao Yu." Fan Hongwei said calmly, "I suspect Xiao Yu was only able to kill Woo Yiyan by taking advantage of the environment within the Shamanic Clan's inheritance secret realm."
"Oh? Even I wasn't confident that I could defeat Woo Yiyan, yet this young fellow managed to kill him. He's certainly no simple character!" Ling Feng exclaimed in surprise.
After hearing Fan Hongwei's account, he unhesitatingly concluded that Xiao Yu was the culprit who had killed Woo Yiyan. Once every impossible explanation had been eliminated, whatever remained had to be the truth, no matter how unbelievable it seemed. Unless there was evidence proving that Xiao Yu had not killed Woo Yiyan, then Xiao Yu was the culprit.
A solemn gleam flashed through Ling Feng's eyes as he said gravely, "You said he was able to use the Shamanic Clan's inheritance secret realm to kill Woo Yiyan. Could he have obtained the Shamanic Clan's inheritance? If so, once we enter those Shamanic Clan Ruins, we'll be on his home ground."
"Heh. His home ground? The Woo Family won't give him the chance to enter those Shamanic Clan Ruins. I'm afraid we'll have to return from the ruins empty-handed this time." Fan Hongwei shook his head regretfully.
His original plan had been to deal with Xiao Yu after they finished exploring the Shamanic Clan Ruins. However, now that a Woo Family elder with strength comparable to the Nascent Soul realm had become involved and intended to act personally, the elder would immediately strike to kill the moment Xiao Yu appeared, giving him no chance whatsoever.
Exploring the ruins would then be out of the question. Had Fan Hongwei not exhausted every argument and paid a certain price, he would not even have had the opportunity to use his secret art to seize Xiao Yu's fate.
"A Woo Family elder intends to act personally? Which elder is it? But if we're not entering the ruins, why did you call me here? There's nothing for me to do." Ling Feng was somewhat speechless.
Fan Hongwei stroked his graying beard as he said confidently, "The Woo Family might not be going in, but we are. What's more, I'm confident I can persuade that Nascent Soul realm expert from the Woo Family to enter the ruins and explore them with us."
Ling Feng's eyes lit up as he asked curiously, "Oh? You even dare scheme against a Nascent Soul realm expert? Hurry up and tell me!"
"He's only in the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Sooner or later, I'll advance to the Nascent Soul realm myself," Fan Hongwei replied calmly. "Besides, I'm not scheming against him. This is a transaction, one that both sides will enter willingly.
"Do you remember the strange beast we discovered the last time we explored those Shamanic Clan Ruins, the one that had awakened an ancient bloodline?"
Ling Feng's eyes lit up. "You mean..."
"You guessed correctly. After conducting some tests, I discovered that its ancient bloodline is even closer to that of the ancient Desolate Beasts than the Dragon-Whiskered Tiger Clan's. Coincidentally, I recently learned that the Woo Family had issued a mission through the Soaring Cloud Pavilion to purchase large quantities of blood essence from the Dragon-Whiskered Tiger Ancient Yao Clan. If we tell them that a beast within the ruins has awakened bloodline powers even older than those of the Dragon-Whiskered Tiger Ancient Yao Clan, what do you think they'll do?" Fan Hongwei asked with an air of complete composure.
Ling Feng burst into laughter. "Haha, brilliant! I knew you were a treacherous and cunning old bastard. I was right about you after all."
He also knew something about the three ancient martial esteemed families of the Martial Realm. As far as Ling Feng knew, the Deity Transformation realm ancestors of those three ancient martial esteemed families had forcibly advanced to the Deity Transformation realm through bloodline atavism, replacing their human bloodlines with those of ancient Desolate Beasts. However, this method came at a tremendous price. They could only serve as deterrents and could not act lightly.
Fan Hongwei cursed irritably. "Get lost. I just have everything under control. What the hell would you know?"
***
Black winds howled through the node's void as packs of yao traversed it, their numbers even greater than they had been several months ago. Within the lake of energy that had accumulated vast amounts of violent and chaotic rule energy, a faint golden light flickered. It came from the very depths of the energy lake, obscured by the immense rule energy until only an almost imperceptible golden glow remained.
Hissing sounds rang out continuously as surging black smoke poured from Lin Zheyu's body. Five thick golden chains materialized and pierced into his flesh, pulled taut to their very limits.
𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
Buffeted by his blood qi, the Heavenly Dao shackles swayed and produced crisp metallic clangs. The sounds resonated with one another, tempering his tendons, muscles, skin, and bones over and over again. His physique was already incomparably powerful, but as the formidable energy from the Heavenly Dao shackles tempered it, the energy within his body grew even purer and more terrifying. Several breaths later, Lin Zheyu abruptly opened his eyes.
[Heaven Rewards the Diligent]
[Name: Lin Zheyu]
[Origin Force: 685]
[Skills: Martial Divine Pattern Secret Manual (Dormancy), Seven Absolute Sabers (Seventh Stage: 100%), Martial Dao True Scripture (Third Stage: 100%)]
He examined the data in his consciousness. After nearly a month of cultivation, the Martial Dao True Scripture had finally reached the third stage. He had integrated the Primordial Golden Body, the Primordial Chaos True Art, and numerous demon arts into his general principles of martial cultivation, making them part of the Martial Dao True Scripture.