NOVPUB"Guah!" Feng Shen screamed in pain as Zhang Fei's hard fist slammed into his chest, propelling him backward.
Zhang Fei teleported behind Feng Shen and landed another hard fist into his back, causing his spine to crack. He didn't stop there, and he moved as fast as possible, punching him again and again. "Gahh!"
Feng Shen slashed his flame sword at Zhang Fei, but his attack only hit an illusion. Soon, six illusion figures surrounded the old phoenix, and he shot six fireballs to attack them. All of them passed through the illusions, causing them to disappear.
Feng Shen tried to find him using his senses, but Zhang Fei suddenly appeared right in front of him and attacked his abdomen directly using his knee.
"Gah!" Feng Shen bent forward because of the pain in his abdomen, but Zhang Fei launched an uppercut to his chin directly, sending him rolling in the air several times before stabilizing himself. 'Fuck! How can his speed surpass me? Moreover, his strength was on par with mine, and his attack was heavy, causing me a lot of pain.'
"Are you confused about the situation between us, Old Man?"
Hearing Zhang Fei's voice from behind, Feng Shen spun around and slashed his flame sword, but his slash once again only hit an illusion.
Zhang Fei didn't want to waste time with Feng Shen, and he reappeared in the distance. His dark flame appeared on his right hand, and his ice appeared on his left hand. In an instant, he fused the two, and the Hellflame Frost Lotus appeared before him. Unlike the usual one, the lotus was much bigger, especially since he borrowed Feng Yichen's strength.
"Take this attack on mine, old man." Zhang Fei pushed the lotus forward, and it quickly flew towards Feng Shen.
Feng Xueying and the others immediately shouted at Feng Shen. "Move away! Don't take that attack head-on!"
However, Feng Shen was too stubborn, summoned a huge fire phoenix behind him, and unleashed his full power attack. In a few seconds, a huge fireball collided with Zhang Fei's Hellflame Frost Lotus, but the old phoenix's attack was shrinking rapidly.
"Shit!" Feng Shen cursed when his attack vanished, and the lotus rapidly advanced toward him. Two fire wings immediately appeared behind his back, and he flew away from it at high speed.
Since the impact would be too great if he detonated his lotus, Zhang Fei canceled it and teleported above Feng Shen, slashing the moonlit whisper sword shrouded in darkness toward his back.
*Slash*
"Argh!" Zhang Fei's darkness quickly entered and spread throughout Feng Shen's body through the slash wound, but the old phoenix used his phoenix flame to counter his darkness, burning it without a trace. 'Damn it! If I didn't have my flame, I would be corrupted by his darkness.'
Zhang Fei then used his darkness corruption, and a mass of darkness quickly appeared before enclosing Feng Shen within it, but it was ineffective due to the effects of his phoenix flame.
Feng Shen intended to escape from the encirclement of the darkness by flying upwards, but a black, blazing chain suddenly wrapped around his body. In that moment, a black flame flared up and burned him, causing him to scream. "Argh!"
'Close your sense of hearing.' Zhang Fei rang the Cursed Demon Bell once Feng Yao and the others followed his orders.
*Ring... Ring... Ring...*
"Ahh! What the hell is this?" Chained by the hellfire chains, Feng Shen held his head. The effects of the bell quickly took over him, and his mind was filled with madness. "Argh! Stop! Get out of my mind!"
*Roar*
A deafening roar sounded as soon as Zhang Fei used the Demon King's roar toward Feng Shen, which strengthened the effect of the bell by instilling fear and confusion in the old phoenix.
Feng Xueying and the others looked up at the sky as soon as they sensed the change , and the sky had already darkened with black lightning bolts continuously striking there.
Zhang Fei gave a light smirk and swung his hand down. "Rain down on him!"
*Zap... Zap... Zap...*
Those black lightning bolts quickly descended from the sky, and they struck Feng Shen, who was in a mentally unstable state.
"Arghhh!" Once again, Feng Shen screamed in pain as his body simultaneously experienced electrocution and burns. In a few seconds, his body glided toward the ground like a broken kite, slamming there quite hard.
*Bam*
*Splurt*
Blood spurted from Feng Shen's mouth, but he didn't seem to notice it, and he continued to scream like a madman. "Ahh! Get out of my mind!"
Zhang Fei floated down to Feng Shen's side and pulled the hellfire chain back to him. He then crouched down beside him, touched his chest, and used the demon-absorbing technique.
Feng Yao and the others moved to Zhang Fei's side to stop him, but he had already stopped his action of absorbing Feng Shen's cultivation. He then pulled his soul out of his body, replicated it, and merged it with his own.
Feng Jiu, Feng Tian, and Feng Xueying expressed relief that Zhang Fei did not kill Feng Shen, particularly because his death would be a significant loss to their Phoenix Clan.
===
[Quest: Defeat the fire phoenix ancestor.]
[Quest rank: Hard]
[Status: Done.]
[Reward: Hard gift pack X1 sent to the inventory.]
===
Feng Yao simply smiled and knocked Feng Shen unconscious. She then informed Feng Xueying. "Ancestor, I leave our Phoenix Clan to you, and you must protect our members well."
"What do you mean by that, Little Yao?" Feng Xueying asked with a raised eyebrow.
"In a few days, I will take my parents to the Paradise Realm, and we will never come back here again." Feng Yao's explanation shocked Feng Xueying, especially since she informed her too suddenly. "I have a lot of business in that realm, so we will leave first. I want to bring you along, but our clan still requires protection, so we must part ways for now. However, you can go with Zhang Fei in the future, and we will meet again there."
"What about Xereth?"
Feng Yao pointed at Zhang Fei. "You've seen his ability to defeat Feng Shen, so you should already be aware of his true strength, right?"
"Unfortunately, his strength just now was not his true strength, so I'm not sure he can defeat Xereth." Feng Xueying expressed her doubts.
"Hehe." Feng Yao chuckled in response. "You are right that he borrowed Feng Yichen's strength to defeat Feng Shen, but have you thought about what if he borrowed the strength of many powerful beasts in the upper realms?"
Feng Xueying turned to Zhang Fei directly. "Old Phoenix, I can not only borrow the power of one beast; I can also borrow the power of hundreds or even thousands of beasts. Currently, there are several powerful beasts by my side, but their strength is still not enough to help me fight Xereth, and we still have to convince the other mythical beast races."
"You realize that's not an easy thing, right?" Zhang Fei nodded to Feng Xueying. "The Dragon, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise Races want to eliminate you. Their ancestors will most likely help them, especially since they fear that you will surpass and suppress them. Besides, the Heavenly Fox Race has also been targeting you for a long time, and they want to get the thing inside your body."
"Do the ancestors of the Golden Fox, Vermilion Bird, Golden Crow, Qilin, and Kunpeng races also want to kill me?" Zhang Fei posed this serious question.
Feng Xueying shook her head before explaining. "I asked them about this, and most said they don't want to do anything to you. The Golden Fox race split in two because Huli Jinhu wanted to eliminate you, but Huli Zhishen rejected that. They wouldn't be able to make a decision without a unanimous vote."
"Huli Jinhu, huh?" Zhang Fei muttered to himself. "Since he openly wanted to kill me, I naturally had to prepare something against him, and such a powerful beast like him would be useful to me."
Feng Xueying immediately asked. "Are you going to attack Huli Jinhu directly? If you do that, Huli Zhishen might change her mind, and she might turn against you."
"No." Zhang Fei shook his head. "They should also have entered seclusion, right?"
Feng Xueying answered him with a nod. "All of them are in the Xianjin Realm now, and they shouldn't make any moves anytime soon."
"That's good then." Zhang Fei was slightly relieved to hear that, especially since he wasn't ready to face them all at once.
"How did you manage to borrow Feng Yichen's strength before?" Zhang Fei immediately took Feng Xueying into his beast space, but they came out again a few moments later. "Honestly, I would rather not fight with Huli Jinhu and the others, but since you have such a method to borrow the strength of other beasts, I won't mind helping you fight them indirectly. If you work together with Feng Yichen, I'm sure you two can defeat them."
"As long as you are willing to help me, I have confidence in defeating them." Zhang Fei then walked to the entrance of the sacred ground. "Let's check inside first, and I'll go to the Wasteland Realm to subdue Tian Guo afterward."
"You can go inside yourself, and we will go back to the palace to prepare." Feng Yao then lifted Feng Shen and spoke to Feng Xueying. "Make sure you will catch up with us in the future."
"Yes." Feng Yao immediately took Feng Shen away, and her parents followed behind them. On the other hand, Feng Xueying followed Zhang Fei to enter the sacred ground.
.
.
.
As soon as they arrived inside, the little boy suddenly came out of Zhang Fei's body. "Master, there is something inside here, and it seems to come from a very distant era."
"Eh?" Zhang Fei was not surprised by that, but he was surprised by the appearance of the little boy. "I thought you would disappear after the Earth Flame merged with me, but you are here now."
"Haha." The little boy laughed. "Master, I am the spirit of the Earth Flame, remember? Naturally, I will not disappear, and I will continue to live in your body. By the way, I don't have a name yet, so you should give me one now."
Zhang Fei thought for a while before giving it a name. "Huo Diqiu, which means Earth Flame."
"I agree with that name!" Huo Diqiu then gestured toward the fire phoenix statues. "The thing split into several and hid within them."
Zhang Fei and Feng Xueying raised their eyebrows as several clouds of fire came out from all the statues, and they gathered in the middle of the room before forming the Divine Phoenix Totem.
===
[Quest: Finding the lost treasure of the phoenix race.]
[Quest rank: Special.]
[Status: Done.]
[Reward: Special gift pack X1 sent to the inventory.]
===
Feng Xueying released a soft sigh after seeing the totem. "If only Feng Shen didn't doubt you, he wouldn't have had to suffer like that."
"Many old people are too stubborn, just like him." Zhang Fei replied with a shrug.
Soon, the totem glowed red, and a male figure materialized in front of them. "I have been waiting for you for a long time, the heir of the ten-tailed fox."
Zhang Fei cupped his hands toward the man. "If I'm not mistaken, you should be the first fire phoenix, right, senior?"
"That's right." The man nodded to Zhang Fei. "I am indeed the first fire phoenix, and I lived in the same era as the old ten-tailed fox. That old fox asked me and the other mythical beasts to leave some of our belongings for his successor, and you are his successor, especially with your three identities."
"Some of your belongings?"
The man raised his palm, and a blood clot appeared on it. "This is my origin fire phoenix bloodline, and whoever inherits it will inherit all my abilities. According to my promise to the old fox, I will give it to you, but I think you don't need it because your bloodline is already higher than mine, and you only need to evolve to the ten tails."
"Hmm?" Zhang Fei thought for a moment before summoning Zhang Lingxue out of the training space. "What if my wife inherits your origin bloodline, senior?"
The man observed Zhang Lingxue for a while before nodding in agreement. "Get ready, little girl. I will help you merge with my origin bloodline, and you will become stronger by inheriting my abilities stored within it."
"Senior, I—"
"Accept it, Lingxue." Zhang Fei interrupted her. "The phoenix origin bloodline is more useful to you, especially since you already have a few drops in your body. Unlike you, I am a heavenly fox, and I can evolve into ten tails in the future. Moreover, you are my wife, and you will help me in many ways in the future. Therefore, you need it to improve yourself, so I want you to accept it."
Zhang Lingxue exhaled softly. "All right, I will accept your origin phoenix bloodline, Senior."
Feng Xueying smiled faintly upon hearing that. 'His big sister has the ice phoenix origin bloodline and soul, and his other wife will get the fire phoenix origin soon.'
"Let's do it." The man lifted Zhang Lingxue into the air and sent his fire phoenix origin bloodline into her body. The blood began to spread throughout her body, causing it to heat up and envelop her in phoenix flame as she quickly fell asleep. "Fortunately, she already has the fire phoenix bloodline in her body, so she won't feel the slightest pain."
Zhang Fei smiled at that. "Did the other mythical beasts leave their belongings in the three mortal realms, Senior?"
"What do you mean by the three mortal realms?" Zhang Fei recalled that their universe was once unified, and the first fire phoenix existed in a very distant era, which prompted him to explain this history. "I didn't expect this universe to change so drastically, but unfortunately, they didn't leave anything in the three mortal realms, and you have to look for them in the next realm."
"I see." Zhang Fei nodded in understanding.
The man then spoke to him again. "Once I finish helping your wife, I will give this fragment of my soul to you, and your soul power will be able to reach the perfection stage of the heavenly soul realm."
"What if—"
"No." The man immediately rejected Zhang Fei. "Your soul power is still too weak, so you need this soul to increase it. You can help your wife using other methods."
Zhang Fei inwardly sighed. "Thank you, Senior."
A few hours later, Zhang Lingxue had completed the process, and the man immediately lowered her to the ground. She quickly opened her eyes and felt a great change in herself, not only in her body but also in her cultivation, which was getting closer to the sovereign realm. "Thank you, senior."
"Hmm." The man nodded slightly. "Little girl, my phoenix techniques are different from those of other phoenixes, so you won't be able to use them all right away, and you can only use a few of them now. Once your cultivation breaks through to the Seven Divine Realms, you will be able to use more, and you will be able to use all of them after you break through to the Five Celestial Realms."
Zhang Lingxue nodded in understanding. "I understand, senior."
The man looked at Zhang Fei, who immediately released his soul. "Once this fragment of my soul merges with yours, I will disappear forever from this universe. The old fox placed his hopes on you to bring peace back to this universe, and I hope you will succeed in doing so in the future."
"Senior, I can't promise you anything, and I can only try my best to bring peace back to this universe." The man simply nodded, and Zhang Fei immediately sat on the floor to undergo the process of uniting their souls.
Feng Xueying directly spoke to Zhang Lingxue. "Go to the sea of fire, and you can learn those techniques there."
"Yes, Senior."
- To Be Continued -
