Wenren Li was still searching across the boundless sea when his heart suddenly stirred and he sensed Chen Yixin’s inner voice. His brows drew together, and a hint of impatience entered his tone. “Tell me. Besides your Linghai Sect, what other powers are there nearby?”
The two guards responsible for protecting the Linghai Sect’s forbidden grounds and the elder who had hurried over were all kneeling on the ground, trembling uncontrollably. As for the low-grade water-aspected sacred object they had been guarding, Wenren Li did not even spare it a glance.
“We don’t know why there’s a pit there either. We’ve never heard of anyone falling into it and disappearing before. You’ve already searched the forbidden grounds yourself—there really wasn’t anyone else who came in.”
After saying this, the elder swallowed hard. Only then did he find the strength to continue answering Wenren Li’s question. “Among the human factions nearby, there’s only our Linghai Sect and Shuiyue Residence. Farther out at sea are the Merfolk Sea Clan and the Peng Clan.”
“These are the locations of their territories…” The elder tremblingly offered up a sea chart he had carefully preserved inside a jade slip. Wenren Li accepted it. They lowered their heads again and waited for judgment, but after a long while, when they finally dared look up, Wenren Li had already disappeared.
“Elder, just now I really thought I was going to die…”
“I feel like I died several times over…”
The two guards collapsed weakly onto the ground, without the slightest dignity left of Golden Core cultivators. The elder was not much better. He sat there for quite a while, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and said, “You two keep watch. I’m going back to the sect to report this to the Sect Master.”
With someone as unfathomably powerful as Wenren Li arriving in these waters, there was no telling what kind of storm he might stir up. The Linghai Sect was already surviving precariously between stronger powers; if they could avoid getting involved, then they would.
Of course, if there was a very good chance to profit from the situation, they would not mind swooping in to reap the benefits. The prerequisite, however, was not offending this terrifyingly powerful mysterious figure.
While Wenren Li continued searching one territory after another, Chen Yixin was also working hard to adapt to the unusual power inside his body. With a splat, he tripped over his own wing, hit the ground face-first, and even rolled over once.
“Hahaha…” The two young men responsible for bringing food had finally found themselves some entertainment. Every day, they came into the cave to watch Chen Yixin invent new ways of falling over. From their conversations, Chen Yixin also learned their names and that this place was called the Nineteenth Sub-Cave.
The young man who liked to laugh was Peng San, while the one who rarely laughed was Peng Si. They were brothers, and their everyday duty was to look after little yao who had just hatched or were about to hatch.
“Little fellow, hurry up and learn to transform. If you can’t transform, you’ll be sent to human cultivators as meat just like the last batch. The fact that we saw you in child form doesn’t count.”
Whether or not he thought Chen Yixin could understand him, the less cheerful young man still gave him this quiet warning.
Chen Yixin shakily climbed to his feet. His little wings flapped and flapped until he finally managed to fly a short distance, only to drop straight back into his eggshell. He was not particularly afraid of pain. It was simply that this state of being so incredibly weak made him profoundly uncomfortable.
But he had heard Peng Si’s words as well. Being sent off as food was obviously unacceptable. He closed his eyes and began sensing the unusual power inside his body more carefully—or rather, what should probably be called yao power.
Finally, after feeling his way through it again and again, his yao power flowed into his limbs. Something shifted inside his sea of consciousness, and he finally changed from bird form back into a little child dressed in blue feathered robes. Black hair fell to his shoulders, concealing half his face, but nothing could hide those vivid, lively eyes.
What a beautiful little yao. Peng San and Peng Si had the exact same thought. Neither brother was particularly softhearted, yet in only four or five days, they had both begun to like this little fellow who seemed exceptionally stubborn to them.
“Eat. You’ll only be able to maintain your form after you’ve eaten something.”
Chen Yixin leaned forward and sniffed the food in Peng Si’s hand. He really was hungry, but the food was somehow even less appealing to him than the dirt on the ground. It was not that he was being spoiled and refusing to eat. He genuinely found it difficult to swallow.
He listlessly withdrew into his eggshell again. His gaze suddenly shifted as he remembered the jade pendant he should have been wearing and the jade clasp storage space Wenren Li had given him. Surely those had not been lost along with everything else?
The jade clasp could conceivably have been lost, but unless Chen Yixin willingly gave away the jade pendant himself, there was no possibility it could simply detach from his body and disappear. “Sea of consciousness… right, my sea of consciousness…”
Chen Yixin moved his mouth a few times, then closed his eyes again. Peng San and Peng Si simply assumed he had gone to sleep. They left food behind, checked on some of the other eggs, and departed from the cave.
Chen Yixin began exploring his completely transformed sea of consciousness again. Aside from a small ice-blue flame burning at its center, there appeared to be nothing there.
Chen Yixin refused to give up. After another long search, he finally found his jade pendant inside that ice-blue flame, along with the jade clasp storage space that had remained attached to the pendant and therefore had not been lost. As for the storage space he normally used, he had stopped using it on the journey to the North Sea and had not been carrying it.
Finding the jade pendant and jade clasp made him breathe a sigh of relief. He tried to take something from the jade clasp, only to discover that no matter what he did, he could not open it. Meanwhile, the yao power sustaining his outer form ran dry, and with a poof, he turned back into a little blue bird.
Chirp! Chen Yixin was angry, mostly at himself. If I’d known this would happen, I never would’ve gone looking for some stupid treasure. I hadn’t even accomplished anything yet, and I went and lost myself first.
Chirp! Angry!
His spiritual sense was now so weak that he could not even open a storage space, which meant the connection between him and Wenren Li had weakened correspondingly. And the distance between where he had disappeared and where he was now was nearly equivalent to half the Southern Territory. It really would be difficult for Wenren Li to locate Chen Yixin in a short time using only that faint connection.
Chen Yixin was not worried that Wenren Li would never find him. It was simply that they had always been stuck together almost constantly, and now they had suddenly been separated—separated in such an unexpected way. He was uncomfortable, and he missed him.
But no matter how much he missed Wenren Li, he first had to adapt to this yao body. As for the far more profound question of how he had somehow changed from a human body into a yao body, that could wait until Wenren Li found him again.
“Little fellow, you’re moving house.” Peng Si picked up Chen Yixin’s eggshell and carried it outside. He had tried to take Chen Yixin out of the shell before, but the little creature was attached to his shell and wary of strangers. Anyone who touched him even once could make him puff up for ages.
To avoid the trouble, Peng Si simply carried both Chen Yixin and his shell together.
Chen Yixin had continued practicing with his yao power throughout the night. Today, he had only managed to maintain human form for two hours before reverting to his original form again. The feathers on top of his head quivered as he hid inside the shell, leaving only a pair of curious eyes visible while he looked around.
“This is the Nineteenth Sub-Cave. I’m taking you to the Ninth Residence now. Seven days from now, there’ll be a bloodline awakening ceremony. After that, depending on your aptitude, an elder will be assigned to teach you.”
Among the newly born little yao from this batch of the Nineteenth Sub-Cave, there were two other chicks besides Chen Yixin, one white and one red. In their original forms they looked slightly larger than Chen Yixin, but they were nowhere near as energetic. They had hatched many days before him, yet all they did was eat and sleep. Even while being moved, they slept through the entire journey.
“Elder, these are the three.”
Peng Si and Peng San bowed slightly. An old man with a long beard stepped forward and pointed a finger. Spiritual light appeared on the foreheads of the two sleeping chicks, and they transformed from their yao bodies into human form.
Chen Yixin tilted his head and glanced at the two of them. Before the long-bearded elder could inspect him, Chen Yixin transformed into human form on his own. His gaze lowered slightly, giving him an innocent, ignorant appearance. But the yao power he had only just accumulated was nowhere near enough to sustain that form. Almost the instant the elder turned to look at him, he changed back with another poof.
Peng Si promptly explained, “This one is more lively. He doesn’t like sleeping and he’s picky about food. He’s already used up all the little yao power he had messing around.”
“Mm.” The elder only needed to confirm that Chen Yixin was capable of transforming. He acknowledged this, then waved a hand. Three maidservants stepped forward and carried the three hatchlings to three separate courtyards within the Ninth Residence. Unless something unexpected happened, Peng San and Peng Si probably would not see them again.
Chen Yixin remained curled inside his eggshell as he was carried away. He memorized the route, but only the parts he physically passed through. As for exactly where the Ninth Residence and the Nineteenth Sub-Cave lay within Mingfeng Domain, he had absolutely no idea.
Chirp… Chen Yixin called softly and let his eyelids droop. He had not slept at all since waking. This newborn yao body, which had not yet undergone bloodline awakening, simply could not withstand the way he had been tormenting it.
Chen Yixin was treated somewhat better at the Ninth Residence than he had been in the Nineteenth Sub-Cave. Instead of supplementary food mixed with spiritual herbs, he was given a little nest made from several spirit stones. He slowly absorbed their spiritual power and slept straight through until three days later, when it was time to leave the Ninth Residence. The actual awakening would not take place there, but at Qingyu Palace above the Ninth Residence.
Because the Peng Clan possessed a Peng Emperor at Soul Transformation, it had become the foremost yao power in these waters. Numerous bird yao races and smaller clans depended upon the Peng Clan for their existence. Across the surrounding islands, their hierarchy encompassed Nine Residences and Seventy-Two Caves, forming an enormous system bound together by rank and interests.
These yao races traded with both the Merfolk Sea Clan and Shuiyue Residence. The three powers stood in a balance against one another. The Linghai Sect, once the greatest power in the region, had long since lost its former glory.
The Peng Clan held a bloodline awakening ceremony once every three years. Some subordinate factions, particularly bird yao races, would even use special methods to induce an entire batch of births early so their young could participate. If one of their hatchlings caught the eye of a Peng Clan elder during the bloodline awakening ceremony and was allowed to remain at Qingyu Palace, the clan that produced it would gain enormous benefits as well.
It could be said that every race had gone all out for this bloodline awakening.
Chen Yixin sat in a small cart with eighteen birds of various sizes and colors, all being transported toward Qingyu Palace.
Chirp! Chen Yixin let out a light cry. The other seventeen little yao immediately crowded themselves into the corner farthest away from him.
He swept his gaze across the frightened little birds, all of them trembling, and restrained his aura somewhat. He had not actually meant to scare them. They were simply chirping so noisily that he could barely hear anything happening outside.
Unfortunately, once Chen Yixin finally had enough quiet to listen carefully, the elder driving the cart stopped talking.
Chirp… Chen Yixin called again in dejection. For now, all he could do was wait for Wenren Li to find him. Hopefully A-Li would manage it before he starved to death.
His gaze suddenly lifted. The two biggest chicks, who were probably young from the goshawk clan, immediately wet themselves in terror.
“Ninth Residence reporting!”
The voice came from outside. After three days on the road, they had finally reached Qingyu Palace.
“Shuiyue Residence sends its congratulations…”
Various voices sounded outside, all naming factions Chen Yixin had never heard of before. But with so many people coming to Qingyu Palace, perhaps his A-Li would come too.
With that thought, Chen Yixin carefully tried to sense the bond between himself and Wenren Li. But just as at the Nineteenth Sub-Cave and the Ninth Residence, he felt nothing.
He had originally expected someone to at least open the curtain and inspect them. Instead, a sweep of spiritual sense passed over the cart and they were driven directly into Qingyu Palace, where Chen Yixin and even more hatchlings were shut in together.
Chirp! Chen Yixin continued occupying an entire spacious corner by himself. The other hatchlings would rather squash themselves together until their bodies were deformed than move a single step closer to him. His chirp roughly meant that at least they knew what was good for them.
Of course, whenever someone came in to inspect them, Chen Yixin would summon a few little chicks who were trembling so badly they could barely stand and make them scatter around him. That way he would not attract too much attention. He had absolutely no desire to become the bird who stuck its head out.
After obtaining the sea chart, the first place Wenren Li searched was Shuiyue Residence, the strongest human faction in these waters. With the aid of their forces, he searched above the sea and beneath it, turning the region upside down. Nan Ke and the others joined the search for Chen Yixin as well.
Yet Chen Yixin seemed to have vanished into thin air. They could find no trace of him whatsoever.
“Why not try Qingyu Palace? The sky races are very well informed. Perhaps they know something about your Dao companion.” The Master of Shuiyue Residence was a male human cultivator at early Soul Transformation, a little over a thousand years old, making him the strongest human cultivator in these waters. Even so, he did not dare show Wenren Li the slightest disrespect.
That respectful attitude had only appeared after he and Wenren Li fought once. He had lost, so he helped Wenren Li search. Now that they still had not found the missing person, he was beginning to worry that this expressionless demonic-path Demon Lord might decide to fight him again.
“You’re coming with me.” The moment Wenren Li finished speaking, he disappeared from Shuiyue Residence. Chen Yixin’s desperate cry for help was still echoing inside his heart. Wenren Li did not know what Chen Yixin had encountered, or what he might still be enduring now.
Two Soul Transformation experts traveling at full speed managed to cross a distance equivalent to half the Southern Territory and arrive before the ceremony began. The crucial factor was that the Master of Shuiyue Residence, Ze Fang, knew the route and spared them unnecessary delays.
“My Lord, why have you come?” The elder who had originally been sent to deliver a gift looked rather surprised. The Peng Clan held a bloodline awakening ceremony every three years. To smaller factions it might be a major occasion, but to the humans, it was little more than an ordinary exchange of courtesies.
Ze Fang rarely attended even the Great Peng Yao Emperor’s birthday. Yet here he was personally attending a bloodline awakening ceremony that had very little to do with them.
“I had nothing else to do, so I thought I’d come chat with the Yao Emperor.” Ze Fang walked inside as he spoke. Then he paused and introduced Wenren Li to the Peng Clan attendant. “This is a friend of mine. He’ll accompany me to meet His Majesty.”
Anyone whom a Soul Transformation cultivator treated as a friend could hardly be weak. The attendant did not dare be negligent and immediately ordered another seat prepared for Wenren Li.
“Lord Li, be patient. Even if you want the Peng Clan to help search for someone, you should wait until their ceremony is over before asking.”
Ze Fang glanced at Wenren Li, becoming even more curious about this missing Dao companion. Just what kind of person could make someone as cold and nearly emotionless as Wenren Li worry this much and rush around for him like this?
“All right.” Wenren Li nodded. The divine sense he had been about to spread through all of Qingyu Palace withdrew. He only wanted their help, not to make an enemy of Qingyu Palace. There was no reason to continue doing something that would put the Yao Emperor on guard.
The ceremony began almost as soon as they took their seats. The sun blazed overhead while eighteen yao cultivators in feathered robes sang and danced upon the altar. At their center stood a massive piece of blood-red jade. That was the true key to the bloodline awakening ceremony.
The Yao Emperor did not preside personally. Instead, the ceremony was led by Young Lord Peng, the young palace lord selected through layer after layer of competition within Qingyu Palace.
After the Golden Core yao cultivators finished their song and dance, Young Lord Peng stepped onto the altar, reverted to his original form, then shot into the clouds and began circling overhead. Yao power surged skyward through the jade, an astonishing sight. Before anyone could hear Young Lord Peng’s piercing cry, however, a much weaker and slightly puzzled chick’s call sounded first.
Chirp?
One breath later, Wenren Li appeared upon the altar. He flung several restriction seals into the air, and hundreds of little chicks trapped inside the jade’s internal space came tumbling down all over the altar like dumplings dumped from a pot.
“Who dares come to my Peng Clan and disrupt our ceremony?!”
Young Lord Peng descended onto the altar, only to discover that he had landed with two squeaking hatchlings beneath his feet. He awkwardly lifted his foot away before finally recovering enough dignity to look imposing.
But Wenren Li did not even glance at the person shouting at him. His divine sense continued sweeping over everything around him. Then his body paused. He stretched out a hand and caught a tiny blue-feathered chick no larger than his palm.
Chirp, chirp! The little chick bounced happily twice, then rubbed its tiny head vigorously against Wenren Li’s hand. First came happiness. Then worry followed. He had suddenly disappeared without warning. He had no idea whether Wenren Li had been frantic with worry.
Chirp…
Chen Yixin’s soft call, half coaxing and half pleading, had not even finished when Wenren Li lifted him carefully in both hands and pressed his lips to Chen Yixin’s fluffy forehead.
“A-Rong, don’t worry. I’m here.”
Chirp! Chen Yixin answered happily. His little head continued rubbing against Wenren Li’s lips while his tiny wings spread as though he wanted to plaster his entire body against Wenren Li’s face.
“Fellow Daoist, who are you, and why have you disrupted my Peng Clan’s grand ceremony?”
Young Lord Peng’s words failed to attract Wenren Li’s attention. The Great Peng Yao Emperor, who had been secluded deep within the palace, appeared instead. His robes were woven through with gold and bright enough to dazzle the eyes. The pressure accompanying his arrival frightened the already terrified hatchlings even more, sending several of them rolling toward the edge of the altar.
“Yao Emperor, this is Demon Lord Wenren Li, who came here from the Taixuan Continent. He is searching for his Dao companion.”
Ze Fang, who had already risen to his feet, offered an explanation. As for why Wenren Li was clutching one tiny chick as though he would never let go, Ze Fang had no idea.
The Great Peng Yao Emperor looked at Wenren Li and then at the little chick who was obviously extraordinarily affectionate with him. His expression twisted almost uncontrollably. “You raised this?”
“This is my Dao companion.” Only after lifting Chen Yixin protectively to his chest did Wenren Li answer. At the same time, he stepped to the edge of the altar and looked down at everyone below. “You detained my Dao companion. Do you intend to give me an explanation?”
The Great Peng Yao Emperor had not even begun demanding an accounting for the disrupted ceremony, yet Wenren Li was already making trouble for them first—and judging by his tone, he was in no pleasant mood.
Ze Fang’s expression stiffened slightly. He secretly sent the Great Peng Yao Emperor a transmission explaining what it had felt like to fight Wenren Li.
From what Ze Fang knew, the Great Peng Yao Emperor was not normally hot-tempered. Yet he was clearly determined to confront Wenren Li, his tone sharp enough to sound like an interrogation. Of course, Wenren Li was even worse. Even though he was obviously venting displaced anger, he made no attempt to conceal it.
“You refused my offer to follow you, yet you’ll take some little chick whose feathers haven’t even grown in as your Dao companion?”
The Great Peng Yao Emperor appeared not to have heard Wenren Li’s accusation or Ze Fang’s warning. His eyes slowly reddened, and he was clearly becoming furious beyond endurance…
Only then did Wenren Li finally look at him properly. His tone still changed very little. “It’s you…”
Yao generally lived longer than humans, particularly those whose cultivation had reached a high level. When Wenren Li had come to sea ten thousand years earlier, he had encountered the Great Peng Yao Emperor shortly after the latter first transformed into human form. The young Peng yao had wanted to follow him, and Wenren Li had refused.
He had never expected that the little Peng yao from back then would become a Yao Emperor in his own right. But Wenren Li had not finished his answer. “Yes. He is my Dao companion.”
Chirp! Chen Yixin flapped in Wenren Li’s palm, his feathers already showing signs of puffing up. Had he somehow disappeared straight into his love rival’s stronghold?
Leave a Reply