CH 21

That familiar instrument was . . . the Fengming Qin. It was made from the bone left behind when a phoenix died and fell from the heavens. It was a supplementary type of celestial implement, and could amplify one’s strength and morale. However, this was not its most remarkable function.

The Fengming Qin had the ability to confuse the senses. As long as a cultivator’s level was sufficiently high, they could make full use of the Fengming Qin to implant an idea in someone else’s brain, and that person would not only not reject it, but they would believe it had been their own idea all along. Most people were totally unaware of this function. Gu Feng himself had no knowledge of it until the years when he had been imprisoned. 

In his past life, the Hundred Flowers Festival convened a year after the spiritual realm had closed. The festival was put on by the Hundred Flowers Palace, and they held it every fifty years. It was such a large event that naturally the entire cultivation world would participate in the gathering, and all the heroic youth would attend, partly to find a marriage partner.

Of course this was not the main purpose of the event. The Hundred Flowers Festival was secretly the cultivation world’s version of the civil service examinations. The younger generation would all participate, and whoever won the top position at the event would be the cultivation world’s number one young talent. The winner would also be awarded a special prize by the Hundred Flowers Palace.

In the previous life, Mo Ran had taken the top position at the Hundred Flowers Festival, and the grand prize was precisely that Fengming Qin.

The Fengming Qin was originally the Hundred Flowers Palace’s treasure for defending the sect. Gu Feng’s previous self was shocked that the sect was willing to take it out, but now he had an inkling as to why. He guessed that Gu Yunxi and Mo Ran had picked up the Tianji Disc in the spiritual ruins realm. After using the Tianji Disc to obscure the reading of the future, they then compelled Hundred Flowers Palace to believe in a false foretelling which convinced the sect to get rid of the still useful Fengming Qin. Truth be told, although Gu Feng’s guess wasn’t entirely correct, it was about 85 percent on the mark. 

After Mo Ran had won the Fengming Qin, he immediately used it to spread an idea to the brains of all the cultivators present at the festival, that idea being ‘The immortal road is already closed off, give up.’ It was identical to the message that Gu Feng had encountered during Yan Jun’s evaluation.

Just like that, the many tens of thousands years of peace maintained by the cultivation realm ended. Cultivators trained themselves from childhood for the purpose of becoming immortal, but now someone had abruptly announced that the way to immortality was blocked. Their many years of faith that had fed their persistence in such a difficult task were destroyed, how could they not be devastated? Many who could not accept it exploded themselves right then and there.

“Evil cultivators!” It was unknown who in the crowd started shouting this, but others joined in immediately, quickly growing in strength. At that moment, one fourth of the cultivators defected to the school of evil cultivation. And of this group, the greater part of them had participated in exploring the realm of spiritual ruins.

Mo Ran also took this opportunity to turn traitor. Obviously, he was merely returning to his original affiliation, but Gu Yunxi had not yet defected to follow him. At that time, there were many of her fellow apprentice brothers and sisters who did their best to console her. It seemed that she did not intend to turn traitor herself at that time, but only thought of collaborating with Mo Ran while remaining part of her sect.

After those cultivators defected to the path of vice, they were just as unbridled and havoc wreaking as they had previously been chaste and rule-abiding. They began to wantonly slaughter mortals mercilessly and cruelly, trying to progress along the path of evil. It was effective, and those cultivators really did make a great advance in their cultivation. Many cultivators who had been undecided saw this and joined in. And those who had remained steadfast and upright began to waver.

The situation steadily worsened with more and more cultivators defecting with each passing day. Already more than half had. The immortal sects had lost their dominance. After such a large number of cultivators had mutinied, of course the land fell into chaos. Except for those mortals sheltering within the four major sects, the remainder of mortals were pretty much wiped out as the evil cultivators slaughtered their way to power. The entire continent was overrun by evil, and the spiritual qi turned muddy as the human world became a purgatory on Earth.

*****

“Young man, nowadays the world outside is in turmoil. I only have this bite to eat, so you’ll have to make do with it.” An elderly man, his hair white with age, and hands shaking, handed the bowl in his hands containing a few drops of porridge to Gu Feng. He was unaware that Gu Feng didn’t need to eat to sustain himself. 

Gu Feng had been besieged by numerous followers of the evil way before he finally was able to escape, but he had not gone far before he passed out from exhaustion. When he awoke, he saw it was this elderly person who had saved him. The old gentleman’s family had all been killed during the neverending turmoil. But even so, this man still preserved kindness and charity within his heart. He would often recount to Gu Feng the former, happy memories of the family.

“Thank you, sir,” Gu Feng spoke with a smile and accepted the bowl. The warmth of the hot gruel warmed not just his belly, but also his heart.

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He waited for ages, and the old man still didn’t come back, so Gu Feng decided to go out and search. As a result, he had barely gone far when he saw a sight that made him so angry he tore the perpetrators to pieces.

“Run!” the old man shouted with his last breath, and then his ordinary and tragic life ended.

After disposing of that evil cultivation trash, Gu Feng no longer could recall what mood he’d been in when he’d buried the old man’s emaciated body.

He only recalled that from that day forward, he felt a deep conviction that it was necessary to return the continent to its original peaceful and beautiful state. 

Here, the memory ended, but it was plenty. Those events had not occurred yet in this life, and there was still the chance to avert such a crisis.

Gu Feng had just closed his eyes, but when he reopened them, his entire aura had transformed. It was as though an ancient and dusty sword had finally been unsheathed to reveal its sharp edged glory.

“Gege?” Su Mujin was hesitant.

“Xiao Jin, how long have we been in these spiritual ruins?” Gu Feng returned to his senses. 

Su Mujin pondered before answering, “Roughly four months.”

That meant there was exactly one year and eight months before the Hundred Flowers Sect held the festival. Gu Feng thought a bit and muttered to himself, “Even though this is Yan Jun’s independent realm, the boundary is not impenetrable. If our cultivation can break through to nascent soul, and invoke the tribulation thunder, then when the Celestial Lightning strikes down, it’ll open a gap that we can escape through.”

“Gege, that’s exactly what I was thinking, too. It should be possible.” Su Mujin nodded his head in agreement.

“Can you do it within a year and a half?” 

Su Mujin was currently only in the middle stage of golden core, and it would be difficult to achieve nascent soul in just eighteen months.

“If Gege desires it, I can do it.”

“Okay, I’ll give you a reward if you can.” He reckoned that the Fengming Qin would perfectly suit Su Mujin.

“Oh right, take out the Shengmai Pill and use it.” Gu Feng just then recalled that Su Mujin had acquired that treasure. After taking the pill, Su Mujin’s circulation would increase, and it would elevate his cultivation ability. 

“Okay.” Su Mujin wasted no words, taking out the pill and swallowing it.

So painful! That was Su Mujin’s immediate thought. The intensity of this pain was a hundred fold greater than when he had previously taken the pill for washing his spiritual roots.

Heart-rendingly painful!

Bone-piercingly painful! 

Unspeakably painful!

His entire body felt as though it had been dissected and rearranged. The torment was great enough to destroy a person’s will. Su Mujin’s face turned white from the agony, cold sweat dripped from his forehead, and blood seeped through his skin. But he refused to show his suffering in his facial expression, because he didn’t want his gege to once again . . . worry about him.

Gu Feng was already concerned when he saw Su Mujin’s skin begin to bleed. He had never obtained the Shengmai pill in his previous life, and hadn’t expected it to be so painful. Although he knew that Su Mujin was okay, he still felt overwhelmingly distressed.

Su Mujin’s consciousness grew hazy. His fingers twitched and he began to scratch at and rend his own flesh as it continually repaired itself. It was both painful and itchy! 

“Don’t scratch! If you leave scars, I’ll . . . no longer like you!!” Gu Feng stepped forward and wrapped Su Mujin in his embrace. Both his hands gripped his companion’s to keep him from scratching at himself any longer.

His companion was in intense agony, something Gu Feng felt he never should have to experience. Gu Feng was anxious to do something to fix it..

“Itchy? Let me help you.” Gu Feng softly lapped at Su Mujin’s face, licking away the drops of blood and beads of sweat. He showed no disgust, only caring about whether or not Su Mujin’s discomfort was relieved.

Su Mujin was horrified. He must be hallucinating from the pain. Not only did Gege say he liked him, he also rubbed his lips all over his face. 

After a long while, Su Mujin finally calmed down. Gu Feng let out a quiet sigh. He had been terrified that Su Mujin might not be able to hold out. After casting a cleaning art on both of them, Gu Feng began to ponder how the two of them should interact after this. During all the excitement, he had an unstoppable urge, and in a moment of carelessness . . . he had confessed his feelings.

Three days passed before Su Mujin awoke. As he came to consciousness, he noticed that his body felt relaxed and healthy. His whole being was imbued with inexhaustible strength, and he discovered his cultivation had raised to the summit of the late stage of golden core. He was now at the same level as Gege.

Oh right, Gege? Su Mujin blushed. Was what happened that day real or his hallucination?

“Awake?” Without giving Su Mujin the time to ponder over the incident, Gu Feng called out to him, appearing as cool as a cucumber, if you overlooked the fact that his trembling sleeve betrayed his true emotions. 

“Um, Gege, did anything unusual happen when I took the Shengmai pill?” Seeing Gu Feng look so  unperturbed, Su Mujin began to think it really had been just a hallucination, but he wanted to make sure.

Gu Feng raised an eyebrow. So . . . did he forget? Well that works, too. All that I did and all that I said that day was for the purpose of easing his suffering.

He had already decided. He was definitely interested in his companion, but now was not the time. Such a careless and casual confession was disrespectful to the other party. He wanted to give him something better.

“Nope, nothing. Let’s get started cultivating.” Gu Feng breezily replied, while also thinking about how best to confess his feelings. 

In the blink of an eye, a year and a half passed by.

“Okay, is there anyone else who still wants to sign up? If not, I’ll go turn in the list.” Xu Li was exhausted. The Hundred Flowers Festival that occurred only once every fifty years was about to commence. She had been registering entrants for days on end, but fortunately she was just about done.

“Wait a moment!” A pleasant male voice sounded in the distance.

Note from the Translator: 

I want to thank the kind person who sent me a Kofi last week! <3

I hope you all continue to enjoy this novel. It’s a quarter of the way done, with a lot more action and reveals coming up.