Chapter 74 Feng Huang

Feng Huang

The ride back to the Estate was very peaceful. Xiao'er had fallen asleep on Xue Bai's lap while he combed through her obsidian-colored hair with his fingers.

After he spoke out his true feelings to Xiao'er, Xue Bai felt at peace. Though it felt comical and cringy as he said it, the message was conveyed finely, so it was okay.

Xue Bai knew that Xiao'er obviously loved him, and though he wasn't sure if he did too, he knew that he would eventually. And with Xiao'er becoming more and more anxious and scared of being abandoned, Xue Bai decided he would calm her heart with flowery words.

Though his words were flowery and somewhat over the top, Xue Bai meant most of them, especially the beginning. The world after the plot would begin in 975 would turn into chaos. Geniuses would pop up everywhere like weeds in the spring. And countless hidden and ancient sects would appear alongside them.

Including the 5 Children of the Plane, Xue Bai knew that his life was going to be full of chaos. And he wanted to warn Xiao'er about it, though indirectly.

"Hehe, Young Master is mine now!" As Xue Bai was thinking of the future, Xiao'er mumbled in his lap.

After they got into the carriage and she stopped crying, Xiao'er felt extremely tired and claimed her spot on his lap and went to sleep almost instantly. At first, Xue Bai was going to push her off, but after remembering his words from earlier, he let her rest on him. He had just said that in a few years time, he wouldn't even think about love, so Xiao'er probably wanted to get her fill now that it was still peaceful.

As Xue Bai was alone, messing with the hair of Xiao'er. Back in the Huo Clan, Huo Ming received a letter branded with the symbol of Duke Xue.

Huo Long's Courtyard

"Long'er a letter for you came from the Dukedom. It also has Duke Xue's symbol on it." Huo Ming spoke as he entered the courtyard of his only son.

Huo Ming, from the last time Xue Bai saw him, seemed to age at least 10 years. His face was haggard, and there were streaks of gray appearing in his hair and beard.

After Huo Long first awakened his Martial Veins, Huo Ming thought that it was finally time for their Huo Clan to rise once again. And for two years, it seemed so. But when the devastating news that his only son, his pride and joy Huo Long, had his Dantian Shattered and his Martial Veins crippled, everything came toppling down.

The business partners Huo Ming managed to make backed out of their deals even at the cost of the penalty. The allies he had made in preparation for a fight with the Xia and Huang Clan abandoned him for the enemies they had promised to go against with him.

And his cousins, who had long forgotten about the Patriarch's seat, were all now looking at it like a pack of hyenas.

Huo Ming wanted everything to be a dream, one that he wanted to wake up from, but after Huo Long came home from Wushen Academy with compensation in hand, Huo Ming was forced to accept reality.

Seeing his son try and look brave and calm even after having his future destroyed almost broke Huo Ming, but he kept it together. And for the past week, he had been trying to get his son out of his courtyard but to no avail.

Until today came around when he received a letter from the Dukedom, branded with Duke Xue's personal seal, thinking it was for him, he was going to open it until he saw that it was for his son instead.

Though he was confused about what Duke Xue would want with his cripple son, Huo Ming didn't dare to disobey his lord and gave it to his son without opening it.

Huo Long hearing his father call him, came out of his bedroom, soot covering his face.

"Father, I couldn't hear you. What did you say?" Huo Long asked as he wiped the soot off of his face.

Seeing the soot on his son's face, Huo Ming's heart clenched.

"Xiao Long, you don't have to work so hard anymore. Being an alchemist without having any Spiritual Qi is something that maybe only the gods above can do. In this life, Father will take care of you. You don't have to worry about that anymore." Huo Ming spoke caringly as he used his Spiritual Qi to help clean the soot off of Huo Long's face.

Huo Long wanted to stop his father, but the soot was really hard to get off without Spiritual Qi, so he let him do it. But after his face was cleaned up, he moved away and repeated his question.

"Father, why did you call me? I didn't hear your words earlier."

"You received a letter from the Dukedom." Huo Ming answered as he pulled the letter out from his robes.

Taking it and seeing the Snowflake symbol Huo Long was confused, "Father, why would Duke Xue send me a letter? I never even met the Duke, let alone got associated with him. Why would I get a letter?"

However, Huo Ming was just as confused and just shrugged his shoulders in reply to his son's question.

"I don't know, Xiao Long. I am the messenger here. Since it says your name, I don't dare to open it myself." Huo Ming answered as he left the courtyard.

Just looking at his son's pitiful circumstances made Huo Ming age twice as fast, and he didn't want to stay any longer.

However, Huo Long didn't open the letter but instead stood in silence, waiting for his Father to walk away further. And after hearing his Father walk far enough, Huo Long turned on his courtyard's noise-canceling array and camouflage array.

Over the years, Xue Bai had given the Huo Clan the blueprints to many different arrays, with the noise canceling and camouflage array being two of them.

After feeling secure enough, Huo Long faintly called out, "Master, is this letter safe to open?"

And shockingly, instead of his question fading in the air, from the discrete-looking ring on his finger, an illusory figure formed like a cloud of smoke.

The figure was of a young woman that had a mesmerizing beauty that seemed even to seduce the soul. But besides her face that would bring Empires to ruin, the next thing someone would notice was her red-colored hair or rather flame-colored hair.

Instead of having normal hair, her red hair seemed to be engulfed in a flame that would never burn out.

The woman was none other than Huo Long's Master, Feng Huang. He had discovered her in a weakened state while traveling home from Wushen Academy.

While in a carriage, Huo Long heard an earth-shattering sound come a few hundred meters away from him. Thinking it to be a treasure that could help his situation, he jumped out of his carriage and ran towards the site of impact.

But instead of any Natural Treasure, Huo Long was met with a simple-looking iron ring. Thinking that even the heavens themselves were playing with Huo Long's life, he went to throw the ring as far as he could, but when he bent down to pick it up, Huo Long realized that he couldn't pick it up.

Not convinced, Huo Long went to try once more, but before he could, Feng Huang manifested herself in front of him. And after hearing her story, Huo Long thought he had found a person similar to himself. It was then that Feng Huang offered to teach Huo Long cultivation and how to fix his situation.

Though he was skeptical at first after Feng Huang nearly incinerated the entire forest he was in, Huo Long hurriedly knelt down and accepted her as a Master.

Now through her teachings in the past week, though Huo Long had yet to fix his cultivation problem, he had learned the basics of alchemy and had begun concocting. That's why he was covered in soot almost the entire day.

As Feng Huang fully manifested, she raised her fair hand and levitated the letter near to her, where she then inspected it with her Soul Sense. As a remnant soul, Feng Huang long lost her access to Spiritual Sense and was forced to use the Soul version, Soul Sense, something only available to Soul Fusion Realm Cultivators and above.

Giving the letter a quick sweep Feng Huang deemed it to be safe and handed it back to Huo Long.

"Xiao Long, you mentioned this Duke Xue to me before, isn't your friend from there? Maybe the letter could be from him." As Huo Long opened the letter, Feng Huang imputed from the side.

Agreeing with her guess, Huo Long spoke in a melancholy tone, "Most likely. That Duke Xue is a powerhouse that not even father could meet. Him sending me a letter would be like the Emperor inviting a beggar to the palace."

"Xiao Long, now that you are my Feng Huang's disciple, that Duke Xue is nothing. You'll grow to something that can't be contained in this tiny mortal world. Give yourself 10 years, and you'll be stronger than anyone on this tiny continent." Feng Huang spoke as she saw Huo Long look sad.

Even though Feng Huang had constantly taught Immortal Realm-level alchemy techniques to Huo Long, it was almost like playing music to a cow. Huo Long knew nothing about Alchemy and merely thought that the skills he was learning were commonplace.

And even if Feng Huang tried to say otherwise, Huo Long would pick them up at heaven-defying speeds and reply with his same melancholy voice, 'If they were from the Legendary Immortal Realm, how could a cripple trash like me learn them so fast?'

It made Feng Huang angry to no end, but she couldn't do anything about it until she could help the boy cultivate once again.

"Yes, I know, Master. You've mentioned this countless times already." Huo Long said as he finally unsealed the letter and found Xue Bai's words within.