“H- how is this possible!?”
Feng Xiwu stared at his right hand, dumbfounded. His index and middle fingers were extended, forming a “scissors”. However, it was met with Li Qingshan’s tightly-clenched fist, clearly a “rock”. Li Qingshan smiled resplendently.
Feng Xiwu originally possessed absolute confidence in his grasp over the heavenly secrets, but in the moment they clashed, he felt the heavenly secrets being completely obscured from him. He could not read what Li Qingshan was about to play anymore, which perturbed him slightly. As a result, Li Qingshan grasped the opportunity and made his decision according to the movements of Feng Xiwu’s hand.
Victory had already been determined in that split second.
“What’s so impossible about this? If you’ve lost, then you’ve lost! Are you going to admit your defeat or not?” Li Qingshan waved his “rock” around in front of Xiao An before grinning at the little phoenix. “My good son, you’ve got to take my surname, Li!”
“Mighty be first father!” The little phoenix gave him a thumbs-up.
“Qingshan, why don’t we, uhh, go for a best of three rounds?” Feng Xiwu whispered softly, squeezing out a plea after great difficulty.
“Don’t even think about it!” Li Qingshan declined firmly. A major element behind his victory this time was luck. Even if he had the spirit turtle to obscure the heavenly secrets, it was absolutely impossible for him to read Feng Xiwu’s movements either. If Feng Xiwu had not shown an opening, he had less than a thirty percent chance of winning. If they went for another two bouts, who knew what the end result would be.
“You- you- you-” Feng Xiwu “you”-ed for a good while, but at the end of the day, he was still a man of his word. His principles forced him to accept this result, but he was unable to bear with his own failure.
“I know you’re not happy with this, senior Feng, but please consider this, senior. Qingshan’s strength right now might be below senior’s, but what about a century into the future? It’s impossible for this phoenix to remain on Fire Melt mountain forever, under senior’s protection. You can’t roam around freely either, senior. Given the size of the nine provinces and the immensity of the world, who can still protect him? Parental love is to see and plan far ahead, so please consider that, senior.”
Xiao An explained patiently. Unlike Li Qingshan’s recklessness and fearlessness, her considerations for him were even more far-reaching than his own considerations for himself. Maintaining a good relationship with Feng Xiwu was extremely important. Not only was he a powerful ally, but he could help Li Qingshan continue to practise the Phoenix’s Scripture of Nirvā?a as well. If he wanted to break through to the fifth layer of the phoenix in the future, the divine wutong tree would be the best place for cultivation. With Feng Xiwu’s assistance, he could basically make everything twice as easy.
“You lassie. You really do deserve to be called ‘wise’. I clearly know you’re scheming with this kid against me, yet I cannot help but admit that’s very reasonable. Alright then. If he’s surnamed Li, then he’s surnamed Li. If I’m the second father, then I’m the second father!”
Feng Xiwu sighed. He was insightful. He could see that Li Qingshan possessed tremendous potential. He had a very good chance at ascending, so he could truly serve as the “first father”.
“You should have said that a long time ago! You can come up with the name!” Li Qingshan smiled widely.
Feng Xiwu had already come up with some ideas. After a slight pause, he said, “The word phoenix, fenghuang, is broken into ‘feng’ and ‘huang’. The ‘feng’ is male and the ‘huang’ is female. As for the second character in his name, he might as well take my surname and let it be ‘feng’. ‘Yuan’ is the beginning. The cycle of nirvā?a rebirth you will go through, the lives you will live in the future, have all begun today, so I’ll set the last character as ‘yuan’. What do you think?”
“Li Fengyuan… Li Fengyuan…” The little phoenix repeated under his breath and became even happier. He corrected his posture, dropped down to his knees, and bowed his head deeply. “Thank you for bestowing me with my name, fathers. Fengyuan will never forget about the grace of his birth!” However, when he raised his head again, no one was there.
As it turned out, Feng Xiwu and Li Qingshan had both moved out of the way, avoiding his bow.
“Is there something that the two fathers are dissatisfied about with me?” Li Fengyuan pouted.
Feng Xiwu said, “Don’t forget about your bloodline. Since you are a phoenix’s child, you shouldn’t lower your head to anyone, even us!”
Li Qingshan smiled. “I hate kneeling in front of others the most, and I also hate others kneeling in front of me. As for that “grace of birth” or whatever it is, that’s even more bullsh*t. You don’t owe us anything.”
Feng Xiwu and Li Qingshan exchanged glances and smiled.
Li Fengyuan sank into his thoughts, and his eyes twinkled. He bounded up from the ground and clapped his hands cheerfully. “I get it, I get it! There is no higher or lower. There is no duality! I definitely won’t disappoint the two fathers, no, I won’t disappoint myself!”
Xiao An sighed inside. It really was the phoenix’s legacy after all. This ability to comprehend, this intelligence, was extraordinary.
Feng Xiwu said, “But let me make this clear. Each day you don’t have my recognition is each day you can’t leave Fire Melt mountain. Qingshan, you don’t have any objections, do you?”
“Heh, do whatever you like. I’m going to go and consolidate my cultivation! Fengyuan, learn well from your second father. There’ll be a time when you soar through the sky in the future.”
Actually, Li Qingshan never had any interest in that. Time was much more important and much tighter to him than to Feng Xiwu. He had to advance valiantly as much as possible so that he could uphold his promise of the Nine Heavens.
It was just that he never liked to stand beneath others, nor did he want to be the “second”, which was why he contested it. Now that this had all been decided, he tossed all the other specifics to Feng Xiwu to handle. Feng Xiwu had the time anyway, and Li Qingshan believed he was much more appropriate when it came to education.
Not only was this child who had been born with knowledge extremely intelligent and wise, he even possessed strength that neared Daemon Kings due to numerous fortuitous coincidences and efforts. At the same time, he was extremely curious too. If he was not properly guided, he would probably become a little imp of chaos right now and a great misfortune of the world in the future.
Even without getting too ahead of himself, undergoing the third heavenly tribulation was only a matter of time for him. The possibility of failure basically did not exist. He might not even have to spend a lot of time. Even the Ten Daemon Kings might not be able to keep a pure-blooded phoenix of the third heavenly tribulation at bay. Before him, Daemon Kings transformed from regular birds and beasts would basically be like an entire cultivation realm beneath him.
When it came to this aspect, Li Qingshan was a hybrid of many bloodlines, which led to many different innate abilities, but not a single bloodline was pure after all. They even conflicted with one another, so they instead paled slightly in comparison to the phoenix’s bloodline.
Of course, that was just being unappreciative. If regular people obtained a body of the demonic and divine, they would not utter a single word of complaint. His bloodlines continued to strengthen too, until they reached absolute purity. By then, even this supreme divine bird would be left in the dust.
Li Qingshan left the phoenix’s nest and sat down beneath the divine wutong tree. Xiao An leaned against him gently in his lap and said right by his ear, “Qingshan, during the time you slumbered, the world has already descended into chaos. The flames of war rage.”
“Really? Has the Mist province and Green province declared war?” Li Qingshan gathered his attention. He felt refreshed as he sniffed the faint fragrance of sandalwood on her body.
“They already declared war two years ago. There’s been around a dozen major battles and countless more smaller ones. Five great cultivators have died, but they’re in a state of semi-truce right now.”
“Why?” Li Qingshan was surprised.
“Because both provinces are experiencing plagues,” said Xiao An.
“The locust plague of the Green province and the demon plague of the Mist province.”
“I know about demon plagues. This isn’t like the first time demonfolks have launched an incursion. But the locust plague. Don’t tell me it’s-” Li Qingshan’s heart skipped a beat. He remembered the Soaring Locust King underneath the Demon Suppression hall, who had once sworn to seek revenge on him.
