Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
After cutting his communication channel with Zhu Yi, Lin Feng sighed with emotion.
Back then, Shi Tianhao’s grandfather, Shi Zhongtian, entered the Void Battleground to prepare some special gifts for his newborn grandson, but never returned. Shi Tianhao’s parents, Shi Ziling and his wife, also entered the Void Battleground in search of their father, resulting in Shi Tianhao being harmed by Shi Tianyi’s family and having his Supreme Tao Foundation stolen, escaping death by the skin of his teeth.
Originally, Shi Ziling and his wife managed to escape the Void Battleground, but were confronted by assassins sent by the Yu Family allied with Shi Tianyi, hence had no choice but to retreat into the Void Battleground again. Since then, they had never appeared until now.
On the contrary, it was Shi Zhongtian who returned to the Greater Worlds, but sadly he was completely oblivious to what had happened. He panicked badly when he discovered that his son and daughter-in-law were both lost inside the Void Battleground.
After the Battle at Xiling City, the head of the Shi Family, Shi Wu, and Shi Zhongtian each entered the Void Battleground separately in search of Shi Ziling and his wife. Shi Tianhao himself had also entered the Void Battleground on multiple occasions to search for his parents but to no avail.
Other cultivators from the Celestial Sect of Wonders and the Great Qin Empire, as well as formidable forces allied with the Celestial Sct, would also help to locate their whereabouts whenever they enter the Void Battleground. But without any specific clues, searching for someone in the Void Battleground’s Void Sea, one of the Grand Celestial Seven Seas, was literally like searching for a needle in an ocean. Results were minimal.
For Shi Tianhao, the whereabouts of his parents would be the only hole left in his heart. And with the long-awaited arrival of some specific information, even Lin Feng felt happy and relieved for him.
“But it still feels as though this was too much of a coincidence.” Although Lin Feng was overjoyed, there were nonetheless a few doubts swirling in his heart. “It would be fine if they were secretly detained at the Hall of the Dead all this while, but they were unknowingly captured by the Hall of the Dead’s cultivators during our pursuit …”
Lin Feng shook his head slowly and continued his return journey back to Mount Yujing.
Once he arrived, Lin Feng’s actual being and his Thunder Dragon Avatar continued meditating on the third storey of the Tripitaka Block, while his Avatar of Ares remained seated on the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree, resting with his eyes shut while undergoing self-cultivation and self-enlightenment.
“Hm?” After a while, Lin Feng’s Avatar of Ares felt a tug in his heart and turned his gaze to one of the abodes on Mount Yujing.
The interior of the abode suddenly burst with light, resembling an ever-changing illusory cloud of mist. The swirling clouds seemed to condense into sparkling waves of light above the water surface. And on the water surface, was the inverted reflection of a moon continuously changing its phases.
It dawned on Lin Feng. “Shihao is leaving his abode.”
The shimmering radiance gradually faded and retracted back into the abode, but gazing at the abode from afar still allowed one to sense its inherent mystifying quality, the interplay between truth and fiction which could not be discerned by ordinary people. At times, it felt as if the previous images were fake, yet at times, it felt as if the images showed currently were fake.
This abode was the residence of Miao Shihao. As the light disappeared, the gates of the abode opened. A fair, handsome young man dressed in golden robes with purple rims strolled out and walked in the direction of the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree.”
A stark difference from his previous feminine demeanour, Miao Shihao appeared calm and dignified, exuding a certain carefree flair with hints of solitude. He seemed melancholy like the moon, like an elegant beau or an immortal deity.
The phases of the moon played out continuously on his forehead, with the image of an ever-changing moon on it. It turned from a full moon to a crescent moon before nearly vanishing, then reappearing in the following instant, gradually turning back to a full moon.
Even though his facial features were identical to the feminine sissy from before, his disposition was drastically different.
At this moment, Lin Feng gazed at the approaching Miao Shihao as if he was looking at Yue Huatian of the Four Immemorial Heroes of the Great Void back at the Spirit Sea.
Miao Shihao arrived in front of Lin Feng and smiled, then greeted him with both hands joined together. “Sect Master, long time no see.”
He might be smiling, but his smile did not contain any of his feminine charms from before, instead carrying hints of loneliness and melancholy.
Lin Feng looked at him and nodded. “Long time no see, Shihao. Congratulations on achieving the Immortal Soul and obtaining all those valuable experience.”
Miao Shihao replied smilingly, “I would never have attained the Immortal Soul this quickly if I didn’t enter the Celestial Sect and receive your care.”
“You’re still yourself, Miao Shihao, and there won’t be any changes about that, but your title as the Mirror Master would be changed to the Mirror Flower Holy Man.” Lin Feng looked at Miao Shihao, “But I still don’t know how to address your previous existence? Is it Yue Huatian or the Water Moon Illusion Mirror?”
The Water Moon Illusion Mirror was the magic treasure carried by Yue Huatian’s disciple, the Water Moon Holy Woman Li Jingyuan, but it disappeared without a trace along with Li Jingyuan. Back then, it was already a magic treasure in the Metaplasia realm, being frequently active.
“My previous existence is the Moon in the Mirror,” said Miao Shihao. The Moon in the Mirror is the name of the Water Moon Illusion Mirror’s original soul.
Lin Feng sighed, “Most magic treasures in the Mahayana realm would not reincarnate except as a last resort.”
“I don’t wish to stay on Mount Baiyun any longer. Even if I lose my immortality after my reincarnation, gnawed by the merciless flow of time and perishing without obtaining the Immortal Soul, it would still be better than my past days in the Great Void Sect,” said Miao Shihao. “Li Jingyuan died so long ago. I only bear hatred for that sect now.”
Lin Feng nodded without probing further. “I have no intentions to probe into your past. I’m just unclear about certain things about the Great Void Sect hence I need you to clarify my doubts. Please don’t take offense to this.”
Lin Feng certainly had no intentions to peek into Miao Shihao’s past, as his past was not a pretty sight after all. The simplest premise was that, his previous existence as the Water Moon Illusion Mirror was not cultivated by Yue Huatian, but when the magic treasure’s original form materialized as its own body, it looked exactly like Yue Huatian, which was a highly problematic thing.
Miao Shihao’s hatred towards the Great Void Sect was evidently across multiple fronts, even resenting his former owner Li Jingyuan. However, Lin Feng could tell from Miao Shihao’s words that he bore very complicated feelings towards Li Jingyuan.
Miao Shihao answered, “No worries about that. I’ll tell you everything as long as it is beneficial to our sect.”
“I paid a little price to survive the tribulations and reincarnate. As for my fragmented memories of my former existence, I could only regain my complete memories after I achieved the Immortal Soul Stage. I secluded myself immediately after I achieved the Immortal Soul Stage previously just to do this, and I’ve put all my effort into this.”
“I’ve received so much care from this sect, and it’s about time I repay the sect and you, Sect Master. Actually, there’s nothing I can’t say about the incidents between the Moon in the Mirror and the Great Void Sect.”
Lin Feng first asked, “How long more would it take for the Supreme Heavenly Mirror to become complete again?”
As the Greater Worlds’ magic treasure in the Gestation realm, once the Supreme Heavenly Mirror officially regains its former glory, all of the Greater Worlds would tremor. All human cultivators in the Immortal Soul Stage and great demons with the Undying Demonic Soul would be able to sense its completion. But the exact progress of its recovery process could not be accurately calculated by anyone outside the Great Void Sect.
Miao Shihao replied, “After the previous War of the Two Worlds, the Supreme Heavenly Mirror was never damaged again, and had not unleashed any formidable attacks. From the situation I gathered back then before I underwent the tribulations and reincarnated, it would be around a hundred years. There may be slight deviations, but it shouldn’t be anything major.”
Lin Feng said in a low voice, “The incident at the Starry Sea should have slowed down its repairing process, but on a whole, there’s still estimately around a hundred years left.”
“Shihao, I discovered a few things when I travelled to the Netherworld Sea this time round.” Lin Feng flicked his finger and a ray of light shot towards the centre of Miao Shihao’s eyebrows. “I finally knew that the Great Void Sect already had internal disputes over the direction of their sect in the Antiquity Age.”
Miao Shihao browsed through the glowing images in his mind and nodded. “The Chi Yang Holy Man was not adept at protecting himself, and it’s a pity it was too sincere. I don’t know exactly how Yan Xinghe thought, but there’s one thing I know for certain – he deeply valued the future direction that the Great Void Sect was going to take. After the Chi Yang Holy Man perished in the Antiquity Age, the internal ranks of the Great Void Sect proposed to dilute his biography, and a crucial reason for this was for Yan Xinghe to focus the giant compass of the Great Void Sect’s internal management. After all, the Conservative Faction in the Great Void Sect’s inner ranks was certainly not the minority after the Chi Yang Holy Man departed Mount Baiyun.”
“I’m not sure whether Yan Xinghe had any other ideas, as I don’t know what exactly goes on in Yan Xinghe’s mind. If he did not express them himself, others around him could not see through his intentions, so I wouldn’t make any baseless claims.”
Miao Shihao’s tone was flat and calm. Although Lin Feng could distill Miao Shihao’s differing views about Wen Chiyang and Yan Xinghe from his words, Miao Shihao maintained his neutral tone to avoid misleading Lin Feng, not making any subjective speculations.
“When the Emperor of the Dead was in rule, the Conservative Faction’s ideologies gradually vanished from the Great Void Sect during the Antiquity Age under Yan Xinghe’s lead, while the Radical Faction’s ideologies became the sole guiding compass of the sect.”
Lin Feng said, “The current Conservative and Radical Factions in the Great Void Sect seem to have been formed from a second divergence in the Antiquity Age’s Radical Faction.”
Miao Shihao nodded, “Indeed. But strictly speaking, this divergence was an greater one, and there were actually two separate occasions.”
“Oh, two?” Lin Feng’s interest was piqued. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t need to explain much about the current Radical Faction. However, within the Conservative Faction, there are still two parties with differing views about the situation of the Divine Lands and the general direction of the Great Void Sect. On a whole, we can view them as three separate factions”, Miao Shihao explained.
“The first faction would be the purest form of the Conservative Faction, the most rational and unemotional of them all. They prioritize the raising of human strength above all else, clearing all obstacles that may pose a threat to the survival of humans and ignoring all sense of right and wrong to achieve that goal. They are only concerned about the end result, not the means to achieve it. In a sense, they can be called the Ultraconservative Faction.”
Lin Feng pondered, “Many a times, these people are the most dangerous.”
