Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
A man stood on top of the spiritual alter inside the light image projection. His features weren’t especially attractive, but there was a unique charm about them and he looked a little similar to Tang Jun and Lei Jie. His appearance was comparatively more similar to Tang Jun.
This man looked extremely young as if he was only a little more than twenty years of age. However, his sideburns were white, and his eyes flowed with maturity and tranquility, as if he had seen all there was to see in the world.
Xiao Yan and Tang Jun hadn’t seen this person before, but they could affirm through the image remnants that this person, who was in between being a youth and an adult, was Tang Jun and Lei Jie’s biological father, Tang Wenhua.
Lei Lie and Lei Jie had personally seen Tang Wenhua before, and they naturally recognized him when they saw him through the light projection.
Lei Lie’s face was solemn as he stared at Tang Wenhua but his eyes were stable and calm, while Lei Jie’s breathing clearly became heavier.
Tang Wenhua stood in the center of the spiritual alter inside the light image. His hands were moving quickly as streak after streak of mana was fired into the spiritual altar.
There were other items at the center of the spiritual altar. Upon closer inspection, one could tell that they were items that were rich with spiritual energy, and they were gradually disintegrating under Tang Wenhua’s mana and everything was eventually reduced into balls of flame.
Tang Wenhua’s mana aura wasn’t that powerful and he had only just reached the nascent soul beginner stage.
However, the ritual that he was executing was mystical and extremely sophisticated. Lei Lie studied it closely and his eyebrows were suddenly tightly knitted together.
This was because he was in the second-level immortal soul stage but he realized that he couldn’t understand Tang Wenhua’s ritual, and he couldn’t fathom the profundities contained within.
A cultivator with the virtual entity couldn’t see through a ritual being carried out by a nascent soul beginner stage cultivator.
The profundities and sophistication embodied by this ritual confounded Lei Lie and made his heart thump. If Tang Wenhua hadn’t obtained this ritual from others and it was his own brainchild, then the mystical secrets contained inside would be even more thought-provoking.
Xiao Yan watched the ritual that Tang Wenhua was carrying out and his eyes began to sparkle. There appeared to be boundless fire combusting within his pupils as they flared with blinding radiance.
Just at this moment, the image that Xiao Yan had restored using his mana quivered and started to contort.
It looked just like a piece of paper that was being pulled on by a pair of invisible hands that were trying to tear it into pieces.
Xiao Yan raised his eyebrows and laughed coldly as he pointed a finger towards the light image. He tapped in the sky, and raging flames immediately started to burn on top of the light image.
These flames didn’t damage the light image and was scorching the pair of invisible hands that were tearing at the light image instead. The pair of hands instantly withdrew as they felt the searing flames.
The twisted image was quickly smoothened once again while sparks of lustrous flame danced around on all four sides.
Lei Lei’s eyelids twitched at he witnessed the scene. Whatever happened just now was so fast that he almost couldn’t even react.
If not for Xiao Yan, that light image would have been destroyed. Lei Lie thought about what had just transpired and realized, to his intense shock, that his mana and power wouldn’t have been enough to stop that pair of invisible hands.
This discovery gave Lei Lie a direct understanding of the power that belonged to this purple-clothed and valiant youth who was cloaked in a flowing black robe standing beside him.
Xiao Yan’s contest with the pair of invisible hands was still ongoing. This pair of hands quickly returned in force after they were forced back by Xiao Yan’s flames and even crackled with ear-piercing howling sounds.
Stream after stream of squalls appeared inside the room. They had no form and no shape, yet they were so sharp that it felt as if they could pierce anything – the Nine Heavens Formless Squall.
Xiao Yan laughed coldly against as the green flames of the True Torch of Ksitigarbha flickered. The waltzing flames seemed to condense into solid form and served both offensive and defensive purposes as it fended off the Nine Heavens Formless Squall while it detonated simultaneously to shatter the multiple gusts of wind into nothingness.
His opponent unleashed a second move before his first one had concluded. Azure-green water flooded into vision – it was the Grand Moon Primordial Water, and deluged towards the flames of the True Torch of Ksitigarbha.
A demonic-looking red lotus suddenly glimmered in the sky, and its hues were pure and clear.
This demonic red lotus transformed into a streak of formless red light and vanished into thin air. However, the brutal and violent winds abruptly stopped in their tracks right at this moment and the azure-green waters immediately disappeared as well.
Lei Lie and Lei Jie glanced towards Xiao Yan at the same time. They knew that the demonic red lotus was formed by Xiao Yan’s Red Lotus Fire.
Xiao Yan channeled the Red Lotus Fire and went against the current as he attempted to go through the Nine Heavens Formless Squall and the Grand Moon Primordial Water and straight for the source of everything, the mastermind behind all this.
The Red Lotus Fire was designed to damage the soul and its most extreme form was enough to forcefully drag a person’s soul from his or her shell, and it was enough to toss the soul into the samsara.
Detecting and subsequently defending against this fire so that it didn’t touch one’s body was still fine, but if the Red Lotus Fire ended up scorching one’s skin, it meant unspeakable disaster for most people.
His opponent’s reaction as extremely quick as well and made a split-second decision to severe his connection so that Xiao Yan’s Red Lotus Fire couldn’t take its desired effect.
Both parties crossed swords through layers of space-time, and Xiao Yan’s opponent was gradually pushed back and ultimately decided he shouldn’t fight Xiao Yan any longer and chose to retreat.
This encounter flashed by in an instant from the beginning to the end, and Lei Lie, Tang Jun and Lei Jie watched on with bewilderment.
Lei Lie heaved a faint sigh and remarked, “The Inferno Emperor’s powers are indeed impressive, and you have broadened my horizons.”
Xiao Yan glanced at the light image before him and shook his head. “This person’s mastery and his mantras are extremely powerful. He didn’t reveal his true identity and his real power from the beginning to the end, and even I can’t discern his background and identity. It’s clear that he was trying his best to hide the truth from us, if not his performance wouldn’t have been as such.”
“The battle ultimately took place in our location. His mana was projected through layers of void space and that naturally meant he was at a disadvantage.”
The intruder was undoubtedly Tang Wenhua, or it could be said to be his original body. He was extremely careful and when he knew that he couldn’t do anything to Xiao Yan, he immediately retreated so that Xiao Yan couldn’t figure him out.
“However, that’s about it. This person’s mastery and his mantras are probably more powerful than mine.” Xiao Yan chuckled and continued, “People such as him are few and far between across the entire Divine Lands. Even if he is an ancient individual who has been hiding away from the world for many years, such power and mastery are hard to find and that narrows everything down. We will have a chance to find clues.”
Xiao Yan’s gaze shifted to the re-stabilized light image and said, “That being said, I already have a target of suspicion.”
Xiao Yan closed his mouth after that sentence and his attention was shifted back onto the light projection. Lei Lie’s mouth twitched but he held himself back in the end as he turned towards the light projection as well.
The light image seemed to be replaying what transpired in this exact location all those years ago, inside this miniature layer of space. This was probably where Tang Wenhua secretly carried out his experiments and where he schemed when he was living with the Lei Family.
Tang Wenhua’s hands continued to move inside the light image. He carried on with the ritual, and the spiritual alter finally started to spin as beams of fire danced around at the top of the altar.
Giant characters and runes started to appear in midair one after another, and they ultimately congregated together to form a light sphere.
The light sphere gradually disappeared, and the mystical energy also vanished along with it.
Just as Xiao Yan and the others were watching the image projection, a similar projection appeared before Tang Wenhua as well.
Even though it was a little blurry, Xiao Yan and the others could still make out the image projected within the light image, and it was a scene of a lady in childbirth.
Even though she appeared unkempt and frail, her elegant beauty and charm could still be seen.
Tang Jun’s and Lei Jie’s breathing stopped at the same time and Lei Lie’s eyes grew pensive.
A baby’s shrill crying sound could be heard from the image. The corner of Tang Wenhua’s mouth curled into smile as he watched this scene and he muttered, “What a pity. The second product is successful, but it’s still a step away from perfection. It needs to be triggered by post-birth nurturing. If it can be congenital like the first failed product and without any future problems – that will be true perfection.”
“There are still so many things to do.” Tang Wenhua heaved a faint sigh that was tinged with admiration and pity. His flickered between white and black under the shine of the flames. “Furthermore, too much resources have been consumed and the chance of failure is too great.”
Tang Wenhua stood on the spiritual altar and looked up at the sky. “The thing is, I don’t have much time left. My tracks might be discovered if I continue to stay here.”
He waved his hands and the flames on the spiritual alter were all extinguished. The spiritual alter itself grew dull as the flickering lights dimmed, and eventually started to crumble into dust and into nonexistence.
Tang Wenhua landed on the ground with his hands behind his back and sauntered into the distance, and departed from this layer of space.
This was the end of the content projected in the light image.
However, Xiao Yan and the others descended into deep thought as they contemplated long and hard about what they had just witnessed. After a long moment, Lei Lie glanced at Xiao Yan with some hesitation in his eyes and said, “If my eyes didn’t fail me, the items sacrificed for Tang Wenhua’s ritual included all sorts of exotic treasures and… and there seemed to be some kind of blood crystal?”
Xiao Yan nodded his head while both Tang Jun and Lei Jie reacted in shock. Xiao Yan glanced in their direction and said, “It’s not formed by the blood of demons.”
Tang Jun and Lei Jie’s expressions grew even more portentous. “A human?”
Everybody knew that humans couldn’t pass on the strength in their blood like demons could, at least it wouldn’t be a complete or proper inheritance. Normal people could become partners with an otherworld talent or some extraordinary prodigy, but their offspring could very well still be a normal person.
Even with the blood of the Ancients or even the Great Void Sect’s Yan family blood, the strength and abilities inherited by the subsequent generations weren’t that stable or predictable.
At the very least, the various powerful special qualities such as the Pure Yang Being, the Yang Incinerating Entity, the Pure Yin Being, the Yin Terminating Entity, the Nine Qi True Thunder Form, the Fire Lord Body, etc, there hadn’t been records of these passing on from parent to biological offspring.
Lei Lie lowered his voice and asked, “Could it be that he discovered the remains of powerful cultivators that possessed the Nine Qi True Thunder Form and the Fire Lord Body, and extracted the essences from within before he purified them while he studied the profundities within and eventually infused them into his newborns?”
“But… Is that even possible?” Lei Lie seemed a little dazed but reality was right before his eyes. “That’s insane…”
Xiao Yan placed his hands behind his back as pondered on the issue before he suddenly broke a voice-projecting crystal.
