“Oh no!”
The King of Eastern Lu’s face changed. He felt his connection with the Cloud Province cauldron suddenly break. He had still ended up underestimating the power of Clouded city.
Just recently, Bai Chen had tried to lure Li Qingshan into the city when he came knocking. Clouded city possessed the ability to suppress and isolate everything. Once they set foot in there, they would struggle to break free even if they were capable of exceptional things.
Li Fengyuan grinned. He made Clouded city climb higher until it reached an impressive altitude.
The atmospheric winds produced thousands of ripples as they swept against the barrier. At the same time, sunlight poured in without any obstructions. The barrier of light gradually recovered its glow. It was an extremely gradual process, but they were clearly undefeatable now.
Li Fengyuan exhaled deeply. Alright, at least he had managed to protect Clouded city. This was one of the most important spoils of his battle.
Although it had cost him many of the bird-faced statues, they were not actually his anyway, so he was not pained.
“My king, what do we do now?” a middle-aged man asked.
He was also one of the honoured guests of the king’s estate, but he had only undergone the third heavenly tribulation recently, so he could not venture deep within the atmospheric winds like the Cloud Shadow Crane King. Speaking of which, even if he could, he would be reluctant to do so.
The other cultivators all stopped their attacks too. Clearly, they were thinking the same thing.
The King of Eastern Lu and the Cloud Shadow Crane King exchanged glances. All they could do was sigh.
Even if the White Dragon King reached such an altitude, it would fall apart very soon, let alone regular cultivators. Coupled with the desperate resistance of the otherfolk, taking down Clouded city had already become an almost-impossible mission. If they tried everything that they could, it was not completely impossible to achieve victory, but a bitter victory was pointless.
“Fellows, there’s no point in fighting any more, so why don’t we just call a ceasefire?” Li Fengyuan said complacently.
“Return the Cloud Province cauldron, and we’ll go our own ways!” the King of Eastern Lu said.
“Hehe, your hopes are getting a little too high.”
Li Fengyuan rubbed his head. It still ached a lot. The Cloud Province cauldron had left quite a mark.
“I once went as far as to make an enemy out of the featherfolk to assist you. Is this how you pay me back?”
The Cloud Shadow Crane King never would have imagined everything to develop like this. He had vaguely guessed that it was probably because Bai Chen had given up on all resistance that Li Fengyuan could gain control over Clouded city so easily. Even if it were him instead, he would probably be reluctant to see Clouded city be destroyed if he had the opportunity to control it. And, it would even allow him to restrain the entire race of featherfolk, immediately giving him control over a powerful force in the world.
Bai Chen was truly the Featherfolk King to be able to make such a decision.
“I will pay you back for your assistance, fellow, but please leave for today!”
Li Fengyuan was relatively grateful towards the Cloud Shadow Crane King, or there was a good chance he would have died here today. Regardless of what they were thinking, a debt of kindness was still a debt of kindness. It had to be paid back.
“Let’s go!”
With no other choice, the King of Eastern Lu turned around furiously, returning to the White Dragon King.
The Cloud Shadow Crane King flew off as well. The other honoured guests looked at one another before scattering.
Only now did Li Fengyuan completely stop worrying. He lowered Clouded city slightly so that the formation could recover faster.
The featherfolk in the city were still shaken up as the featherfolk cultivators gathered over silently. They linked up with each other through the glow they gave off, establishing a geometric shape around Li Fengyuan.
“Mmm, sure enough! Are you trying to revolt?”
Li Fengyuan sat high up on the Cloud Province cauldron. He was not surprised at all as if he had been anticipating this the entire time.
“Clouded city is a city that belongs to featherfolk, so what do you mean by revolting? Li Fengyuan, in consideration of the assistance you’ve provided us today, hand over the control over the formation, and that’ll be the end of the grievances between you and the featherfolk. You can leave.”
Li Fengyuan gazed at the sky. He asked while looking at him from the corner of his eye, “Were you the one who said if there were still phoenixes around, you’d all eat a few each?”
“So what if it was me?”
Before he could even finish what he was saying, Li Fengyuan had arrived before the featherfolk in a flash. He moved so quickly that none of the featherfolk cultivators could respond.
Li Fengyuan swung his hand. “Piss off!”
The featherfolk cultivator was launched high into the air, flying out of the barrier of light.
The battle had just ended, so his aura was extremely weak. The sharp atmospheric winds swept in from all directions, immediately tearing his body to pieces. Even his soul was shattered. He blew up with a wave of white light.
“Nice fireworks!” Li Fengyuan said as he patted his hands.
With Bai Chen’s powers combined with the divine powers of the phoenix bloodline, he had few opponents at the same realm of cultivation.
Featherfolk called themselves godfolk, but how could they be compared to this divine bird that was loved by the world in terms of talent?
“Kill him!” The featherfolk cultivators flew into a rage.
Li Fengyuan pressed down with one hand.
The geometric formation woven from light collapsed, and all of the featherfolk’s powers were pressed into the ground by white light.
Inside Clouded city, just who could threaten the “Featherfolk King”?
There were still others who wanted to put up resistance, so the bird-faced statues flew down and gathered around Li Fengyuan, glaring at the featherfolk cultivators on the ground.
Suddenly, Li Fengyuan let out a sigh. All of his vigour and complacency vanished, replaced by sorrow. “I’m in a very bad mood right now. There are many things I don’t know how to handle. Do you really want me to kill you all before killing all the featherfolk in the city?”
In that instant, all of the featherfolk shivered. Li Fengyuan gave off no murderousness at all, but no one doubted his resolve. Not only was he the son of a phoenix, but he was also the son of Li Qingshan. He had never lacked decisiveness and resolve.
“Why? Why did the king hand Clouded city to you?” A featherfolk cultivator growled, refusing to accept this.
“Because back then, only I could save you! Even though he wanted to abandon you and live for himself right from the beginning. And that woman…”
Li Fengyuan told them about everything that had happened in the heavenly tribulation. He did not twist any of the facts, nor did he hide anything.
The featherfolk were shocked.
“That’s impossible. You can’t deceive us with your lies. How could his majesty turn his back on us? It must have been you…”
“Shut up. Whether you believe me or not, I am the king of featherfolk from today onwards. Those who refuse to listen to my command can all piss off and leave the city, or I’ll kill you when I see you!”
Li Fengyuan turned around and returned to the top of the Cloud Province cauldron. He gazed into the west with furrowed brows. The sky gradually darkened, and the glow from the setting sun was like fire.
The featherfolk cultivators only felt the pressure on them immediately vanish. Despite their utter reluctance to accept this, attacking him now would only send them to their deaths for nothing. They secretly discussed among themselves about what to do next, but it gradually devolved into a dispute, leading to a great fragmentation.
“The featherfolk have been unfortunate today. Clouded city has been taken by an outsider. We will lead all the featherfolk away from here and establish a new Clouded city!”
“That’s easy for you to say. Clouded city was founded through tens of thousands of years of effort from our ancestors. How can you rebuild it so easily?”
“Then what do you say we do? What, are we supposed to serve an outsider as lackeys?”
“Anyone who does that is a traitor to the race!”
“We definitely can’t abandon Clouded city, or that’ll be letting down our ancestors. The clansmen can’t leave here either!”
The significance that Clouded city bore to the featherfolk was far too great. They did not only have various emotional attachments to it as their homeland and motherland. It was also a precious place that all featherfolk depended on to survive.
Just the speed of cultivating in the city far surpassed any other place. And, there were tremendous amounts of resources sealed within the vaults, which also provided assurance for the cultivation of all featherfolk. They could not abandon it on a whim, so the two factions became locked in dispute.
Li Fengyuan had no interest in the outcome of their debate. If they chose to stay behind, he could unleash greater powers from Clouded city and would gain a group of powerful subordinates. If the featherfolk all left, leaving a ghost city for him, it would still be a weapon of war, and he would not have to uphold any promises to the featherfolk either.
I need to tell the tree king about this, as well as… her!
Li Fengyuan was stronger than he had ever been in the past, but when he recalled that emotionless expression, he still could not help but shiver. As a result, he piloted the city out of the atmospheric wind layer, flying towards the Green province.
The featherfolk were sensible enough to stop questioning him, but they knew that they had to make a decision quickly.
By the time the sky darkened completely, the featherfolk had made a decision. Five third heavenly tribulation featherfolk cultivators left Clouded city with almost a third of the featherfolk.
The seven remaining cultivators met with Li Fengyuan together. “We’re willing to accept you as our king and obey your command, but on one condition…”
“Speak.”
“When you ascend, you have to hand Clouded city back to the featherfolk.”
“Alright.”
Perhaps it was because he had agreed to it far too readily, but the featherfolk hesitated slightly. Li Fengyuan sneered. “Do you really think your sh*tty city interests me?”
Even if the featherfolk refused to accept this, they could not help but admit that a phoenix really did possess the ability to say something like that.
“We believe you will uphold your promise, your majesty!”
By now, Clouded city had already left the Cloud province. Stars scattered across the night sky. Li Fengyuan murmured to himself, “First father, where exactly are you right now?”
The stars twinkled, but no one answered him.
A feather drifted throughout the deep, dark, starry sky. A pair of hands held each other.
“Where’s this?” Li Qingshan asked.
“Outer space,” Gu Yanying answered before deliberating over her words. “You… why?”
“If I had known this was the end result, I would have never come!”
“Do you regret it?”
“I never regret anything I do!”
“That’s good then, or it’ll only add to the pain. Do you feel it? Our powers are currently dispersing!”
“Hmm? Why’s that? Nevermind, forget that I asked.”
Li Qingshan could not sense any spiritual qi at all. Instead, his own aura, whether it was his daemon qi or spiritual qi, was dispersing away. It felt like he was being sucked dry by a huge, invisible sponge.
If this continued, they would die very soon, and pitifully enough, they would be starving to death.
“The stars here sure are bright!”
The stars formed a resplendent sea like luminous pearls embellishing a pitch-black curtain. As they drifted through space, they were like a speck of dust on the curtain.
“Yeah, at least there’s that. This is the scenery I wanted to show you! That father of mine once brought me through the atmospheric winds to see this, except it wasn’t as majestic as right now. Sigh, we sure are insignificant!”
Gu Yanying’s eyes reflected the stars as she let out a sigh that resembled a child’s.
“Alright. Have you thought of any ideas?”
Li Qingshan could not help but ask. During that short period of time, he had already tried everything he could, but the powerful abilities that had allowed him to run amok through the nine provinces unhindered were completely useless here. They would only exhaust his powers for nothing.
“I haven’t been thinking.”
“It’s exactly because I had no ideas that I called it a gamble!”
“You bastard! I refuse to believe there are no ideas!”
Li Qingshan took out the Asura Field.
