Chapter 1875: Challenge of the Celestial Country
“Minister!” greeted his army, bowing before Minister Uptala.
“Don’t pay attention to me,” said Minister Uptala calmly. The crowd then continued with what they were doing.
“Minister, I can sense Blue Uptala Lotus intent here, why?” Lin Feng asked him.
Minister Uptala smiled, “Rise higher up in the air and observe the region, you’ll understand.”
Lin Feng was surprised. He rose up into the air, piercing through some clouds, and looked down. That gigantic ice and watery world had the shape of a lotus. The mountains were gigantic petals!
“Blue Uptala Lotus!” Lin Feng was stunned.
He dropped back down to Minister Uptala. Minister Uptala smiled and said, “It was a flatland, so my father planted some Blue Uptala Lotus seeds here. It turned into a water and ice world. Many strong cultivators here practice Hellish ice cultivation, as my father did. I practice fire cultivation. So now many people here control fire, too.
“Everybody can practice what they want, everybody is the master of their own destiny. Everybody chooses different paths. You have already chosen the path of life and death. You understand life and death better than most people. Even though I can’t influence people’s destinies, at least, I can help them along,” Minister Uptala said slowly.
Lin Feng nodded. Cultivators understood cosmic energies. Cosmic energies influenced a cultivator’s life and what they could understand or study later. But nothing was fixed. Minister Uptala was telling Lin Feng: My path of the Uptala is my own path. I can help you, but I can’t decide anything for you!
Lin Feng had been helped a great deal by Minister Uptala, without him he wouldn’t have been cleansed by life-death cosmic energy.
“Minister, so when I observe the Blue Uptala Lotus, I can’t borrow your ideas to make them turn into my own path?” asked Lin Feng.
“Of course you can, but you just use it, you don’t apply everything. And anyway, powerful families emerge like that: their ancestors keep passing things on to their descendants, and they become stronger and stronger if they do the right things,” explained Minister Uptala. Lin Feng nodded. That was the role of a teacher.
“Besides, there’s a strange rock in this world, called the Mark of the Path. It allows cultivators to understand the strength of enlightenment,” Minister Uptala mentioned. Lin Feng had already been cleansed by the life-death dual energy. Even many great emperors weren’t capable of achieving that!
It wasn’t a criterion to become a great emperor at all. However, it was an advantage if a great emperor had undergone the process.
“Mark of the Path?” It was the first time Lin Feng heard about that strange thing.
“Indeed, the Mark of the Path! There are many sorts of Marks of the Path. The simplest ones are used by cultivators to mark their path inside. There are also Marks of the Path used by cultivators before dying. They don’t die completely, they put their life in the stone and then it turns into their life path. Then, they can be used by their descendants. It’s a very precious treasure and they are very rarely used. Some strong cultivators create such stones, but they have to know they’re going to die to do that. The power of such a stone depends on the cultivator’s comprehensive abilities during his life.
“There’s another strange stone, the Stone of Fertility of the Earth and Sky. They are very precious. Different Marks of the Path have different values,” said Minister Uptala slowly. Lin Feng calmly listened. His knowledge of cultivation was becoming deeper and deeper. There were all sorts of strength, matching the different sorts of Marks of the Path, those stones could help cultivators practice!
“Yue Xin has chosen the path of mercilessness. She started by practicing skills, and then she really started walking on the path of mercilessness?” Lin Feng mused to himself. He suddenly realized how mysterious the three lives scriptures were. With the three lives scriptures, a cultivator could choose different paths! How powerful!
With one body, there were many limits, and a cultivator could choose only one path to achieve enlightenment. With several bodies, it was easier to achieve enlightenment!
At that moment, someone rose up into the air and greeted Minister Uptala, “Minister!”
“Shichuan, are you done selecting people?” Minister Uptala asked Shichuan.
“More than fifty people are willing!” Shichuan informed Minister Uptala.
Minister Uptala looked surprised and smiled, “So many people!”
“Yes, they are all heroes. I wonder how many people can survive?” agreed Shichuan. Lin Feng was startled. Another dangerous event was going to happen?
“That’s their decision. They can only rely on their own self,” said Minister Uptala calmly, “Just tell them to be careful. Even if they obtain nothing, the most important thing is to survive, otherwise being a cultivator is useless.”
“I understand!” nodded Shichuan.
When Qing Qing heard Minister Uptala and Shichuan’s conversation, her beautiful eyes gleamed. Shichuan looked at her and smiled, “Qing Qing, you’re getting more and more beautiful. Are you not looking for a man?”
“Shichuan, you’re making fun of me. Men only think about cultivation, why say I’m beautiful each time you talk about me? Maybe someday I’ll go to the Celestial Country too!” smiled Qing Qing. She knew Shichuan quite well, he was her father’s assistant, a Vice Minister. Every Minister in Hell had a Vice Minister.
“Qing Qing, I would be happy if you did. I don’t think your father wants you to leave though!” grinned Shichuan. In the cultivation world, women weren’t as gifted as men, that was a fact. They didn’t despise women, but women weren’t as domineering on the path of cultivation. They weren’t as cruel as men, either. Of course, many women were also stronger than many men. There were just far more strong men than strong women.
“If she’s strong enough, she can go if she wishes,” Minister Uptala agreed.
“Minister, who’s this young man? I’ve never seen him before,” asked Shichuan, looking at Lin Feng. Even though Minister Uptala was humble and amiable, not many people could stand next to Minister Uptala like that. Minister Uptala probably liked this young man a great deal.
“I forgot to introduce you. This is Lin Feng. He’s not a low-level Hell emperor, but he might be able to defeat high-level Hell emperors!” smiled Minister Uptala.
Shichuan was surprised and asked, “He’s not hiding his cultivation level?”
“Three months ago, he was on the battle stage outside of the city, on the battle stage of low-level Hell emperors. He attained a hundred non-stop victories, and then he defeated nine other champions, he even defeated six of them at the same time. And while he was fighting, he became a medium-level Hell emperor!” explained Minister Uptala, smiling as he recounted the past.
“He’s barely been a medium-level Hell emperor and can already defeat high-level Hell emperors?” said Shichuan. He couldn’t believe it. How incredible!
“I took them to conquer a territory. The other cultivator who won a hundred battles was a medium-level Hell emperor. Together, they defeated sixteen medium-level Hell emperors from Chu Jiang City.”
Shichuan was amazed. Two people had defeated sixteen medium-level Hell emperors from Chu Jiang?
“And where is the other one?”
“He’s alone having a walk.”
“Alright,” said Shichuan with a nod. He looked at Lin Feng and said, “Little friend, when you become a high-level Hell emperor, I’ll take you to the Celestial Country!”
“I was thinking the same. There are cultivators of different levels in the Celestial Country. There are many low-level Hell emperors and medium-level Hell emperors there, but it’s still too dangerous for people who aren’t high-level Hell emperors. When Lin Feng becomes a high-level Hell emperor, take him there. He’ll benefit from it!” agreed Minister Uptala.
Lin Feng asked, “Minister, what is the Celestial Country?”
“The Celestial Country is a world created for geniuses. There are many extremely strong and heroic warriors there who constantly fight to become stronger. When people go there, they call it the ‘Challenge of the Celestial Country’,” explained Minister Uptala explained in simple words. Lin Feng’s eyes lit up.
