Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
“It’s just the start of summer, why is the weather so unpredictable already?” Liu Yuntao burst out.
It was sunny moments ago, that was why she didn’t bother to bring an umbrella. Let’s see if uncle has a spare in his shop.
The sky was murky like dusk, though it was only afternoon. Thunder rolled, but rain and lightning were nowhere to be seen. It was strange.
Fei Zhengtao looked up to the sky, and said calmly, “There’s a shop near the supermarket entrance, I’ll buy you an umbrella if you happen to not have one.”
“Alright, thank you,” his tranquil composure appeased Liu Yuntao’s anxiety and her mood recovered, making her forget the roll of thunder. She turned around and announced, “Uncle, you have a guest!”
“I’m coming,” an old man whose hair was grey was walking towards them with a burin in his hand. He scanned the piece of drawing in Liu Yuntao’s hand, and glanced at Fei Zhengtao before raising his questions. “You want to have this carved? What size do you have in mind? What type of wood shall be used?”
Fei Zhengtao answered the old man’s questions and the man nodded his head slightly. “Not a complicated one, you’re free to collect it after next Thursday.”
“I’ll be here on Sunday afternoon, then,” that was the only free time Fei Zhengtao could utilize as a senior year student.
Rumble.
The thunder was low and deep, without lightning. The dark clouds were cast above the mart, decorating it as if doomsday was approaching. Liu Yuntao watched as Fei Zhengtao paid the deposit and left the shop, whereas the rain was not in sight yet. Liu Yuntao was no longer bothered by the possibility of rain pouring, so she picked up the woodcarving she had chosen as a present, before saying her goodbye and left the shop.
Right at that moment, she saw Fei Zhengtao running towards her direction, with two one-time use umbrellas in his hands. He smiled at her, “Can’t say if a storm might pour on your way home.”
Fei Zhengtao had a cheerful smile. His teeth were sparkling white and he wasn’t bashful when he handed a girl a present. He acted like it was completely normal and right to do such a thing. Liu Yuntao was instantly attracted to him.
In Senior Three Class Six, she was beautiful and popular. There were boys from her class, or even other classes that were trying to impress her by doing things, but this was the only time that someone did something for her without the intention to impress her.
“Thank you,” Liu Yuntao accepted the umbrella, smiling as she did. Her impression of him had since changed from a lame and weak schoolmate to a pretty good guy.
Having umbrellas in their hands, they walked towards the shop. Liu Yuntao casually asked, “Which deity are you trying to make a carving of?”
“Deity… he could be considered as one, I guess,” Fei Zhengtao said as he thought. The Primitive Emperor was far more powerful than those deities I’ve known, and these deities are barely real. “He was also my patriarch.”
He said these frankly.
“Patriarch?” Liu Yuntao was shooting him a strange glance. That term was only used back in the ancient times or when you were in a temple.
Fei Zhengtao laughed. “Because I used to be weak. I became an apprentice to a master whose master is the Primitive Emperor, the Sect’s Patriarch.”
“Primitive Emperor?” Liu Yuntao was mulling over the new term she learned. It sounded almighty, and majestic at the same time.
He is here to make a carving because he is going to worship the patriarch. Liu Yuntao suddenly realized and said cheerfully, “Hey, expert, as schoolmates, I’m going to rely on you for help in the future if anyone is to be bullied.”
She purposely quoted herself from the movies. It was totally normal for him to learn classical martial arts because he wasn’t the only one. There were classmates of hers who practiced taekwondo and karate, too.
They were chatting freely as they walked. The amount of conversations that they shared during the past three years could not measure up to today’s talking. They parted their ways when they went out of the shop.
Fei Zhengtao did not hesitate to leave, as he left without turning back to check on her. He was forthright and it seemed to her that he wasn’t trying to go after her, of which Liu Yuntao strongly approved. A book can’t be judged by its cover, or maybe picking up martial arts could really change a person’s temperament and will?
On the contrary, Fei Zhengtao’s mind right now was filled with the Myriad World Talisman, Circled Qi Technique, Dantian Qi Storage, knowledge passed to him by Master Daqinggen, the grotesque and variegated Myriad World, even the mall, the forum and the live show! He was like a severe internet addict, not having attention to spare for a girl.
One week later, Fei Zhengtao returned to the flowers and bird craft market.
The weather had been strange for the past week. Ever since that day when it looked like it was going to rain, the sky didn’t turn sunny again. Murky clouds were everywhere, with thunder rumbling the sky making the day seem to be the night. The rain wasn’t pouring and the lightning wasn’t visible, causing no harm. Even the forecasters couldn’t give a reason from their analysis. Some believed that it originated from industry pollution, whereas Fei Zhengtao asked for Master Daqinggen’s advice on the issue but he was instructed not to concern himself with it.
When Fei Zhengtao entered, the first person he saw was Liu Yuntao. There was a man tailing behind her acting innocently but the next second, the man pulled out a pair of tweezers to steal her cellphone in her pocket.
Liu Yuntao was alert, because she immediately responded by turning around abruptly and shouting, “Thief! Catch the thief!”
As soon as she shouted, she could see Fei Zhengtao charging towards the thief. He caught up with him and then twisted the thief’s arm with his left hand, pulling the thief backwards and shoved him with his right shoulder. The thief was subdued, losing his ability to resist.
Fei Zhengtao was confident throughout the process, his actions elegant like a dance, which successfully impressed Liu Yuntao even more. She was immersed in his actions until the thief cried out in pain.
“Expert, you’re amazing! Thank you very much,” Liu Yuntao elaborately praised Fei Zhengtao and thanked him.
Fei Zhengtao played it down and replied, “It was nothing, I’m learning martial arts after all.”
She picked up her phone. While they were waiting for the market’s manager to come, Liu Yuntao raised her curiosity, “Which sect do you belong in? You’re better than those who practice taekwondo!”
“Jade Palace,” Fei Zhengtao replied frankly, since no one would know which it was.
“Oh,” Liu Yuntao, as predicted, did not hear about it before, so she changed the topic. “Expert, can you teach me some self defense skills?”
“Sure, if you really want to learn.” Fei Zhengtao did not reject and continued with a bright smile, “I’m planning to create a martial arts club in the name of the Primitive Emperor to teach interested schoolmates, and when I graduate, I’ll begin to save up so that I can open a martial arts centre to pass down the knowledge of the Primitive Emperor.”
After listening to him talking with confidence about his clear goals, Liu Yuntao sincerely praised, “You’re so great, you know what you want to do and how you want to achieve your goals. I still have no idea which field should I major in even though the college entrance examination is approaching.”
Fei Zhengtao just smiled without saying much. He had only one goal, which was to master martial arts, enter Qingming, and eventually step into the Real World.
After turning in the thief and lodging the police report, they went to the carving shop. The old man was busy carving the wood, paying his full attention, “Just a second, it needs some final touch-up.”
The old man’s fingers were moving fast, focusing on the details, while Fei Zhengtao and Liu Yuntao watched silently.
When the carving was finished, the Primitive Emperor came alive all of a sudden. The three of them were blinded by strong white lights at the same time.
It was the light which lit up the heaven and earth, followed by the deafening sound of thunder. The entire city was shaking; the doors and the windows were rattling.
Rumble!
A green thunder struck, breaking the window and hit the carving directly. The lightning was like snake coated with shiny and silvery clothes, dancing crazily. The shop had became the center of a thunderstorm.
The silver snake vanished without a trace. Fei Zhengtao was standing in front of both Liu Yuntao and the old man, trying to protect them from the harm but all three of them weren’t hurt. That wasn’t all, because the carving of the Primitive Emperor was unharmed either, as if the lightning just now was pure hallucination.
Pitter-patter. It was the sound of a downpour. The long awaited rainstorm from the previous week had arrived, like it was finally released.
“It is unharmed?” the old man took up and examined the carving, bewildered.
Fei Zhengtao glanced towards the statue of the Primitive Emperor, he felt that it had an added aura to it, as if it were a statue of a deity that had been worshipped for thousands of years.
“Luckily it was unharmed,” he paid the old man and went back to his home with the statute of the Primitive Emperor after bidding goodbye to Liu Yuntao.
In Fei Zhengtao’s house, he placed the solemn statue on his desk, and sat cross-legged beneath it. His expression was serious, his breathing slowed, and he practiced the Circled Qi Technique.
The statue of Primitive Emperor was erected quietly and inviolable.
—
In the practice room of Jade Palace on Kunlun Mountain.
Everything behind Meng Qi turned dark suddenly, as if another universe had found its connection to this one. An idol of a solemn and majestic elderly man with long beard appeared out of nowhere, but its formation was unstable, as if it was an illusion. It needed time to stabilize itself, to adjust itself, before it could leave a mark for itself.
The statue had two snake-like creatures creeping their way up to its nostrils, while the strong light which followed was altering continuously, as multiple universes were connecting with each other. Besides, there were eight shadows accompanying the statue. One of them was an unknown object which engulfed billions of forces of light, connecting multiple timelines, possessing access to all the information that you asked. Another was made up of two giant transformers, representing both destruction and creation respectively. They were integrating their energies together, finding their roots, transforming back to the preliminary form of a monkey. There was also a shadow which was an unknown warrior wearing a gold saint cloth who sacrificed himself in the river of history. His eyes were tightly shut, while he sat cross-legged in front of a huge Buddha statue, being peaceful and clear…
Different universes were brought together in different forms, but the images of them were brutal. Their presence was beyond the measure of the universe, a more appropriate description would be Legendary. It was still too early to turn them into brandings, making them history, Meng Qi thought.
Meng Qi’s acupuncture points came to life at the exact moment, but turning his internals into the Heavens was not possible yet. Because the Heavens preceded the Myriad World, it is omnipresent and of the highest essence, normally only those who were practicing in the Creation Realm were able to do that, in order to enter the Real World. However, Meng Qi’s Indestructible Original Form was unique, so he could practice it partially.
Of course, it wasn’t the real Heavens, because the levels near Heavens were already hard to practice.
In other words, it meant Meng Qi was unexpectedly slow. There was still a huge step before he could reach Transcendence.
“Even if I were to do Isolated Practice, it would take a long time until I breakthrough,” Meng Qi opened his eyes, and nine shadows behind him formed an actual shadow before disappearing altogether. “It’s time to enter Jade Palace.”
At that moment, numerous money shadows and massive Forces of Living Beings, Meritorious Virtues, and Qi of Dao De appeared in front of him.
Money shadows were part of the Primitive Emperor Coin. This virtual currency represented reward of Da Dao, while Forces of Living Beings, Meritorious Virtues, and Qi of Dao De came from the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Myriad World Knowledge Ball. No matter which world you were in, as long as the upper levels did not plunder the wealth of those beneath them, everyone would be living peacefully with one another. This was what was happening in the Real World, as for why it wasn’t the other way around, it was due to their own preference.
Money shadows, Forces of Living Beings, Meritorious Virtues, and Qi of Dao De were changing continually, as if they were turning into magic weapons or refinement tools.
Meng Qi opened his mouth, absorbing all these into his body. He stepped forward, entering the World of Gods.
He knew he wasn’t able to escape the influential figures’ watch upon him, that was why this would be a dangerous mission.
