Chapter 163: The Little Vine Cries

Shen Tian knew all along that the Phoenix Feather Mask could hide one’s identity.

However, he did not expect that it could even obstruct the Divine Firmament’s Sacred Leader’s inspection.

No matter what, it was good that he was not discovered—Shen Tian still cared a lot about his reputation, after all!

He started to change out of the light blue armor underneath the ground and put on his normal clothes.

Shen Tian then took out a mirror and observed his reflection intently, in hopes that no traces of his previous appearance were left behind.

At the same time, the Sacred Leader and Heavenly Venerable Azure Lotus were not feeling that calm as they hovered in mid-air, especially the latter. He was green-eyed with jealousy at what he saw.

After all, ever since he had started cultivating the Tinder Sutra, he had been unlucky till now.

The only extraordinary item on himself—the Azure Green Sky Flame—was actually obtained before he had started cultivating the Tinder Sutra.

But just look at Shen Tian—not only had he obtained the First Essence Heavy Water, but he had now even obtained another two extraordinary items!

His providence made Azure Lotus so jealous that he felt like pointing up at the heavens and cursing it for being too unfair!

As for the Sacred Leader—being the more brainy person among the pair—he was able to process the whole situation in a more holistic manner.

Azure Lotus had only thought of how Shen Tian had managed to develop the Yang Divine Lightning Constitution and obtained two extraordinary items.

But the Sacred Leader noticed one critical point—that is, Shen Tian actually could merge all these items together!

One must know that such extraordinary items were makings of Heavens’ will, and while they were extremely powerful, they were very hard to tame.

Normal cultivators would have a hard time refining them for their own usage, even if they happened to possess them.

For example, Azure Lotus had already refined the Azure Green Sky Flame, so his abilities had seen a marked improvement. Nevertheless, he might not be able to refine another extraordinary item should he come across it. This was because the refining process was never easy, and some might not even be lucky enough to endure the whole process.

Legends had it been that 3,000 years ago, there was this Godfiend cultivator who had tried to merge three extraordinary items together by force. In the end, the powers of all three items couldn’t be contained, and the expert suffered a Qi Deviation during the process. His entire body had been destroyed!

Just imagine—if even such a mighty figure could fall to demise by trying to merge three extraordinary items together, then what about Shen Tian?

He was just a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage, yet he could already achieve what that expert was unable to do? How could anyone achieve that unless they had a constitution which was being favored by the heavens!

The Sacred Leader confirmed that his judgment of Shen Tian was accurate.

Tian’er will be our sect’s future hope!

At that moment, the Sacred Leader was suddenly reminded of the fact that his Senior Brother, who always did not know any better and always foiled his plans, was still standing beside him. As such, he secretly sent Azure Lotus a voice transmission and told him of his suspicions.

“Senior Brother, I have already said my piece. Are you willing to help out Tian’er now that you have seen that he’s truly the Son of Providence?”

Azure Lotus’ face flushed red, and in his mind, a resolute voice rang out again—”If I regret, I am the son of a b*tch!”

All at once, he was caught between the dilemma of being the son of a b*tch and enjoying fortuitous opportunities brought by the Son of Providence, or being a poor old bloke with nothing but imaginary high aspirations.

I mean, I am a Heavenly Venerable, after all. I want my dignity too!

“Umm... For this, Senior Brother has to observe him more. There’s no haste for such matters.”

Much as though he was reluctant to concede defeat in front of the Sacred Leader, Azure Lotus had already consented to his Junior Brother’s request deep down in his heart. This was because he knew that even though both he and Shen Tian were cultivating the Tinder Sutra, their different constitutions meant they would achieve vastly different results.

It was a known fact that most of the cultivators who cultivated the Tinder Body-Tempering Art would not see many effects, even though they might spend more than 10 times the amount of resources Azure Lotus spent.

Azure Lotus knew that he was already considered the more talented one amongst this group of cultivators—his cultivation process had been considered really smooth. In fact, he might have been the favored one among his peers!

Yet he knew very well that when he had reached this body-tempering realm, his own abilities were never as strong as Shen Tian. All else aside, he wouldn’t even have dared to try refining three extraordinary items like Shen Tian did, even if these items were placed in front of him!

This was because the powers contained within such items were so strong that if one did not handle them well enough, they might trigger self-explosion!

Even those who had already surpassed the Transcendence stage of the Godfiend Body Tempering skill might die on the spot during the refining process.

After all, it would definitely not be fun having powers exploding within one’s body. This was an entirely different matter from great powers exploding outside of one’s body.

This was the reason Azure Lotus was taken by shock when he saw that Shen Tian had actually successfully refined and contained all three extraordinary items within his body. He had always felt he was a talent in this field. Yet now, he was like nothing when compared against Shen Tian!

If not for the fact that he had once made the oath of being the son of a b*tch, he would have fought to get Shen Tian as his disciple!

As such, the old Taoist priest was caught up with mixed feelings of awkwardness, indecisiveness, regret, and jealousy now.

Meanwhile, Zhang Yunxi’s aura finally stabilized as she calmed herself down. She came before the new grave, and worry was written all over her eyes as she stared at it.

The Sacred Leader guessed what his daughter was thinking about and commented, “Don’t overthink. The person being buried in this grave is not Tian’er. Tian’er is still safe as of now.”

His words made Zhang Yunxi’s eyes brighten up. “Is it? Then I shall go and rescue him now!”

The Sacred Leader turned his head to another side and reassured her, “Don’t act impulsively. With me around, no demons will dare to play tricks. I can feel Tian’er’s aura. He has been released by the demon and will come to us soon.”

Just when he finished his words, a voice rang out from behind a nearby hump.

“Master, Martial Uncle, Senior Sister, that demon has released me.”

Shen Tian walked out in his usual white robes and strode confidently toward them. As he was feeling rather sheepish, he tried to hide his embarrassment by walking as manly as he could. After all, Zhang Yunxi had just battled with him recently. He was too afraid that she could sense anything from the way he walked and made the connections.

However, Shen Tian was trying a tad too hard. In fact, this made the way he walked seem extremely awkward.

Using a common internet slang from the 21st century, Shen Tian was walking in such a fashion that not even his kins would recognize him—like the way Conor McGregor walked[1].

Yet to the Sacred Leader and the rest of the people at the scene, this did not seem weird at all. After all, they felt that it was logical for their Saint to display such a confident disposition.

Though Shen Tian met their expectations previously, they had always felt he was too low-key and seemed rather easy to bully.

But now, such a Shen Tian was perfect—he had the looks of an immortal and seemed like a war of god descending to earth, ready to take over the world with his might!

This was exactly how the Saint of the Divine Firmament Sacred Ground should behave like. In fact, the Sacred Leader was feeling extremely pleased.

Indeed, the ancient teachings have not failed me. Tian’er is one who will rise up to great heights!

And now that Tian’er has become our sect’s disciple and obtained such great fortuitous opportunities, he is obviously on his path to greatness.

With him supporting our sect, we will have chances of ruling over the whole of the Eastern Wilderness again!

...

Ripples were seen on the heavenly aura on the surface of his body, as the Sacred Leader imagined about the bright future.

He commented to Shen Tian, “Tian’er, I hope that the Vine Demon did not harm you!”

A slight tremor ran down Shen Tian’s spine, and he hurriedly shook his head.

“Oh no, of course not, how would she dare to harm me! I only told her that I am the disciple of the Divine Firmament’s Sacred Leader, and she was so scared that she released me at once!”

Everything might go wrong, but flattery would not. The Sacred Leader had rushed all the way here to save Shen Tian, and although he didn’t provide any actual help, Shen Tian still appreciated the gesture and would, of course, speak nothing but good words about him.

He would definitely remember this favor that was shown to him.

Shen Tian’s words made the Sacred Leader even more pleased. The ripples on his body’s heavenly aura shimmered even more brightly.

He nodded his head and said, “Since Tian’er is safe now, then it’s time I start reasoning with the demon king of this Fog Plain. How dare she, a mere half-Saint, dared to attack my beloved disciple!”

10 Divine Firmament Lightning Emperor Flags shot out and froze thousands of kilometers in the near vicinity.

Terrible lightning gathered in the sky above, and it was as if the heavens were meting out the punishment.

...

About a few kilometers away, a certain little vine stuck itself arduously into the earth. It tried its best to absorb all the Spirit Qi it could get from the Spirit Stone Vein beneath the ground and looked forward to its growth.

“I will never admit defeat. The heavens are unfair to me, and I shall prove myself by cultivating to become an immortal! I will change my destiny!”

Right after it made the announcement, the sky darkened above her, and lightning flashed past the sky.

Heavens’ wrath filled the vicinity as if it would come crashing down any time.

At that moment, that little vine was stunned.

Two strings of milkish-white liquid flowed down from its body.

It looked like it was crying.

I only made a small proclamation to myself. Why, why strike me down for this?!

[1] 走出了六亲不认的姿势 (hanyu pinyin: zǒu chū le liù qīn bù rèn de zī shì). This sentence is a Chinese internet slang used to describe how people imitated the way the Irish professional mixed martial artist and boxer Conor McGregor walked. He was known for his signature stride, where he tilted his head up and walked while swaying his body from left to right in an exaggerated and overconfident manner.

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