Spirit Vessel

Xuanyuan Yiyi frowned since she understood the pearl’s significance and why the princess insisted on getting it back. Her red lips parted: “Return the sacred pearl to her, I will give you an equivalent treasure instead.”

“Have you gone mad? She, your enemy, schemed for your death yet you still want to help her. I know that you are kind but sparing her right now is already benevolent enough. If you give back the pearl, then she would lose nothing and become bolder in the future. Your cultivation alone isn’t enough to guarantee your safety each time.” He was furious and fortunately, he didn’t actually like her. Otherwise, he would be driven crazy.

He found their values to be conflicting. Or maybe, her values were different than everyone else’s.

She calmly took the scabbard and sword off her back and handed them to him: “This sword once belonged to a saint during her youth. Though it is not a saint artifact, the saint’s dao has permeated into it so it’s very beneficial for cultivation. Its value can’t be inferior to the pearl.”

Feiyun didn’t know what to do. Was this saintess just different from everyone else?

The truth was that he had saint energies not inferior to saint souls inside him. He didn’t need the pearl but still preferred not to give it back to an enemy.

Only a fool would do something like that but occasionally, a benevolent and compassionate cultivator was no different from a fool, only that the former had more justifications despite the similar outcome.

He took out the pearl and gave it to Yiyi: “I would give you my life if you ask me to, let alone this pearl.”

She glanced briefly at his face before taking the pearl and said: “It is not difficult to swing the blade and kill the enemy, but is that the right thing to do? Take this sword. It has accompanied me for twenty years and it is enough to make up for your loss.”

He shook his head in response: “Everyone has their own opinion. If I won’t stop you let her get away, don’t impose your path on me either. We are all different, some run, others crawl. The runners laugh at the crawlers but the opposite is also true. Moreover, if I take this sword around with me, it’ll bring me nothing but trouble from pursuers. Consider this a favor instead.”

“So be it, I owe you a favor.” She didn’t push the issue and left with Princess Feiyuan.

Feiyun also left the palace but his destination was different. He brought the corpse and the statues with him, storing the latter in a spatial stone.

He put a black robe on the corpse along with a veiled hat. It followed right behind him.

“You were Nie Hai once. Now, I shall give you a new name, Guardian Hai. Yes?” Feiyun wore a white robe so there was a contrast between their appearances.

This puppet was in the first life stage and had a strand of soul. It could have simple thoughts so it let out a cry to acknowledge the name.

Guardian Hai was at the third level of Heaven’s Emergence before death. It had lost the majority of its power and could only compare to those at the second level. Nonetheless, it had no problem repelling a dozen first-level paragons alone.

Those who broke through to Heaven’s Emergence while only being in the fourth rebirth could not get any further. Thus, ninety percent of Heaven’s Emergence cultivators were in the first level. Those at the second level were rare like leaves during fall.

The battle prowess of the first level varied. Some first-level cultivators were as strong as the geniuses at the sixth and seventh levels of Nirvana. Others could actually fight against third-level Heaven’s Emergence cultivators.

This all depended on the number of rebirths. The more, the stronger later on.

Thus, the top geniuses could immediately contend against members of the last generation after reaching Heaven’s Emergence. They would become regional lords right away.

As for Feiyun, he had only finished the fifth rebirth so far. He had thought about trying to reach Heaven’s Emergence to test the limit of half-demons. Alas, he exercised patience because only five rebirths weren’t enough.

He wanted at least seven before thinking about Heaven’s Emergence.

As he got closer to the center of the ruins, he felt his demon blood churning more. The pressure also intensified and made walking difficult.

“Pop!” Each step left a deep crack on the ground. He didn’t think he could jump right now, let alone fly. His scalp was tingling and splitting.

“Such a huge meteor.” The turtle, on the other hand, was doing just fine. It stood on Feiyun’s shoulder and stared at a floating meteor.

It spanned several thousand meters amidst the clouds and floated slowly while issuing buzzes. It turned out that it was an actual Meteoric Spirit Stone. Its effect was enormous, hence the suppression.

Anyone who got too close would have their bones reduced to dust. Feiyun was still seven miles away but the gravity made it hard to breathe.

The turtle wanted to test the gravitational force farther ahead. It tossed out a fifth-ranked spirit treasure. Once it got within several hundred meters, it exploded instantly.

“There are other cultivators nearby.” Feiyun saw an old man walking out of the darkness. He wore a golden crest with a leather robe – clearly exceptional. He had a green jade belt with a special glow – the legendary sacred jade.

He only glanced at Feiyun before heading towards the meteor.

His steps were quite strange. He didn’t seem to be walking in the actual world, moving left and right randomly and causing spatial ripples.

“This old man is quite strong, he’s looking for an opening in space in order to reach the meteor.” The turtle hid in Feiyun’s robe, only showing its head.

Feiyun knew this as well, far stronger than all the paragons he had seen so far.

He then noticed a second person – a monk wearing a great kasaya. He had a bit of hair growing right now as well as a beard. His eyebrows were awfully long, going as far as his shoulders.

He held a golden staff in one hand and a string of beads in the other. He got close to Feiyun and then bowed: “Amitabha, Young Benefactor. This isn’t the place to linger around, please leave.”

Having said that, he walked towards the meteor at a calm pace, seemingly unaffected by the suppression. A bit later, he suddenly disappeared from sight.

“That old donkey is not to be trifled with either, he’s probably from an immemorial Buddhist temple and has reached the stage of ‘Great Freedom’. He is walking in a special dimension, searching for a shortcut.”

Buddhists in the higher realm had access to a mythical domain residing between the real and illusory world.

Feiyun stopped because there were quite a few experts here right now. They were too strong for him to contest at the moment.

It looked like this ruin had attracted many of them. What was hiding here?

“Buzz.” The meteor sent out a blinding blue light. The source was unknown but it managed to repel many of them.

“Boom!” The old man with the golden crest was sent back with a large hole in his chest.