Spirit Vessel

White fog engulfed today’s morning.

Chicken and dogs served as an alarm in Yue, a small village. Several young members of the clans here have left their bed in order to train inside their courtyard or on the streets.

These children weren’t that old but they were spirited and hard workers, issuing loud groans with each punch or kick.

The place was near the border of Ancient Jiang. The majority of the people here trained in crude martial arts in order to hunt and survive.

Inside the only inn in town, Feiyun woke up, looking very comfortable. Inside the blank was still the fragrance and heat of a woman.

It looked like she had only just left. He sat up and smiled, seemingly recalling the event last night.

“Creak.” Bai Ruxue pushed the door open and went inside. She wore a white dress without any decoration; her white hair draped down to the waist without using any hairpin, not even a hairband. This actually gave her a natural look of beauty.

She carried a bronze basin for washing and began serving Feng Feiyun: “I saw Miss Yao leaving a while ago.”

She had shimmering eyes, long and thin brows, and a tinge of red could be found on her otherwise perfectly white skin.

Feiyun nodded. After a short pause, he said: “I thought you had left as well.”

She tidied his hair after washing his face. Her jade-like hands suddenly stopped as she spoke: “I’m sure I would be dead right now if I had left last night.”

“Yao Ji pleaded for you yesterday so I had decided to spare you anyway. I gave you a chance to escape last night and I wouldn’t have pursued this any further.”

She could tell that he was speaking the truth so she naturally regretted her decision. Alas, she knew that it was too late so she smiled and said: “Even someone like Miss Yao wants to curry favor and get closer to you, I should be doing the same too. Just being a concubine isn’t bad… No, this is just wishful thinking from me… Plus, there’s nothing good in being a concubine. Your wives will try to kill me. Just being a maid is fine.”

“Haha!” Feiyun laughed and didn’t say anything else.

***

The two had moved seven thousand miles from the village at noon. They saw many cities along the way and stopped in one to buy an expensive carriage from a branch of the Yin Gou. Three 800-year-old tiger-lion hybrids pulled it.

They were more than six meters long with golden fur and two wings so they could also fly - capable of traveling 300,000 miles a day.

Their flying speed was fast but this required more energy than running on the ground. If it was a long journey with no rush, it was better to stay down.

Jin had an expansive road network built by many generations for the sake of war transportation of both troops and resources. They connected the various prefectures and had both land and river paths.

On this main road, not to mention three hybrids, even ten could move in parallel.

Feng Feiyun inside the carriage took out a stone chest with runes around the surface - a meter long and extremely heavy.

One could feel yin energy oozing from it, cold enough to freeze someone down to the bones.

Yao Ji gave it to him and said that it was more precious than a fourth-ranked spirit treasure.

He had a general idea of what it was and opening this confirmed it - the left hand of Yama!

Inside was a bloodied arm with numerous evil runes around it. Just one strand of evil energy nearly turned the carriage into ashes. Fortunately, Feiyun closed the chest in time.

Nevertheless, the expensive carriage had numerous holes now, becoming as shabby as can be, almost as if it had just been excavated from the ground.

“Raaa!” The tiger-lion hybrids roared due to the explosion.

The entire caravan stopped. Bai Ruxue who was acting as the driver quickly asked: “Young Noble, what happened just now?”

She couldn’t call him “Divine King” any longer since they were in hiding. “Young Noble” became more fitting.

“It’s nothing, keep going.” Feiyun calmly said.

Bai Ruxue had many questions and slightly frowned. However, she didn’t dare to go against him right now due to his cultivation. She continued controlling the hybrids.

Early this morning, Feiyun had used his Ascension Platform to take away a strand of her soul. That’s why she needed to obey all of his commands.

She was a smart woman and he needed to take all the necessary precautions if he wanted to make use of her.

‘Why does Yao Ji have this? Just getting more mysterious each day.” Feiyun grimaced.

‘Fuse this arm into your body, you will become far stronger.’ Yama came out of nowhere and spoke, slightly emotional.

‘You’re the one who will get stronger.’ Feng Feiyun said.

‘It’s mutually beneficial. You will gain the malefic force in my arm while I regain my power and soul. No one loses.’ Yama said.

Feng Feiyun remained unmoved and closed the chest, putting it back into his spatial stone.

‘Fuse this left arm and I will lend you my power to you once for free. This might save your life later.’ Yama hurriedly added.

Feiyun became tempted after hearing this. Yama’s power was similar to a pseudo-Enlightened Being right now. With this left arm, the guy would become even stronger. Being able to borrow this power at a key moment would be good.

Of course, this is dangerous as well, no different than playing with a tiger. If Yama grew strong enough to get out of his control, Yama might take over his body.

He still had the phoenix soul to threaten the guy with a detonation but who knows what could happen in the future?

He simply needed to stop Yama from growing stronger for now. However, the Buddhist affinity of Golden Silkworm Scripture was relatively effective in suppressing Yama.

“We have a deal then.” Feiyun smiled and gathered energy into his palm. This Buddhist affinity surrounded the entire chest in order to stop the evil energy from coming out a second time.

He truly needed power right now so this risk was necessary. He began refining the left arm into his own.

The aura emanating from the carriage frightened the other cultivators on the same path. They knew that there was a great master inside.

“A lord is coming through, probably to participate in the heretical conference in Mount Potala.” A grand completion God Base in full armor and riding a bull stared at the disappearing carriage.

He was a caravan’s guard; his weapon of choice was a spear.

“When will I become that powerful? Did you all see that female driver? As pretty as can be, I’ve never seen someone that pretty before, just like a goddess from heaven.” Another said.

“Keke, so what if she’s outrageously pretty? Just another toy for that lord. When you become a lord like that, you will also have numerous beauties. Just train hard and get all the women you want later.” A different guard added.

***

On the thirteenth day, the carriage made it through Central Royal into the territory of Myriad Mines Prefecture. It took another three days to get through this prefecture for Earthchild.

Central Royal Prefecture was the largest in Jin, spanning for more than one hundred thousand miles. Ordinary people would never be able to travel this distance.

Earthchild was the second largest with plenty of cultivation sects. The court’s influence had weakened in this place. Anyone could see this.

Tiny prefectures like Grand Southern and Myriad Mines couldn’t compare. Just one county from Earthchild was as large as them.

“We’ve finally made it to Earthchild.” Feiyun got down from the carriage and stared at this massive land.

His eyes were red like rubies once more. He had successfully infused the left arm into his body so his cultivation clearly improved again.

He slowly raised his left hand and added some force. Black runic lines rushed out and assaulted the Jin River ahead.

“Boom!” They condensed into a void blade, splitting the water into two halves.

This was only the power of a casual swing.

“Splash!” The water returned again, resulting in a deafening splash with waves towering at dozens of meters.

“Ruxue, I heard from a friend that there is an old Buddhist pagoda built ten thousand years ago here. Do you know where it is?” He asked, no longer as cold to her as before.

She has been very obedient and served as his maid along the way, even often taking the initiative of serving him in bed.

She was clumsy in the beginning and didn’t know what to do. However, with his guidance, she became increasingly skilled and knew how to please him.