Chapter 402: Secret Manual of Kun Peng
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Previously, Lin Feng had left some Mana in Luo Qingwu's Heavenly Yin Spiritual Pearl. Whenever Luo Qingwu wishes, she can contact Lin Feng through this Mana; that was why when bidding her farewell, Lin Feng told her that if she was unhappy at home, she could come visit Mount Yujing.
But unexpectedly, it has been half a year since her return, and yet the wavelengths were still silent – with no activity from her.
Lin Feng could sense that nothing unexpected has happened to the Mana he left in the Heavenly Yin Spiritual Pearl – it has not been erased, nor hijacked.
In other words, it was the little girl's own idea to not communicate with Lin Feng.
This made Lin Feng rather curious – but merely curious. If the little girl was still living a carefree life, then all's good.
Now, Lin Feng's mindset was already changing slowly. He would still eye talents of extraordinary potential when he encounters them, but it was no longer a must.
While he was in thought, Lin Feng suddenly sensed, once again, that evil consciousness that was spying on them while the Steel Tree Avatar was battling the Thunder Tribulations.
Savagery, venom, deceit – these negative emotions pulsated clearly from its Mana.
Lin Feng's eyebrows rose as he turned to see the air stir. A figure walked, slowly, out from the Void opening.
His Mana was extremely strong – facing him, Lin Feng felt, vaguely, that he was facing the boundless sea and sky.
"As expected, Advanced Nascent Soul." Lin Feng smiled slightly, "if this man attains Immortal Soul, his powers will be considerable."
The figure was enveloped, from head to toe, in a layer of faint mist, precluding people from seeing his true form.
But this, naturally, could not stop Lin Feng's vision. Examining him, Lin Feng felt some slight surprise.
The man's form was uncommon, to say the slightest. His appearance was aged, with a hunched back and bowed figure. His face was rather abnormal, bearing resemblances to birds and fishes instead of humans; somewhat like Demons transforming into human form, but incompletely, with many physical traits of beasts remaining.
But from Lin Feng's observation, his Mana obviously bore the signature of human cultivators, and not the Demonic powers of the Demonic Clan.
With much interest, Lin Feng sized up this bird-faced, fish-headed figure. "Perhaps, just like my Steel Tree Avatar, he controlled some Demonic being as an Avatar?"
His gaze made the strange figure rather displeased as he sneered, "Managed to get a Saros Steel Tree as an Avatar? Really good luck – pity it will be for my benefit. You can hand that Avatar over now."
The figure's voice was weird as well; shrill and ear-piercing like Heavenly Squall, and yet low and resounding like waves of the rolling sea.
As his sentence trailed off, the strange figure extended his arm out, grabbing towards Lin Feng's Steel Tree Avatar.
His hand instantly transformed into a gigantic hand, covering the entire sky. Seeing this, Lin Feng did not panic, but instead feel a light bulb go off in his head. This grab appeared simple, but actually encapsulated many different layers of Concept.
The cover of the hand produced, faintly, an Abhijna effect – Heaven and Earth, contained in a single palm. It embodied profound Spatial powers – all Space under the palm was being drawn towards the center of the palm. It was useless even if an opponent attempted to evade towards another direction – he could not escape the figure's grasp.
In addition, at the center of the palm, it was as if a deep whirlpool was continuously rotating, generating a powerful attractive force. The five fingers extended outwards – countless squall roared, tearing apart space and time.
Under this figure's grab, it would be impossible for any opponent below Advanced Nascent Soul to escape, or even to resist; with no other option but to wait for the inevitable end.
But this does not include Lin Feng, who stood in the same spot leisurely, not even attempting to run, but instead only gazing at the strange figure calmly.
Shock surfaced in the strange figure's brain as he sensed danger, but it was too late.
A flaming, radiant sun rose slowly below his palm. It appeared slow, but contains unimaginable, indomitable strength.
Lin Feng's Fist of the Great Heavenly Sun slammed into the center of the strange figure's palm like the rising morning sun, the unbridled strength shattering his claws outright.
He shrieked with surprise, retracting the hand quickly. The massive, sky-covering hand disappeared, as the strange figure looked at his hand, seeing a patch of charred blackness in the center of the palm.
"How incredibly savage physical strength…also, that golden flame, it is the Grand Sun Primordial Flame? One of the Seven Legendary Primordial Fires?" The strange figure's gaze abruptly lit up as he stared intently at Lin Feng, but much more cautious now.
Lin Feng stared back at him calmly. The strange figure, seeing Lin Feng's composed demeanor, retracted his vicious aura even further.
Previously when the Steel Tree Avatar was facing the Thunder Tribulations, he recognized that this was only one of Lin Feng's Avatars, with the whereabouts of his true body unknown.
Still, this strange figure has always been greedy and brazen, even reckless. A Saros Steel Tree Avatar, was extremely enticing to him, causing him to decide to take the risk without hesitation.
However, he had previously come to grief at the hands of the Vivant Joy Holy Man of the Great Qin Empire; thus, sensing the arrival of the Vivant Joy Holy Man, he was forced to retreat in spite of his unwillingness.
What he did not expect was that after a while, he would rediscover Lin Feng's Steel Tree Avatar – alone. After the strange figure confirmed that the Vivant Joy Holy Man was not in the vicinity, he made his move.
He originally thought that Lin Feng's Steel Tree Avatar, having just survived the Thunder Tribulations, should be extremely weak right now. Even if there was no weak period, a mere Beginner Nascent Soul should be child's play.
But he had not suspected that the Steel Tree Avatar's powers would far exceed his expectations.
Without using the Heaven and Earth Appearance Mantra, he even suffered a minor setback at the hands of the Steel Tree Avatar. Although the strange figure was confident that if he used the Heaven and Earth Appearance Mantra, he could still capture Lin Feng's avatar, but it would not be a swift victory by any measure.
Should Lin Feng's true form be exceedingly strong and appear suddenly at this moment, then the conclusion would be far less favorable for him.
Those thoughts having came to his mind, the strange figure instantly retracted all of his aggressiveness and malice. After staring at Lin Feng for a moment, he suddenly opened his mouth and spoke. "Regarding the previous events, I apologize."
Lin Feng looked at him silently without speaking.
The figure obviously knew, too, that his previous actions weren't the sort that could be easily dismissed with a few platitudes.
Doubtlessly, he could choose to just turn around and leave, but after seeing Lin Feng's Grand Sun Primordial Flame, he has other ideas.
"I know the location of a secret trove, which I am willing to share with you, my friend, as a token of apology," the strange figure said. "I am the Brilliant Lunar Grandmaster, and it would be an honor to hear your title, my friend."
Lin Feng's gaze scanned him from head to toe while he spoke. Without answering, he instead asked, "This trove you speak of – you can't retrieve it alone, can you?"
The Brilliant Lunar Grandmaster did not even blush or appear embarrassed in the slightest, but answered outright, "That's true. But without me, no one could retrieve the trove alone either."
"I mastered the technique to open the trove, but at the periphery, there are spells protecting the trove that I cannot penetrate alone. If you, my friend, are willing to help, success is guaranteed." The Brilliant Lunar Grandmaster grinned awkwardly, showing his teeth, "My friend, if you would help me, after we retrieve the trove, we could split it equally. What do you think?"
"In the entire world, I am the only one who knows the precise location of the secret trove."
"What kind of trove?" Lin Feng asked quietly.
"Kun Peng Secret Treasure," the Brilliant Lunar Grandmaster chuckled. "The inheritance left by a Kun Peng Grand Sage who once attained the Third Level of Undying Demonic Soul, who passed away in the Divine Lands."
Kun Peng, one of the great Immemorial Demons alongside the likes of the Taotie, the Qiongqi, the Immemorial Celestial Dragon, the Phoenix, et cetera. It has two forms, the Kun and the Peng; in water it was the Kun, when it emerges it was the Peng. When it revealed its true form, it extended several kilometers, being one of the largest Demons in the Grand Celestial World in terms of size.
Its strength was completely proportional to its size, being one of the strongest Demons as well.
In the Barren Expanses, there was currently a Kun Peng Grand Sage as well; however, it seemed that he was only at the First Level of Undying Demonic Soul, such that he has not been listed as one of the Ten Demonic Saints.
Lin Feng's eyes flashed. "Kun Peng Secret Treasure?"
He remembered the days when he has just reached Foundation Establishment, when he went to the Kunlun Mountains to search for Mount Yujing.
That was when Lin Feng first met Yang Qing, when he captured the Fire Crow Young Master and several Aeolus Sect disciples.
One of those Aeolus Sect disciples, named Gao Fan, had tried to tame the Grand Moon Primordial Water with dark techniques, but tragically, was ass-f**ked by the Grand Moon Primordial Water instead.
From him, Lin Feng first heard about the Kun Peng Secret Treasure.
The Kun Peng Secret Treasure lies hidden within the North Polar Sea, and was perennially frozen in Millennium Black Ice. Then, although Gao Fan knew the location and even got his hands on a Spiritual Item, the Scale of Kun Peng, that could open the Secret Treasure, he was unable to break open the Black Ice.
The Black Ice of the North Polar Sea - not even Immortal Soul cultivators could so much as scratch it, let alone Gao Fan. Those were the zenith of ice, the extreme essence of ice that has been frozen for more than ten thousand years. They embody the extremes of coldness in the universe, to the extent that even Space and Time were completely sealed by the freezing cold and one couldn't enter even through Void Travel.
Fortunately, the alternation of Yin and Yang in the universe meant that once a while, the Black Ice would be eroded by positive Yang energy, becoming weaker.
Only when positive Yang energy dissipates in the North Polar Sea and negative Yin energy regains prominence will the Black Ice become solid once again.
It was possible for powerful cultivators, controlling extreme fire powers like the Seven Legendary Primordial Fires, to attempt to break through the weakened Black Ice forcibly.
The Grand Moon Primordial Water, hailed as the Master of A Million Waters and capable of commanding all ice and water in the world, could be used to circumvent the Black Ice as well.
Therefore, the poor Gao Fan was completely oblivious that, even if he did actually obtain the Grand Moon Primordial Water, it would still be impossible for him, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, to break open the Black Ice.
Right now, the Brilliant Lunar Grandmaster was facing the same problem as well; that was why after seeing Lin Feng's Grand Sun Primordial Flame, he had the thought of inviting Lin Feng to aid him.
When Lin Feng got the information from Gao Fan, negative Yin energy was strong in the North Polar Sea, making the Black Ice was even stronger. In addition, his own cultivation was still inadequate then, so Lin Feng had placed it at the back of his mind first.
Now, hearing the Brilliant Lunar Grandmaster's proposal, Lin Feng asked, "Positive Yang energy is strong in the North Polar Sea now?"
Hearing this sentence, the Brilliant Lunar Grandmaster's heart sank slightly. Instantly, he knew that Lin Feng was not ignorant about the Kun Peng Secret Treasure.
At this moment, a feeling that he was asking a tiger for its skin rose in the strange old man's heart as he forced himself to continue talking. "That's right. Before this year's summer solstice, positive Yang energy exceeds negative Yin energy, but after summer solstice passes, positive Yang energy will start to dissipate while negative Yin energy grows. For a prolonged period afterwards, negative Yin energy will reign supreme."
Lin Feng spread his palm out. "With this, it seems that I do not need to work with you."
It was a single fish scale, of the size of merely a fingernail, but the Spatial Energy it contained suppressed its physical size; its actual size was probably around a square kilometer.
The Brilliant Lunar Grandmaster threw a glance at it and snickered. "Scale of Kun Peng? I will be forthright with you, my friend. This thing could indeed pinpoint the Kun Peng Secret Treasure, but it would only bring you to the gates. If you want to venture deep into the Secret Treasure, this is not enough."