Chapter 725: You Lay the Rules of the Game, I’ll Defeat It
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
During this appearance of the Three Mountains of the Ying Sea, everyone was plotting on obtaining them to control the Ying Sea. Ultimately, it was a huge treasure trove that inspired envy.
However, many people, including Lin Feng, were rudely made known to the fact that one of the Three Mountains of the Ying Sea, Fangzhang, was already controlled by the Great Zhou Empire.
To the Great Zhou Empire, obtaining Fangzhang was just the first step of their plan. Next, they must obtain Penglai and Yingzhou, the other two mountains of the Ying Sea. As everyone fought for control, the Great Zhou Empire already occupied an advantageous position.
Looking at the entire Ying Sea, the Great Zhou Empire was way ahead of its competitors.
Ever since Lin Feng knew that the talisman that opened the white light pathway was given to the Freshwater Holy Man by the Great Zhou Empire, an uneasy feeling rose in his heart.
While the Ying Sea was not as unpredictable and chaotic as the Void Battleground, it still required a cultivator with a high level of mastery and a deep understanding of the Ying Sea to directly send someone from the Divine Lands to the interior of the Ying Sea through a talisman. Furthermore, one must have a certain degree of control over the Ying Sea too.
The Great Zhou Empire possessed a geographical and benefitted from the foundation established by Emperor Tai many years ago. Hence, their understanding of the East Sea and the Ying Sea was deeper than others. However, even so, it was unlikely that they would be able to form the talisman.
Furthermore, while the talisman was only given to Immortal Soul stage cultivators who submitted to the Great Zhou Empire, it also meant that the talisman could be produced in bulk.
Hence, when Lin Feng entered the Ying Sea through the white light, it was also to ascertain his fears even though he hoped from the bottom of his heart that he was wrong.
However, what he feared came true; the Great Zhou Empire did manage to obtain one of the Three Mountains of the Ying Sea.
No wonder the Great Zhou Empire had so much confident over the appearance of the Three Mountains of the Ying Sea.
To Lin Feng, while his opponents may lay the rules of the game, he would surely find a way to beat it. He cannot let the Ying Sea fall in his enemy’s hands.
Obtaining Fangzhang placed the Great Zhou Empire in an advantageous position. However, as others don’t know about it, when Penglai and Yingzhou appeared the Great Zhou Empire would endeavor to conquer both in one fell swoop, maximizing their advantage.
However, now that news had spread, their possession of Fangzhang was now a double-edged sword. While the Great Zhou possessed a first-mover advantage, they became everyone’s target at the same time.
Lin Feng naturally would not be nice to Liang Pang and Zhu Hongwu. When he left the Ying Sea, the first thing he did was to spread the news to as many people as possible.
He knew that the Great Zhou Empire would surely react to this leak. They would not stand by and do nothing. However, regardless what they would do, it was much worse for the Great Zhou Empire when the news leaked.
Furthermore, Fangzhang could be said to be the trump card of the Great Zhou Empire during the next appearance of the Three Mountains of the Ying Sea. By leaking this information beforehand, even if Liang Pan and Zhu Hongwu could calm themselves by then, they would still be plagued with this headache right now.
After spreading the news, Lin Feng began to investigate the Heart of the Sky Fangzhang Celestial Light.
He obtained a tiny bit of it before he left with the Barrier-Breaking Stone using his Fences of Heaven and his Celestial Small Worlds spells.
While it was not a lot, its powers were exceptional. Even when he used his Advanced Nascent Soul stage Steel Tree Avatar to suppress it, he could feel the pressure.
However, this made Lin Feng satisfied. He looked at the dark golden glow and thoughts fluttered through his mind. Slowly, an idea took shape in his mind.
Other than the problems of the Great Zhou Empire and Fangzhang, other stuff caught his attention too.
The Heavenly Oyster Golden Pearl that he brought along with him suddenly reacted. This caught Lin Feng by surprise.
The purple light of the Heavenly Oyster Golden Pearl was not from the Pearl itself. Earlier in the Cloud Forest World, when the group of them battled for the Hades’ Dark Mantra, it was split into three. The Heavenly Charms Grand Sage, the Golden Roc Grand Sage and the Great Zhou Empire each obtained one.
Then, no one observed that other than the three of them, Lin Feng’s Heavenly Oyster Golden Pearl flashed with a faint purple light.
Afterwards, Lin Feng carefully investigated the tiny sliver of purple light in the Heavenly Oyster Golden Pearl but to no avail.
He did not expect it to occur once again in the Ying Sea, much less twice. The second time it flashed was when Fangzhang appeared.
As for the first time, it flashed seemingly for no reason. Lin Feng did not notice anything strange about his surroundings.
Then, all Lin Feng thought of doing was to follow the white light pathway to Fangzhang and hence, he did not stop.
However, he knew that things were not as simple as it seemed. The first time the purple light shone, it could mean that he was near another celestial mountain.
It could be either Penglai or Yingzhou.
However, it was not yet time for the celestial mountains to appear. Regardless whether it was Penglai or Yingzhou, they were all lost in the many illusions of the Ying Sea. Even if Lin Feng himself had come, he may not be able to find it.
What caught Lin Feng’s attention was that the first time the Heavenly Oyster Golden Pearl shone, it was much brighter than the second time at Fangzhang.
This meant that the Heavenly Oyster Golden Pearl could sense the presence of the other celestial mountain, and its reaction to it was much stronger than its reaction to Fangzhang.
Lin Feng thought, "Could this treasure be from the Ying Sea and hence, linked to either Yingzhou or Penglai?"
Its reaction to Fangzhang could mean that the celestial mountain was not directly related to the Heavenly Oyster Golden Pearl. Instead, it came from the relative independence and inter-connectedness between the three mountains.
At this moment, the Heavenly Oyster Golden Pearl began to change. Purple light flashed once more. While it was not very eye-catching, it was surely triggered by something. Lin Feng looked at it oddly and said, "Right now, I’m on the East Sea. Why would there be any movement?"
As he puzzled over this, Lin Feng did not waste any time. Immediately, he tried to cultivate the Heavenly Oyster Golden Pearl. As he performed a gesture, billows of purple clouds lifted the Pearl.
The Pearl vibrated in mid-air as faint light pointed towards somewhere faraway.
Even after he had left the illusory Ying Sea, the Heavenly Oyster Golden Pearl could still point the way for Lin Feng.
Lin Feng looked into the distance and kept his Heavenly Oyster Golden Pearl. Then, he flew towards there.
As he flew, Lin Feng began to track his location and he thought, "This appears to be the northern part of the East Sea. It’s not far from the Luofu Mystical Island and it’s rather near the Inter-World Passage between the Divine Lands and the Ying Sea. The Inter-World Passage between the Barren Expanses and the Divine Lands is close as well…"
As he thought about that, Lin Feng could feel a powerful mana trembling in the West.
As he sensed them, he realized that the mana came from both human cultivators and demons. The two sides appeared to be in a covet stand-off.
As he was still rather far away, Lin Feng’s Steel Tree Avatar, which was not in the Immortal Soul stage, could not tell the depth of his opponent’s powers but only ascertain its presence.
He paid attention to it, and then sensed the mana being directed towards him.
Lin Feng arched his eyebrows and retrieved his supernatural awareness as he thought, "It appears two independent and separate worlds were in a face-off. Both are as vast as the Heavens. This kind of level could only be from an Immortal Soul stage cultivator or an Undying Demon Soul Third Level."
The human cultivator had mastered the Way of the Virtual Entity while the demonic saint had formed his original true spirit. Both were still quite some distance from forming their own heaven and earth.
The vast power and deep mastery that they had just displayed clearly indicated that they were in their Way of Virtual Entity or Syncretic Star Soul levels.
As they felt Lin Feng retracting his supernatural awareness, they refocused their attention on each other.
"One of them could be the Luofu Holy Man. It appears that he managed to get an Undying Demon Soul Third Level Demonic Saint stuck in the Inter-World Passage." Lin Feng shook his head and ignored them as he flew towards his destination.
Soon, he reached. It was a small, uninhabited island.
Lin Feng swept the island with his gaze and a green-robed young man appeared in his field of vision. He was sitting cross-legged in a forest and meditating.
The young man was no older than 15, 16. However, he was very tall. Lin Feng believed that he was almost 1.9 meters in height. However, his body was well-proportioned. He was not too skinny nor too buff.
Coupled with his handsome, clear face, he did not look very awkward.
However, he appeared to only be the Qi Cultivation stage. He did not appear to have been cultivating for long. He was not exceptionally talented and could only be said to be of above-average potential.
However, when Lin Feng’s supernatural awareness swept over him, he realized that he brimmed with the power of many medicines and herbs.
The medicines were all very strange. While they had been absorbed him, they were not completely ingested. Instead, they appeared constrained by some spell of his.
The caster of the spell was at least in his Aurous Core stage. Evidently, it was not the youth himself.
Lin Feng guessed that the youth had mistakenly ingested the medicines and then, someone used a special spell to stop them from activating. However, there was no way of extracting these medicines from his body without injuring him and hence, they could only do that.
From this, one could see that the caster was either benevolent or had good ties with the youth. Hence, he did not want to harm him.
At the same time, the medicines were expensive and rare. The caster did not want the youth to ingest them.
However, what Lin Feng paid attention was the fact that the source of the Heavenly Oyster Golden Pearl’s reaction was the green-robed Qi Cultivation stage young man before him.
"Interesting, the Hades Emperor had fallen more than 4000 years ago and the Heavenly Oyster Golden Pearl had existed for more than ten thousand years. Yet, it was interested in this guy, who looked no older than 16."
Lin Feng sighed in awe, "What’s the tie between the two of them?"
He landed on the island and came before the green-robed young man. He took note of him and because of the disparity in their cultivation level, his counterpart would not even notice Lin Feng as long as Lin Feng wished to remain undetected.
After a while, Lin Feng took out his Heavenly Oyster Golden Pearl and realized that it was shining with an unprecedented brightness.
It was reminiscent of the first time the Hades’ Dark Mantra appeared.