Chapter 135: The Crystal of Earth, Mutation

"Bold Vermilion Bird, who brought you here?" the One-Eyed Dragon demanded.

The Vermilion Bird’s four-pupiled eyes were filled with confusion.

"Courting death!" The One-Eyed Dragon was furious.

Just then, a sharp "pop" sound echoed, followed by a blinding light erupting from the Vermilion Bird’s body, instantly engulfed in billowing white smoke.

"Sister Wa, be careful!"

In such a situation, anyone would immediately think of "self-detonation." The One-Eyed Dragon was no exception. Even a fallen phoenix is greater than a chicken, and the Vermilion Bird was, at the very least, a True Immortal. The power of a self-detonation was not to be trifled with.

The One-Eyed Dragon flourished his robes and turned to shield Goddess Nüwa with his own body.

Yet, to their surprise, the terrifying blast wave never arrived.

Goddess Nüwa gently patted his shoulder and chuckled, "Brother Dragon, don't be so tense." With a wave of her right hand, the smoke cleared.

The Vermilion Bird was nowhere to be seen!

Someone had snatched a prisoner right under his nose! The One-Eyed Dragon felt his temples throbbing violently. "I'll kill you!" With a heavy stomp, he prepared to unleash his divine sense to give chase.

Goddess Nüwa caught his sleeve. "Brother Dragon, no need to chase."

The One-Eyed Dragon turned his head, glaring at her in confusion.

"That was a thunder-bomb created by Third Uncle," Goddess Nüwa sighed. "Perhaps Third Uncle has taken on another personal disciple."

So that was it. The One-Eyed Dragon remained puzzled. "If it was sent by Feng San, why all the sneakiness?"

Goddess Nüwa gazed toward the distant horizon and replied softly, "Perhaps Third Uncle is plotting something."

On the horizon, a burly man in black carried the Vermilion Bird in one hand, racing toward the East Sea like a bolt of lightning.

The Vermilion Bird shook his dizzy head. "May I ask your name, sir?"

The man in black turned his head. He pulled down his black face mask, grinning to reveal a set of neat, white teeth. "I am Bodhi Seed. My apologies, my rescue was a bit clumsy. You have suffered, General."

The Vermilion Bird’s four pupils lit up, but he immediately slumped his head in despair. "The Young Master... he has fallen. It is all my fault for having such low cultivation; I failed to protect him."

Bodhi Seed gritted his teeth, his voice raspy as he consoled him, "Master had long ago calculated that he would face this calamity. General, do not grieve or blame yourself."

He had calculated it beforehand! The Vermilion Bird was ecstatic and looked up, staring at him intently. "Then did the Young Master...?" Hua Taiyi was famous across the Three Realms for his ability to divine the future. Thanks to him, Feng Fuxi had inherited all of Hua Taiyi’s knowledge over a hundred years ago. This meant Feng Fuxi was also skilled in divination. Thus, he believed Bodhi Seed’s words implicitly—if it had been calculated, the Young Master must have had a contingency plan.

"I don't know. Master didn't say." Bodhi Seed turned his head to look ahead, his eyes flickering. "Master said he owed Goddess Nüwa too much. In this reincarnation, if he doesn't repay his debts, his inner demons will be impossible to remove. That is why he only instructed me to rescue you."

Hearing this, the Vermilion Bird could only sigh, thinking to himself: The Great Dao is merciless. The Young Master... the Young Master has truly been blinded by his obsessions.

***

Deep beneath Kunlun Mountain.

After completing another grand cycle of internal energy circulation, Feng Ke'er opened her eyes. Too slow! Having grown accustomed to the high-speed time flow within the Space Sphere, reverting to the normal flow was frustrating—a single grand cycle took nearly two hours; what a waste of time. She didn't have much time to stay here, because she had made a promise to the Demon King.

It happened like this:

Flashback to the floating courtyard.

The coup was in progress.

Looking at the agitated crowd, the arrogant Vermilion Bird, and the former loyalists like Altar Master Xiaoxiolin—who had been incited into a state of resentful defiance—the Demon King suddenly felt a sense of apathy. What is the Great Dao? For thirty thousand years, what had he been tirelessly pursuing? Was it even meaningful?

Forget it. Today, he would simply kill to his heart's content. He lowered his head, gently smoothing the wrinkles on his silver robes.

Feng Ke'er had been watching the events unfold coldly from within the Space Sphere, and naturally, she was the first to notice the shift in the Demon King’s mindset.

Truth be told, she had indeed benefited from the Demon King: first, the mustard-seed space was provided by him—without it, there would be no Space Sphere; second, if not for the Demon King's wholehearted protection, how could she have enjoyed these ninety-plus years of peace?

Without those two conditions, how could her cultivation have progressed so rapidly, skipping two full stages?

So, after a moment's thought, Feng Ke'er communicated with the Demon King via divine sense: "Hu San, it's me."

The Demon King’s hand, smoothing his robes, paused slightly.

"Hu San, do you trust me?" Feng Ke'er continued immediately. "If you do, then don't lower yourself to their level. Leave Joyful Valley now and return to the Heart of the Barrier Sea. In ten years, I will come there to find you."

A glint of light flashed beneath the Demon King’s lowered eyelids. He calmly smoothed his robes and looked up, his face as gentle as jade once more. Sincerity can move even stone; he, Hu San, had finally gotten his wish! To gain, one must give. Compared to this, what was a mere Joyful Valley? Let it go!

Feng Ke'er had originally thought ten years would be more than enough time to uncover the mastermind behind the scenes. In fact, her estimation hadn't been wrong. However, she hadn't anticipated that her luck would be so explosive; while fleeing, she had accidentally stumbled upon the location of a Kunlun Mountain spiritual vein. Furthermore, a massive deposit of Earth Crystals had formed alongside it.

A heaven-sent opportunity! If she didn't use this to strengthen the earth spiritual energy within her body, she would be letting down her own father, Heaven.

However, ten years wasn't even enough to refine the smallest piece of Earth Crystal here! If only she had more time... Feng Ke'er quickly shook her head. She had promised Hu San she would find him in ten years and help him ascend. Cultivation was not easy; Hu San had spent over thirty thousand years waiting for that day. If he missed it, he would have to wait at least another five hundred years. Moreover, after hearing Goddess Nüwa’s prophetic poem, heaven knows when the prophesied war between gods and demons would erupt. Perhaps this opening of the Heavenly Dao was Hu San's final chance.

She couldn't delay him, or she would develop inner demons in the future.

Thinking of this, Feng Ke'er looked at the shimmering Earth Crystals beside her with melancholy: if only she had more time.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind like a shooting star: the time flow in the Space Sphere far exceeded the outside world. Even without the overlapping effect of the mustard-seed space, one day outside was over fifty days inside!

And with the earth spiritual energy here being so dense and pure, she wondered if it could permeate the Space Sphere?

The Space Sphere had been nourished in her sea of consciousness for so long that it had become almost a part of her body; it should be possible.

With that, Feng Ke'er slipped into the Space Sphere.

She sat cross-legged, palms facing upward, and began to guide the earth spiritual energy within her body, restarting her breathing exercises.

Soon, she caught a change in the surrounding spiritual energy—as she breathed, a small portion of the external earth spiritual energy seeped into the Space Sphere!

Overjoyed, Feng Ke'er settled her mind, channeled her energy, and intensified her efforts.

Thus, after staying in the Space Sphere for about a month, Feng Ke'er finally stabilized a new pathway for the earth spiritual energy to seep in.

In other words, while more than half of the earth spiritual energy produced by the crystals still dissipated into the surroundings as before, a small fraction, under her deliberate guidance, seeped into the Space Sphere.

The Space Sphere was an artificial spirit body that required nourishment. Most of the earth spiritual energy that entered was absorbed by the sphere itself. Only the remainder was absorbed and refined by Feng Ke'er.

Initially, Feng Ke'er had only refined one Earth Crystal, yet it had purified the earth spiritual energy in her body. But beneath Kunlun Mountain lay a massive deposit of Earth Crystals, and even the smallest piece was no smaller than the one the Demon King had collected. Therefore, even refining a tiny fraction of a fraction was enough.

Feng Ke'er greedily absorbed the surrounding earth spiritual energy.

Time flowed away like sand.

One year later, Feng Ke'er discovered that the content of earth spiritual energy in the Space Sphere had increased by nearly ten percent, accounting for twenty percent of the total spiritual energy.

Two years later, earth spiritual energy accounted for twenty-five percent...

Five years later, the earth spiritual energy content in the Space Sphere surpassed that of the fire spiritual energy, accounting for more than one-third of the total.

The Space Sphere only contained three types of spiritual energy: ice, fire, and earth.

The change in the ratio of spiritual energy led to a series of transformations within the sphere. The most obvious was that earth spiritual energy was much heavier than the other two, causing a large amount to sink to the bottom of the sphere and form a solid, thick ground. Feng Ke'er looked out across the endless expanse of yellow sand; it was as if she were standing in the middle of a desert!

There was another change that bothered Feng Ke'er: the flow of time within the Space Sphere had slowed down significantly. Now, one day outside was only ten days inside!

Fine, one-to-ten it is. Feng Ke'er made a quick calculation; because the content of earth spiritual energy had increased, the slowdown in time did not affect her grand plan of refinement.

Feng Ke'er stretched, loosened her limbs, and resumed absorbing and refining. Earth spiritual energy could strengthen the bones and muscles. Now, her body was much stronger than it had been five years ago.

Three more years passed. The earth spiritual energy content in the Space Sphere finally matched that of the ice spiritual energy. After refining for another half-year, she realized that the earth spiritual energy content in the sphere had stopped increasing. In that half-year, the earth spiritual energy in her body had also ceased to grow. The energy she refined would complete one grand cycle through her body before dispersing out of her and into the Space Sphere, while the excess earth spiritual energy in the sphere would leak out through the space walls and be re-absorbed by the Earth Crystals!

Yes, the earth spiritual energy was being absorbed by the Earth Crystals! Feng Ke'er had spent half a year doing useless work before finally discovering the problem: the Earth Crystals were actually capable of absorption!

A massive cycle of spiritual energy had formed between her, the Space Sphere, and the Earth Crystals.

Had that pile of Earth Crystals mutated into spirits? Feng Ke'er dove into the Space Sphere and leaned down to examine one of the crystals under her feet.

Nothing—it looked exactly the same as before.

After thinking for a moment, she raised her arm and struck with a palm-blade.

*Crack!* The Earth Crystal immediately split in two.

Its center was actually five-colored!

The Earth Crystal had indeed mutated!

Could this be the legendary Five-Colored Stone! Feng Ke'er was stunned!