Chapter 146: Making Inquiries

Seeing Hu Li’s exasperated expression, Feng Ke’er shook her head dismissively. "Hu Li, there is always someone better than the best."

Hearing this, Hu Li looked at her with pleading, wide eyes. "Master." He felt deeply regretful; he shouldn't have chased after that person without a second thought just now.

Although his cultivation level was nominally nine stages higher than his master's, he knew clearly in his heart that she was more than a thousand times stronger than him. The situation was bizarre and defied all logic. However, whenever Hu Li thought about his master’s identity as a reincarnated goddess, he assumed he had guessed the reason: it must be a matter of cultivation techniques. His master must possess the legacy of the divine race and be practicing a supreme art.

Feng Ke’er originally intended to tease him, but just then, a familiar voice echoed from the space sphere within her consciousness: "Little girl—"

It was the Grand Master of Heaven!

Her heart began to pound wildly. With the utmost seriousness, she pointed toward the direction of the Kunlun Mountains.

Before she could speak, Hu Li’s face changed, and he exclaimed, "Goddess Nüwa?"

"Shh!" Feng Ke’er held a finger to her lips, signaling for silence. "The White Jade God Drum is extremely powerful."

Hu Li gritted his teeth and remained silent.

"The most important thing right now is to actively prepare for ascension, so stop thinking about other things and concentrate on practicing the mental cultivation technique I gave you. Hmm, I’ve had a sudden realization; I’m going into the mustard seed space first!" After saying this, she didn't wait for his reaction; her figure flickered, and she dove into the space sphere.

"Did you pass the first layer of the Heart-Cleansing Mantra to someone else?" The Phoenix Jade Tablet flew over, flashing, and the Grand Master of Heaven’s voice sounded quite displeased.

Feng Ke’er caught the jade tablet and replied with a cheeky grin, "That is impossible. Although I am not a man of my word, I am still a person of integrity. I truly fear inner demons; how could I break my oath? He is not 'someone else,' but my life-bound guardian beast..."

The Grand Master of Heaven roared. The Phoenix Jade Tablet trembled in her hand: "Did you really pass the technique to that little spirit beast?"

"I really did," Feng Ke’er nodded with absolute certainty. "But it wasn't the first layer of the Heart-Cleansing Mantra. It was my self-created Nine Styles of Qigong."

"Nine Styles of Qigong?" The Grand Master of Heaven was baffled.

"A technique for refining Qi is called Qigong; what else would you call it?" Feng Ke’er covered her mouth and laughed triumphantly. "You are always off on missions, playing hide-and-seek, and I only have your three layers of the Heart-Cleansing Mantra. How else could my cultivation improve so quickly?" As she spoke, she covered the Phoenix Jade Tablet with her palm and slowly released a strand of spiritual power.

Five-colored spiritual power!

Once cultivation reaches the ascension stage, any spiritual power released from the body takes on the color of one’s life-bound aura. Feng Ke’er’s life-bound aura was five-colored, so the spiritual power she unleashed was also five-colored. When Hu Li first saw this, his jaw nearly hit the ground. Well, he was just an old spirit who had lived in the lower realm for thirty thousand years and was ignorant; having grown accustomed to white spiritual power, he couldn't handle the sight of five colors.

Unexpectedly, the Grand Master of Heaven also fell silent.

"Master?" Feng Ke’er retracted her spiritual power and carefully called out to the Phoenix Jade Tablet. Surely he hadn't rushed off on another mission? Are the gods really that busy?

A soft snort came from the Phoenix Jade Tablet: "What Qigong, isn't it the same thing as the Heart-Cleansing Mantra anyway!" However, it was clear his voice was quite pleased.

This grumpy old man! Feng Ke’er smiled. The Grand Master of Heaven was right; whether it was the first, second, or third layer of the Heart-Cleansing Mantra, or the Nine Styles of Qigong, they shared the same lineage and achieved the same goal. They were all techniques to strengthen the consciousness and temper the body through the refinement of Qi. The difference was that the Heart-Cleansing Mantra was likely the work of a great deity, while the Nine Styles of Qigong had been much improved upon that foundation, making it more suitable for low-level cultivators. More importantly, after the improvements, she held full intellectual property rights over the Nine Styles of Qigong, so she could pass it to whoever she wanted without violating her oath.

With this matter settled, the Grand Master of Heaven changed the subject: "Little girl, is something happening in the Three Realms? Why do I feel that the spiritual energy outside is not very stable?"

Damn, it was just a sliver of his consciousness, yet he could sense the instability of the spiritual energy outside through the layers of the Phoenix Jade Tablet, the space sphere, and the mustard seed space! Gods are truly gods! Feng Ke’er was impressed to the point of prostration and spilled everything about how the passage was closed five hundred years ago and was now about to reopen.

After listening, the Grand Master of Heaven was silent for a moment, then cursed with a hum, "Those little bastards!"

There was a profound sense of disappointment in his voice. Feng Ke’er’s thoughts shifted, and she couldn't help but recall the many myths she had seen in the modern world about the three Daoist saints who emerged after Pangu created the world. The Grand Master of Heaven was one of them. Connecting this to the fact that Pangu had clearly written in his cultivation notes that his primordial spirit had three parts... she shuddered violently.

The Grand Master of Heaven seemed to perceive her thoughts and sighed deeply: "Little girl, that’s right. After Pangu became a god, his primordial spirit split into three, which transformed into us three brothers. This primordial spirit of mine is in charge of refining Qi and cultivation; it is the largest in form and was the last to condense into a god, so I am ranked third."

Feng Ke’er knew exactly who the eldest and second brothers were, as she had been well-versed in Daoist legends under the influence of the old dean. Not to mention their formal official titles, in folklore and literature, the eldest was known as Taishang Laojun, a master of alchemy, and the second was Yuanshi Tianzun, who was highly accomplished in theory and skilled in giving lectures.

However, Feng Ke’er was not most interested in the origins of the three brothers. Her motivation for striving to cultivate and ascend to godhood was, in part, to figure out her own background. Only recently had she heard from Hu Li: Goddess Nüwa said she was a reincarnated goddess of the divine realm. Was it true? Was it really true? She wanted to find someone to verify it.

Since the Grand Master of Heaven was a manifestation of one of Pangu’s primordial spirits, no one knew the ins and outs of these matters better than him.

"Master, what is a goddess?"

The legend of the goddess told by Nüwa had too many flaws, and Feng Ke’er didn't quite believe it, so she felt embarrassed to label herself a "goddess" and asked about it indirectly.

"A goddess? What goddess?" The Grand Master of Heaven’s voice sounded even more confused than hers.

Feng Ke’er then recounted the story of the reincarnated goddess and the prophecy of the war between gods and demons.

"Utterly ridiculous," the Grand Master of Heaven commented.

In other words, these were all groundless rumors and misinformation. If that was the case, why did Goddess Nüwa go to such lengths to lure Hu Li?

Feng Ke’er cautiously glanced at the Phoenix Jade Tablet in her palm, feeling a bit suspicious. Could it be that the Grand Master of Heaven was hiding something?

All in all, one of them must have been lying.

However, she soon dismissed her doubts about the Grand Master of Heaven: the old man and Goddess Nüwa had absolutely nothing to do with each other and had no conflict of interest. Was there any need for him to blacken her name by distorting the truth?

Her train of thought was naturally not hidden from the consciousness within the Phoenix Jade Tablet.

A cold snort immediately pulled the person’s thoughts back.

"Little girl, ascension depends on opportunity. When the opportunity arrives, everything will go smoothly, and ascending in broad daylight is not a dream. If the opportunity hasn't arrived and you force an ascension, you will invite divine retribution. Little girl, are you confident you can withstand it?" The Grand Master of Heaven chuckled wickedly.

This was the first time she had heard of this. When Nüwa was giving advice to Hu Li, she hadn't mentioned this layer. Feng Ke’er was puzzled: "Divine retribution? What is that?"

Stopping his laughter, the Grand Master of Heaven replied in a deep voice: "When a spirit beast ascends, it faces three bolts of tribulation lightning. Divine retribution, however, is ten times the power of ordinary tribulation lightning, and it comes one after another, totaling ten strikes."

Upon hearing this, a chill crept up Feng Ke’er’s spine, and her heart turned cold. That was far too dangerous. The opportunity to ascend was rare, but her life was more important. Maybe she should have a word with Hu Li and wait another five hundred years for the next flight, okay?

Her current cultivation was at the first layer of the ascension stage. With the normal speed of cultivation and the double time-acceleration of the spaces, in five hundred years, her cultivation would be enough to reach the Great Perfection of the ascension stage.

Haste makes waste; there would be plenty of opportunities, no need to rush, she really didn't need to rush...

"However..." After a slight pause, the Grand Master of Heaven cleared his throat and continued. "If you want to know more secrets hidden within the Phoenix Jade Tablet, divine retribution might just be the opportunity."

Feng Ke’er narrowed her eyes, turning the words over in her mind, and caught a different scent: "What do you mean by that?" Could it be that the Phoenix Jade Tablet was a good shield for resisting lightning?

The Grand Master of Heaven laughed heartily: "Little girl, not bad, you are teachable. The Phoenix Jade Tablet is transformed from a petal of the Chaos Green Lotus. While the Chaos Green Lotus is a water-attribute immortal object and cannot resist lightning, it can absorb it. This Phoenix Jade Tablet has existed since before the world was created; it is as old as heaven and earth and has vast experience. It has been asleep for too long by the time it reached your hands. Perhaps the powerful energy of divine retribution can awaken it."

It must be said that the Grand Master of Heaven really understood Feng Ke’er. She was deeply tempted. Unconsciously, she gripped the Phoenix Jade Tablet tightly in her palm, and small flames of excitement darted in her eyes.

Cultivation is an act of going against the heavens, and one usually has to snatch a glimmer of life from a crisis. Perhaps this would be a rare opportunity: she could neutralize the divine retribution, ascend successfully, and awaken the Phoenix Jade Tablet—two birds with one stone. Why not?

She didn't know when, but the Grand Master of Heaven had left without saying goodbye again. Feng Ke’er loosened her fist, looked at the quiet Phoenix Jade Tablet in her palm, and made up her mind.

She tied the Phoenix Jade Tablet around her neck and walked out of the space sphere.

"Master." Hu Li greeted her with concern, his sparkling fox eyes looking her up and down.

"I didn't break through," Feng Ke’er said proactively.

Hu Li smiled and comforted her: "No matter. To have such a cultivation level at just over five hundred years old is already earth-shaking."

Feng Ke’er, however, suddenly asked: "Hu Li, do you know about divine retribution?" If Goddess Nüwa had mentioned it but Hu Li had hidden it for his own selfish reasons... that couldn't be ruled out either. In any case, if she didn't get to the bottom of this, she would develop inner demons!

"Divine retribution? Never heard of it. What is that?" Bound by the servant contract, a life-bound guardian beast cannot lie to its master. Hu Li’s expression did not look like he was lying.

For no reason, Feng Ke’er felt a sense of relief and laughed happily: "It is said to be a spell that only exists in the upper realm. I wonder what the situation is like in the Spirit Realm?" The servant contract had much looser restrictions on the master. That was one of the unfair treatments.

"The day the passage opens is almost here." A trace of worry flashed in the depths of Hu Li’s eyes: although his consciousness had become much stronger after practicing the first style of Qigong taught by his master, for him, being of the water attribute, the tribulation lightning remained a nightmare.