Chapter 94: The Sky King and the Earth Tiger

The void trembled, and two points of light flew out.

They fell into Luo Feng’s hands and turned into two jade slips: one containing the Breath-Concealing Art, the other the Marvelous Water Scripture.

With a slight sweep of his divine sense, he found the Breath-Concealing Art to be only an ordinary spell, middling in grade, but the principles and combinations within it were precisely what he needed.

If the Breath-Concealing Art were a simple math problem, such as one plus one equaling two, then what Luo Feng needed to learn was not the formula itself, but the principle behind it—why one plus one made two.

Once he understood that, he could work backward from it.

The other jade slip recorded the Marvelous Water Scripture. Though it contained only the Foundation Establishment and Golden Core sections, it truly deserved the word marvelous.

Water is moist and descending, the coldest of the elements, adaptable in the extreme, symbolizing the spirit of free spreading and dispersal. It originates in the north; from yin extremity comes cold, and from cold comes water. Its nature belongs to supreme yin, moistening and descending as it follows form. Its body gathers the yin-cold qi; when that reaches its limit, it becomes water. Though water is a yin thing, yang is contained within it, and thus the body of water holds inner brightness. Its essence is deep and sinking.

The Marvelous Water Scripture possessed qualities of nourishment and concealment, like the Black Tortoise of the North, with its long life span.

Ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators lived one hundred and twenty years, and Golden Core cultivators three hundred and sixty; the Marvelous Water Scripture was different. Foundation Establishment could reach one hundred and eighty years, and Golden Core five hundred, easily.

Luo Feng put away the two jade slips and bowed gratefully into the void. “This disciple thanks you, True Person of the Law Net.”

“The selection is finished. This disciple ought to take his leave, but all around is empty void. I do not know how to depart the Scripture Pavilion. I beg the True Person for guidance.”

A mechanical voice sounded from the void.

“Recite the exit phrase, and you may leave.”

Luo Feng nodded and bowed again.

This was the proper behavior of a fresh disciple before a senior of the sect.

“Exit!”

A light door opened. Just as Luo Feng was about to step through with one foot, the mechanical voice suddenly rang out from the void.

“The Heavenly King overpowers the Earth Tiger.”

Luo Feng paused, turned, looked into the void, and saluted respectfully. “True Person of the Law Net, are you addressing this humble Daoist?”

“May I ask what you mean by that?”

The void fell silent for three or four seconds, and then the mechanical voice sounded again.

“No meaning.”

Luo Feng nodded and obediently turned back toward the light door.

“System malfunction only.”

As if delayed, the mechanical voice sounded once more.

Luo Feng again turned in surprise and asked in a low voice, “Does the True Person require this humble Daoist’s help?”

“Depart.”

The mechanical voice issued the command.

After offering a Daoist salute, Luo Feng stepped out through the light door.

This time, there were no more surprises.

One minute after Luo Feng left, a figure of light appeared within the small space of the Scripture Pavilion.

He wore a dark cyan Daoist robe, a black belt with bird patterns fastened at his waist, his long black hair immaculate and without a strand out of place, his phoenix eyes sharp, his build imposing. In his hand he held a scroll painting.

Gazing at the space beyond, he murmured softly, “Could I have been mistaken?”

The Law Net’s mechanical voice sounded.

“Controller, no abnormal heartbeat or blood flow was detected. His mental fluctuations are entirely consistent with those of a novice disciple.”

Controller? The master of the Law Net, Immortal Tai’er!

Immortal Tai’er shook his head.

The Law Net could naturally detect ordinary immortals without issue, but among the many famed powerhouses of the Primordial World, which one was an ordinary immortal? Take the Patriarch of the Blood River in the Sea of Blood: countless blood droplets, as if one man, and yet as if billions. Such a split self—how could the Law Net possibly detect it?

Immortal Tai’er narrowed his eyes and asked, “Any unusual behavior?”

The Law Net’s mechanical voice sounded.

“None. It fully matches the conduct of a Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator entering an immortal sect.”

Is that so?

The more it seemed so, the more suspicious Immortal Tai’er became. The reason he had risen from an ordinary mortal to prove the Dao as a Golden Immortal was precisely this caution.

To keep one’s vessel safe for ten thousand years, one must steer carefully. He, a Golden Immortal in disguise as an Earth Immortal, had established his sect while carefully selecting only the finest among the finest, never accepting inner disciples lightly, restricting outer disciples from descending the mountain, and setting down ten thousand sect rules.

What was all that for? For stability. For safely and steadily surviving the great Investiture of the Gods catastrophe.

Not even the smallest problem could be allowed to appear.

Immortal Tai’er frowned slightly.

Luo Tianyi?

What kind of discordant name was that in the vast Primordial Cosmos?

It was not impossible. After all, the Primordial World was so vast that all sorts existed beneath the heavens.

“Could he truly be nothing more than a disciple of great fortune who accidentally acquired a Nascent Soul spirit beast?”

Immortal Tai’er stroked his chin and fell into thought.

He had already seen through Luo Feng’s first layer of disguise, yet he still faintly sensed that something was not right.

“No, no!”

Immortal Tai’er’s gaze gradually grew stern. Looking at Luo Feng beyond the pavilion, he could not help but snort coldly. “I refuse to believe that if he remains at the mountain gate, he will never reveal a flaw. Let us see who can outlast whom!”

No one understood the transmigrators better than a transmigrator.

By Immortal Tai’er’s understanding of transmigrators, Luo Feng would absolutely stir up trouble.

To live plain and diligent days of cultivation was something only the native inhabitants of the Primordial World would do, and even then only the ascetic natives.

The moment Luo Feng stepped out of the Scripture Pavilion, he let out a long sigh inwardly.

If not for his puppet body, cold sweat would already have broken out in his palms.

The Law Net had tested him three times.

“The Heavenly King overpowers the Earth Tiger” was the first test, probing Luo Feng’s attitude.

“System malfunction only” was the second, probing Luo Feng’s reflexes.

And the third, the most dangerous of all, was that departure through the light door.

What looked like a normal departure was in fact the key to distinguishing a transmigrator from a native.

It concerned one’s sense of awe. A transmigrator would take the matter as a chance and seek to stay.

An ordinary rogue cultivator native might also want to remain, but would obey a superior’s command and leave.

After the other side had made three moves, Luo Feng had not remained without any counter.

There should be a second person inside the Scripture Pavilion, and that person was very likely an immortal of Tai’er Sect.

For this reason, Luo Feng threw out his first disguise in order to preserve his second.

The Breath-Concealing Art had been prepared for Jinxin on his wrist.

Before coming to Tai’er Sect, Luo Feng had already anticipated that the silver-white little snake, Jinxin, would most likely not escape the gaze of Tai’er Sect’s immortal.

After all, Jinxin did not know how to act—or rather, his acting was far too poor and full of openings.

Thus Luo Feng did not have Jinxin act at all, but placed him directly in the open as the first layer.

He allowed the immortal of Tai’er Sect to uncover Luo Feng’s first disguise on his own and conclude that he was a disciple of great fortune accompanied by a Nascent Soul demon king.

Many clever people do not believe rumors and hearsay; they trust what they see with their own eyes, what they witness personally.

That was exactly what Luo Feng wanted: the immortal of Tai’er Sect to lift the mask himself.

And then to completely dispel any suspicion about him.

If even that were not enough...

Luo Feng strode forward, clutching the two jade slips in his hands, moving briskly as though eager to hurry back and comprehend the true scriptures.

Yet inwardly, he sneered.

He would remain in the mountain gate, studying in peace and quiet, and see who could outlast whom.

When he returned to his little room, Luo Feng let out a long breath and pushed open the door. It was just as it had been when he left: a modest chamber with a wooden bed, a table, and a few daily necessities, all kept spotless by Luo Feng’s almost obsessive cleanliness.

P.S. It goes on sale this Friday, January seventeenth. When the time comes, I’ll burst out in full force!

End of chapter.