Chapter 557: A Good Name, A Strong Foundation
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Ever since the Aeolus Sect was destroyed a year ago and the Golden Crow Grand Sage was suppressed, the entire Kunlun Mountains fell under the control of the Celestial Sect of Wonders.
The battle of Kunlun Mountains was the first time when the fame of the Celestial Sect spread throughout the entire Divine Lands.
Since then, as what happened in the Cloud Forest World was rather secretive, very few people knew about it. However, the battle for the Secret Manual of Kun Peng in the North Polar Sea and the Duel of the Heavenly Cart Peak majorly boosted Lin Feng's and the Celestial Sect of Wonder's fame.
Afterwards, Lin Feng destroyed the Yu Family and resisted the pressure from the Great Void Sect. He also forced Shi Tianhao and Shi Tianyi into a battle vow. In that instant, he had pushed the fame of the Celestial Sect of Wonders into its apogee.
With the flow of time in the Greater World, in the past year, the Celestial Sect of Wonders had been extremely eye-catching. Many major events of the Divine Lands were related to the Divine Lands. Some of them were even centered on the Celestial Sect.
Not so long ago, news from the Void Battleground began to spread too.
Shi Tianyi, the cultivator with polycoria, of the Great Void Sect, who had been widely recognized as the top, an upcoming talent of the human cultivators and seemingly blessed with superhuman potential was partially blinded by the third disciple of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, Wang Lin!
Such an explosive news spread throughout the world.
No one would have thought that before the Shi Tianyi and Shi Tianhao actually fought, Shi Tianyi would have been blinded by Shi Tianhao's brother.
Furthermore, it was a fair fight. There was no sneaky calculation nor any room for argument. Wang Lin, who possessed a late-Aurous Core stage mastery, defeated Shi Tianyi, who possessed an early-Nascent Soul stage mastery, in a one-on-one fight.
Once the news spread, discussions flared. All who heard it sought evidence but the Great Void Sect responded only with silence. This made everyone more shocked.
How could Shi Tianyi, the talented cultivator with polycoria, be defeated?
Tying in with the stunning performance by Xiao Yan and Zhu Yi earlier on, everyone felt slightly out-of-place. It appeared as if every single disciple under Lin Feng could defeat Shi Tianyi. In that instant, everyone discussed this furiously while maintaining a certain amount of fear and respect for the Celestial Sect.
Shi Tianyi became famous because of polycoria. In this moment, however, one of his eyes was blinded and this set discussions ablaze. No one really paid attention to the fact that the battle was Pyrrhic one.
Interest in the planned battle between the two Shis did not fade, however. Instead, more and more people were interested in it.
Everyone wanted to see with Shi Tianyi could actually live up to his name as one of the top cultivators of the Divine Lands. Everyone also wanted to see how would he handle Shi Tianhao after losing one eye.
They also wanted to see if the Celestial Sect of Wonders was really so powerful till the extent whereby anyone immediate disciple of Lin Feng could possess such incredible abilities.
Of course, some people privately criticized the actions of the Celestial Sect of Wonders. They believed that it harbored ill-will and sought to use Wang Lin's powers to chip away Shi Tianyi's actual powers. By battling Shi Tianyi, it was the equivalent of asking him to face both Wang Lin and Shi Tianhao in the same month.
If that was the case, then could it be that the Celestial Sect of Wonders doesn't have enough faith in Shi Tianhao? Hence, they sought to use such inglorious methods.
Under the influence of some people's speculations, a few actually believed in the veracity of these rumors.
At this point, news came from the Kunlun Mountains.
The protagonist of the incident was the person who had defeated Shi Tianyi. He was the third disciple of the Master of the Celestial Sect, Wang Lin. After he successfully passed the Tribulations of Void Lightning, he formed his nascent soul.
Once everyone heard this news, they were all stunned. Because less than a year ago, Wang Lin had just formed his aurous core.
Furthermore, his progress was akin to leap-frogging. In a few months, he went from the early Foundation Establishment stage to the early Aurous Core stage.
Now, he had successfully formed his nascent soul. Very few people improved at this speed even with the help of a dimension where time passed quicker. Such a speed was almost completely unheard of.
Taking into account his performance against Shi Tianyi, when he was only in his late-Aurous Core stage and the latter in his early-Nascent Soul stage, one could know that his battling abilities were not extremely honed and should not be underestimated.
Many cultivators could view the forming of one's nascent soul as a small matter. But not for Wang Lin.
The Purple Clouds Sect, the Royal House of the Northern Tribes, the Heavenly Master Sword Sect and the Sun Moon Sword Sect immediately sent people to offer their congratulations upon hearing the news.
Even the Sword of Radiance Sect, who had not been traditionally close to the Celestial Sect of Wonders, sent a gift.
The Starry Sword Sect and the Lightning Sword Sect whose reputation Lin Feng had protected during the Duel of Heavenly Cart Peak too sent gifts to the Kunlun Mountains.
In the eyes of a bystander, it was truly amazing. As the prestige of the Celestial Sect of Wonders increased, its foundation became stronger as well. Increasingly, it earned the respect of the cultivators of the major sects.
...
In the Southern Wilderness, which was south of the Great Swamp of the Ancient Regions, was an expanse of forest. Its trees were ancient and the area appeared to have never been inhabited.
In the depths of the forest, there was an unbelievably big and wide crater akin to a giant, empty lake.
At the bottom of the crater, one could barely see its bottom as one looked downwards. Like building blocks, there were one giant spell formations that were tightly interlocked with one another and shone brightly.
Here, this was the residence of one of the paths of the Samsara Sect, the Path of Hell.
In the Southern Wilderness, the Samsara Sect was the undisputed hegemon. If not for its internal conflict, the Samsara Sect would have been a major headache and target for all other sects in the world. The Great Zhou Empire, on the other side of the Great Swamp, too would exist in mortal danger.
However, as a result of its internal disputes, the Samsara Sect was unable to expand. Hence, it could only remain in the Southern Wilderness.
After many years, the Six Paths of Samara battled each other and the powers of every single of them varied. No one could completely defeat the others and unite the Samsara Sect.
In the depths of the Path of Hell's residence, a skinny middle-aged man sat there. He had high cheekbones and his skin was bronze. No one could detect the aura of death on him, which was commonly found on other Path of Hell cultivators.
This was the Netherworld Hell Holy Man, Liu Zhikun. However, not a single trace of a smile could be found on his face. His expression was solemn.
"Master, are you sure you want to seek assistance from the Celestial Sect of Wonders? I don't think that the master of the Celestial Sect is someone whom we could deal with easily. I am afraid that we may be disadvantaged later on," said Liu Zhikun quietly.
From the darkness came an ancient voice. "This isn't external assistance. We're just trying to not pass up the fortuitous hand that Fate has dealt us. We cannot let the other five paths go to them for assistance first."
The owner of the ancient voice was the actual leader of the Path of Hell. He was also one with the highest mastery, Ming Zun.
Earlier on, a member of the Yang Family, one of the major families of the Ancient Yuantian World, behaved impudently in the Kunlun Mountains and offended Lin Feng. Lin Feng caught him. Liu Zhikun was forced to use his Deathly Gas Stone to get him back.
While this was not what he had wanted, the two parties still got along well.
Afterwards, the Celestial Sect of Wonders grew in power and Lin Feng became more powerful personally as well. Liu Zhikun also gave up 'saving' his face.
As of now, he personally felt that the Celestial Sect of Wonders was key to helping him dominate the other paths of the Samsara Sect.
Hearing Ming Zun's words, Liu Zhikun nodded his head and said, "I understand. We should send him a gift to congratulate his disciple on forming his nascent soul."
"Exactly, not only that, you should also take the time to view the battle between his disciple Shi Tianhao and the cultivator with polycoria." With that, Ming Zhun's voice died down.
Liu Zhikun replied, "I understand, uncle. Don't worry."
...
In the southern side of the Hengduan Mountains on the Huangmang Peak resided one of the members of the Nine Heavenly Sword Alliance, the Great Barren Sword Sect.
Within the sect, a middle-aged man wearing yellow robes sat in the middle of the sect's main pavilion on an elevated throne. His expression was calm and a powerful wave of energy could be felt from him. This was the master of the Great Barren Sword Sect, the Great Barren Swordmaster.
Underneath him sat a few others. Every single one of them brimmed with a powerful mana and all possessed the mastery of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator. However, they were all uneasy.
One of them with white hair clad in a traditional attire had a dark expression on his face.
"Desolate Thunder, you know what to do?" asked the Great Barren Swordmaster slowly.
The old man's face turned dark as he replied, "Master, they did take our Desolate Nine Thunder Divine Web..."
The Great Barren Swordmaster's calmly looked at him and said, "Are you sure that it was stolen by the Celestial Sect, and he didn't come across it by chance?"
"The master of the Celestial Sect did appear on Changchun Peak, but how can you be sure that it was he who killed Qu Bin and stole your magic item. Have you ever thought that with his mastery, you would have died if you had actually fought with him over the void then."
"Even if you were on Huangmang Peak, I can't guarantee that I can protect you."
The Desolate Thunder Grandmaster was sure that the person who stole the treasure was Lin Feng. When he tried to personally go over and stop the death of Qu Bin, he was stopped.
The Great Barren Swordmaster looked at him and said, "I'm not pursuing you any further over the Mortal Spiritual Elixir Incident. This time, you will go and congratulate the master of the Celestial Sect on his disciple's attainment of the nascent soul, is that clear?"
After hearing the words "Mortal Spiritual Elixir", the Desolate Thunder Grandmaster felt as if a bucket of cold water had been splashed onto him. Earlier on, he colluded with the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster to form the Mortal Spiritual Elixir and cover up for him to obtain benefits. In doing so, he violated his sect's rules.
Now, he had to offer one of his Nascent Soul-stage magic items to the Celestial Sect of Wonders as atonement.
Furthermore, even if his magic item was stolen by the Celestial Sect of Wonder, he was unable to demand its return. Let's not talk about Lin Feng, for even Zhu Yi would be difficult for him to handle.
After a long while, the Desolate Thunder Grandmaster calmed down. He sighed softly and looked at the Great Barren Swordmaster and said, "I understand. Don't worry master, I will take care of everything."
...
After news had spread, the entire world was hocked.
On Mount Yujing, Lin Feng behaved as if nothing had happened. Miao Shihao, on the other hand, asked Lin Feng privately, "Will this affect Zhu Yi's preparation for his final exam?"
While Zhu Yi would not be jealous of Wang Lin's attainments, he will, like Xiao Yan and Shi Tianhao, be more motivated to improve himself. However, as he was in the most crucial period of the Imperial Exams, any disruption to his concentration may lead to unexpected consequences.
Lin Feng said, "No worry, I have faith in him. If we tell Zhu Yi, he will be motivated to work even harder."
Miao Shihao nodded his head and then smiled coyly, "Master, you are always so confident, but you are also right most of the time."
Lin Feng arched his eyebrows as he said, "Not really, though I felt as if I had forgotten something."
"Is it important?" Miao Shihao asked curiously.
Lin Feng thought carefully and said, "It's not really important, but it's... Oh! I just thought of it!"