Martialism
Chapter 74's
The Celestial Palace was said to be located somewhere in the misty Nirvana Mountains, a mountainous region as large as the vast expanse of the Central Plains itself!
When Yi Ping saw the map drawn on a piece of goat skin, he fell silent. There was no need for an intelligent person to know how heavy his task was in finding the mysterious Heavenly Palace.
It was no wonder that one year ago, the Honor Manor and Virtuous Palace saw the need to gather an entire martial fraternity in a secret expedition against the Heavenly Palace. Of all appearances, the expedition was against the Sacred Hex Sect but in secret, it was also the master plan to attract the attention of the Heavenly Palace.
Plan A was designed to lure the Heavenly Palace's martial exponents into revealing themselves so that the Honor Palace and the Virtue Palace at least had someone to interrogate about the existence of the Heavenly Palace.
Failing that, Plan B would expose the Heavenly Palace as a direct threat to the martial fraternity and gather all the martial clans to comb the Nirvana Mountains for the mysterious Heavenly Palace.
The Plan B of Honor Manor and the Palace of Virtue was not without flaws and it was a plan that Xiao Shuai, the Teacher of Children of the Virtue Palace hoped not to see in action. His goal was simple; snatching the Heavenly Relic and Holy Girl from the Sacred Charitable Sect, begging for Divine Disaster under a good omen for ascension as Heavenly. He had no real desire to provoke the Heavenly Palace until he was more confident.
Previously, there had been many expeditions carried out by the various martial clans to gain a foothold in the vast Nirvana Mountains. No one has ever returned and not even an outpost has survived!
Yi Ping smiled bitterly as he asked, “So where are we going?”
Yunzi replied, “There is a small border town closest to the Nirvana Mountains. If we want to find out the whereabouts of Lele and the others, we might find clues in that city. However there is a possibility that Lele did not go there and went straight to the Heavenly Palace.”
He glanced at Shen Xingyue who nodded softly at him.
Yi Ping nodded as well, “If there is a clue about the Heavenly Palace then the city might have some information for us there. Let's go and hurry!”
It only took them two weeks to traverse the wilderness before they saw the small town on the border.
The border town was quiet. There was a river in front and high mountains surrounded it on all sides. Along the banks of the river are tall bamboo, plum blossoms, and willow trees.
This was far from the desolate and barren city that Yi Ping had actually expected. After all, the name of the city on this map was actually called Borderland.
Lingfeng took off her veiled straw hat as she stared at the beautiful city as she smiled looking at the beautiful scenery.
Yi Ping asked him, “Lingfeng, why did you take off your straw hat?”
Lingfeng smiled and asked, “Why not? Why can't I take off my straw hat?”
Yi Ping adjusted his straw hat uncomfortably and sighed, “Your red eyes. You can easily scare the others ..”
Lingfeng interjected with an alluring soft laugh, “Have you seen a freak as beautiful as me?”
Yi Ping smiled bitterly.
Indeed, no one would describe Lingfeng the Heaveness as a freak. She was more of a celestial fairy emblem!
Shen Xingyue chuckled softly as she took off her veiled straw hat, “I don't have red eyes so I can at least meet some people.”
Yi Ping smiled even more bitterly.
Shen Xingyue's eyes were gray and most people would be captivated by her dazzling demeanor rather than notice that her eye color was slightly different from the others!
Youxue adjusted his veiled rapids cap and said coldly, “That's fine for me. At most, I can wait to get a decent meal until we can find a comfortable room.”
Yunzi nodded and said, “We also cannot rule out the possibility that the Heavenly Palace has a scout in this city. We have to take extra precautions.”
Yi Ping said with a slight annoyance at Lingfeng, “Lingfeng, return your straw hat ..”
Lingfeng laughed cheerfully, “Hmph! You seem to have forgotten that I am also a Heaven. I am the Madam of Your protege!”
Yi Ping smiled bitterly, “That was first ..”
Lingfeng hummed, “Even now, I am still Your Childhood Brother. So you should listen to me and not the other way around!”
Yi Ping felt dizzy, “We cannot go to such a city. You will attract too much attention.”
Lingfeng sighed softly, “Oh, alright ..”
Suddenly, his eyes turned black again!
He winked at Yi Ping, “How about this?”
Yi Ping sighed as he looked at her confusedly.
He was the only one in their group who was able to disguise the color of his eyes. He was able to do so because of his high level of divinity.
Shen Xingyue was an extremely accomplished Heavenly and her divinity status was astounding as well. But even for him, he could not tell the extent of Lingfeng's divinity state!
Now, he already knew that Lingfeng was a Heavenly myth and her divine aura was extraordinarily commanding. In the end, he concluded that Lingfeng was trying to cover up her heavenly state for unknown reasons.
Although they had all tried many times, especially Lele to ask what nature was like upon it, but she always refused to answer politely by saying. “Heaven's secrets can't be leaked. It is best to wait until you are there. All of this is just misery towards a higher level of divinity.”
Mei’Er, the Beautiful Sword Fairy, who was also the Axis Heaven Goddess, was not ashamed to ask. “Why can't you tell us? Why are you so secretive? You don't trust us or you underestimate us?”
Despite Mei’Er's constant taunts, Lingfeng said nothing and did not care.
Every time he was asked the same question, he seemed to be in a far, far away place and his alluring eyes would be melancholy.
Yixian the Heavenly Fairy simply said to Mei’Er, “Some things are unknown. You should be more concerned in trying to reach your divine state.”
“Hmph, what are you thinking? Why are you in a daze?”
Yi Ping gasped as he frantically explained, “I was just thinking of something ..”
Lingfeng interjected sadly, “You think of something or someone? You didn't even notice me.”
Youxue looked at Yi Ping calmly before he said, “So, are we going to go to town or not?”
Yi Ping sighed heavily as he looked at the four girls simultaneously.
There are seven heavenly gods; Genesis, Enlighten, Emotion, Transverse, Seventh Sense, Crisis and Ascend to transcend into Heaven. Yi Ping was a child prodigy. Each of the heavenly gods had lower, middle and upper levels.
He quickly overcame the Genesis Stage and had now reached the Upper Enlightenment Stage. Soon, he would reach the Emotional Stage. It was the most critical stage for him because he had to throw away his emotional attachments. This was something that was very difficult for him to deal with.
Although he was a White Sage but he had little memory of the White Sage. All of his past memories were memories of the guilt he had towards the other girls he knew through the Translucent Void, a martial heart complexity skill.
In the current timeline through the possibility of an impossible coincidence, they meet again. None of them had any past memories of their past except for Lingfeng the Heaven and Shen Xingyue the Fiery Phoenix.
Shen Xingyue had another brotherhood name and it was the Dark Enchantress. After he lost the Eternal Dark Divine Sword and had refined his Divine Rejuvenation Power, he had changed his brotherhood name to Fiery Phoenix. He was also the highest level Celestial, having just overcome the Lower Crisis Stage and was now in an Intermediate Crisis State.
Youxue, Yunzi, Mei’Er and Yu’Er who had also overcome the Divine Disaster were all at the Enlightenment Stage.
Yixian the Heavenly Fairy and Lie Qing the Heavenly Teaser had progressed at an even astonishing speed. Both of them have reached the Emotional Level!
Hearing that Yi Ping sighed heavily. That was because the Emotional Stage was sometimes also the most dangerous and critical stage to overcome for most Celestials.
Yixian may be the coldest girl everyone thinks of, but that's not true. It was because he was unwilling to show his affection and because the heart complexity formula of the Cold Heavenly Tears required the practitioners to be cold and emotionless. Even when he knew that his Divine Catastrophe would be difficult to overcome, he was unwilling to tell anyone.
As for Lie Qing, she was the most sentimental girl who had promised her heart to him. But since he was now at the Emotional Stage, he was forced to endure his affection. It proved to be detrimental to him and was probably fatal to him at the moment.
Yi Ping was really worried that Lie Qing might not be able to deal with his misery well and might die.
As for Lele the Joyful Goddess, she was the second highest level Celestial and was at the Lower Transverse Stage. It took him about two hundred years to just overcome the Emotion Stage and his development was already considered fast!
Although there were only seven celestial levels but the difference between each level was so great and dangerous that many Celestials perished. It was estimated that only about a third of the Celestials in each staging were able to overcome their tribulations!
So how could Yi Ping not worry about them?
He glanced at Shen Xingyue who was also staring at him at the same time. Although he did not say anything, Yi Ping knew that his misery was terrible at his heavenly level. It was because tribulation was a test of their limitations and it would never be easy!
Suddenly, Shen Xingyue whispered. “Others are approaching and from his step, he is not an ordinary exponent!”
Youxue nodded as well. His hearing was not as good as Shen Xingyue but he had detected the presence of somber air in this quiet place.
Sure enough, an old man had appeared and walked calmly towards them.
She had a serious expression and even the alluring beauty of Lingfeng and Shen Xingyue seemed to have no effect on her.
Yi Ping looked at him carefully but he did not say anything because he did not yet know his intentions.
The old man just looked at Yi Ping and asked him, “Are you the young hero Yi Ping?”
Yi Ping said, “I may not be a true hero, but I am Yi Ping. How do you know my name?”
The old man said, “Then follow me! My master is waiting for you!”
And he had turned around without waiting for Yi Ping to reply!
Youxue hummed coldly and he made sure that the old man could hear him, “What a brash old man!”
But the old man did not react to anything as he continued walking away!
Yunzi moved uneasily. It can be a ruse to ambush them if they follow it.
Yi Ping shouted, “At least you should tell us your name, who is your master and why should we go with you?”
The old man paused for a moment to say, “My name doesn't matter. But my master is someone you know and he is waiting for you somewhere not far from here.”
Yi Ping asked, “I know your master? I didn't know I had a friend here.”
The old man laughed, “I don't know his name either. But his fraternity name is Celestial Liege!”
Immediately, Yi Ping, Youxue, Yunzi and Lingfeng turned pale!
Shen Xingyue noticed their reactions and immediately, she gathered a guess that this Celestial Liege must be a terrifying opponent!
Youxue said coldly, “Good! I've been waiting a long time to finish scoring with him!”
Yi Ping said solemnly, “After all I will not go with you. Please tell your master that I don't want to meet him!”
The old man laughed, “Young man, don't rush first. If you want to see your baby girl again, then you should come quietly. Heavenly Palace does not accept rejection.”
Yi Ping was instantly pale!
