Bam!
Fenghua slammed the third black iron gates open. This gate required Fenghua to use strength at the Core Formation Realm. Logically, Fenghua should not have tapped into this level of power because it would delay her recovery, but she was just too curious as to what was hidden in the center of the building.
The core room of Allfist Temple wasn’t what Fenghua had expected, much to her disappointment. She had expected to see a statue of the famed Ancestor Allfist. If she did, she would say, “What an arrogant little soul nourishing grandmaster, let’s fix that!” and then vandalize it.
Instead, it was a small, boxed room with an incense burner in front of a scroll with the words “Martial Dao” written in calligraphy. To her surprise, when Fenghua unleashed her spiritual sense, she could detect a hidden formation that would only activate if the person who entered was still in the Body Transformation Realm and not Acupoint Opening Realm or its equivalent.
So, there is a secret inheritance. Fenghua thought as she narrowed her eyes. Just that the requirement is a bit too harsh for the cultivators of this lower realm, so no one has been able to receive it yet.
The reason Fenghua could detect the formation was that her spiritual sense was stronger than others due to being a spiritual cultivator instead of a martial cultivator. That was not to say acupoint opening masters couldn’t detect the formation, just that they’d have to be mid or peak acupoint opening masters.
Fenghua could bypass the formation and directly bring out the inheritance, but where would be the fun in that? Compared to that, she’d rather have Leng Junfeng attain Acupoint Opening Realm strength while still in the Body Transformation Realm. Plus, there was an acupoint opening master secretly observing her.
Although she did have a slight interest in what the inheritance was. Ancestor Allfist most likely didn’t comprehend a martial cultivation technique by himself and instead had a fortuitous encounter.
Fenghua had numerous reasons to believe that, with the prime reason being that the martial cultivation methods of the Allfist Realm were too systemic for a lower realm that had only embarked on cultivation for less than three hundred thousand years. Sure it was not as refined as the Huang Realm’s method, but it was something that would still require millions of years of accumulation. Why else would the names of the realms and stages in martial cultivation be the same?
She found it hard to believe that Ancestor Allfist could have done all that by himself.
Judging by the origin of the Divine Wind Fist, Ancestor Allfist most likely received the shattered inheritance of divinity from the primordial era or an immortal who had acquired the technique and for some reason fell to the Allfist Realm. So if Ancestor Allfist bestowed the Divine Wind Fist to one of his students, Fenghua wondered what he would leave behind in his secret inheritance.
“Since I’m here, I might as well burn some incense,” Fenghua muttered. Moving her tails, she dexterously grabbed one of the incense sticks and placed it in the burner before lighting it with her Primogenitor Fire born of her will.
The ember that briefly appeared to light the incense had a bizarre enticement. If a mortal were to have seen it, they would have fallen in love with the fire as if it was someone of the opposite or same gender, being willing to be consumed akin to moths to a flame.
Once Fenghua left, a sigh of relief could be heard echoing in the chamber. “What is the identity of that fox?”
“Someone who fell from the immortal realm.”
The owner of the unknown voice jumped in shock, not expecting a reply. Not to mention the reply wasn’t carried by air but by spiritual sense, spooking him greatly. “It’s you? Is it you?”
However, no matter how many times the acupoint opening master asked, there was no reply.
When Fenghua walked out of the Allfist Temple, she jumped onto Leng Junfeng’s shoulder and said, “Let’s go back.”
Leng Junfeng wasn’t surprised by the words appearing in his mind. Fenghua pretended to be a rather clever fox in front of outsiders, so she would never deliberately speak unless they were alone.
When Leng Junfeng returned to the mansion assigned to him, news of what happened had already spread throughout the influential forces stationed in Luoyang. Naturally, this included Shanxi House.
Fan Chunli tapped his fingers on the armrest as he digested the information brought to him by his subordinate. It seems that we underestimate the background of that youngster.
To be able to tame a monster that powerful to be his servant, his identity shouldn’t simply be that cultivation cripple from the Leng Clan. Did he have a fortuitous encounter, or has he become the disciple of one of the hidden masters or forces?
Whatever the reason, for now, we must not make an enemy of him. At least not lightly. If the force behind is friendly, we can even consider building friendly relations.
That’s right, Fan Chunli and many major forces made a misconception about Leng Junfeng. They never considered the possibility that Fenghua was anything other than a tamed monster. The Allfist Realm did have legends of uniquely wise monsters, but never demons. So they never thought Fenghua was a demon, much less a human cultivator clone created out of a true demon fox.
For the next few days until the auction began, Leng Junfeng’s mansion was visited by numerous forces expressing goodwill. During this time, Fenghua taught him a disguise technique that could alter his facial features, allowing him to pretend to be Fengjun, a nameless commoner with a high aptitude for cultivation.
Thinking about it, Fenghua should have taught the technique earlier since Leng Junfeng wasn’t aware of which force exterminated the Leng Clan, but Fenghua had forgotten about it until the people came crashing towards the mansion.
There might be some who saw through the disguise, but better late than never. The technique only changed physical features and not his aura, so there was that flaw. In addition, Leng Junfeng was rather famous among some circles as a cultivation cripple.
“Hm, hey youngster, you wouldn’t happen to have had a fiancee that broke the marriage agreement when they found out you couldn’t cultivate, right?” Fenghua abruptly asked the night before the auction.
“Hah?” Leng Junfeng cleverly replied. “I don’t. I mean, I did, but that was years ago when I was ten. I had a childhood friend who would play with me, and our fathers were sworn brothers, but the marriage was called off rather amiably. We grew farther apart due to our differing interests. The last I saw her was three years ago.”
Fenghua nodded, happy there was no dramatic marriage agreement plot that she would be dragged into. Oh, how wrong she was.
The next day, the Shanxi Auction House was bustling with activity as numerous bigwigs arrived for the prized items advertised on their itinerary. Leng Junfeng’s physique transforming fruit was the third most sought-after item on auction.
The two items more popular than the physique transforming fruit were Martial Body Formation Pearl and the bone of an aqua eagle, a monster of the kunpeng lineage.
The Martial Body Formation Pearl was a miraculous item that allowed someone at the peak of the Body Transformation Realm to form a water-based martial body and enter the Acupoint Opening Realm. However, it could be considered a dead-end for cultivators if they have an incompatible spiritual vein. Not that the denizens of the Allfist Realm were aware of such a fact.
If the Martial Body Formation Pearl caught the attention of wealthy forces who wanted to produce a grandmaster, then the aqua eagle bone was the item sought after by peak acupoint opening masters. In a clash between two equals of cultivation and skill, equipment would often determine the winner.
Even if the acupoint opening master eventually died of old age or was slain, the equipment could still be passed down to his descendants. Although less desirable than a peak acupoint opening master, powerful equipment had no lifespan.
For example, one of the remaining six—seven if you considered the Leng Clan—of the Ten Great Clans had no peak acupoint opening master, but they were still a first-rate force because they have numerous Acupoint Opening Realm rank equipment.
Leng Junfeng was given a private VIP booth on the third floor that gave a clear view of the stage where the auction items would be displayed. The booth was constructed in a way that prevented onlookers from the ground and second floor and other booths from discerning the occupants, perfect anonymity.
Not.
Fenghua snorted when she detected someone probing with their spiritual sense and immediately blocked it. The prober felt as if they had slammed their head onto a metal cube, but Fenghua wasn’t done as she sent a spiritual attack that caused them to shriek.
“Teacher, what happened?” asked Leng Junfeng as he turned his head towards the shriek, unaware of Fenghua’s contributions to the matter.
“Nothing, just an impolite fellow getting taught a lesson.” Fenghua idly commented.
The impolite fellow was furiously rubbing his forehead while trying to soothe the migraine assaulting him. Who did that?
He was an elder grandmaster reaching the end of his lifespan. Although his body was waning, his spiritual strength was growing stronger, and as such, he had confidence in his spiritual sense. The reason he came to the auction was on an off chance to gain a longevity-extending treasure. He just used his spiritual sense with no real ill intent. Who knew he would kick a steel board?
He did not think it was Leng Junfeng that did it, but someone related to Leng Junfeng. Who is that kid? He must have some backing for a peak grandmaster to be secretly protecting him. Now the question is, how should I act towards the lad.
For someone with such a powerful spiritual sense to protect the kid, perhaps he is someone from those forces? I doubt it is a peak grandmaster but a cultivator trained in their spiritual senses by them. Only they have such power, after all.
Unknown to the old grandmaster’s musing, Leng Junfeng quietly waited for the auction to start. Only after a few minutes after all the space was filled did the auction start.
What’s with auction houses and using seductive beauties as the announcer? Fenghua thought, recalling the auction her main body, Xi Tianyi, had attended when he was still a foundation establishment disciple.
Fenghua originally had some interest in the auction, but she soon grew bored and yawned. The items up for auction certainly sounded impressive, but to Fenghua’s keen senses, they could not even compare to a speck of what was currently in her spatial ring.
True, she was at least a hundred times poorer than when she was in the Huang Realm, but she hadn’t become that destitute. Leng Junfeng, on the other hand…
“Teacher, Teacher! They are selling Cloud Invigorating Herb! If I use it, I’ll be able to increase my cultivation speed by at least two times. Should I buy it?” Leng Junfeng asked, his voice revealing his want.
If Fenghua were to nod, Leng Junfeng would undoubtedly buy it without a second thought. All he needed was confirmation.
“That trash?” Fenghua snorted and turned her head away. She curled up even more on the cushion she was lying on. “If you weren’t cultivating the Wood Book, then it might have been useful, but since you are, the effects are effectively nonexistent. Until you reach the peak of the Body Transformation Realm, you won’t need resources to cultivate your body like other people. Or rather, your spiritual cultivation is the best resource.”
“Oh?” Leng Junfeng quieted down and silently watched as the items were brought up on stage, one at a time, and auctioned off to the highest bidder.
“Master, what do you think about buying a weapon? I heard that unarmed cultivators have a harder time than armed ones. What weapons do you think would suit me?” Leng Junfeng asked, excitement tinging his words once more.
“Weapons? Do you know how to use a weapon besides swinging it?”
“No,”
“Then do you have any arts that deal in weapons?”
“No, but I might in the future…”
“Then buy one after you get a manual. Otherwise, you’d just be wasting money if you buy the wrong weapon. Sheesh, it’s like you just want to spend money.” Fenghua muttered the last part, but it was still loud enough for Leng Junfeng to hear.
Leng Junfeng looked away guiltily. When he was still the young master of the Leng Clan, his father always gave him plenty of allowances. It was to the point that whenever he received money, he would spend it all in one go.
Now that he had money on hand and saw all these valuable items, his old habits were acting up again. His hands were itching to buy some of them. No, Junfeng, you can’t. Once you use up the current money you have on hand, you don’t know when you will be able to earn it back.
What if you need to use money in the future but have none because you spent it all?
Persevere! Father and Mother are no longer here to protect you. You can’t be foolish forever.
As soon as Leng Junfeng thought that, he became depressed. I should find some time to burn some incense for them.
After that little episode, Leng Junfeng no longer had the desire to splurge. Instead, he focused seriously on the auction, analyzing the items to see if he would have a need for them. While he was doing this, he heard a familiar voice.
“Father, Father, buy that for me. I want it.”
A voice that could be described as lively and cute could be heard from the second floor. Among all the numerous voices originating from there, it was just one of many, but Leng Junfeng’s ears zeroed in on that voice.
“Meilan?” Leng Junfeng muttered as he peered at the second floor.
