But it wasn’t just because of her words... but because...
...A beautiful purple feather, seemingly made of flickering purple divine flas, had appeared out of nowhere.
It illuminated the dim room with a soft, reverent light... gentle yet majestic, like a fragnt of divinity itself.
Then, as if a gaze from beyond ti and the void itself had descended,
A pair of sharp eyes pierced through everything and locked directly onto the intruder... him.
{...}
[...Divine Nirvana Ph—!?]
Suddenly, the purple feather exploded into brilliant purple flas.
It burned with divine fury, intending to scorch the one who dared to arrogantly interfere with its race’s sacred ritual.
Even the Heavenly Daos would not dare interrupt a Phoenix’s Nirvana, yet this... re "segnt" of that thing had tried to tamper with it.
...How arrogant.
BOOOOOMMM!!
Everything shattered.
The darkness was violently washed away by purifying flas.
[...No!!...]
Yet the dark hands refused to disappear.
[...I am so close!!]
They endured the intense Divine Nirvana Fla, stubbornly continuing the fusion process.
Just as they were about to succeed—
"~!!"
Outside, less than a second had passed.
The Divine Brick, guarding the ice cocoon, suddenly noticed an almost invisible strand of black liquid piercing into it.
With an angry hush, it smashed the strand apart.
SPLASH!!
The Divine Brick let out a smug fluctuation, as if proud of a job well done.
[...No!!...Curse you..!]
The dark hands reaching for Yue Lan trembled violently... then slowly faded and flickered away, as if their connection had been cut abruptly
Once the voice disappeared completely, only Yue Lan remained in the pure white space.
The purple feather hovered gently in the air, seemingly gazing at her.
{...}
Suddenly, blue feathers began to drift down like snow.
Then a mature and extrely beautiful woman materialized before her.
She didn’t speak to Yue Lan.
Instead, she bowed reverently toward the purple feather.
[I thank... Great Ancestor for assisting this one.]
There was no reply.
Even this tiny fragnt of will could already sense it, this young Ice Phoenix had already been ....corrupted.
No wonder she hadn’t undergone Nirvana herself, but chose to "give birth" instead.
{...}
As if it had seen enough and fulfilled its duty, the purple feather simply disintegrated into sparks.
Now only Yue Lan and the beautiful woman remained.
The woman let out a wry smile at how abruptly the Ancestor had left.
Then she turned to Yue Lan with tender eyes and gently touched her face.
[...It seems the plan has worked...]
Before this mont,
Just as the tower was falling, she had discussed... a simple ’plan’ with Li Feng.
She hadn’t expected him to trust her so completely and cooperate without hesitation.
With a small, wistful sigh, her body began to disintegrate into beautiful specks of light that gently floated toward Yue Lan, completing the new birth and stripping away the remnants of her "Divinity."
Then she hug her daughters one last ti...
[...My two daughters... one of fate... one of blood... please get along and... take care of each other...]
Then she murmured one last gentle sentence, her voice filled with quiet hope and trust.
[...I leave the rest to you, young man.]
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anwhile outside,
Li Feng, who was locked in fierce combat with Yan Moxuan, suddenly froze as the entire tower trembled violently.
A deep, ominous rumble echoed from above, as if sothing ancient had awakened far above and was now clawing its way downward.
And the smooth, obsidian-like floor beneath his feet began to distort.
What was once solid ground turned viscous, collapsing into a writhing black liquid that pulsed with an eerie, unnatural rhythm.
Frenzied waves surged outward, crashing and recoiling like a living tide, spreading across the battlefield with chaotic intent.
The air grew heavy and oppressive as though the very space itself was being drowned.
"What...?"
Li Feng looked confused, but Yan Moxuan, standing so distance away frowned deeply and clicked his tongue.
[What are you doing? Descending without a proper vessel? You really want to die, huh?]
[...]
With those words, the floor lost all solidity.
Thick black liquid began pouring down from the ceiling like a waterfall.
The water level rose rapidly, as if the tides of an abyssal sea had arrived.
As the black tide swelled and churned and then...
...It rose.
Soon, sothing began to shift.
Slowly...
A humanoid figure slowly erged from the liquid darkness, its body forming from writhing black substance, unstable yet terrifyingly complete.
Its presence alone distorted the air, as if reality itself rejected its existence.
At that very instant—
A urgent system notification flashed before Li Feng’s eyes.
[Warning!]
[Ding!]
[Host! Be careful! An extrely dangerous hostile entity has been detected!]
[Ergency Protocol Scan activated!]
Tzzzz...
Tzzzz...
Tzzzz...
[Warning!]
[Ding!]
[Na: The False Cultivator ███████]
[Title: ???’s First Calamity, Governor of the Deepest Tide, World Cancer (Segnt ???)]
[Host! Please be careful!]
Li Feng’s eyes widened at the horrifying title.
But before he could react—
SPURT!
SPURT!
SPURT!
Multiple spears of condensed black liquid shot forth with horrifying speed, piercing straight through his limbs from the ground.
His body jerked violently as blood burst outward, staining the already corrupted ground beneath him.
[...I am done... playing around.]
The human-shaped mass of darkness and liquid spoke, its voice low and frigid, like sothing dredged from the deepest abyss.
Yan Moxuan laughed loudly at the sight.
[Hahaha! Not my problem. You’re the one who chose to descend like this.]
The False Cultivator didn’t reply.
And the mont it saw the Divine Brick hovering protectively before the ice cocoon—
The surrounding black tide began to churn violently.
Anger overflowed from his form.
...Pure, suffocating rage seeped out from its very existence.
[...A re fragnt of a Dao... dares to ruin my rebirth again and again... How insulting...]
If not for that insignificant piece of Dao, everything would have already been complete.
There would be no delay.
No forced descent and no... imperfection.
Yan Moxuan’s lips curled into a faint smile.
[Well, whatever happens to you doesn’t concern .]
Then he turned to Li Feng with greedy eyes.
[I want that boy. His body seems... interesting.]
The False Cultivator remained silent as he simply stepped forward.
One step. Then another.
Each movent caused ripples to spread across the black sea beneath his feet, as if the world itself recoiled from his presence.
Ahead, the Divine Brick trembled slightly in nervousness, yet it did not retreat.
It hovered stubbornly before the ice cocoon, humming faintly as if standing its ground despite the overwhelming terror pressing down on it.
The air grew thick with malice and despair.
But suddenly—
"Haha..."
A soft sound that almost... out of place.
The False Cultivator stopped his step and Yan Moxuan also frowned.
They both turn their head to look at Li Feng who was still impaled by the black spears and still bleeding.
But he seem to be laughing...?
At first, it was quiet.
Then it grew.
"HAHA..."
"HAHAHAHA..."
And finally—
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
The laughter echoed wildly, unrestrained, filled with sothing far more dangerous than pain or madness.
Yan Moxuan gave him a strange look as Li Feng laughed hysterically.
[Hmm? Has this kid lost his mind?]
[...]
The False Cultivator said nothing.
But its formless face seed to tighten—
Because sothing felt... wrong.
Then—
It sensed it.
Its head snapped upward—
CRACK!!!
The world shattered.
...Not taphorically or figuratively.
Like a pane of black glass, the sealed darkness above them fractured violently, cracks spreading in jagged lines before exploding inward.
WHOOSH!!
A figure tore through from the outside.
A towering silhouette cloaked in oversized black robes descended like a falling shadow, its presence heavy, silent, and suffocating.
SPLASH!
It landed beside the Divine Brick, sending waves of black liquid crashing outward.
The Divine Brick imdiately buzzed with excitent as it now growing even smugger toward the two enemies.
Goldie slowly stood up and surveyed the surroundings silently, yet its re presence caused the surrounding darkness to ripple uneasily.
"..."
And for the first ti...
Both Yan Moxuan and the False Cultivator hesitated as confusion flickered across their awareness.
[...Is that?]
But then, behind them, Li Feng’s laughter only grew louder... wilder and completely unrestrained.
"HAHAHA! FINALLY!!"
His voice rang out, hoarse yet overflowing with exhilaration.
"I’ve been waiting... enduring... letting you filthy rats hide in the dark..."
Blood dripped from his chin as his grin stretched wide, his eyes blazing with manic brilliance.
"All of you... finally showed yourselves!!"
Li Feng was so excited that he ignored the pain from his wounds.
After all, he had endured this pain and humiliation for so long precisely to fish out these rats hiding in the shadows.
He knew there was still sothing... or soone lurking in this secret realm from the future vision the immortal had shown him.
Combined with the mysterious voice that had warned him about this place, he knew he needed to act a little vulnerable to draw out the real threats.
But he never expected to fish out two big rats instead of one.
With a savage smile and widened eyes, Li Feng had never felt so satisfied as he roared these words that seed to shake the entire secret realm—no... the world itself.
"AGE OF... THE STARS!!!"
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[Here a illustration of The False Cultivator:]
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