Huo Long's Reaction
It didn't take long for Huo Long to read the letter, as even though he had his dantian shattered, which made him mortal once again, he still had his brain vein pathed out, which boosted his comprehension and, in turn, his reading speed.
However, even though he could read it fast after his father told him who the sender was, Huo Long decided to read it slowly so he wouldn't miss a word.
Huo Long knew that it came from Xue Bai, a person he had previously seen as a friend, but following the trend of the last few months, Huo Long didn't have much hope for a good letter.
He had already been abandoned by the rest of his friends, and the ones that had already abandoned him were in much lower positions of power than Xue Bai. So Huo Long already predicted that Xue Bai, a Young Duke, would also want to rid himself of the baggage he, a cripple, carried.
Yet, as he started to read it, Huo Long started to realize that the letter wasn't what he thought it was.
Intrigued at what he was reading, Huo Long sped up his reading speed, wanting to reach the end, which he soon did. But once he did reach the end, he felt somewhat ashamed of himself for labeling Xue Bai a fairweather friend even before reading the letter.
He thought that Xue Bai was like the other fake friends he made and would cruelly throw him away now that he had lost his value. But after reading the letter, it seemed to be the opposite.
Not only did Xue Bai not give up on him, but he even encouraged him to continue on his own path and fix his situation.
But Huo Long was confused about the pill part, as there wasn't anything like a pill along with the letter. So calling back his father, Huo Long asked if anything came along with the letter.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Here, this spatial ring came with the letter." Huo Ming answered after he heard Huo Long's question.
But even though Huo Ming said that he had forgotten, Huo Long could see that his father was most likely going to keep that spatial ring if he didn't point it out.
So with an impolite shove, Huo Long got his greedy father out of his courtyard again before looking into the spatial ring, where he found what he was looking for.
"Master, what does this pill do?" Huo Long asked as he pulled it out for Feng Huang to inspect.
Feng Huang, this time, didn't even need to manifest, as with her deep knowledge of alchemy, it only took her a simple glance to see through and identify the pill.
"It's a Qi Absorbing Pill. It's for people in your situation who had their dantian shattered and have excess Spiritual Qi flowing out through their bodies. It takes all of the Spiritual Qi in your body and absorbs it into the flesh and blood of the consumer, greatly increasing their vitality and also their lifespan. That Xue Bai kid wasn't lying about the letter," Feng Huang explained.
Huo Long felt a little worse in his heart, but at the same time, he was also confused about Xue Bai's goals with this letter. They weren't that close compared to how close Huo Long and his other friends were, yet Xue Bai treated him the best.
It was odd.
"Master, I told you about Xue Bai before. What do you think about him?" Huo Long asked.
After a few minutes of thinking, Huo Long still couldn't come to a stable answer and decided to ask his all-knowing master instead of thinking further.
"There are a few possibilities, but, honestly, I think the most reasonable answer is the most plausible. I think that this Xue Bai tries to befriend every potential prodigy in the Great Xuan Empire, and he got lucky with you." Feng Huang replied after a moment of thought.
"Of course, there are other more unorthodox possibilities, like perhaps Xue Bai knows a divinator and asked the man to take a glimpse into your future, but I don't think this one is realistic."
"Divinators are so powerful?" Huo Long asked with some shock.
He knew some stories about divinators, but most of the ones on the Baishen Plane were either scammers or only strong enough to divine mortals. And Huo Long didn't give either of those two types any respect.
It was an unspoken rule for cultivators that once you became one, you had to stop meddling in the mortal world unless necessary. So whether it was scamming mortals with simple fortune-telling skills or being a scammer outright, Huo Long didn't like the Baishen Plane's divinators.
However, from his master's words, Huo Long could tell that this side profession had more to it than he knew.
"There are strong divinators everywhere, even on this tiny mortal plane. But at the end of the day, most of them are just old fossils who try to peek into the future out of enjoyment." Feng Huang spoke with a disdainful tone.
From her voice and choice of words, it was obvious to Huo Long that Feng Huang seemed to have had bad encounters with divinators in her cultivation journey. Sensing that, he became silent, not daring to bring them up again, and quickly changed the topic.
"Master, do you think that Xue Bai can make it to the peak of cultivation, as he said in the letter?" Huo Long asked.
Most people on the Southern Continent knew about the Immortal and God Great Realms, but that was it. They only knew that they existed and nothing beyond that.
However, Huo Long wasn't like the frogs of the Southern Continent. He knew what the peak of cultivation was like. From how strong cultivators of that grade were to how daunting a task it was to reach it.
Hearing Xue Bai's claim that he would reach the peak of cultivation made Huo Long feel a myriad of emotions, but none of them were expecting Xue Bai's success.
"Long'er, you have to know the peak of cultivation is something that countless geniuses far more talented than Xue Bai couldn't even imagine, let alone reach. Talent isn't the only requirement to reach such a height. Luck is just as, if not more important, than talent. And Xue Bai isn't even a Child of the Plane. He'll struggle compared to people like you who are blessed by the plane."
"However, even if one is extremely blessed by the heavens and has enough talent to reach the peak, it still isn't guaranteed. My Senior Brother had everything a cultivator could dream of and was blessed by destiny itself, and yet he still fell before he reached the peak."
"What Xue Bai most likely meant was the peak of this mortal world. Your friend did awaken a high Black-grade Martial Vein, which is very talented for this mortal plane. But the peak of cultivation is something completely different. After all, just ascending to the Immortal World is already heaven-defying enough for someone born in this desolate land." Feng Huang spoke as she sighed.
It seemed that Feng Huang couldn't hold back her sadness after mentioning her deceased Senior Brother.
On the other hand, Huo Long got somewhat jealous. His Master seemed to worship this 'Senior Brother' of hers to the point of fanaticism. And every time he made a mistake, he would be compared to the mysterious man.
"Master, what happened to your Senior Brother? You never told me." Huo Long asked.
Since he would constantly hear about this mysterious senior brother for a long time, Huo Long at least wanted to know something about him.
" I wish I knew as well, Long'er. My Senior Brother, my Junior Brother, and I were all in the later realms of the God Great Realm until one day, my Senior Brother came to the both of us and spoke something weird. In his words, he was going to, 'Break the Illusion.' But after he left the sect, he never came back.
"Also, as the head disciple, my Senior Brother was the sect's strongest fighter. So naturally, not wanting this news to shock the First Heaven, we tried to keep it from leaking for as long as possible. But eventually, other sects noticed his disappearance. And after a long war, our sect fell." Feng Huang spoke in a saddened voice.
Huo Long nodded in amazement.
"Wow!"
—
Away from the Huo Clan, the Wang Clan was feeling the exact opposite of Huo Long's amazement.
"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" In his office, Wang Yichen had destroyed everything that could be destroyed as he raged after hearing the news of Xue Bai's awakening.
"Which bastard was so cheap that they only fed that trash a middle Yellow-grade Vein Swallowing Worm!" Wang Yichen yelled manically as he finished demolishing his office.
During his rampage, his already loosely let-out hair was flailing around, making the rugged man look like a crazed demon.
However, eventually, Wang Yichen destroyed everything that could be broken and calmed down a little bit. So after regaining some calmness, he stormed out, where he found dozens of his subordinates kneeling both in fear and respect.
"Patriarch Wang, it was the Third Elder. He is the person involved in all assassinations and poisonings." Then, seeing that Wang Yichen seemed to have calmed down a little, one of the black-clothed men raised his hand and spoke.
Sadly, though his observation was right, Wang Yichen was acting like a volcano and was merely quiet before erupting. And after hearing that his third brother was the culprit, Wang Yichen simply waved his hand and let out a blood-colored arrow that instantly turned the black-clothed man into a blood mist on impact.
Wang Yichen was at the peak of the Domain Lord realm, while the black-clothed man was merely in the Qi Sea realm. A simple arrow of Spiritual Qi was more than enough to allow Wang Yichen to erase his existence.
"Someone bring the Third Elder here right now! I demand to know why our plan failed because someone was cheap!" Wang Yichen yelled out in a voice filled with Spiritual Qi, allowing his voice to spread out dozens of miles.
Whether it was because they were scared of the consequences of being slow or wanted to get away from the volcano of Wang Yichen, no man stayed in the area of Wang Yichen after his order. And with more than a dozen people following his order, the Third Elder came very quickly.
The Third Elder of the Wang Clan was an older man named Wang Yin. Skinny and lanky, Wang Yin had a clean-shaven chin, but when it was paired with his snake-like eyes and forked tongue, he looked almost like a snake demon who had gained a human form rather than the human he truly was.
This was slightly true, as those weren't his natural looks but the result of cultivating an incomplete demonic cultivation technique. The cultivation technique in question was something given to him from the Blood Saber Sect, and it was worth the appearance change.
The cultivation technique gave him two main advantages: the dexterity and springing power that a curled-up snake would have and the camouflage ability.
Entering the courtyard of Wang Yichen, Wang Yin was nervous, to say the least. Unlike other clans where decisions were vote-based, Wang Yichen ruled the Wang Clan with an iron fist. Whether it was strength, networks, or even intelligence, Wang Yichen was miles ahead of every single one of his siblings and cousins.
And after staying in the Patriarch's seat for more than 30 years by now, Wang Yichen had almost forgotten his familial bonds. Now, he was just as cruel to his family as he would be to an enemy outside.
So after being called into Wang Yichen's office after seeing him lose his composure and destroy his own office, Wang Yin feared for his life. But sadly, he had to enter, as if he didn't, he would die in his own courtyard.
"Big Brother, you called for me?" Wang Yin spoke with a smile as he bowed.
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