"Damn, you're one hell of a lucky guy brother!! Who would've guessed that the alchemy genius Master Hua was also the same person as Hua Xian'er, the peerless beauty of heavenly talent, the Heavenly Phoenix Master of the Ten Rising Stars!!!" a young man's voice was heard all across a certain large shop in the Thousand Roads City, causing the other shopkeepers around to stare at him, as well as the young man beside him with jealousy.
It has been a month since he arrives here. Doing a repetitive schedule, he had done nothing but practice alchemy, roam around in hopes of finding inspiration for his breakthrough to Pedestal Establishment Realm, occasionally bantering with his sloppy master, exchanging ideas regarding their comprehension of alchemy.
Due to this, he managed to amass a fair bit of spirit stone, which while useful to other cultivators as a spirit qi source for cultivation, was completely useless as a cultivation tool to him, who has an Infinite Qi System. Fortunately, this fortune can still do its job as currency for him.
This brings him trouble though as news of a 'young powerless' new alchemist reaches the ears of the underground, their greed rising into an all-time high trying to capture him to refine pills for them for free.
That plan completely backfired when they encountered him with his master, who revealed her identity out of anger, telling everyone that whoever dares to touch him, no matter what kind of power they are will be trampled by her.
This thing happened a week ago yet whenever he meets this good brother, he would go on and complain how lucky he was to be the disciple of one of the most beautiful ladies in all of the continent, not having an idea just what kind of personality this so called 'beauty' has.
"You've always been telling me about this top beauty of the continent, what's the deal with that anyways?" Wu Xiaotian asks as he had been hearing it so much from Ling Feng every day.
"Tsk tsk tsk… Look at you brother, like a worm hiding under a rock" he said as he tried to dodge a fist directly coming for his head elegantly but failed miserably in doing so.
Holding a head with relatively huge bump, he started his blabbering, "You remember when I tell you one time about Heavenly Seers right? Well, not only that intelligence organization gathers and organize information and publish ranking of talented martial artists for each realm, they also have other rankings, ranging from something pretty normal such as the Goddess Ranking, the one I mentioned to you, to completely weird one like the Artistic Killing Ranking, well let's focus on the crux of the issue" he paused before finding a comfortable place to sit on, leaning in before starting again.
"The Goddess Ranking, as the name suggests is a record of outstanding female geniuses with attractive appearance, the kind that would have followers wherever they go. Well, apparently, your master, nicknamed Ice Phoenix Empress in the ranking, sits on the fourth seat back then but the third place died, and now she's firmly sat on the third spot, never ousted by the ones behind her yet never entering the territory of the two in front of her"
"To surpass even master in terms of overall attractiveness and strength, just who are the other two?" Wu Xiaotian still asked, although he have an idea who the two women was.
"They're part of the previous generations, the first place the generation before ours and the second before the first place's generation, the second place, Immortal Sword Fairy, Jiang Xinyue, and firmly sitting at the first place since her first public appearance, Peerless Heavenly Goddess, Su Meiyao" he said with reverence in his eyes, not purely because of the rumor of their beauty but mainly because of their irrefutable might.
This is because back when the two roams the continent, none among their peers can match them, with the Immortal Sword Fairy being known to only have one equal, one from the Valley of Harmony, a sect that has already starting to amass animosity back then, while the Peerless Heavenly Goddess rise was quite the cometic one, with her aloof character suppressing all the geniuses of her generation, but before she was crowned an era defining genius, she fall into becoming a prisoner of the Extreme Martial Sect, her own sect destroyed causing her to fade into obscurity.
Hearing the story, Wu Xiaotian gain another perspective to look at his mother. Who would've guessed that her easygoing personality was something she only show him, as his brother told him that even back when Wu Xiaolong travels with her, they were often observed as a young man chasing after a beauty, rather than lovers who care for each other.
"Thanks for the story Brother Feng, I'll go now, or else my master will kill me for being late" Wu Xiaotian said before leaving, not realizing that he let out a bit of an expression when Ling Feng was telling him the story.
Beside the now alone Ling Feng, a middle-aged man donned in a butler like outfit appeared, the young man not even surprised as he seemed already too used to it.
"I won the bet Uncle Xing" he smiled as he looks towards the middle-aged man.
"Your eyes for people are really good little guy, fine here's the thing" the middle-aged man replied as he handed a scroll to the young man before asking "You're going to hand it to him, don't you?"
"Of course! Otherwise, how can I call myself a good brother" Ling Feng said making the middle-aged man shake his head and laugh.
"How did you know he will rise up and grow like that within just a month though?" Uncle Xing asked, his eyes filled with curiosity towards the young man's method.
"Feelings"
"Feelings?"
"I have this feeling whenever I face him Uncle Xing, If I feel like I am in front of a huge chasm that is vast and overwhelming when I'm facing my old man, then brother Tian gave of the feeling of being in front of a spatial tear, mysterious and terrifying, as if it could destroy me any second"
Hearing Ling Feng's statement, the middle-aged man was surprised as the sense of the young man's lineage is extremely accurate, even to the point that if talented enough, an Early State Qi Refining Realm can point out who the strongest in the crowd is ninety-five percent of the time.
"That young man is destined for greatness" he said while sighing in relief that such monster is a friend.
"Indeed he is, and his destiny will change the entire continent, hopefully for the better" Ling Feng replied as he recalls Wu Xiaotian's face when he told him about the Sword Immortal Fairy and the Peerless Heavenly Goddess.
'He should be related to them in some way given his reaction to the information' he said pausing for a second as he remembers something.
'Come to think of it, the Heavenly Goddess was spared from execution because she's bearing the Extreme Martial Sect's current sect leader's child back when the Valley's extermination ended right? Doesn't that mean that he's… No, that was just a little bit more than thirteen years ago, and he's definitely sixteen or seventeen already, it doesn't make sense...' giving up analyzing his good brother's identity, Ling Feng just sighs as he murmured 'Just who are you, Brother Tian'
Meanwhile, the young man the two was talking about is currently displaying a serious face, as he firmly threads the shop's hall towards a certain place, his pace steady and his steps as if prepared for battle.
Arriving in front of a door, he deeply inhaled first before exhaling, doing it again and again as if to calm his nerves before entering, but even this does nothing as what he saw still caused the vein on his temple to bulge due to anger.
Laying atop a soft round bed while draped with the bed's sheets, a beautiful woman with her dress half removed was deeply asleep. This would have been a beautiful sight enough to make Wu Xiaotian's heart skip a beat if not for the bottle the lady is holding in her hand, along with the reeking scent of alcohol all over her, not to mention the silly smile on her face as she mumbles 'my disciple this, my disciple that', all while scratching her tummy with her free hand.
If Ling Feng were to see this lady given the title of an empress behaving like this, he will definitely be devastated and run away from the scene.