History's Strongest Senior Brother c1-1474

by 八月飞鹰, Ba Yue Fei Ying, August Eagle

  Therefore, when Fu Enshu brought up borrowing the use of the Yin Yang Cloud Spring, she still gave the reason of it being for letting the juniors cultivate within, having Yan Zhaoge and Sikong Qing act together as a smokescreen for Feng Yunsheng.

  While Fu Enshu had a straight temper, she was not a foolish person. In having brought Sikong Qing along initially, other than being to guide her in the martial dao in their time here, she had also had such a consideration in mind.

  Though, she probably wouldn’t have guessed that Yan Zhaoge would really benefit from the assistance of the Yin Yang Cloud Spring as well.

  The Yin Yang Cloud Spring consisted of several springs, all independent yet also connected. Yan Zhaoge, Feng Yunsheng and Sikong Qing each occupied a single one, not affecting one another.

  Completely immersed in the spring water, Yan Zhaoge inhaled and exhaled silently with controlled breaths.

  Within his dantian’s qi ocean, a mass of clear qi roiled unceasingly. As it dispersed, a mass of chaotic qi was revealed.

  The orifices of Yan Zhaoge’s entire body pulsed, icy white auras and blazing red auras resembling numerous white and red dragons as they travelled through Yan Zhaoge’s meridians.

  The auras of ice and fire that resembled dragons intermingled, together congregating within that mass of chaotic qi.

  The mass of chaotic qi first swelled and expanded, before, along with Yan Zhaoge’s breathing, resuming its original form, looking like none of these changes had occurred in the first place.

  However, its concept of being infinite and limitless, able to contain and decimate tens of thousands of living beings within seemed to grow much more evident.

  Within the mass of chaotic qi, there lay a fire seed, upon which light and darkness flickered intermittently as it pulsed with a red light. It was the crystallisation of what Yan Zhaoge had obtained from the Sacred Heavenly Fire Scripture.

  And accompanied by Yan Zhaoge’s breathing, this fire seed gradually began to undergo changes.

  The blazing heat gradually faded, till none of it remained, before it began unceasingly turning icy cold!

  Following a long period of nourishment, the fire seed had disappeared, in its place shockingly having appeared a tiny crystal of ice!

  While that ice crystal was tiny, it contained the extreme coldness of deep winter, as though originating from the desolate primordial plains, whilst also as though walking towards the end of the world.

  Within that extreme winter, no signs of life were existent, all doomed to perish.

  Following that, the ice crystal within the mass of chaotic qi began rising unceasingly in temperature once more, the harsh winter fading, warmth once again reappearing.

  Finally, it reached the point where it seemed even more blazing hot than the sun, with the ice crystal fading, and the fire seed reappearing once more.

  This cycle repeated itself over and over as Yan Zhaoge remained with his eyes shut, yet seemed to see a radiance gradually light up before them, becoming brighter and brighter by the second.

  While he did not see and did not hear, the surrounding world was growing clearer and clearer.

  It was even to the point that it was even more clear and distinct than when he had directly seen with his eyes and heard with his ears before.

  It was as though, there was a feeling of ‘realism’ within.

  Yan Zhaoge guided Feng Yunsheng in his spare time, as these continuous days fully focused on nothing but cultivation continued.

  Relying on the help of outside objects, but first and foremost looking at himself; Yan Zhaoge had never slacked off in his own cultivation, even being far more diligent and hardworking than others.

  This way, nearly half a year passed.

  One day, above Yan Zhaoge’s head, an indistinct spiritual light suddenly appeared, shooting straight into the horizon!

  That light was not a true existence, but was rather profound to the extreme, seemingly giving off the feeling of one having formed a connection with the heavens and the earth.

  Within his dantian, in the chaotic qi mass, the interchanging of fire seed and ice crystal finally ceased, as, no longer changing, the fire seed buried itself deeply within the mass of chaos.

  The clear qi spread out, covering and concealing the mass of chaotic qi, before streams of aura-qi of the clear qi expanded outwards, diffusing within Yan Zhaoge’s entire skeleton as well as limbs.

  The orifices of Yan Zhaoge’s entire body shuddered in unison, aura-qi erupting outside of his body.

  Streams of intelligent and lively qi flowed, resembling stones which had been infused with the gift of life, possessing their own spirituality!

  Xiantian Martial Scholar, achieved!

  Feeling this, the Ah Hu who was standing guard outside entered.

  Yan Zhaoge opened his eyes, a brilliant light shooting in all directions as he looked at Ah Hu.

  Ah Hu looked stunned for a moment before he grinned widely, flattering him, “Young Master is indeed Young Master. What a strong essence, energy and spirit; it’s something that most early Xiantian Martial Scholars would not have.”

  “Ah Hu, your expression is too fake, you still have to work on it some more,” Emerging from the spring, Yan Zhaoge stretched his body a little as he smiled, “Well, I’ve finally made it to Xiantian.”

  Ah Hu grinned, “Young Master ah, can you not put on an expression of it having taken a very long time? From the late inner aura stage to the early Xiantian stage, you only took over a year’s worth of time ah!”

  “Infinite Boundless Mountain thought they were extolling you to death, but as I see it, even those words of theirs were belittling you!”

  Yan Zhaoge smiled, but did not speak.

  Before, never having had the chance to learn of this, even Yan Zhaoge himself had not known.

  In his previous life, having read through the various scriptures stored within the Divine Palace, Yan Zhaoge had then realised that he was actually like a fish in water in this world of martial practitioners, possessing an extremely high comprehension ability in the area of the martial dao.

  Instead of saying that it was a hidden talent of his, it actually seemed more like he had been born for it.

  In this life, having long accrued a steady foundation, it was time for his shocking progress to begin.

  If not for the fact that he had wanted to avoid standing out too much, leading to the suspicion of others, he could have been even faster.

  The long time he had previously spent accumulating his foundation after having come to this world, had not been for naught.

  “After stepping into the Xiantian stage, there are many things that can now be done,” Yan Zhaoge smiled, as he took out his Internal Crystal Furnace.

  Opening the furnace, the faint blue glow of fire, precisely that of Li Yan True Fire, shone.

  Following nourishment, the seed of Li Yan True Fire that he had obtained back then had already reached an initial stage. Other than Yan Zhaoge’s own Internal Crystal Furnace, his father’s back at Broad Creed Mountain similarly nourished this Li Yan True Fire within.

  Activating the Internal Crystal Furnace with his own special methods, the numerous spiritual patterns on it lit up with a brilliant light.

  “Ah Hu, bring over the two low-grade spiritual artifacts of Yan Xu’s that we obtained back then,” Yan Zhaoge said, as Ah Hu hurriedly did as asked, taking out the two low-grade spiritual artifacts, a light armour and a belt, and handing them over to Yan Zhaoge.

  These two spiritual artifacts had previously been harmed at their core to the point of near destruction by Shi Tie. If not for Yan Zhaoge having preserved them with a secret technique, they would not be intact now.

  However, they had still taken a great blow to their vitality, being hard for them to regain their former glory.

  “To the value of the Internal Furnace, whether or not spirit artifacts can be forged is the greatest obstacle,” Yan Zhaoge said as he dropped the light armour and the belt within the
Internal Crystal Furnace, “Now is precisely the best time to try things out first with these two things.”

  Ah Hu’s eyes shone, “Young Master, spirit artifacts damaged to such an extent-can they still be repaired?”

  Yan Zhaoge shook his head, “There is some chance of recovery, but for them to regain their former peak would be hard. However, after repairing them a little and restoring some of their vitality, they can be put to even greater use, in forging something that I have always wanted to forge.”

  History's Strongest Senior Brother Chapter 136: The third target

  HSSB136: The third target

  Yan Zhaoge carefully made adjustments to his Internal Crystal Furnace, once in a while getting Ah Hu to get some supplementary ingredients to add within as he carefully operated it.

  Spirit artifacts, even damaged ones, also contained profundities within. Reforging these artifacts would not be something that could be done within a short period of time.

  Especially when during this process, Yan Zhaoge was still carefully feeling for the profundities contained within, using it to corroborate his Internal Crystal Furnace controlling method as well as various artifact forging knowledge.

  As time passed, the Internal Crystal Furnace shone with a brilliant light as the light armour was first to be successfully repaired.

  Guiding it with his aura-qi, the light armour rose up from the furnace.

  Watching carefully from the side, Ah Hu saw that from its outer appearance alone, this light armour was already completely undamaged, just that if one felt carefully, they would be able to feel that the spirituality within was still somewhat inferior to that of ordinary low-grade spirit artifacts.

  However, it was still not something that high-grade artifacts could compare to.

  Following this, that belt was also successfully repaired, its situation also much the same.

  Ah Hu clicked his tongue in praise, “Young Master, even so, it’s already really amazing; after all, before this, they were already not far from the point of complete destruction.”

  “If this were used on living beings, it would be close to the point of raising someone from the dead!”

  Carefully appraising it for a moment, Yan Zhaoge nodded, “This level of restoration, is enough.”

  Saying thus, waving his hands, the light armour and the belt sunk within the Internal Crystal Furnace once more.

  Staring fixatedly at the Internal Crystal Furnace, Yan Zhaoge said to Ah Hu, “Ah Hu, speedily hand me the things that I passed on to you for safekeeping earlier.”

  Roused by his words, Ah Hu hurriedly took out a giant crystal.

  This crystal was in the shape of a shuttle, close to two feet long, bearing the thickness of a human arm.

  Receiving the crystal, Yan Zhaoge placed it within his Internal Crystal Furnace and carefully operated it, before now receiving a special pouch from Ah Hu.

  Opening the pouch, a blazing hot aura immediately assaulted, seemingly blazing even more mercilessly hot than flames themselves.

  Looking into the pouch, one would see that it was completely red within, resembling flames, also resembling rock, also resembling flowing water!

  An existence that resembled lava, it was precisely the precious treasure that Yan Zhaoge had specifically asked Yan Di to get back from the Fire Domain, the Underground Fire Pith!

  This item was rare beyond compare, being an extremely limited resource in the Fire Domain, with the Sacred Sun Clan having basically restricted its outflow.

  In terms of significance, the Underground Fire Pith wasn’t as significant to the Sacred Sun Clan as Thunderbolt Soul Jade was to the Heavenly Thunder Hall and Giant Spirit Magnetite was to Infinite Boundless Mountain.

  However, what couldn’t be helped was that the production rate of this Underground Fire Pith itself was just too low.

  Unless Broad Creed Mountain assaulted the Fire Domain this time, it would be very difficult for Yan Zhaoge to obtain Underground Fire Pith from any other sources.

  After Yan Zhaoge added the Underground Fire Pith into the Internal Crystal Furnace and operated it even more carefully than before, the Internal Crystal Furnace began to vibrate intensely.

  After a long time, a precious light suddenly shot up into the sky.

  Yan Zhaoge clapped his hands, “Good! Underground Splitting Shuttle, achieved!”

  Catching Ah Hu looking at the Internal Crystal Furnace somewhat curiously from the side, Yan Zhaoge smiled slightly, “It is not a spirit artifact, but if one wants to forge it, it would also be very difficult, with spirit artifacts being required ingredients for doing so.”

  “I can’t bear to part with the wholesome Jade Dragon Sword and Radiant Sun Wheel, and I can’t just sacrifice your Black Nightmare armour, can I?”

  Ah Hu gave a simple and honest laugh, “Naturally, using these two damaged goods would be a much better allocation of useless resources.”

  “Right, counting the days, it should be the time for the Cloud Array Spirit Flower to bloom,” Yan Zhaoge said, “Let’s go, Grand Master’s Heaven Reversing Pill’s final main ingredient can now be obtained.”

  In coming to the Mountain Domain this time, the unexpected gain Han Long’er aside, Yan Zhaoge had originally had three targets in mind, the first two being Infinite Boundless Mountain’s Giant Spirit Magnetite vein and Cloud Portent Mountain’s Yin Yang Cloud Spring, while the third was the Cloud Array Spirit Flower.

  This flower was extremely rare, yet not highly regarded by the people of this world, because it was not of much use.

  However, to Yan Zhaoge, this was an important alchemical ingredient required for his Grand Master Yuan Zhengfeng.

  What made Yan Zhaoge relieved was that the Great Calamity had not forced the Cloud Array Spirit Flower into extinction, having finally pinpointed them on the East Strangling Snow Mountains at the border of the Mountain and the Thunder Domains.

  It was only that just having made the discovery, the flowers had still yet to bloom. Therefore, Yan Zhaoge had still remained cultivating at Cloud Portent Mountain, waiting for the spirit flowers to finally bloom as they had now before making for the East Strangling Snow Mountains.

  Infinite Boundless Mountain having snatched the Heavenly Thunder Hall’s Thunderbolt Soul Jade, the relationship between the two sides had broken down for good. Also, after Infinite Boundless Mountain had officially entered an alliance with Broad Creed Mountain, Yan Zhaoge had given a pedestal for them to step down from, completely making public the secret of the Thunder Element Revival Art, which the martial practitioners of Infinite Boundless Mountain could also use without him needing to do it himself.

  Before he left, he naturally had to report to Fu Enshu.

  Fu Enshu didn’t question further on Yan Zhaoge’s current target, simply nodding, “Our clan has already formed an agreement with Infinite Boundless Mountain as well as made the appropriate preparations; you won’t have to worry about being assassinated by Martial Grandmasters.”

  “However, you must also take caution against the other side’s Martial Grandmasters making a move in secret.”

  “The time for this time’s Heavenly Connection Meet is already nearing, and it has been decided that it will be held in the Lake Domain. Since you’ve decided to participate, this time, after having done what you’ve set out to do, you can directly make for the Lake Domain, meeting up with other members of our clan on the journey there.”

  Yan Zhaoge nodded, “I understand, senior apprentice-aunt Fu can rest easy.”

  Saying thus, he took his leave.

  Fu Enshu stood with her hands behind her back. After who knows how long, Feng Yunsheng and Sikong Qing also walked out from the Yin Yang Cloud Spring.

  “Zhaoge said that your relationship does not involve that between a man and a woman. Then, Yunsheng, has your heart been moved by him?” Fu Enshu suddenly asked mildly.

  Feng Yunsheng was momentarily taken aback before she answered straightforwardly, “Other than gratitude, I also admire s
enior apprentice-brother Yan greatly, always having some sort of expectations of him.”

  “Although he is still young, I indeed have this inexplicable feeling about him, like there is nothing he cannot do.”

  “While he does not really look the part, he is actually very reliable. Being with him is also very relaxing, making me very happy to be with him.”

  Although her life experience far exceeded others of her age, the Feng Yunsheng who was but still a rookie in the area of emotional problems found her thoughts still somewhat hard to grasp and describe, as she just laughed, “I feel that, it shouldn’t have reached that extent yet, right?”

  “Indeed, it has not,” Fu Enshu said mildly, “Being happy and always thinking about him when together-this is actually still nothing much.”

  “If at some point in time, after having separated, you still keep thinking about him, that is the time when you should be wary.”

  Feng Yunsheng blinked, but, very rationally, did not ask why she would have to be wary.

  Fu Enshu looked at Sikong Qing, “Sikong, how do you see Zhaoge?”

  Sikong Qing pondered very earnestly for a moment before answering, “Much admiration, and also curiosity.”

  “The matter of the Eastern Tang, and this this time in Cloud Portent Mountain as well, I also feel admiration at, but what I admired most was how returning to the Mountain this time, he defeated Lu Wen senior apprentice-brother Lu in the Big Dipper Sword.”

  “While people in the past all said that although he was young and arrogant, easily folding when faced with setbacks, creating a masterful sword art of his own was worthy of praise, as I see it, it was more about knowing when to quit, sticking with the simple rather than grasping at the hard.”

  “In the Eastern Tang, he caused others to view him in a different light, and returning to the Mountain this time, he defeated senior apprentice-brother Lu in the Big Dipper Sword; I greatly admire that indeed.”

  Hearing her words, Fu Enshu gazed into the distance, murmuring in a voice too small to be heard “Xue Chuqing, I’m even more unresigned now…”