Translator: Sparrow Translations  Editor: Sparrow Translations

The Emperor of the Dead looked at the Nether Priest. "Don't go to the Netherworld Sea anymore. It's been thoroughly occupied by the Celestial Sect and the Great Void Sect. At least, before another War of the Two Worlds breaks out, we should not set foot into the Netherworld Sea. Once the new War of the Two Worlds erupts, that will be the time to return to the Netherworld Sea. Shen Tuze may have seized control over some areas of the Netherworld Sea from you, and is in possession of a debris fragment from the heavenly catastrophe, but even he wouldn't dare to show himself in the Netherworld Sea now."

The Emperor of the Dead smiled, "Xiao Yan from the Celestial Sect may not have Shen Tuze's heavenly catastrophe fragment, but as time pa.s.ses, he might even gain complete control over the Netherworld Sea. Shen Tuze wouldn't wait for that to happen, so his time to strike would also be during the new War of the Two Worlds. You'll know what to do then."

The Nether Priest bowed and replied, "I understand." With that, he took his leave.

The black mirage before the Emperor of the Dead vanished as he stood silently at his original position. The black vortex below him swirled incessantly as every part below his knees became submerged once again in the spiral. Above his head, rays of white radiance cascaded down like a screen of water, cloaking his entire body and healing his injuries.

Yet a trace of cunningness still flashed through his eyes. "The Heaven-Destroying Sword Formation … it has formidable attacking power, and even greater mantrdestroying abilities. It can even damage by my Life and Death Netherworld Mantra. If not for that, my recovery would be even speedier."

"The Celestial Sect Master Lin Feng is truly an astounding opponent."

He looked at the two Life and Death Netherworld Dao Fruits in his hands, with his gaze finally landing on the Dao Fruit which was imprisoning the Blood River Daoist. He frowned, "I made a mistake. Keeping this Dao Fruit caused me more harm than good …"

As he pondered, his body gradually morphed into flowing light and he disappeared from the house, leaving behind his doppelganger, sound asleep.

Someone pushed the door open. It was an old man with a frail-looking face but a tough-looking body. He gazed at the napping teenager and showed a kind smile.

The teenager tossed around and sat up in a blur, rubbing his eyes.

After seeing the old man, the teenager's face burst into a smile, and said shyly, "I feel asleep, Grandpa."

He quickly got up from bed. "I'll help you out in the fields now."

The old man smiled, "Silly boy, you just focus on studying. Our family has finally produced a child with the potential to study well."

The handsome young man smiled, "I've finished my homework. I can't just study for the sake of studying, I'll just be a helpless bookworm."

"Alright, alright!" The old man chuckled, "Happy is absolutely right."

Even though he already has a proper name, everyone in the family is still used to calling him by his nickname. The boy called Happy laughed as he walked towards of the door with his grandfather. "This was actually said by my private school teacher. I thought it made sense so I remembered it."

The old man nudged him with his finger and chuckled, "You clever boy …:"

Grandfather and grandson then walked out of the house door together.

In the middle of the Ying Sea, inside the Great Hall atop the Penglai Celestial Mountains, that tall figure was sitting cross-legged in front of the Heavenly Oyster's Golden Pearl. He laid his finger on the pearl and observed the images projected from the pearl in silence.

He saw tumbling white clouds, rolling and sliding unpredictably in the images.

But as he observed the tumbling white clouds, Lin Feng remained calm. He knew that although the Great Void Sect had tried to open up the Spirit Sea beforehand, their efforts thus far have been evidently futile.

"Even though they can't unseal the Spirit Sea now, will they cause a shrinkage by a hundred years?" Lin Feng pondered as he continued observing.

On the third storey of the Tripitaka Block atop Mount Yujing, Lin Feng himself and his Thunder Dragon Avatar sat facing each other, studying their own mantras in silence. His Avatar of Ares stood atop the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree gazing at the gates to the Ancient Desolate Galaxy.

Within the gates to the Ancient Desolate Galaxy, a few human silhouettes advanced towards him, first of them being Zhu Yi's Great Sun Avatar and w.a.n.g Lin's Great Satanic Avatar. As these two avatars, their training in the Starry Sea was more efficient as compared to their training in the Greater Worlds.

Behind them were Yue Hongyan and Ge Qingwu. After undergoing a period of seclusion and subsequently entering the Ancient Desolate Galaxy for cultivation, they have now returned alongside Zhu Yi and w.a.n.g Lin.

When the four met Lin Feng, they bowed in unison to greet him. "Master."

The junior disciples who followed the four into the Starry Sea also bowed hastily. "Greetings, Grandmaster."

Lin Feng's Avatar of Ares waved his hands. "No need for salutations."

The four senior disciples signalled their juniors to return to their quarters while they stayed. Ge Qingwu asked in curiosity, "Master, I heard Senior Zhu Yi and Senior w.a.n.g Lin mention that Senior Xiao Yan obtained the Holy Light of Creation once owned by the Chi Yang Holy Man of the Four Immemorial Heroes of the Great Void. What sort of Holy Light of Creation is that?"

The Avatar of Ares sat cross-legged on the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree's branch and waved his hand, gesturing for the four to sit as well before chuckling, "You can just ask your Big Senior yourselves the next time you meet him."

Ge Qingwu smiled and nodded, her face revealing a lazed and carefree expression. "The Chi Yang Holy Man was truly a n.o.ble hero. He's the person I admire the most out of all the cultivators outside our sect."

Zhu Yi's Great Sun Avatar wanted to communicate with Zhu Yi himself, but encountered some difficulties connecting their consciousnesses due to the barriers surrounding the Netherworld Sea. Now that they have left the Netherworld Sea, a simple jolt was all it took for Zhu Yi to be clearly updated on the events that unfolded in the Netherworld Sea. As w.a.n.g Lin and Zhu Yi pursued the cultivators from the Hall of the Dead, they quickly got wind of the detailed happenings of their expedition into the Netherworld Sea.

Even w.a.n.g Lin felt surprised after listening to the story.

Yue Hongyan and Ge Qingwu who reunited with Zhu Yi and w.a.n.g Lin's avatars in the Ancient Desolate Galaxy were similarly stunned.

Yue Hongyan then nodded, "It may be a blessing for the Chi Yang Holy Man to be ignorant about the truths behind all these things."

Ge Qingwu tilted her head to one side and looked at Lin Feng. "But Master, I suddenly recalled something. You mentioned that the Chi Yang Holy Man had a child, what happened in the end?"

Lin Feng replied, "No one knows the exact details. Wen Chiyang didn't know. Emperor Xia didn't know. The Emperor of the Dead doesn't know, and neither does the Great Void Sect."

"Perhaps the child survived and grew up to be a great hero. Perhaps he didn't even know about the family he hailed from. Perhaps he knew about his heritage and plotted for revenge in secret. Perhaps he survived but lived a normal life before dying of old age like everyone else." Lin Feng's tone was calm, "Or perhaps he died at a young age as no one cared for him."

"When Emperor Xia slaughtered the Cloud Demons back in the day, he let the Cloud Demons send the child away. We still don't know whether the Great Void Sect got wind of this news. If the Great Void Sect knew that the child survived, they would have definitely searched for his whereabouts, either to rear him themselves or to a.s.sa.s.sinate him. They would certainly not let this matter slip based on their usual style."

Lin Feng continued, "But by the current looks of it, the child was never delivered to the Great Void Sect. That's something I'm certain about, but it's hard to predict his ultimate fate."

w.a.n.g Lin hummed and said after a while, "Master, I still feel that the Emperor of the Dead's actions are a little out of the ordinary."

After hearing this, Zhu Yi nodded in agreement. Yue Hongyan and Ge Qingwu also sank deep in thought.

Lin Feng smiled, "w.a.n.g Lin, you're very alert. The Emperor of the Dead plans very far ahead, so we must take note of his every move. Even though we don't know what he's plotting, he is definitely not as simple as he looks. He specializes in fis.h.i.+ng for benefits as others battle against one another. In the grand scale of things in the human cultivation world of the Divine Lands, the conflict between our sect and the Great Void Sect poses a brilliant opportunity for him to do just that."

"But when considering the entire Grand Celestial World, the War of the Two Worlds would be the chance he is waiting for."

Everyone nodded in unison. Lin Feng continued, "We should all begin our preparations earnestly. I have a hunch that the War of the Two Worlds might dawn upon us soon."

Zhu Yi, w.a.n.g Lin, Yue Hongyan and Ge Qingwu nodded and each returned to their respective training.

There was nothing else to be said about Zhu Yi and w.a.n.g Lin. But as for Yue Hongyan and Ge Qingwu, both have achieved the Advanced Nascent Soul Stage and formed their cosmic form, yet they still have a long way to go before they can reach the Immortal Soul Stage.

Li Yuanfang was in the same predicament. He underwent cultivation in the past, so Lin Feng invited him to join the pursuit of the Hall of the Dead's cultivators as a training phase.

Among all the Immediate Disciples in the sect, Yang Qing was the only one still in the Middle Nascent Soul Stage, lagging behind the rest. However, that was because he had to devote his time to practicing medicine outside without dedicating much time and effort to cultivation. Furthermore, he did not have an abode that sped up time.

That being said, following his heart was a great help to improving his mental state. When Lin Feng saw him this time round, he knew that Yang Qing had acc.u.mulated a wealth of experience. Following Zhu Yi and w.a.n.g Lin to pursue the Hall of the Dead's cultivators alongside Li Yuanfang would be another opportunity for him to grow, through actual combat experience.

The next time he returned to the sect and entered the Heavenly Cosmic Ray World, he would immediately be able to unleash all the experience he slowly acc.u.mulated over time and form his cosmic form easily, hence achieving the Advanced Nascent Soul Stage.

As expected, not long after, even though the pursuit of the Hall of the Dead's cultivators was still ongoing, Yang Qing returned to Mount Yujing prematurely.

After meeting Lin Feng, Yang Qing entered the Heavenly Cosmic Ray World and began cultivation, immediately breaking into the Advanced Nascent Soul Stage.

Tan Yunqing, Li Yuanfang's disciple who followed them back too, was originally in the peak of the Advanced Aurous Core Stage. But once he entered the Heavenly Cosmic Ray World, his bottleneck immediately loosened which gave him hope to overcome the Void Thunder Tribulations to form his Nascent Soul.

And before him, Liu Xiafeng and Li Xingfei both successfully formed their Nascent Souls. Zhao Huan and Zhuge Wanqiu also advanced to the Nascent Soul Stage together with Tan Yunqing.

And as time pa.s.sed, as all three of them successfully formed their Nascent Soul, there were twenty disciples under Lin Feng's belt who have reached the Nascent Soul Stage within fifty years.

Lin Feng nodded as he watched this, and gave Zhu Yi and the rest the order to open their sect's doors to new disciples. This time, he wanted to officially increase the number of disciples above a thousand.

If everything goes as planned, this would also be the Celestial Sect's final large-scale recruitment of disciples before the War of the Two Worlds.

Although he was aiming to gather talent, Lin Feng was also closely monitoring the main quest of the System.