Volume 1, Chapter 248 – Speculation

Could the Shi family really produce an Emperor level expert?

The moment the thought surfaced, the members of the Lu family dismissed it again.

Across the whole of Chengtian Domain, with its millions upon millions of li of territory, there was only a single publicly known Emperor level expert: the supreme headmaster of the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect. A figure capable of shouldering a second-grade force alone and supporting an immortal sect that dominated an entire Domain was the sort of person Chengtian Domain might not produce even once in ten thousand years.

Such a figure was far too distant from them, almost beyond imagination.

Lu Yueqing’s talent was indeed extraordinary. In less than half an hour, she had successfully broken through the first acupoint and stepped into the Earth Fiend Realm.

After regulating her breathing for a while, Lu Yueqing opened her eyes. A trace of irrepressible joy showed in them, but the moment she saw Shi Lan not far away, that joy turned complicated again. She knew very clearly why she had suddenly broken through.

Because of the pact, Lu Yueqing could clearly sense the terrifying power hidden inside Shi Lan’s body. Though both of them were in the Earth Fiend Realm, her own strength did not amount to even one percent of Shi Lan’s.

“Shi Lan, today the two of us sealed our pact in blood. I was the one who benefited, but I, Lu Yueqing, have never owed anyone so much as half a point. I will never let you regret forming this pact with me in the future.”

Lu Yueqing’s tone was extremely firm. Even though the gap between her strength and Shi Lan’s was immense, her confidence had not been shaken in the slightest. On the contrary, her heart toward Martial Dao had been greatly stirred. Perhaps her talent was not equal to Shi Lan’s, but one day she would make Shi Lan understand where her own worth lay.

Shi Lan parted her lips Lan parted her lips, but for a moment she did not know what to say.

The only reason she had agreed to the pact this time was partly to make amends. At most, she could only say that within the limits of her ability, she would offer Lu Yueqing the greatest help she could. As for the future, no one could say for certain.

“There are still many matters to deal with in the Lu family, so we will not remain any longer.”

After the group stepped down from the Dao altar and returned to the main hall, Lu Changfeng did not linger. He immediately bade Su Lanyue farewell. The smile in his eyes had yet to fade, and he said with a hint of feeling,

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“When my elder brother comes out of seclusion, please convey my congratulations to him on my behalf.”

Shi Tianlu had remained at the great perfection of the Earth Fiend Realm for nearly twenty years. Now that he had finally decided to take that step, it was indeed a major joyous occasion.

After seeing the Lu family out, Shi Lan could not help letting out a breath of relief. At last, this matter had reached a conclusion.

…

Within a side hall on the main peak of the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect,

Shi Feng sat cross-legged in a jade pool. The pool was filled with crystal-clear spiritual liquid, which was slowly nourishing his injuries.

Fang Chan and the gray-robed elder who had appeared together at the Shi Residence earlier stood quietly to one side.

“Granduncle, Senior Brother is all right, isn’t he?”

Fang Chan looked somewhat worried.

“He has two broken bones. It’s nothing serious. The one who struck him very obviously held back. Otherwise, that one palm would have been enough to shatter his heart meridians.”

The gray-robed elder shook his head. His gaze flickered as he unconsciously formed a hand sign, his mind already turning over the identity of that young woman from before.

A thousand commander in the Demon-Suppressing Army was not some especially remarkable figure. There were thousands upon thousands of them. Yet among those thousands, there were very few whom a Demon-Suppressing Marshal would personally step forward for.

Moreover, although the palm imprint on Shi Feng’s chest was not particularly severe, it carried an extremely dense Dao resonance. With his current cultivation, even he could not quite fathom it. The grade of the martial art that young woman had used was terrifyingly high, at the very least an ultimate-level secret art.

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Under heaven, the martial path branched into a hundred schools of thought, and cultivation methods and secret canons were as numerous as the stars. Broadly speaking, they could be divided into four grades: lower, middle, upper, and ultimate. An ultimate art could point directly toward the great Dao of the Human Emperor. As for techniques that could be cultivated all the way to the Sovereign realm, only Sovereign Scriptures qualified.

As the two were speaking, Shi Feng slowly opened his eyes from within the jade pool. The palm imprint on his chest had already healed by nearly half.

“Many thanks to Elder Fang for lending aid this time.”

Shi Feng rose with some difficulty and bowed in thanks.

“No need. You left the sect without permission. Your master does not even intend to bother with you anymore. If Fang Chan had not asked me, I could not have been bothered to pay you any attention.” Fang Yunhao waved a sleeve as if he truly did not care. “That little girl who injured you before, what sort of august figure is she?”

“She is the woman I love.”

A struggle passed through Shi Feng’s eyes for an instant, then he said gloomily,

“But not anymore…”

At the latter half of that sentence, the expression on Fang Chan’s face could not help shifting from sorrow to joy.

“Elder Fang, if someone’s body has been possessed, is there still a possibility of recovery?”

Shi Feng lightly touched the shallow palm imprint on his chest and suddenly lifted his head, a trace of hope in his eyes.

Fang Yunhao frowned slightly.

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“What makes you say that?”

“Shi Lan should have had her body occupied by an evil spirit.”

Shi Feng recounted, point by point, all of Shi Lan’s changes over the past two years, as well as what had happened earlier.

“Absolutely impossible.”

After hearing Shi Feng out, Fang Yunhao immediately shook his head and rejected the idea.

“Once one has cultivated a Nascent Soul, it is indeed possible to seize another’s body, but the price is enormous. And the body in question cannot be too weak. The power of the Nascent Soul is far too terrifying. Even if only a wisp of remnant soul remains, a mortal body still could not bear it. It would be like trying to pour an entire great river into a tiny wine jar. It is simply impossible.”

“But…”

Shi Feng found it hard to believe. He had seen Shi Lan’s changes with his own eyes, and earlier Shi Lan herself had effectively confirmed it. This matter of body possession should not have been false.

“The changes you described suggest another possibility. Shi Lan may have awakened memories from a past life. But such cases are exceedingly rare. Across the entire Vast Land of Shenzhou, there have only ever been a handful. Even I have only heard rumors. Anyone who can retain memories of a former life has, without exception, been some great power from the ancient or even primordial ages, perhaps even the reincarnation of a Human Emperor or Sovereign…”

At this point, Fang Yunhao paused slightly, and a trace of shock suddenly flashed through his eyes.

How could an ordinary woman from a border city possibly come into such a heaven-defying opportunity as to learn an ultimate secret art, unless that art had been hers to begin with?

Could it be that Shi Lan truly was the reincarnation of some ancient Human Emperor, or even a Sovereign?!

Shi Feng was also stunned, but what he was thinking was completely different from Fang Yunhao.

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If she had truly awakened memories from a past life, then was Shi Lan still Shi Lan?

…

…

After seeing the Lu family off, Shi Lan did not waste even the slightest amount of time. She immediately returned to the secret chamber and began seclusion once more.

She intended to use the remaining Violet Thunder Liquid to break through to the Heavenly Astral Realm in one go.

Although great perfection of the Earth Fiend Realm was already not weak, and Shi Lan’s true battle strength far surpassed that of an ordinary early Heavenly Astral Realm martial artist, she still felt no real sense of safety.

The Heavenly Astral Realm was a dividing line, the final great barrier before the Myriad Phenomena Realm.

If the Myriad Phenomena Realm was the transition from mortal to immortal, then the Heavenly Astral Realm was already one foot within the stream of immortals.

When Earth Fiend true qi transformed into Heavenly Astral true qi and one’s martial cultivation entered the half-immortal state, one’s battle strength would undergo a tremendous leap.

For Shi Lan, that was precisely what she lacked most right now.

But the Heavenly Astral Realm was far from as simple as the Earth Fiend Realm. Of the thirty-six death acupoints, at the moment of breakthrough, the slightest misstep could result in true qi flowing in reverse and injuring the meridians, leaving one unable to fight again for a long time. In severe cases, there was even the danger of death!