"There's an old saying in our Li Realm: 'A marching soldier's steed lightly stamps its hoof, and a mountain fire breaks out a thousand li away.' Could it be that some unintentional action of mine caused the future to drastically change?"
Ye Feipeng's brows knit tight as he painstakingly recalled every detail since his rebirth, trying to locate the root of the deviation. Regrettably, rack his brains though he might, he could not come up with even a remotely plausible explanation.
After nearly half a day, he finally gave up in dejection.
"Regardless, the future in my memories has already become inaccurate. It can only serve as a reference, not gospel. In that case, what I should care about most is: will Crimson Flame burning the sea still happen? Will the joint slaying of Crimson Flame by the Soul Formation experts still play out on schedule?"
The fat man strained with all his might to deduce a rough scenario. After quite a while, he reached a conclusion.
"Crimson Flame burning the sea should still happen. However, in my previous life, the reason several Soul Formation cultivators of the Congyun Sea joined forces was very likely because Zhang Haobo informed Wanxian Island of the matter beforehand."
"Riding the wind to surpass myriad immortals, facing Soul Formation Immortal Lords head-on..."
Ye Feipeng shivered, his face twisting in distress.
"I can't pull that off! Let me think... back then, among those who took part in the encirclement, only two were native cultivators of Wanxian Island. The rest were reinforcements brought in on short notice. If there are only two, caught off guard against Crimson Flame..."
The fat man's face blanched.
"They wouldn't stand a chance of matching it! Doesn't that mean all my schemes will amount to nothing?"
His expression darkened and shifted. After a long while, a vicious glint flashed in Ye Feipeng's eyes.
"No, I have to find a way to spread word that Crimson Flame is about to burn the sea. Even if I have to make it known to everyone..."
His heart gave a sudden lurch, and he hurriedly shook his head.
"No, no. Too dangerous! If someone deduces that I was behind it all, wouldn't my end be worse than death?"
After agonizing for most of the day, still feeling utterly helpless, Ye Feipeng could not help but droop in despair.
Fretful and suffocated, he left the deserted island. Wandering aimlessly, he pondered countermeasures, his mind drifting until he had lost track of which sea region he had reached.
A breathtaking, magnificent sight jolted him awake from his contemplation.
The sun in the sky was gone. In its place hung a colossal eye directly in the center of the celestial vault.
The giant eye stared down at the ocean below. Everywhere its gaze touched, seawater, islands, and living beings were draped in a sheen of silvery light. Then, under the silver radiance's effect, they seemed to be forcibly flattened into a painting while still alive, turning into illusory, two-dimensional scenes that drifted along with the silver light straight into the colossal eye in the sky.
"This is..."
A cold sweat broke out across Ye Feipeng, and he snapped fully alert.
"Extracting the marrow of Heaven and Earth! A Nascent Soul cultivator is breaking through to Soul Formation!"
Though this was the first time Ye Feipeng had seen it with his own eyes, the spectacle before him was practically identical to the records in books: *"Mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas—all things in the world return to the grotto-heaven!"*
Ye Feipeng held his breath and quietly backed away. Cultivators in the middle of a breakthrough were extraordinarily sensitive. If the person mistook him for having malicious intent and casually struck him down, that would truly be an unjust death.
Praying silently that he would go unnoticed, Ye Feipeng unleashed the fastest speed of his life, desperate to put distance between himself and this perilous stretch of sea.
Unfortunately, fate had other ideas.
The colossal eye in the heavens shifted slightly. Its gaze instantly locked onto Ye Feipeng.
Ye Feipeng, who was riding the wind and skimming the waves, froze on the spot, unable to move a muscle. A layer of silvery radiance enveloped his body. In the next breath, he was on the verge of being completely compressed and swallowed into the grotto-heaven.
Right then, an azure light surged from his body, rippling the silver light away.
"Eh?"
A figure appeared before Ye Feipeng in an instant. His hair was snow-white, and his jet-black eyes seemed to harbor boundless wisdom.
"Zhang Zhiliang?!" The instant Ye Feipeng saw this person, his mind shook violently. For he recognized him—this was the very formation master who would join several Soul Formation Immortal Lords a few years from now to besiege Crimson Flame.
*Shouldn't he be at the Nascent Soul realm? How could he already be on the verge of breaking through to Soul Formation?!*
Zhang Zhiliang slowly extended a hand, drawing a wisp of the blue light toward himself. A burst of silver radiance flashed, and the blue light was dismantled inch by inch.
"A wonder of Earth?"
A flicker of curiosity flashed in Zhang Zhiliang's eyes, and he looked upon this insignificant Foundation Establishment cultivator with great interest.
"You seem to recognize me?"
Without waiting for the petrified Ye Feipeng to answer, Zhang Zhiliang, his eyes utterly void of emotion, lightly tapped Ye Feipeng between the eyebrows.
Within Ye Feipeng's pupils, vivid fragments of memory immediately surfaced.
A blazing sun hung high in the sky, illuminating the newly emerged anima of Heaven and Earth.
Five Soul Formation Immortal Lords, along with Zhang Zhiliang himself, joined forces to battle Crimson Flame.
The Twenty-Eight Congyun Swords: Golden Core slaying Dao Integration.
...
The colossal eye in the sky widened furiously in an instant. While Zhang Zhiliang's expression remained largely unchanged, the slight tremor in his body betrayed the violent turmoil within his heart.
"What is this?"
He stared fixedly at the twitching Ye Feipeng and pointed once more, intending to dig out more from his mind.
At this life-or-death juncture, boundless azure light erupted from Ye Feipeng's chest, enveloping him in an instant. Zhang Zhiliang's expression shifted, and just as he moved to mobilize the power of his grotto-heaven to suppress the blue glow, the Congyun Sea below suddenly roiled and shook violently.
Waves roared, causing an involuntary flaw to open in the grotto-heaven domain's containment.
Wrapped in the blue light, Ye Feipeng vanished in the blink of an eye, fleeing to who knew where.
Only Zhang Zhiliang remained standing blankly in place. Only after a long while did he seem to wake from a dream.
"A reincarnator?"
"An anima of Heaven and Earth?"
The Dharma Eye Grotto-Heaven vanished from the heavens, and the sun reappeared high above. All returned to normal between heaven and earth. Yet upon Zhang Zhiliang, an indelible shadow seemed to linger, impossible to dispel.
"Dao Integration..."
"Dao Integration..."
He repeated the words over and over, an inscrutable brilliance flashing in his eyes.
...
Within the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
Having been jolted from his cultivation and witnessing the entire scene unfold, Li Fan stroked his chin.
That Ye Feipeng's aimless wanderings would accidentally lead him to cross paths with Zhang Zhiliang mid-breakthrough was something Li Fan had not anticipated. The little fatty had been too guilty and nervous, allowing Zhang Zhiliang to detect something amiss. The man had even used an art akin to soul searching to excavate the secrets within his mind. Fortunately, at the critical moment, the Vast Sea Pearl erupted and saved his life.
Ye Feipeng appeared to have suffered a severe trauma to his mind and fallen into a deep slumber. What puzzled Li Fan, however, was that after this ordeal, Ye Feipeng's destiny had not been undermined. Instead, it had undergone an even more mystical transformation—one that even the current Li Fan could not see through.
"Interesting. It seems the Vast Sea Pearl is determined to protect Ye Feipeng at all costs. Could there be other secrets about him that I haven't uncovered?"
"And now that Zhang Zhiliang has learned ahead of time that Crimson Flame will descend, with his strength elevated to Soul Formation as well, what will he do? Where will the burning of the sea by Crimson Flame lead in this lifetime... I truly look forward to finding out."
Li Fan let out a low chuckle.
Chapter 248