The thunder of spring ravaged the sky as rain drizzled down Steelmountain.
“Drip, drip!” Darkness pervaded. A few evening lamps by the town were extinguished by the cold water.
Thunder over in the horizon occasionally lit up the area and illuminated Feiyun. He looked down and out, completely drenched from top to bottom. He held the phoenix bone in his chest, caressing it like a lover.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!” Deafening thunder and darkness came and went in a rotating manner.
He hasn’t moved for seven days and eight nights. His eyes were muddled from focusing on the horizon too much. One would question whether he would eventually go blind from doing this
Dongfang Jingyue stood next to him, unblinking as well. Her starry eyes have turned dusky.
“Maybe… she’s really a liar… a liar wouldn’t keep a promise…” His lips finally moved. The words were hoarse as if his throat was injured.
Dongfang Jingyue didn’t reply because she knew he wasn’t talking to her.
He twitched a bit - uncomfortable from the long period of stillness. He looked down at the phoenix bone for a careful look.
It was now emitting a faint light of a crimson shade with a slender figure engraved on the surface.
Feiyun sat down straight to stare at this figure. White dress; perfect curves; holding a zither - who else could it be but Hongyan?
However, this Hongyan didn’t have a veil so her perfect-beyond-words face was revealed. In fact, calling her the prettiest in the world was still an understatement, almost an insult.
Everyone thought that Hongyan must have been frightened before death but the opposite was the case. She dug out the phoenix bone while maintaining full composure to carve her appearance on the surface.
She knew that she was dead for sure, and only this phoenix bone would get away from the refinement process.
She didn’t want for Feiyun to not know what she looks like. That would be even more vexing than dying.
Thus, she carved her features, hoping that he could recall her a thousand years later. That would be more than enough. Dying without leaving behind a legacy was unbearable.
“Why do the torments of life keep on picking me?” Feiyun buried his face onto the bone before slowly closing his eyes for the first time in a long while. The figure hugging the zither was ingrained in his mind.
Hongyan was dead regardless of his pain, forever disappearing from this world.
Jingyue stood there, still hasn’t rested. Feiyun ignored her and took out a red box made out of steel from his spatial stone.
This was the only item left behind by Hongyan. She told him to use it when his life was at risk.
What was inside?
He held it with a heavy heart, treating it as a legacy. He hesitated for a long time before removing the seals and opening it.
Inside was an expanse with a faint, violet light. Taking it out revealed a purple robe made of unknown material, at least not one Feiyun had seen before. The patterns looked like the skin of a dragon more than a snake.
Opening it revealed nine divine doves on top. In the center were eight mysterious runes, not identifiable in Jin. However, Feiyun knew that they were the eight divinatory trigrams.
They were from an ancient lineage in the old ages.
Rumor has it that a dragon-horse with a tortoise on its back was floating on the river to absorb the essences of the world. A human sage walked by and saw the runes on the tortoise’s shell before establishing eight trigrams. They were the earliest arts for cultivation among the human race.
Could this be the Nine-doves Gown? The demon’s battle armor?
No, it couldn’t be. Why was there no thick demonic energy? This affinity should have been overwhelming.
Feiyun took out the letter placed at the bottom of the box, signed in an elegant manner.
His hands were shaken since Hongyan wrote the words.
“Feng Feiyun, if you are reading this letter, you must be in a precarious and helpless situation…”
Feiyun smiled wryly - this was indeed the case.
“... This garment is indeed the famous demon’s battle armor, the only thing your mother left behind for you. A great master from the southern region once told me that obtaining the five divine garments would grant an unstoppable power, and more importantly, longevity.”
“Before meeting you, I naturally tried all means to obtain them, but afterward, I feel that by obtaining you, I would have the strongest force of this world and eternal life.”
“The demonic, evil affinity on this garment was unbelievably thick. If you were to wear it, it would stimulate your demonic blood, and you can’t stop it at all before becoming an Enlightened Being.”
“Thus, I acted on my own initiative to channel this affinity into the phoenix bone then refining it away. This took me all of last year. Now you can wear this garment and boost your battle potential while suppressing your unstable demonic blood.”
“Haha! No need to cry from gratitude, I only wanted to give you a pleasant surprise! Jerk.”
Feiyun’s eyes became teary and could see Hongyan dancing on the letter and smiling at him.
“I feel that by obtaining you, I would have the strongest force of this world and eternal life” - what she meant was that Feiyun was her everything, her world, her eternity.
She wrote this letter before trying to obtain the Regal Dragon Robe, meaning that she had also given the battle armor to him and wouldn’t be able to gather all five. Thus, she wasn’t doing it for herself.
Her goal was to help Feiyun gather all five so that he could be unstoppable, and she would be the woman standing by his side.
Women didn’t wish to be flower vases, only pretty to look at. They also wanted to help their lovers. This was the case for Hongyan.
Love could make an intelligent person become dumber than a three-year-old child or do something extreme, perhaps even morally unforgivable. Alas, some sympathy should be given for love is too powerful of an emotion.
Loving someone was to quietly give and give with no fear of dying.
Feiyun took a deep breath before folding the letter back into the box and putting it away carefully.
As more tears dripped down, his heart grew colder.
He got down from the boulder, standing upright just like an unsheathed sword on the verge of slashing.
“Phoof!” He wore the garment and quickly became one with it.
A massive battle intent erupted from behind him as a violet dragon materialized from his back. It looked ferocious with sharp scales; inhaling and exhaling purple clouds. It could control the thunder affinity of the world, seemingly capable of devouring the heaven.
Feiyun took out the phoenix bone again to look at the wondrous figure for the second time. Bitterness flashed in his eyes but was quickly replaced by murderous intent.
“Hongyan, you are my heart.” Having said that, he held the burning bone and pushed it on his chest, forcing it to fuse with his heart.
The second step, Bone Refinement, of the Immortal Phoenix Physique has officially begun. This was his first bone - the heart bone - akin to his heart.
He had a human body so he would need to wait until becoming a Giant before forming his first bone. However, with the addition of this bone, he had skipped all the way to the second step.
His bones started cracking, refined for the second time. They became resplendent and red like rubies.
His physique grew six times stronger in just the blink of an eye.
“Give me two beast souls.” He was basked in a blinding radiance; his long hair standing straight up.
Dongfang Jingyue threw out two wisps of light with two powerful beast souls towards him.
Feiyun caught them and directly refined both.
“Boom!” Ten thousand souls finally came out and floated around him, building a world of beasts. It made this area look like a primordial realm of monsters.
Grand completion - Myriad Beasts Physique.
Feiyun let his demonic energy run wild while the beast souls ravaged the sky vault. His murderous intent instantly crushed every animal within a radius of fifty miles into specks of blood.
If it wasn’t for the demonic garment suppressing his demonic affinity, he would have lost all senses and become a bloodthirsty monster.
“Whoosh!” He soared into the sky like an awakened devil and started flying for the capital.
“What is your goal?” Jingyue asked.
“I will be a devil, one that will massacre this capital.” Feiyun’s hoarse voice echoed in the sky like a preaching death god.
This harsh atmosphere wouldn’t dissipate in the sky.
Although Feiyun seemed to be insane, he could still answer her. This showed that his mind hasn’t been devoured by the demonic and evil affinity just yet. This made her feel much better.
Of course, this feeling didn’t last long because his comment just now was chilling and ruthless. Jingyue had no choice but to try and catch up in a hurry.