War is coming
Meanwhile, at the Soaring Dragon Sect, Elder Ye was fiercely fighting two experts at the same level of cultivation as him while the other Elders were trying their best to stop the invaders from advancing into the sect. Explosions and the sound of metal clashing on metal erupted from different parts of the sect. The disciples could only act as supporters in this large scale war as, for those of the Body Refinement Realm, the mere aftermath of a strike of these experts could kill them or at least cripple them.
After a long and tough battle, the result of this small war had long since surpassed the tolerable limit: 289 injured including 167 in a critical state! Worse, a total of at least 50 sect members were confirmed dead of which 2 were Elders with slightly worse battle power than Elder Ye!
And that was only after one mere battle!
For the sect, this represented devastating losses.
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"Sect Master Gu, I sense that this is just the beginning of a long war."
The slightly injured Elder Ye commented.
"You're right. And worst of all, we've already had this many losses while the enemy's casualties are far less. I think this time, we might not make it..."
Coming from any another person, you could have said he was pessimistic. But coming from the wise and old First Elder who had never been wrong...
"You are both right, I think the first thing to do is to send the geniuses away. Although Li Tengfei, An Zihao and Lu Mengyu aren't the most powerful among our disciples, they are surely the most talented. Plus, given their cultivation realms, they won't have much of an impact on the war. We should send them away, at least for now.
Also, contact the other Dragon Sects and propose to organize a joint defense together. I hope that they won't be attacked like us..."
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While Li Tengfei was exploring Xuanwu City and buying all kinds of cultivation resources, Ancestor Li was intently studying the cube they got from those mysterious merchants. Even with his knowledge and proficiency in souls, he was barely able to make sense of it. All he understood was that the cube had something to do with the Dao of Souls yet also had a strong connection with Li Tengfei's bloodline, but more precisely the dragon intent that could now be sensed from Li Tengfei's bloodline.
Ancestor Li was so engrossed in finding the mysteries of the cube that he only now realised this fact.
"Wait a minute! Li Tengfei is a descendant of the Primordial Lightning Wyvern, not of the Dragon King!!! Even though these beasts are related, Li Tengfei isn't supposed to be able to emit such a pure dragon intent!
Unless... his maternal ancestors were descendants of the Dragon King.
But even so, why is the cube attracted to his bloodline?"
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Meanwhile, within those spacial cracks, after images of a huge reptile could be seen. A single flap of its wings would make it travel tens of thousands of kilometers. This monstrosity was indeed the great Dragon King that had fallen in the battle against that Golden Crow.
"Haha! My suspicions were spot on! My core was indeed found and even better has been activated by one of my descendants. But who would have such a pure intent? Did one of my nine sons survive?"
If one was able to look clearly, they would realise that it was but a fragmented soul that was travelling through space and time towards our young Li Tengfei.
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Li Tengfei as for him, was in a motel at Ancestor Li's request to merge the mysterious cube with himself. Although Li Tengfei was reticent at first, he decided to trust Ancestor Li this time as he never did anything detrimental to him. Instead, he acted as a generous tutor that could always answer his questions. After taking out the cube from his bag, he sliced open his finger and let his blood fall on the object.
The cube started trembling and was reduced to azure particles that were absorbed by Li Tengfei with the guidance of Ancestor Li. Those particles looked like they were infused with the laws of space and time. They drifted in the sea of consciousness to finally get glued to the ends of it. Then, the inexplicable happened. His sea of consciousness expanded crazily like water gushing out of a broken dam and some ripples could be seen around Li Tengfei in the outside world! This was the sign that a domain was being formed!
Inside Li Tengfei's sea of consciousness, Ancestor Li was on the verge of crying. He had completely formed his domain when he was at the Fragmentation Realm and was considered a supreme genius yet this descendant of his had nearly accomplished this while being a mere Body Refinement Realm cultivator. He even skipped the step of forming a soul lake! How terrifying!
However, nobody noticed a small cube getting embedded at the top of the Lightning Inheritance Tower...
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The next morning, Li Tengfei started walking around and exploring the city. At some point, he saw two familiar figures, one male and one female. They were of course his friends An Zihao and Lu Mengyu. Well actually, Lu Mengyu wasn't really his friend. They merely knew each other's names and had talked a bit. They were more like... acquaintances.
"Hey there! How are you doing Li Tengfei?" An Zihao started screaming from a distance while Lu Mengyu looked astonished... Isn't this guy supposed to be very shy? We've been friends for more than a year and I've never heard him talk this loud...
Li Tengfei greeted them and asked them what they were doing here.
"Don't you know? There's trouble at the clan and they decided to send us away."
An Zihao started talking and even started gossiping about others while Lu Mengyu and Li Tengfei were wondering if this was the real An Zihao.
The heck? Aren't you a shy guy? Is this called shy nowadays?
In the end they both quietly listened to him while both thinking:
'Damn... I preferred the time when he was shy.'
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After a while, An Zihao realised that both of his companions were very silent. He turned around to see their pained and surprised expression which made him want to laugh.
'Hmm... the way they both find me annoying but endure it... Am I supposed to cry or laugh?'
"Okay so enough about that, let's talk about what to do next. I suggest that we go through the forest to Luoyang city. I heard its pretty nice there. We'll cultivate and stay there for some time until the trouble is over"
"But... isn't Luoyang city very far, like VERY VERY far away"
"Yeah... Mengyu's right. Why are we going so far away?"
"Well actually, Master told me to go there with you two. He said that... this time, our sect might not make it out in one piece and that it'd be better to go there for a few years."
Li Tengfei was somewhat shocked by this... he never realised things were this bad.
But what could he do with his current strength?
Act as cannon fodder?