Chapter 556: Thought I Could Win Once Just by Relying on Numbers…
“Alright, the array is ready,” Bai Feng announced with a stretch. Since snagging the ‘Path-Wisdom Array,’ he’d been burning the midnight oil day and night. And now, finally, it was done.
He planned to spend the next month cloistered inside the array. Before that, to avoid missing his window to deal with the Divine Sense of the Immortal, he checked in with Holy Master Tian Yan for the latest on the Holy Land’s negotiations.
Since this matter involved the Divine Sense of the Immortal—and considering the Holy Land was created by Immortals—they naturally knew quite well the power of the Immortals. But they hadn’t yet come up with a suitable plan. Plus, the Divine Monarch hadn’t yet realized that the Divine Sense had been exposed. So, they decided to take their time preparing, and any special measures would need a bit more time to set up.
Without hesitation, Bai Feng prepared everything and then entered seclusion.
This time, twelve people went into the closed-door training. Because of the secrecy about the Immortal Qi, no one besides Bai Feng could be publicly identified, meaning only those closest to him joined in.
Among them: Bai Yu Mo, Yun Yue Yao, Little Qi, Chu Chu, Yu Yao, Su Lan Qian—they’re obvious choices. Tian Yan, despite being at the Merging Stage and practicing a unique cultivation method, still benefited from improved comprehension. Zuo Qiu was now a loyal servant… cough, loyal follower—well, she was in too. Shui Xi Yu, as the Queen of Eastern Continent, had some free time since there were no major events happening there. Shui Miao Miao, who was pretty much free and not doing much, naturally wouldn’t miss this. And lastly, the often lazy Little Jiu—Bai Feng didn’t even bother asking; he just pulled her by the back of her neck into the array.
“Indeed, this is extraordinary,” Yu Yao thought the moment she stepped into the array. Her mind instantly became clearer. All the doubts accumulated during her cultivation were nearly instantly answered.
The concentration of spiritual energy here was high—so much so that her internal energy spun faster than ever. Even the best Spirit Gathering Array of Heavenly Sword Sect didn’t compare. She couldn’t help but wonder: where did this little junior brother find this array? She increasingly suspected Bai Feng had dug into some immortal’s cave.
Taking a deep breath, she slowly calmed her excited heart. Maybe she could break through to the Refinement Stage in this month, with the benefits of sudden enlightenment far exceeding what a month normally offered. Perhaps before reaching the Merging Stage, she’d never hit a cultivation bottleneck.
Even if she couldn’t catch up to Bai Feng, she wouldn’t be left behind too far.
Not only her, but even Tian Yan, the most experienced among them, was surprised—clearly, this Path-Wisdom Array’s effect was better than she’d imagined.
“Let’s begin cultivation,” Bai Feng was about to sit cross-legged when Yun Yue Yao suddenly asked, “If we double cultivate, can we improve our speed?”
In an instant, at least ten pairs of eyes looked at him intensely. A bead of sweat rolled down his brow: “Wait, wait! We’re here to cultivate, not to throw a…○ party!”
……
“White Young Master’s in closed-door cultivation…” He Yi stood in the courtyard, watching the direction of Bai Feng’s house. She remembered Bai Feng was supposed to be in retreat for about a month. She still had to keep working hard during this time.
For example, she’d noticed Bai Feng was quite fond of her feathers. A while ago, she bought some feather-care books to learn from; since she couldn’t help in battles, she’d assist in daily life.
Just then, she spotted Tiger Yi Yi sneaking over sneakily. She stood up, observing her silently and asked bluntly, “Tiger Yi Yi, what are you up to?”
“Eek!” Tiger Yi Yi nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned to see He Yi and sighed in relief. “Don’t scare me!”
“So, what are you sneakily doing?”
He Yi squinted slightly. Though she got along with Tiger Yi Yi pretty well, if her ride tried any sabotage, she wouldn’t go easy just because they were friends.
“Uh, of course, I’m just collecting Bai Young Master’s daily activities, see if I can help out somewhere!” Tiger Yi Yi hurriedly explained her excuse. “When I went to Central Continent earlier, I thought I might get a fight, but it was over almost immediately. I can’t just be a free loader, right?”
Of course, her main goal was to find evidence of Bai Feng being a tiger in his dreams—the perfect opportunity since Bai Feng was now in retreat.
He Yi listened, then nodded slightly: “But don’t go running around haphazardly. If I catch you somewhere you shouldn’t be, don’t blame me for being rude.”
“Mm-hm, I got it!”
Tiger Yi Yi nodded repeatedly. She knew this logic well. Especially after gathering evidence, she’d follow the agreement and not do anything to annoy Bai Feng—hehe! She definitely wouldn’t do anything that Bai Feng would dislike.
Having explained, she sneaked away stealthily. He Yi, on the other hand, pondered—since Tiger Yi Yi had gotten so motivated, maybe she should also investigate Bai Feng’s preferences and do a bit more.
……
A month later.
Bai Feng walked out of the array, and after a month of hard cultivation, he had successfully broken through to the Merging Stage.
The power of immortal qi really was impressive. If he cultivated normally, reaching the Merging Stage would take quite some time. But now, it all condensed into just one month.
It was a bit exhausting—well, that wasn’t a flaw of the array.
“Thought I could win just once by relying on the numbers…” Shui Miao Miao muttered quietly behind him.
Bai Feng glanced back at Shui Miao Miao—this little ‘yellow’ dragon really had no hope. In the array, she’d been the same. Everyone else was working hard at cultivation, even Little Jiu, who had temporarily shaken off her laziness and started taking it seriously. Only Shui Miao Miao’s mind was full of yellow thoughts.
Plus, just because he rarely took direct action didn’t mean his body was weak.
Although his initial cultivation was of forging divine methods, his forging body techniques weren’t far behind. Besides practicing forging body techniques often, he’d also helped improve Zuo Qiu’s divine body. During this time, he’d read lots of body cultivation books and learned plenty of body techniques. Thanks to scattered rewards from the system, all his attributes increased, and his body wasn’t weaker than his divine consciousness—evidence being his ability to withstand the Great Merging Stage before. Still, he rarely fought physically, so that’s why nobody noticed.
“Yawn… probably nothing else to do now, right?” Little Jiu stretched lazily, as if all her energy had been drained from a year’s effort. “I’ll head back and rest—the past month’s cultivation totally exhausted me.”
Bai Feng looked at the sleepy little Jiu, then reached out to ruffle her fox ears with a grin: “Go ahead, go ahead. Seeing as you’ve been working so hard this month, I’ll give you a few days off.”
Little Jiu didn’t resist the ear-rubbing much anymore. She heaved a few sighs of relief, then, seeing Bai Feng had no objections, she jumped up and asked, “Hey, can you play games with me?”
“……”
This little guy was really shameless—climbing up on his back with no shame.
“This time, I’ve got other things to do. Let’s do it after I’m done,” Bai Feng patted her head lightly. “And don’t just play games all day. Practice a bit more, get familiar with your cultivation in the Merging Stage, or if you get defeated by someone in the Refinement Stage later, it’d be embarrassing.”
“Okay……”
Little Jiu nodded obediently. She’d actually been beaten by Chu Chu at the Divinity Breaker Stage when she herself was in the Refinement Stage.
And so, a peaceful month drew to a close, filled with internal energy, breakthroughs, and a lot of lazy moments—but also diligent plans for the future.
