Chapter 161 - Life Martial Spirit?
Translator: Enrei
Editor:
“Thank you, Your Majesty, for the warning.” Xiao Yun made a mental note of the emperor’s words.
“I hope you can also keep Yu Yao’s situation a secret,” Emperor Feng continued seriously, “The minute this spreads, it might lead to another disturbance, and you’ll be targeted too. If that happens, the consequences would be unimaginable, and it won’t be something you or I can control.”
“I understand.” Xiao Yun nodded. Naturally, he knew how serious this matter was.
The people from the Feng Clan had dared to harm the Seventh Princess once, and once they knew that the Princess had made a full recovery, what was stopping them from doing it again? Xiao Yun would become a target of their evil plots as well.
He could imagine the extent of the power of the Feng Clan, especially after he’d felt the surge of bloodline power in Feng Yu Yao’s body. The abilities that Emperor Feng had displayed back then were clearly out of the ordinary as well, and he wasn’t foolhardy enough to be seeking trouble for himself.
“That’s good then.” Emperor Feng nodded, satisfied.
The two continued to chat, and Xiao Yun returned to the Emperor the flags he had received earlier. These flags might be amazing, but they needed the blood of a member of the Feng Clan and special methods in order to be activated, so Xiao Yun had no use for them.
Xiao Yun returned to the Heavenly Phoenix Ridge, and sunk his mind into the Heaven-Devouring Tower.
“If you have anything to ask, then ask.” Feeling the wave of spirit energy, the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow within the tower came out with a flash, turning into a fist-sized sparrow and landing on Xiao Yun’s shoulder.
“Do you know the origins of my Martial Spirit?” Xiao Yun’s mind raced, and a jade-green branch appeared in his palm. This jade branch shimmered with a viridescent light and exuded a thick mist, making Xiao Yun’s palm look like a verdant ocean. The branch was hidden within, waving slightly.
“This Martial Spirit of yours contains the essence of life. The dewdrops that it produces can not only help someone restore their vital essence, it also has the ability to absorb all Heaven and Earth Vital Essence. Judging from all this, I feel it greatly resembles the Life Martial Spirit of the 10 Great Martial Spirits of the ancient times.” The Heaven-Devouring Sparrow closely observed the branch that had appeared in Xiao Yun’s palm, muttering to itself.
“Life Martial Spirit?” Xiao Yun cocked his brow, his expression slightly confused. It was the first time he’d even heard of such a Martial Spirit.
“If I’m not wrong, then that should be it,” the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow said.
“Does that kind of Martial Spirit even exist?” Xiao Yin was full of curiosity towards this Life Martial Spirit.
“Of course,” the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow replied. “The martial path is boundless, the heaven and earth are full of mysteries, and there are countless supreme experts out there. Some sovereigns have cultivated and gained many comprehensions. They became deities, and even if they fell from the heavens, their powers would be passed on through the form of bloodlines or Martial Spirits.
“If the Feng Clan bloodline, and that Fang Hao’s Ice Martial Spirit all originated like this, then it’s merely a variation in their properties. This is only the tip of the iceberg; once you step into that vast world, you’ll realize much more.”
“So does that mean my Martial Spirit is also passed on through a bloodline?” Xiao Yun asked. “But the Xiao Clan ancestors passed down another kind of powerful Battle Spirit, not this kind of Martial Spirit. How did I come to possess this Life Martial Spirit? Did it originate from my mother?”
It was hard for Xiao Yun to think of any other theories than these. Unless he was never truly part of the Xiao Clan.
“I suppose it must be from your mother.” The Heaven-Devouring Sparrow had a strange look in his eyes, and he said this lightly after some consideration.
“My mother?” Xiao Yun echoed. “Since you’re from the Heavenly Capital Domain, you must know something about which clan has the Life Martial Spirit, so you should be able to guess my mother’s identity, right?” Xiao Yun look excited at the prospect of finding his parents like this.
“The Life Martial Spirit is ranked the tenth among the 10 Great Martial Spirits of the ancient times,” the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow said.
“The tenth?” Xiao Yun frowned. “Then what are the other nine?”
“The one ranked first is the Six Paths Martial Spirit. Whoever has this Martial Spirit can control the Six Paths of Reincarnation, and they would have power to surpass the gods. Even in the ancient times there was no one who could oppose the Six Paths Martial Spirit, so you can imagine how frightening this Martial Spirit was.” The Heaven-Devouring Sparrow said this in an awed voice, treating the Six Paths Martial Spirit with great respect and absolutely no intention of defiling it.
“Six Paths Martial Spirit?” Xiao Yun whispered to himself, making a note of it in his head.
“Ranked second is the Mortality Martial Spirit,” the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow continued, “If the possessor of this Martial Spirit can cultivate to their fullest extent, then they can control the Gates of Life and Death themselves. The Gate of Life enables them to not only raise people from the dead, but also to protect their own soul and body from perishing. The other one, the Gate of Death, is capable of wiping out all living souls, and once that power is unleashed, no one can stop it.
“That’s why this Mortality Martial Spirit is ranked second, and is able to even strive against the Six Paths Martial Spirit.” The Heaven-Devouring Sparrow held a certain reverence towards the Morality Martial Spirit too, and after hearing these introductions, Xiao Yun was in awe as well. The ability to control life and death - was this still human? Clearly this was only achievable by the gods!
The Heaven-Devouring Sparrow kept going, explaining the next few Martial Spirits to Xiao Yun.
“Ranked seventh is the Battle Martial Spirit.”
“The Battle Martial Spirit is seventh?” Suddenly, Xiao Yun’s pupils contracted, and a flash of surprise appeared in his eyes. His father had awakened a Battle Martial Spirit, but he’d never imagined that it would be this powerful.
“What’s so surprising about that?” The Heaven-Devouring Sparrow said. “This Battle Martial Spirit isn’t as simple as a just being a type of Martial Spirit. It’s also a martial path. After they learned the secrets of the Martial Spirit, the inheritor’s power would be constantly strengthened, and once it’s mostly trained, it could even go against the Twin Martial Spirit that is ranked sixth. This Martial Spirit isn’t as simple as just being ranked seventh.”
“It’s that strong?” Xiao Yun felt waves of excitement crashing in his heart.
“You’ll know the intricacies of it soon enough,” the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow said lightly. It hesitated, then muttered, “Your father awakened the Battle Martial Spirit, so it follows that you would have a chance at inheriting it too, but why did you get the Life Martial Spirit instead?
“Are the two unable to coexist?” The Heaven-Devouring Sparrow’s face was full of confusion.
“I wouldn’t know.” Xiao Yun was in doubt as well.
Xiao Yun had awakened his Life Martial Spirit from a young age, but this Martial Spirit had absorbed a great amount of his Essence Qi, and it made him depressed to think about it.
“Maybe it’s because the Life Martial Spirit requires huge amounts of vital essence, and your body can’t handle awakening two Martial Spirits at the same time.” After a short bout of thinking, the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow said, “Perhaps after you accumulate enough Essence Qi in your body, or after you’ve triggered the Martial Spirit bloodline in your body, you’ll get the chance to awaken the Battle Martial Spirit. Or maybe you never even inherited your father’s Martial Spirit in the first place.”
“Hopefully I’ll get the chance to awaken it,” Xiao Yun said with a shrug. He wasn’t very hopeful about awakening his Battle Spirit, because the inheritance of Martial Spirits was a finicky matter, and there was no guarantee that a father who had awakened one would be able to pass it on to his son.
Even if there was such a guarantee, it would be hard to achieve the same level of Battle Spirit as his father. But of course, the Battle Spirit that some people’s patriarch had awakened could be weak, and there was a good chance that the son’s Martial Spirit would be able to overtake that of the father.
Martial Spirits could be strong or weak, and it depended on the level of impression the Martial Spirit had at the time of awakening. The closer it was to the ancestors, the more powerful it would be, and the greater its potential.
The Heaven-Devouring Sparrow continued explaining the remaining types of Martial Spirit.
“The ninth is the Void Martial Spirit,” it said. “This Void Martial Spirit is extremely unique - once fully awakened, it can let the user merge with the void. Not only can they hide in the void, they can also approach the Void Path, and learn all kinds of unsurpassable divine skills. This Martial Spirit is very powerful, and it had incredible potential. If the inheritor has an astounding amount of innate talent, then its ranking might even rise.”
“Void Martial Spirit,” Xiao Yun said to himself. He looked forward to this Martial Spirit as well. What kind of divine power could allow someone to become one with the void and access the Void Path?
Who would be able to defend against such a person?
This kind of Martial Spirit certainly deserved to be ranked ninth.
“As for the tenth, that would be the Life Martial Spirit.” The Heaven-Devouring Sparrow’s eyes flashed, and it glanced towards Xiao Yun. “Legend has it that once this Life Martial Spirit is fully grown, it can revive people from bare bones. Its self-healing capabilities are stronger than the Mortality Martial Spirit’s Gate of Life. The Life Martial Spirit not only contains Heaven and Earth Essence Qi, it can also hold the origins of life, and it can even prevent its inheritor’s body from dying, ultimately granting them immortality.”
“Immortality?” Xiao Yun’s head spun after hearing this.
Immortality?
What a concept!
Xiao Yun was still only a complete stage Innate realm cultivator, and in his eyes, those who were in the Essence Core and Essence Soul realms were already incredibly powerful, and for now they were insurmountable. But after hearing the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow’s introduction of the 10 Great Martial Spirits of the ancient times, his heart raced, as if there was an entire world unfolding before him on a magnificent scale.
He was especially excited after hearing that his own Martial Spirit would be able to achieve such a height.
If this jade Martial Spirit really was a Life Martial Spirit, then how many more opportunities would open to him in the future?
“The Life Martial Spirit holds a lot of wonders, and it’s one of the most mysterious Martial Spirits. Were it not for its lack of combat capabilities, it would not be merely ranked tenth. But some of the people from ancient times didn’t think much of it, and they thought it shouldn’t even be as high as tenth,” the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow said, “Of course, this is just a simple ranking. It isn’t a concrete measurement of how the Martial Spirits would fare in a fight.
“Besides, some Martial Spirits of legend were even on par with the Six Paths Martial Spirit, but no one has ever seen them, so they haven’t been ranked. Don’t be too concerned with it; these are still too distant from you.”
“Mm.” Xiao Yun nodded. He knew that it was too early to talk about such matters right now.
For one, he hadn’t even confirmed that his Martial Spirit was a Life Martial Spirit. Secondly, even if the jade-green tree in his consciousness was a Life Martial Spirit, someone else could possess Martial Spirit of the same type that was much stronger than his. If his Martial Spirit had only inherited a tenth of his ancestors’ power, then his future would be limited.
The peak of the martial path couldn’t be reached just through Martial Spirits. The cultivator’s willpower was the most important piece of the puzzle. Only those who possessed the heart of an expert and did not fear difficulty would be able to cut down all the obstacles in the path to becoming an expert.
Real experts not only needed talent, they also needed incredible mental fortitude.