Wu Qi gave a cry in shock as he flew towards the small landmass in a curved line.
His presence had stirred the strong winds, causing countless wind blades to grind and slash violently in the air. However, when he went past them, the strong winds brushed him like the gentle hands of a lover that caressed his skin. They did not hurt him. And not only that, they even injected an agile, lively force into his body, allowing him to control his body with ease like a fish in water, flying through the nearly one hundred miles wide windstorms and safely landing on the landmass.
Feng Xiaoxiao made a few cries, lightly patting Lady Feng Qinger with one of his wings.
Lady Feng Qinger rolled her eyes and gave Feng Xiaoxiao a few fierce slaps, "If you dare to stray off again, I'm not going to save you and just let those mortals kill you! Sigh, I've personally brought him here, and with the Gale's bloodline in his body helping him to control the winds, as long as he is not too unlucky, he should be able to obtain the legacy of the ancient Immortal!"
Feng Xiaoxiao spread his wings and put out a disapproving look. His body began to shrink, from ten miles long to about the size of a fist, then jumped and perched on Lady Feng Qinger's shoulder like a nestling. He kept making the 'Gu' sounds while pecking Lady Feng Qinger's earlobe.
Lady Feng Qinger snorted coldly, grabbing Feng Xiaoxiao with one hand and giving him a hard squeeze with another. Feng Xiaoxiao opened his mouth and gave a miserable cry, legs twitching and eyes rolling. The mother continued to give the son a long-winded scolding, beating, and slapping.
Wu Qi landed on the landmass. Although it looked only about one thousand miles in both width and length from the distance, it had become extremely huge when he was standing on it. With the Mystic Eyes of Universe, he looked into the horizon, and saw the border was about hundreds of thousands of miles away from him. A formidable Immortal had deployed a space restrictive spell on the landmass, concealing its significance and making it look ordinary from the outside.
He carefully probed the surrounding with his divine will, sensing numerous winds being frozen in the void. Like the flowing water that had been frozen into ice cubes, the winds on this landmass had been frozen completely. Wu Qi could even trace out the outlines of the windstorms in the air using his divine will. They had all been frozen midair, invisible to the eyes and shapeless to touch, only to be sensed with divine will.
Cautiously, he reached out one hand to gently touch a gust of frozen wind that was blocking before him. A green ripple emerged midair, and Wu Qi sensed a lonely and bleak emotion amidst the frozen wind. The Gale's bloodline he had just fused made him take pity on the frozen wind. He sighed lightly and asked, "Do you wish to dance?"
Winds should dance freely and unconstrained between the Heaven and Earth. They should not be like what they were now, completely frozen in the air, losing their freedom and the ability to move. Wu Qi's heart was stirred. In the next moment, a thread of wind force shot out of his fingertip, fusing into the frozen wind before him.
All of a sudden, the entire landmass was waking up. The air was fluctuating violently, and gusts of strong wind were blowing towards Wu Qi from all directions, carrying him up as they kept dancing gently and freely midair. The once frozen flowers, grasses, trees had also begun to sway as the winds blew across them, while a life force suddenly rose from within them, then quickly spread out throughout the entire landmass.
The gusts of strong wind carried Wu Qi as they flew straight towards the palace. They lightly placed him before the entrance, and like a giant hand, pushed him inside the palace.
The palace was entirely constructed with green jade stones. It must have had a few layers of halls at one point in time, but most of them had collapsed now, leaving only tumbledown walls and rubbles on the ground. It was a desolate scene. Only the main hall remained standing, but its roof of thin, translucent green jades was riddled with several dozens of holes, some as large as a water tank. It too was sending forth an air of bleakness.
As the strong winds pushed Wu Qi into the hall, his eyes were immediately dazzled by a bright light. A gust of green wind swept across the floor and fluttered his clothes. From the outside, the hall looked like a building of about an acre wide, but when he was inside, it was actually one hundred miles in both width and length. Several thousand green jade pillars stood firmly across the hall, their surfaces filled with countless carving of winds and passing clouds. Wu Qi had a false impression that all the pillars were spinning and moving as the strong winds blew across them.
The hall's ceiling was a magnificent and profound star map. It had a dark background, and the stars shone brilliantly. They looked exactly like a real sky. However, because of the holes that riddled the roof, the star map was filled with several dozens of large holes that measured nearly one mile wide. Faint light sprinkled into the hall through these holes, obscuring the star map.
An extremely powerful force had been maintaining the normal functioning of some restrictive spells in the hall, stabilizing the hall's space like an independent world within a mustard seed. Wu Qi raised his head to look at the huge holes, then glanced around at the intact space. He could not help but praise inwardly, marveling at this residence of a Primordial Immortal. It was very magical indeed, and even though the Primordial Immortal had fallen, the miraculous spells that had maintained the place were not something that Wu Qi could understand.
The strong winds pushed him further into the hall.
A cloud bed hewed from a white jade stone was placed at the far end of the hall, on top of which sat cross-legged an obscure, misty figure. Wu Qi could roughly tell that he was a skinny old man, whose eyes shone so brightly that they looked like two small suns. But, at the same time, judging the aura emanated from the figure, Wu Qi realized that the old man was not even a broken soul. Unlike the broken soul left behind by Lady Dark Gold Water, this old man was just a projection.
He was a trace left behind among the traces of the Heavenly Dao by the fallen Primordial Immortal using his incredibly powerful force. He was merely a lifeless projection. Nevertheless, as the projection of a formidable Primordial Immortal, although the source had fallen, he still possessed very strong abilities by relying on the various restrictive spells found in the hall.
Wu Qi took a few steps forward, cupped his fist, and bowed to the projection. "Senior, your junior, Wu Qi, offers greetings!"
The projection opened his eyes, staring at Wu Qi as his asked in a deep voice, "Are you a good person?"
Wu Qi was struck dumb. After a brief moment of pondering, he shook his head resolutely and answered, "I don't consider myself as a good person. However, I don't think I am a bad person either. I will not attack unless someone attacks me, and when someone does, I will pour in all my efforts to seek revenge. In any case, I am not a good person!"
The projection smiled lightly and said with a nod, "It is better to not be a good person! In this world, a good person will have to suffer!"
He sighed, then spent some time in sizing Wu Qi up. At last, the projection asked, "Have you done the Gales a kindness?"
Wu Qi nodded, then told the projection how he saved Feng Xiaoxiao. He had a feeling that it was useless to tell lies before the projection. The entire hall was in the projection's complete control, making him an almighty deity here. If Wu Qi tried to tell a lie, he would be immediately attacked by the restrictive spells.
After listening to Wu Qi, the projection smiled. "Then... tell me what do you think the wind represents?"
Wu Qi thought for a while, then he answered with a frown, "To me, the wind represents freedom! Only the free-flowing air can turn into winds!"
The projection applauded lightly, then sighed and said, "You're right, the fundamental essence of the wind is freedom. I've been upholding the Dao of freedom, and that's why I was able to grasp the ultimate secrets of the wind and become a Primordial Immortal. But, too bad that the Eastern Green Emperor had sent an ancient Heavengod, Lord Wind to pay me a visit, requesting me to surrender and offer my service to the Eastern Heaven. But, how could I be willing to be controlled by someone else?"
Eastern Green Emperor? Wu Qi inhaled a sharp cold breath as he heard the name.
The projection continued, "I turned down Green Emperor's edict, which immediately attracted the joint attack of ten Wind Gods, ten Rain Gods, ten Thunder Gods, and ten Lightning Gods who served the Green Emperor. In the battle of fighting forty Heavengods, I managed to severely wound seven Wind Gods, three Rain Gods, two Thunder Gods, and one Lightning God. But in the end, I was hit on my back by Green Emperor himself with a staff, and I have fallen since then."
He paused, then sighed before continuing, "If you have the overall strength in the future, would you avenge me?"
Wu Qi thought for a while, frowning. At last, he told the projection frankly, "I'll try my best. However, if there is a great danger, I'll not risk my life just to avenge you."
The projection laughed, then said seriously with a nod, "You're being honest to me, and I do like that. Many of my treasures were destroyed in the brutal battle that happened ages ago. Therefore, you can only find some useless toys here. You can take away anything that you like. I can only give you two things, the Song of Gale, which consists of all the knowledge that I've learned throughout my entire life, and the Heavenly Outfit of Gale, which is made with the wings shed off by me when I became a Primordial Immortal!"
A faint smile emerged on the projection's face as he said honestly, "Freedom... how could I be considered free when my projection is being trapped here? Once you've taken away all these things, my traces will vanish from this world. Gone completely, eliminating every restriction! And this… is the ultimate freedom!"
With a wave of his hand, a gust of green wind flew whistling out from the cloud bed, sweeping across the air and landing on the area between Wu Qi's brows, quickly fusing into his body.
Wu Qi felt a cold wave spreading out from within his spiritual ocean. All of a sudden, a huge amount of profound knowledge regarding winds emerged in his head. It was the knowledge concerning winds which the fallen Primordial Immortal had spent his entire life studying, and all belonged to Wu Qi now.
Meanwhile, wisps and threads of green wind that looked like mists and smokes began to drift out of the green jade pillars scattered across the hall. They tangled and merged with each other above Wu Qi's head, gradually turning into a pale green shadow of wind. Soon, a fist-sized Gale flew out of the shadow of wind, wheeling a few rounds around Wu Qi.
Wu Qi bit the tip of his tongue and carefully spat out a mouthful of blood essence. The Gale hesitated for a while, but eventually flapped its wings and came before the blood essence, opened its mouth, and swallowed it. Abruptly, the wind shadow swirling above his head transformed into a sheet of green light and sprinkled down, ripping his Daoist robe to shreds. Then, he was once again clad in a green Daoist robe that was weightless as smoke and mist.
The tiny Gale gave a sonorous cry as it squeezed into the Daoist robe and went into a deep slumber. Suddenly, Wu Qi received a message from the item spirit of the Heavenly Outfit of Gale. It was severely damaged during the battle that took place ages ago, resulting it to have only the grade of a mid-grade immortal item. It had chosen to be controlled by Wu Qi now, but if Wu Qi were to resume its power as a Primordial Immortal Item, it would need Wu Qi's help to slowly nourish and repair it in the future.
Wu Qi nodded silently. After that, he cupped his fist and bowed deeply to the projection.
The projection smiled faintly, and a vast amount of green specks shot out of his body, slowly merging with Wu Qi. A powerful aura of wind spirit rushed into his body, filling every cell with a tremendous force of wind spirit.
After an hour later, the projection had vanished without a trace. Wu Qi dropped to his knees and gave the cloud bed a few kowtows, then rose to his feet, spun, and strode towards the exit of the hall.
"And I've gotten myself another debt of gratitude... Eastern Green Emperor! It seems like a formidable foe just from the name alone!"
Vaguely, Wu Qi's bitter laughter lingered in the hall.