h.e.l.lo everyone, I'm finally back _:(´ཀ`」 ∠): __ Thanks for the condolences and well-wishes. And thanks for waiting for my return. However, I'll be away in Thailand for a study trip from 11 September to 15 September, and I wasn't able to finish chapter 16 in time…so, there's only this chapter for now :'D

Now, on with it!! /o/

Terms used:

-Cultivation:

C15. Fantasy (Part 1)

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The moon was high in the sky.

Yang-attribute fires were weakest around this time. The fat little fireball lay slothfully in a sand pit, its curved surface pulsing.

Throwing it a look, Chen He turned away, uninterested, "Senior Brother, can we abandon this guy? I don't care at all about whether or not I can improve my cultivation level."

s.h.i.+ Feng patted Chen He's head, the meaning in his gaze clear as day: Do not think about slacking!

Chen He had no choice but to get up. He walked until he was a short distance from the sand pit, then seemed to remember something and ran back to s.h.i.+ Feng's side.

First he folded up the red coat which had served as a cloak, then he brought out the two jade orbs and placed them on top. When Chen He handed them over to s.h.i.+ Feng, he was reluctant to leave them, as if he was entrusting s.h.i.+ Feng with his life and all his possessions.

s.h.i.+ Feng raised his gaze. He was immediately stupefied when he saw that Chen He was still removing his clothing.

Coat, robe, inner robe[1]; with each flick of his sleeve, Chen He swiftly removed each article of clothing that s.h.i.+ Feng had personally dressed him in. Lastly, as he prepared to loosen his belt, Chen He turned back and said hesitantly, "Senior Brother, can I just keep the lower half on and let it get burned?"

s.h.i.+ Feng finally snapped out of it. Expressionless, he pointed at the sky, reminding that they could not have any more delays.

Chen He kicked his shoes off, walking barefoot upon the sand. He walked to the pit and looked at the Stone-borne Flame, which seemed to be snoring.

On the surface of the fireball, which had uneven proportions of red and white, the flowing white flames had the upper hand. The red flames were faltering, shrinking back inside. This phenomenon would be reversed when the sun rose and the yang-attribute flames were flouris.h.i.+ng.

"Senior Brother, I'm ready…urgh!"

Before Chen He could finish, the column of flame had already risen towards the sky.

After the white flames had retracted the seal, they flowed towards s.h.i.+ Feng from all sides, being sucked up like water.

The surrounding temperature rose drastically. Having been freed from its shackles, the Stone-borne Flame stretched out excitedly. There were grains of flame sand in the wind; it moved against the wind, swallowing the grains of sand. The flames at the edge leaped about joyfully. It was content and fulfilled as it surveyed the sand dune.

Due to the restriction imposed by the hour of the rat[2], the Stone-borne Flame was sluggish; it did not rain fire upon the ground to expand the area covered by its flames.

Chen He, who had been sensing the flowing energies with his eyes closed, raised his head abruptly.

This was the moment!

Without any hesitation, his palm went into the column of fire.

The Stone-borne Flame leaped upwards where it stood, startled. After realising this was Chen He, it huffed and puffed like a broken wind-box, making noises that were over ten times louder than the leaking-air noises. However, the towering column of flame was unable to scoot over to him.

After touching Chen He's spiritual energy, the Stone-borne Flame realised that it was indeed him; it sent out a small tongue of flame and rubbed against his palm enthusiastically.

It was in this moment that s.h.i.+ Feng made his move.

The cold white flames rose towards the sky, surrounding the column of fire like a large web.

"Eeek!" The Stone-borne Flame struggled furiously, for it recognised that these white flames had previously been binding it.

Due to the advantage of a favourable time of day, the white flames spread swiftly. Very soon, they filled up the last crack, completely trapping the Stone-borne Flame within. The only way out was the direction facing where Chen He stood.

If it were another creature with a newly awakened spiritual sense, this would be where they headed straight into the arms of their master. But the Stone-borne Flame was wilful and fierce by nature, becoming tougher with each setback. It flipped over, ramming fiercely into the web of flames that it had been trapped in.

This act of standing before its master as a s.h.i.+eld astounded Chen He.

—honestly, he did not like the Stone-borne Flame. For him, it was both a lucky chance and a great misfortune.

Granted, the Stone-borne Flame had not acknowledged its master out of free will. But this ball of True Samadhi Fire had burned the Chen household to ashes and nearly engulfed the entire Yunzhou City in flames. Who could like something that had caused so much trouble?

Chen He was not one of those fellows who waited for opportunities and went crazy over gaining power.

"Chhh, chhhhh!" The Stone-borne Flame called out desperately, turning into a wall of fire and standing in front of Chen He, as if it was urging him to escape.

It always had some inexplicable fear of s.h.i.+ Feng. Even though a large portion of its spiritual sense had been wiped out, which returned it to its initial state when it had first come into existence, it still feared s.h.i.+ Feng instinctively.

Looking at the Stone-borne Flame which was desperately protecting him, then at his Senior Brother, who stood far away, Chen He did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Could this be the process of subjugating the Stone-borne Flame?

Finally letting go of his opinions about the Stone-borne Flame, Chen He stepped into the flames, carefully merging his spiritual energy into the flames. Then he led a portion of the flames into his own body.

The Stone-borne Flame mistook Chen He's actions as 'the intention to fight alongside itself', and instantly became haughty. It turned around and continued to squeal at the white flames, fully exhibiting the pride of being unafraid since it had someone behind it.

—if not for the fact that it was secretly pus.h.i.+ng Chen He backwards, this pose, comparable to a declaration of war, would have been perfect.

Chen He could not help but wonder what his senior brother had done to it, to cause a naturally fearsome being to become so terrified. If he had known earlier that his senior brother was so powerful, he would have been able to seek revenge on those old fellows back in Black Depths Valley.

A ball of frigid white flame surged in powerfully.

The cold aura made even Chen He shudder, and he could feel the Stone-borne Flame's fear within this short distance.

The column of fire had shrunk by two-thirds. The Stone-borne Flame no longer dared to swallow flame sand or consume Chen He's spiritual energy. In the face of this crisis, it could only use all its power to stop the white flames.

Just like how a traveller, chased into a shack by a wild wolf, would try to move everything in the house over and block the door.

Thus a 'difficult' battle began. Completely focused, Chen He controlled the Stone-borne Flame, retreating slowly, while the white flames inched closer.

The Stone-borne Flame gradually became accustomed to Chen He's spiritual energy, every bit of flame slowly becoming infused with his spiritual energy.

During the hour of the rat, yang-attribute flames were no match for yin-attribute flames. However, since Chen He and s.h.i.+ Feng were from the same sect, it managed to prevent being swallowed up by the white flames. Thus the Stone-borne Flame had an easier time; coming close to Chen He, it shot into his dantian through his meridians, merging with his spiritual energy to kick away the endlessly attacking white flames.

Time slipped by quickly; soon, the hour of the rat pa.s.sed. In order to maintain the intensity of the white flames' attack, s.h.i.+ Feng could only increase the power of his true essence as well.

Chen He's eyes were tightly closed, and he was sweating buckets. He was relying entirely on the pills he had previously consumed to endure.

A few times, s.h.i.+ Feng had wanted to stop, but he abandoned these thoughts of giving up midway once he saw that Chen He was still standing.

He had taught his junior brother for many years. Chen He had the talent and a good physical state, and his cultivation progress increased normally; this method of forcing Chen He to use his spiritual energy to control the Stone-borne Flame completely could not be helped, either.

Fortunately, this was the Redwinds Desert, and the Stone-borne Flame cleverly used large amounts of flame sand to help it ward off the white flames. This lightened some of Chen He's load.

Chen He forced himself to endure, his consciousness gradually becoming hazy. All was empty; he could only feel his spiritual energy adjusting and circulating along with the flames.

One Qi circulation, twelve Qi circulations…

s.h.i.+ Feng was silently counting as well. After thirty-six Qi circulations, the Stone-borne Flame would be unable to wipe out Chen He's spiritual energy. Then this long faceoff could be ended by forcing the Stone-borne Flame into Chen He's dantian.

As for subjugating—it had already merged with Chen He's spiritual energy, so would it even be able to escape? He would seal it directly, only removing the seal after Chen He had formed his Golden Core. It would not be a nuisance then.

Slowly, Chen He's head hung down, and he ceased to move.

s.h.i.+ Feng knew he had lost his consciousness. Though it did not show on his face, he was feeling anxious.

In this moment, the Stone-borne Flame realised with a shock that the white flames had silently surrounded the entire sand dune. Even if it abandoned its master, it would be unable to escape. Immediately, it let out a long, drawn-out cry, hurriedly entering Chen He's meridians.

s.h.i.+ Feng's silhouette flashed; he appeared next to Chen He even faster than the Stone-borne Flame could, preparing to catch Chen He who had lost consciousness.

Unexpectedly, the Stone-borne Flame which had not managed to hide itself became frightened and started crying, abandoning its attempt to hide. Its flames extended abruptly.

Seeing this change, s.h.i.+ Feng did not let go of Chen He and avoid the attack, for he was worried about Chen He; he only used his true essence to block the flames. Since he was too close to Chen He, s.h.i.+ Feng only used his true essence without the Wood-borne Flame.

The Stone-borne Flame had merged with Chen He's spiritual energy. When it collided with s.h.i.+ Feng's true essence, these two spiritual energies from the same source caused a drastic change.

s.h.i.+ Feng's pupils shrunk; he knew this was bad.

Ever since a long time ago, he had over-practiced the ways of his sect.

Yin was born when Yang reached its extreme; night began when day ended; destruction arose when the foundation was honed to an extreme. A technique of abundant clarity that manifested countless views[3], due to having been honed to an extreme, had transformed into an all-destroying aura that extinguished all life. It was comparable to demonic practices.

But Chen He's cultivation level was low, and his spiritual energy was full of vitality. Now that Chen He had lost consciousness, the Stone-borne Flame was making one last desperate attempt to fight.

When the two spiritual energies came into contact, it was as if the birth and death of a being appeared simultaneously, merging unstoppably. After trembling violently, they ripped a black vortex in the air; the fierce spiritual energy of the Redwinds Desert surged in as well, creating all sorts of illusions from the past.

There were the forlorn silhouettes of trade caravans; the indignant, hate-filled shouts of people who were hunted down and chased into this hazardous land; even cultivators who had attempted to cultivate here, only to suffer Qi deviations and lose their lives.

In the face of these illusions, s.h.i.+ Feng's brows creased as he remained unmoving, only holding on tightly to Chen He.

Suddenly, the Stone-borne Flame contracted, trembling, and was sucked in by the vortex. Following which, the explosive noises of various spiritual energies colliding shook the world; when the smoke and dust had cleared, s.h.i.+ Feng realised with a start that he was standing in the desert, beneath the hot sun. He was alone. Chen He was gone, and the Stone-borne Flame had disappeared.

This was only a fantasy.

s.h.i.+ Feng calmly watched himself travel in the desert, appearing to be chasing after or seeking something.

Even after concentrating and quietening his heart for a while, s.h.i.+ Feng was unable to break out of this fantasy. His brows knitted in confusion, and he opened his eyes, patiently observing this strange fantasy.

The travelling by wind, the moving figure; the fantasy was highly realistic, as if he was truly flying across the desert. s.h.i.+ Feng could even see 'himself' checking for differences in the flame sand, methodically hunting down an unknown being.

Was he chasing after the Stone-borne Flame?

Flame sand which had had all its violent energy sucked dry; this did seem like the path taken by the Stone-borne Flame.

If s.h.i.+ Feng had not been lucid, he would have thought he had lost his junior brother and was searching anxiously.

All fantasies were like this. At first, it was seen from a bird's eye view, and one could see himself, right down to the expression. Most people had unstable minds; once they discovered that they were the person in the fantasy, they would be inadvertently sucked in, becoming part of the fantasy and getting attacked by various illusions.

The blazing hot sun baked the Redwinds Desert mercilessly.

The 's.h.i.+ Feng' in the fantasy stopped before a differently coloured patch of black sand, picking out silvery-brown remains from it.

This was a cultivator, possibly a demon cultivator from the Baigu Sect.

s.h.i.+ Feng thought of it subconsciously, then became alert again, maintaining a calm state of mind as he calmly watched the developments in the fantasy.

Gradually, he realised something was not quite right. Rather than a fantasy, he seemed to be observing a malicious being that was lying in ambush in the desert, attacking cultivators at every given opportunity.

And the 's.h.i.+ Feng' in the fantasy was one of the people pursuing this malicious being.

The malicious being was extremely wary of 's.h.i.+ Feng'; it only dared to crouch at the top of the sand dune and watch him from afar.

"How despicable! Those despicable cultivators!"

s.h.i.+ Feng suddenly heard a familiar, childlike voice talking to itself furiously.

"I've already escaped to this place, yet they aren't letting us go. This time, there appeared adept cultivators whose cultivation level even I couldn't tell. Mm…My silly master, what are you doing? The food abstention pills ran out four days ago. This is the wine jug belonging to that demon cultivator from earlier; you can only drink water. Now, the cultivation levels of the people chasing us are getting higher, and they don't even carry food abstention pills on them. It's not that I'm not helping you find anything to eat."

"Uuuu, I'm scared…who are you, where are the katydids? Where's the pond?"

s.h.i.+ Feng's heart trembled violently, his divine soul shaken; he lost control instantly. When he opened his eyes again, he realised that he was truly standing below the sand dune—he had fallen into the fantasy and become the version of himself that he had seen in the fantasy.

He had no time to think about this. Following the memories of the previous events, s.h.i.+ Feng raised his head, and indeed, there was a figure curled up on the sand dune.

Although the distance between them was great, he had the powerful eyesight of a cultivator and saw it with only one look. That figure was a naked youth, his filthy body swathed in flames. He was extremely skinny, and his eyes were full of fear and confusion.

"c.r.a.p, we've been discovered!" the soft, childish voice belonging to the Stone-borne Flame called out in exasperation, "You idiot, run!"

s.h.i.+ Feng watched stiffly as that youth on the sand dune, seemingly familiar yet foreign, began to make his harried escape.

According to the author, this is how MC and ML met in the past life.

Footnotes down here, as usual:

About names: A sect called the Baigu Sect was mentioned earlier. Baigu=白骨, lit. 'white bone(s)'. Could also be translated more generally as 'skeleton' (skeletons are composed of bones after all). Translator's note for next chapter will contain more information for translation of sect names, so please pay attention to that.

[1]: Original term 中衣zhongyi; this is a white under-robe worn as an inner layer of clothing. In CH's case, he wears a pair of pants under the inner robe as well. (If you know about the nagajuban, the 'under-kimono' that the j.a.panese wore under the actual kimono, that's good; the 中衣 is something like that.)

[2]: Chinese hours are named for the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, hence there are 12 hours, and one Chinese hour is equivalent to two modern-day hours. The hour of the rat would be from 11pm to 1am.

[3]: The original wording had me stumped for the longest time - it was 一門沛然清氣萬象具現的心法. I have interpreted it as an unnamed technique, with the underlined part being a description of this technique.

A side note: 萬 doesn't always mean a literal ten thousand. It's often used to refer to a large unknown number.

If you are seeing this text, you are NOT reading it on the original site. Head on down to lovelysweetdream 959085286 dot wordpress dot com to read the original!