Wang Feng sat across from Su Yan at a small dining table by the window, the pale afternoon light filtering in through the open shutters. Before them rested two cups, the delicate steam curling upward as they sipped in companionable silence, the tension between them mellowed by the shared warmth of tea.
"So," Su Yan began, her voice cool but edged with curiosity, "what is this opportunity you're speaking of?"
Wang Feng leaned back slightly, a faint smirk playing on his lips. "Now, where's the fun in spoiling the surprise—" He abruptly cut himself off as Su Yan's expression turned glacial, her gaze narrowing with silent warning.
"Hey, hey! Alright," he raised his hands in mock surrender, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips. "I know how it sounds, and I get why you're suspicious. But do you really think I'd joke about something like this?"
His voice softened, the teasing replaced by a rare earnestness. "All I can say right now… is that this opportunity might just be the most important turning point of your entire life."
Su Yan blinked, caught off guard by the solemnity and conviction in his tone. She still doubted him—how could she not? Any rational person would question such bold claims.
Yet something in his demeanor—an undercurrent of gravity beneath the mischief—made her pause. Despite herself, she felt a strange certainty settle in her chest, whispering that his words held truth.
For a moment, the mystique she already associated with Wang Feng seemed to deepen, expanding far beyond the boundaries of what she had previously understood. The air around him felt charged, veiled in unseen depths and silent enigmas.
And in that moment, Su Yan found herself both intrigued and captivated—eager to see just what secrets this man was hiding.
Su Yan studied him for a few quiet moments, her gaze sharp and contemplative. Then, with a trace of confusion in her voice, she asked, "And what do you want from me? You didn't come all this way just to inform me out of goodwill, did you?"
Wang Feng's lips curled into a mischievous smirk. "Well," he replied with a teasing lilt, "I have to demonstrate my sincerity somehow, don't I~?"
It was a mistake—and he realized it instantly.
An icy wave of frigid Qi burst forth from Su Yan, engulfing him in bone-piercing cold. Frost crackled across his robes and skin in an instant, a thin sheen forming over his body like crystalline armor. Reacting swiftly, Wang Feng drew upon his profound control of elemental energies, isolating the invading chill from the moisture in his body while channeling Fire Qi to neutralize the frost.
Only after regaining balance did he catch sight of Su Yan's face—flushed with a mix of embarrassment and irritation, her normally composed features marred by a rare emotional crack.
Hands raised in mock surrender, Wang Feng exclaimed, "Alright, alright! I'll behave!" He muttered beneath his breath, "Sigh Can't even make a harmless joke without getting frozen solid…"
Before Su Yan could respond—or unleash another wave of ice—Wang Feng pressed forward, his tone finally sobering. "What I want… is for you to accompany me. Into the place where the opportunity lies."
There it was—the true reason for his visit, laid bare in his calm, resolute voice.
Su Yan narrowed her eyes once more, her voice laced with caution. "And what exactly is this—"
Before she could finish, the entire ground trembled violently beneath them. The tremor spread like a wave, shaking the foundations of the Black Wind Mountains and the surrounding terrain. It was as though the world itself had awakened from slumber.
A moment later, a blinding burst of Yin and Yang Qi erupted across the horizon, followed by an ancient, soul-stirring roar and an ethereal cry that echoed through the very fabric of Heaven and Earth.
Wang Feng's eyes lit up, sharp and full of anticipation. He stepped closer to the window, peering into the distance—where, in the skies beyond, two magnificent phantoms soared into existence. One was a golden dragon, majestic and resplendent, its scales shimmering like sunlight on rippling waves. The other was an ice phoenix, elegant and ethereal, its feathers exuding a serene, glacial beauty.
A faint smile curved his lips. "It's open," he murmured.
Su Yan, who had been staring in disbelief at the celestial apparitions, turned toward him, her heart pounding. The shock in her eyes mirrored the revelation dawning upon her. 'This—this was the opportunity he had spoken of!?'
She could scarcely believe it.
While Su Yan remained frozen in astonishment, she failed to notice the distant look in Wang Feng's eyes. Beneath the awe lingered a deep, quiet yearning—an emotion tinged with wonder and a touch of sorrow.
His gaze followed the soaring phantoms, his thoughts drifting to a question that had long stirred in the depths of his soul.
'Can humans… ever reach such heights?'
He wasn't referring to power alone. No, he understood the origin of these phantoms well enough. What stirred within him now was a far deeper contemplation—one that challenged the laws of Heaven and Earth themselves.
A thought that whispered of transcendence.
.....
— A Few Minutes Ago —
High above the Blood Battle Group's Enflamed Yang Stone Mine, Meng Wu Ya hovered silently, the wind barely stirring his robes. In his hand, he held a piece of aged animal hide that shimmered faintly with ethereal light, guiding his gaze toward a specific location near the heart of the mine.
"Strange... How did I never notice this before?" he mused, eyes narrowing. "A mine producing Heaven-grade Yin and Yang-attributed materials in such abundance—this should be impossible without the presence of a profound treasure."
His sharp gaze drifted to a pair of figures near the mine—a young man and an elder—undoubtedly the targets he had been tracking.
"Hmm… Should I show myself and toy with them for a bit, or just end this quickly?" he pondered, before giving a casual shrug.
Without another thought, Meng Wu Ya extended his Divine Sense, enveloping a vast region—stretching from the Enflamed Yang Mine, sweeping past the Black Wind Market, and encircling even the Blood Battle Group's headquarters.
Then, his voice echoed like thunder in the minds of the Blood Battle Group's high-ranking members:
"Wretched spawn of the Long Family! Your second bastard dares target my disciple? Prepare to pay the price!"
The moment the voice rang out, alarms shot through the Blood Battle Group. Elders and their leader leapt from their headquarters, ascending into the sky to seek the source of the voice. When Meng Wu Ya allowed himself to be seen, they immediately caught sight of him—standing tall with his hands calmly clasped behind his back, exuding an aura of effortless dominance.
Down below, Long Zai Tian's expression contorted with fury and confusion, while Long Hui's face turned ashen as he desperately searched his memories for any offense he might have caused.
With a sharp intake of breath, Long Zai Tian soared upward and faced the figure in the air.
Just as he opened his mouth to spout the usual rhetoric of "evil-doer" and sect righteousness, he—and the other elders—abruptly froze in midair.
A crushing, invisible pressure bore down on them, locking their bodies in place as though the very heavens had pinned them in judgment.
"Y-You! Who are you!?" Long Zai Tian bellowed, his voice trembling with both rage and dread. Though he recognized Meng Wu Ya as the unassuming Treasurer of High Heaven Pavilion, his mind rejected the notion that such a simple-looking man could wield this much power.
Instead, he clung to a more comforting delusion—that someone had disguised themselves to stir up conflict under Meng Wu Ya's identity.
Emboldened by the false hope that Meng Wu Ya had not immediately attacked, and reassured by the presence of his sect's many powerhouses, Long Zai Tian convinced himself that he still held the upper hand.
But the truth was far crueler.
His comrades, just like him, were utterly paralyzed beneath the weight of an aura that dwarfed their comprehension.
Ah, what blindness afflicts the arrogant… They say some men have eyes but cannot see Mount Tai—and Long Zai Tian was a prime example.
But that veil of ignorance was about to be ripped away.
With a flick of his hand, Meng Wu Ya sent out an invisible wave of force. Long Zai Tian's body twisted violently in midair before slamming into the ground like a meteor, the impact sending a shockwave through the earth and cracking several of his bones in an instant.
"Since the Blood Battle Group cannot even restrain its own dogs… then bear the brunt of it!" Meng Wu Ya's voice thundered through the air like divine judgment.
A heartbeat later, the ground trembled violently.
In the next instant, a deafening explosion shattered the silence. The Enflamed Yang Stone Mine erupted in a blinding blaze of energy, tearing the earth asunder and leaving a deep trench in its wake—an open scar carved into the land.
From beginning to end, not a single elder or leader of the Blood Battle Group could move. Their limbs were paralyzed, their voices caught in their throats—rendered helpless beneath the suffocating weight of Meng Wu Ya's spiritual pressure, which clamped down on their very souls.
But just as they wallowed in sorrow and fury over the devastation of their prized mine, something happened that froze even their grief.
From within the thick haze of smoke and dust, a faint shimmer began to pulse—yellow and blue, flickering like twin stars. At first, it was only visible to Meng Wu Ya, whose Divine Sense pierced the chaos.
But as the smoke thinned, the glow began to brighten.
Within seconds, it had intensified, growing radiant enough to burn through the lingering dust and become visible to all. What began as a glimmer soon became a blinding beacon.
And then—
A roar shattered the sky.
It was deep, ancient, and sovereign—a majestic proclamation that echoed across the heavens like a war drum of the divine. Those who heard it felt their hearts tremble. The sound instilled awe, submission, and the primal fear of something far beyond human comprehension—a Ruler's command that demanded reverence.
Before the echoes of the Dragon's roar could fade, another sound followed—a melodic, haunting cry, elegant and commanding. It was the cry of an Empress. Beautiful and imperial, it stirred both serenity and tension in the soul, like standing before a goddess too radiant to look upon, yet too divine to ignore.
Then, the sky was split open.
From the depths of the explosion, two colossal phantoms emerged—a Golden Dragon, resplendent and untamed, and an Ice Phoenix, graceful and boundless. Their radiant forms spiraled into the sky, circling one another in a celestial dance as their voices intertwined in an otherworldly duet that reverberated between Heaven and Earth.
"Inheritance Cave!" shouted Hu Mian, leader of the Blood Battle Group and father of Hu Mie'er. His face flushed red with barely restrained excitement.
He wasn't alone. Gasps of astonishment and cries of awe rippled through the air. Even Meng Wu Ya's expression shifted, caught between wonder and disbelief.
For he knew—thanks to Wang Feng's earlier revelations—what these apparitions truly signified, what a True Divine Beast truly was.
Meng Wu Ya's thrill, however, began to cool. As awe gave way to clarity, he recalled something Wang Feng had said about the Treasure. 'So, he knew what the 'treasure' really was, huh.'
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