'But before he could conquer, he was dead;
And heroes have wept on their sleeves ever since.' (1)
At this moment, Feng Xi had a deep understanding of this sentence.
She had originally wanted to properly show off and brag a bit, well look what happened now. She had just stepped out of the mountain gate and fell flat on her face. Show off my ass!
If it were someone else, they would definitely be mortified right now, wishing they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
But Feng Xi was only dazed for an instant, her eyes rolled and she had an idea.
She followed the momentum to kowtow once toward the plaque above the mountain gate, then said with a devout face, "Ancestor above, disciple Feng Xi kowtows to you!
I beg you to bless our Xuantian Sect to seize first place in Tianhen Secret Realm, take the top prize in one fell swoop, occupy the champion's perch, and win the laurel crown…"
Everyone: … The Ancestor definitely won't manifest.
Don't even mention first place, third place was already difficult enough!
Still, no matter what, Feng Xi, this girl is quite good!
Although she hadn't been in the sect for long, her sense of sect honor was especially strong, and she's very respectful to the Ancestor as well.
At this moment, Xiao Baidao brought up again how when Feng Xi had first entered the sect she'd also knelt to the Ancestor.
When everyone heard this, they were even more moved by Feng Xi's sincere heart, she's a good kid.
The Golden Maned Suanni stared with big eyes as it listened, too lazy to hide the disdain on its face.
She clearly just tripped by accident, okay?
You actually believe her nonsense?
Truly a bunch of foolish humans!
At this moment, Feng Xi stood up and said to Jun Wen, "Fifth Senior Brother, I'll have to trouble you to send me onto the back of the guardian beast."
Jun Wen immediately did as told, letting Feng Xi stand on his flying sword, then hop onto the Golden Maned Suanni's back.
Jun Wen probed, asking the Golden Maned Suanni, "Um, can I sit too?"
The Golden Maned Suanni directly sprayed a faceful of spit right onto him.
Jun Wen: … Pretend I never said anything.
At Xiao Baidao's command, everyone rose on their swords.
The Suanni pawed the ground with its forehooves, then whoosh—bolted out.
It stretched its legs and began running along the ground.
Feng Xi wasn't mentally prepared and ate a mouthful of northwest wind!
Feng Xi: "…Wait, why aren't you flying?"
The Suanni howled a few times.
Are you blind? Do you see me grow wings?!
Feng Xi didn't understand its words, but she could roughly guess.
Her whole being felt unwell!
I'm here to look flashy, not to get blasted by wind!
The only consolation was that the Golden Maned Suanni was extremely fast. In the blink of an eye it had already overtaken Xiao Baidao and the others flying in the sky.
Feng Xi consoled herself, if it's running on the ground, so be it. At least she wouldn't need to worry about falling and dying.
She told the Golden Maned Suanni to slow down a bit, so they wouldn't get separated from the main group.
Otherwise, once they ran into danger, the two of them, one a little trash, the other an old trash with regressing cultivation, would be in for bad luck.
Of course, this was Feng Xi being cautious. Although the Golden Maned Suanni's cultivation couldn't compare to before, it's still at Nascent Soul Stage. In most situations it could still hold out.
At first Feng Xi was sitting up straight, later she simply laid on the Golden Maned Suanni's back. When she got sleepy she directly tucked herself into the Golden Maned Suanni's long fur and snored away.
On the way they ran into a group of short-sighted low-level cultivators who took the Golden Maned Suanni for a Gale Lion with only Qi Refining Stage cultivation.
As a result, they were smacked with a few swipes of its paws, leaving them half crippled, and those people fled in a scramble.
The Golden Maned Suanni was also too lazy to give chase, they're just a bunch of little stink bugs.
If not for maintaining its dignity, it would've slapped them all to death long ago.
During this, the napping Feng Xi merely stuck out her head to take a look a couple of times, then shrank back in to sleep again.
Very soon, rumors spread far and wide.
"Have you heard? Lately in our Northern Region a vicious beast has appeared. Although it looks very much like a Gale Lion, it has two heads!
One lion head and one human head, I heard it can even speak human words!"
"I've heard it too. Everyone's calling that demon beast a Human-Faced Lion now. It's been listed as the Northern Region's Number One Fierce Beast!"
"Quite a few people are preparing to jointly petition the Four Great Sects to go out and hunt this Human-Faced Lion. This thing is way too brazen, strutting around in broad daylight."
…
Feng Xi naturally didn't know any of this. She was currently giving the Golden Maned Suanni … moral education.
"Little Goldie, don't say I didn't warn you. Among the other three sects, especially Hunyuan Sect, there are plenty of female spirit beasts waiting to breed!
When the time comes, be careful not to get grabbed and used as a breeding tool!"
"Also, you are Xuantian Sect's guardian beast. What is a guardian beast?
Naturally, it's the sect's greatest trump card, the most powerful means of self-preservation.
So you are Xuantian Sect's confidence, you are Xuantian Sect's foundation.
Make sure you don't get muddle-headed and watch out for others' beauty-beast schemes…"
The Golden Maned Suanni was roused by Feng Xi's words, it turns out the burden on this lord's shoulders was quite heavy!
As for those so-called female spirit beasts Feng Xi mentioned, it snorted at that with contempt.
Is this lord someone those gaudy cheap beasts could covet?!
This lord would rather stay single for life than let them succeed!
Feng Xi still wasn't entirely at ease. The Golden Maned Suanni was, after all, a beast, with limited self-control.
She wondered whether the jade slips in her sea of consciousness might have… a cultivation method similar to the Sunflower Manual(2)?
If there were, she could send the Golden Maned Suanni a copy.
On the first page: To practice this skill, one must first castrate oneself.
The Golden Maned Suanni felt a chill breeze and looked around, but, sensing no danger, continued forward.
Of course, Feng Xi didn't actually plan to do this, she still had a teensy bit of conscience.
Aside from that earlier bunch of petty thieves, the journey was smooth.
When they came upon mountain peaks or rivers, Jun Wen would proactively pick Feng Xi up onto his flying sword so she wouldn't have to suffer along with the Golden Maned Suanni.
At this moment, the other three great sects had already arrived at Tianhen Secret Realm.
Besides the three great sects, quite a few cultivators from medium and small sects, as well as rogue cultivators, had come to watch the excitement.
The open ground in front of Tianhen Secret Realm was a hubbub of voices, extremely lively.
Shen Zhilan, with a faint, charming smile, was speaking with Second Senior Brother, Lu Xiuhan.
"Second Senior Brother, among those undergoing training in the secret realm this time, your cultivation is the highest. Our Hunyuan Sect will definitely take first place again."
Lu Xiuhan wore a face full of arrogance, "Naturally! Wan Jian Sect and Beast-Taming Sect can at best fight over second place. As for those trash from Xuantian Sect, they don't even need to be considered."
When Shen Zhilan heard him bring up Xuantian Sect, the smile on her face faintly tightened, "Second Senior Brother, I wonder if Feng Xi will come this time?
If she does, I must properly explain things to her, that everything before was a misunderstanding so she doesn't hold a grudge against us and Hunyuan Sect."
Lu Xiuhan snorted coldly, "What's there to explain? She was jealous of you to begin with, so she smeared you with dirty water.
Xiao Baidao has gone senile, he actually took her as a personal disciple.
But even as a personal disciple, it can't change the fact that she's a waste.
What sneak-attacking Blood Tiance, what discovering an upper-grade spirit stone vein, it's nothing but Xiao Baidao plastering gold on her face.
I guess she won't come this time. After all, she's an out-and-out waste, she couldn't enter the secret realm even if she came.
She'd better never leave Xuantian Sect in her life, otherwise I'll kill her for sure!"
Shen Zhilan frowned slightly, "Second Senior Brother, although Feng Xi ruined the reputations of you, me, and Hunyuan Sect at the disciple-acceptance ceremony, since we're all personal disciples of the Four Great Sects, just let it go!"
If Shen Zhilan hadn't brought up the disciple-acceptance ceremony, it would've been fine, but once she did, Lu Xiuhan hated Feng Xi even more!
"Junior Sister, don't worry about this. I have my own plan."
Shen Zhilan's eyes flickered slightly and didn't talk about this matter anymore. She brought the topic to something else.
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(1): The last line from the chinese poem"蜀相", 'The Temple of The Prime Minister of Shu', composed by Du Fu. This is a poem about the famous strategist, Zhuge Liang. Du Fu wrote this poem out of his deep admiration for Zhuge Liang and his concerns about the future of the nation. The poem talked about Zhuge Liang's achievements during the Three Kingdoms period, with the last line lamenting his death before he could fulfill his ambition of uniting the nation. Sidenote: I want Zhuge Liang's hat.
(2): A famous martial arts manual from Jin Yong's Wuxia novels. The requirement to practice this martial art is: 'To practice this skill, one must first castrate oneself'