Chapter Sixty-One: The Continent of Shimmering Clouds

The Dao vessel streaked across the starry sky like a stream of light.

Feng Shang, for once, was cultivating. Radiance shimmered around him, spiritual energy surged, and with each breath, wisps of luminous essence drifted out, cleansing his body and refining the power within him to an even purer state.

Within his dantian, a translucent azure supercore slowly rotated, flawless in its movement of void energy, with three thousand facets gleaming crystal-bright.

This was his supercore—the Three Thousand Void Crystal.

“This is so dull. I’m done cultivating.”

After about half an hour, Feng Shang stretched lazily and stopped his practice.

Cultivation was never a matter of instant progress. Sometimes, even after centuries or millennia, results would scarcely show.

Yet with his talent, even slacking off, his cultivation would rise on its own.

As for perseverance... it was something he simply lacked.

Nor could he say he yearned for greater strength. Not only did he possess countless treasures, but with his ability to conjure something from nothing and the Azure Calamity Universe Talisman, he could already spar with the Lords of the Divine Realm.

He was, in truth, already very strong.

Ambitions... he had none.

No persistence, no goals—his cultivation could well go wherever fate led it.

Born upon the summit, life was as lonely as untrodden snow.

Ah.

Feng Shang let out a soft sigh.

“Big Brother Feng Shang, why did you stop? You’re only at the second tier of World King. Are you truly going to ‘drift along’ and let your cultivation rise with age?”

Qing, who had been reading, looked up. She was serene and elegant, flawless as jade, her eyes bright as she gazed at him, gentle as mist beneath the moon.

There were seven main stages of cultivation in the current spiritual cosmos: Ten Circles of the Mortal Spirit, Ten Levels of World King, Severing the Reversal, Light Master, Cultivation Master, Cosmic Saint, and the legendary Immortal Primordial Universe Emperor.

In the ancient era, there existed a separate immortal path: Immortals, Immortal Saints, and Immortal Primordial Universe Emperors.

Feng Shang was fourteen this year and had reached the second tier of World King.

“I don’t see the problem,” Feng Shang replied with ease. “I thought about it—even if I trained diligently, I’d only become a Cultivation Master a bit sooner, and in the meantime, I’d endure hardship and boredom. It’s better to take things easy.”

“You’re—” Qing looked at him, helpless, her beautiful eyes full of disappointment, which at last turned into a gentle sigh.

He truly was incorrigibly unmotivated!

“What about me? I think it’s just fine!” Feng Shang huffed, chin lifted in defiance.

Qing fell silent, returning to her book without another word about cultivation.

...

Flashcloud Star Realm, central hub.

At the horizon, golden clouds were inlaid against the sky, dazzling and magnificent, shifting and flickering as if they held the stirrings of life.

“So beautiful.”

Little Phoenix, her cheeks soft and fair, her purple hair glistening, blinked her large black eyes, gazing into the distance.

Far off, the continent was shrouded in rolling golden clouds, palaces and pavilions flickering into view—this was Flashcloud Continent, the headquarters of the Flashcloud Star Realm.

Legend had it that Flashcloud Continent was once part of a spiritual divine domain, and, after a cataclysmic battle, the realm shattered and broke off a piece.

Its origins were said to be similar to the Sea of Flowers.

In size, however, the two were worlds apart. The Sea of Flowers spanned nine light-years in diameter, while Flashcloud Continent barely stretched six hundred million miles across—a difference of tens of thousands of times, a wholly different league.

“Something’s wrong. I smell blood.”

A young man aboard the golden ship stood tall, his gaze grave. The surging spiritual energy was, besides invigorating, tinged with a faint metallic scent.

“I sense it too.” Feng Shang considered, then flipped his palm, producing a silver-bright treasure mirror—the Zenith Mirror, a supreme Dao treasure capable of revealing any corner within a billion miles.

He flicked several source pills from his sleeve; they shot onto the mirror’s surface and instantly burned into pure energy, feeding into the Zenith Mirror.

A hum. The mirror gleamed, and from its surface emerged the figure of a miniature middle-aged man in azure robes—the artifact spirit of the Zenith Mirror.

“Greetings, Young Master Shang,” the Zenith spirit said respectfully.

“Zenith, show us what’s happening on Flashcloud Continent,” Feng Shang ordered.

“At once.”

The spirit withdrew into the mirror. Ripples spread across the surface, and the world of the Flashcloud Realm appeared vividly in their view.

“Oh no, so many bodies!”

Little Phoenix gasped, while Ying’er turned pale.

“This is...”

The young man could scarcely believe his eyes.

Across the continent, countless mountains had collapsed.

Ruins and scorched earth stretched everywhere, littered with corpses—men and women alike—piled atop one another. Chasms hundreds of feet deep tore the land, streaked with blood.

At the central city wall of the star realm’s hub, a pitch-black, cold spear pierced the shoulder of a white-haired old woman, nailing her, in utter humiliation, to the wall. The sight was horrifying.

Her face was ashen, her energy ebbing away—she would not live long.

Below the city wall, several figures shrouded in black robes, their auras twisted and sinister, sneered at her with scorn. Their jeers came clearly through the Zenith Mirror.

“This old hag is still alive.”

“She was the master of the star realm hub—how glorious she was when she purged us Star Fiends! And now, nailed here by Lord Lu Han—how pathetic!”

“You old wretch, still clinging to life? Should we help you snuff out your soul flame?”

One of the black-clad men shouted, picking up a broken spiritual blade from the ground. With a vicious glint in his eye, he flung it at the old woman.

Blood spattered as the jagged blade sliced through the air, cutting a shallow wound on her arm—a stark, vivid red against her pale skin.

She was the master of Flashcloud Star Realm’s hub. Normally, these petty thugs wouldn’t be able to touch her.

But her cultivation was sealed, and she was gravely injured. She had no strength left.

With chaos in the divine shrines, the Star Fiend Lu Han had risen with overwhelming might, breaking through to the late Severing the Reversal stage. Relying on the shrines’ power, he had bathed the Flashcloud Star Realm hub in blood.

“Tch, just a scratch. She’s tough as old leather.”

The black-robed man scoffed, but knew full well that the disparity in their cultivation was vast. Her body was as resilient as a spiritual treasure; had she not been wounded, they’d never have harmed her.

“You have some nerve, destroying the star realm hub! You’re slapping the face of Lord Gu Chu, and that of the Starsea Sacred Palace! Retribution will find you!”

Her hair was disheveled, her condition pitiful, yet nailed to the wall she was unbowed, her gaze sharp and daunting.

The black-robed men blanched at the names.

Lord Gu Chu, the Starsea Sacred Palace...

Behemoths beyond comprehension—one thought could obliterate their entire faction.

“Bah! Old hag, trying to scare us? Sounds like you’re tired of living. Brothers, let’s finish her!”

Shuddering, the man who had thrown the blade, now incensed and fearful, called his companions to gather the broken fragments of spiritual treasures and hurl them at her.

“So wicked! How can people be so cruel!”

Before the Zenith Mirror, Little Phoenix clenched her fists in anger, deeply distressed.

Ying’er was equally shaken, her gentle heart aghast. As pure as blank paper, neither had ever imagined the depths of human malice.

“Big Brother Feng Shang, please save that grandmother!”

“Oh, right away.”

Feng Shang replied mildly, stamping his foot. In a flash, the golden ship shot forward at blinding speed.

The young man, unable to bear any more, his usually refined face drawn with anger, transformed into a streak of colored light and sped toward Flashcloud Continent.