Who Let Him Cultivate?!

Revealing this fact wouldn’t cause any major issue; the only downside would be that it could tarnish the Phoenix Tribe’s proud image and have a negative impact on public perception.

Everyone here is well aware of Seek Dao Sect’s practices. Although their conduct isn’t exactly upright, they are not ones to blabber about something they are aware of.

Therefore, the truth about the Phoenix Blood Stone would, at most, only circulate within the Seek Dao Sect.

All eyes turned back to Jiang Shan, who had no objections to Seek Dao Sect becoming privy to the matter.

“The reputation of Seek Dao Sect is well-known to all. They suppress demons and perform righteous acts, always keeping their promises. I believe none here will divulge this matter.”

After all, it wasn’t the first time that the Phoenix Tribe had lost face within the Seek Dao Sect. Compared to that time, selling their blood was hardly something to be ashamed of.

Lu Yang and the other two nodded in agreement, considering the incident wasn’t exactly a major issue.

Li Haoran, intrigued, pointed to the officer who was crafting Phoenix Blood Stones in the distance and asked, “How does the County Magistrate ensure their secrecy? Does he bribe them with wages?”

There were several officers working here, over ten in total. If any one of them leaked the secret, the truth about the Phoenix Blood Stone would be out.

Who knows if someone with loose lips might inadvertently blab about it?

The County Magistrate shook his head: “They certainly will not expose the secret.”

“Why is that?”

“You should be aware that wearing Phoenix Blood Stones over a long time strengthens one’s vitality. Ultimately, the merit lies in the phoenix blood.”

“If simply wearing the Phoenix Blood Stone can have such an effect, can you guess what the effect would be for those who work in an environment filled with blood fog?”

“If anyone dares to leak the secret, next time we won’t let any of them work here.”

“Very well.”

“By the way, I heard that phoenixes can be reborn from the ashes. Is this true?” Lu Yang inquired, recalling the old phoenix they had encountered not long ago, bathing in True Fire, seeming almost like it was going to resurrect, which incidentally reminded him of the ancient legend.

Jiang Shan nodded solemnly, his expression filled with reverence: “Yes, but this incident is almost considered a legend even within the Phoenix Tribe.”

“It is said that during the ancient times, there was an elder in the Phoenix Tribe who had cultivated to a realm that brought him at the threshold of becoming an Immortal. Every gesture and act of his held supreme authority, able to shift the heavens and earth with a single thought. Even in the long history of the Phoenix Tribe, he was the most powerful, hardly any enemy found in the Demon Race’s records could match him.”

“This elder had a tremendous battle with the Dragon Tribe’s elder. The battle was so fierce that the stars in the sky turned to dust, and the sun was extinguished, leaving the universe in utter silence.”

“No one knows the outcome of that battle. One of our phoenix elders, a Great Power who was in the Transcendance Tribulation Stage, watched from a distance and saw part of the battle.”

“He saw our tribe’s elder lying silently in the cosmos, devoid of life’s breath, his soul in deep slumber, he was completely dead.”

“It was as if her body was a small boat bobbing up and down with the waves. Yet the Dragon Tribe’s elder didn’t appear to consider the battle concluded. Instead, she stood guard nearby.”

“Suddenly, Immortal Fire blazed from our elder’s body. She basked in the Immortal Fire, spreading her wings, and let out a roar that resounded through the universe. The Immortal Fire shone brilliantly, even brighter than the sun, and she let out a series of phoenix cries that echoed throughout the universe.”

“Not just our Phoenix Tribe, many others in the Transcendance Tribulation Stage were watching this extraordinary battle from a distance. If you ever get the chance to browse the records of other Demon Races, you would find related accounts.”

“From then on, the saying that ‘A Phoenix can be reborn from the ashes’ began, but that was something only our elder could do. People in the tribe speculated that perhaps only by cultivating to the elder’s realm could one defy death and resurrect. Hence, as far as the ordinary Phoenix Tribe members are concerned, the saying is almost indistinguishable from a legend.”

Jiang Shan’s humility aside, he was a pure-blooded phoenix, a rare entity even among the Phoenix Tribe, with noble lineage and high status. Without such standing, he would not have earned the guidance of Third Senior Sister Gan Tian, nor would he have been entrusted with supervising the creation of Phoenix Blood Stones in Luofeng County.

“So it’s true that a phoenix can be reborn from the ashes, I thought it was just baseless myth,” Su Yiren shared, enlightened. She usually kept herself away from social interactions, let alone conversations with members of the Phoenix Tribe.

The others nodded in agreement, expressing how eye-opening the revelation was: “That venerable Phoenix Tribe elder must have reached the realm of creation mastery, far beyond the capabilities of your average Transcendence Tribulation Stage individual.”

“May I ask where this Phoenix Tribe elder is currently?” Lu Yang was more concerned about this question. There was a possibility that he could determine the whereabouts of Qilin Immortal through the Phoenix Tribe elder.

Jiang Shan shook his head: “The Elder has been missing for a long time. Even the eldest members of our tribe don’t know her whereabouts.”

“Fairy, do you know about the phoenix rebirth from its ashes?” Lu Yang suddenly remembered that he had the Fairy Eternity as his trump card inside his Spiritual Space.

Fairy Eternity was sleeping; Lu Yang woke her up.

Fairy Eternity rubbed her eyes, yawning continuously, barely able to keep her eyes open, muttered confusedly: “What were you asking about?”

“Fairy, do you know about phoenixes being reborn from ashes?” Lu Yang asked again.

Fairy Eternity had just woken up and her memory was somewhat muddled. She tilted her head, pondered for a long while before finally saying, “Yes, there is such a thing.”

As expected of the foremost among the Five Immortals of the Ancients, her experience was vast.

The old saying goes, ‘In each family, an elder is a treasure’, it held true in this moment.

Fairy Eternity yawned again before speaking: “I remember when the Dragon Tribe and Phoenix Tribe geniuses had a fight over a man, and I happened to be watching. Oh dear, they were really going at it, setting papers on fire, pulling each other’s hair, drawing circles, and using curses, they had many tricks up their sleeves.”

“Wait, what do you mean by setting paper on fire, pulling hair, drawing circles and cursing?” Lu Yang thought these actions didn’t seem like two Transcendence Tribulation Stage Great Powers fighting.

“Oh, they were attacking each other with true flames of their respective races, burning Semi-Immortal Talismans, using the other’s hair as a medium, setting up Array Methods to curse each other.” Fairy Eternity lightly explained.

“…Please continue.”

“In any case, they both fought quite fiercely. As the fight escalated, so did the fierceness of their attacks. I thought the Dragon Tribe genius had the upper hand.”

“They had fought several times before, with the Dragon Tribe genius winning 60% of the time. So her victory in this round was expected.”

“Just when I thought it was about to have a clear outcome, the Phoenix Tribe genius demonstrated the unique art she had learned from me – the Playing Dead Technique. She laid on the ground pretending to be dead, her life force subsiding, indistinguishable from a real corpse.”

“The Dragon Tribe genius found herself in a dilemma, facing this situation for the first time. If she claimed victory, it wouldn’t feel rewarding. If she admitted defeat, it would’ve been absurd. However, she couldn’t hit an apparently dead person as it would tarnish her reputation.”

“At that moment, she had a brainwave and came up with a solution – burning down the Phoenix Tribe genius.”

“The Phoenix Tribe genius was in excruciating pain from the burning and let out a loud cry. She popped right up, screaming so adamantly that the entire universe could hear it.”

“Somehow along the way, this incident was mistaken as the Phoenix bathing in fire and being reborn. I’m uncertain who spread the rumor around, seriously no sense of morality.”

Fairy Eternity shook her head, somewhat dissatisfied with the Phoenix Tribe genius: “She hasn’t quite gotten hang of the Playing Dead Technique. If it were me, I would have continued playing dead.”

“Luckily no one knew that I was the one who taught the Playing Dead Technique. She was so poor at it that I’m too embarrassed to admit that I taught her. What a disgrace.”

Lu Yang: “…”

You’re the disgraceful one, aren’t you, Fairy?