Chapter 469 - 290: Rearing Fire Spirits (2)

Chapter 469: Chapter 290: Rearing Fire Spirits (2)

Li Mengyao, now a junior in college, possessed an exceptional grace. Her bewitching charm was laced with an endearing, almost pitiable devotion, perfectly embodying the "innocent yet seductive" aesthetic.

"Yu Fei, when did you get back? What happened to you?"

The man she idolized seemed to literally be glowing. His facial features were the same, but now they were perfectly harmonious. The crucial part was his otherworldly aura and the mysterious sigil on his forehead, which emanated an air of majesty.

"You’ve changed!"

Li Mengyao lunged forward, and he caught her in his embrace as they both tumbled into the water.

Feeling the familiar warmth and softness in his arms, Yu Fei asked, bewildered, "How have I changed?"

Water droplets clung to Li Mengyao’s face, her eyes filled with an irrepressible love.

"You got even more handsome, more than ever before!"

"Is that so? Then do you want to..."

Right on cue, Xiaohai closed the dome. It understood the basic moral conventions of human society, after all.

The next day, Li Mengyao skipped her classes. It seemed to have become a tradition; whenever Yu Fei returned from a long trip, they just couldn’t help themselves.

The following day, Yu Fei delayed until two in the afternoon before finally planning to visit the Profound Bright Palace to use his final talent replication.

Before he left, a flame flickered across his body, cleansing away any lingering traces. Li Mengyao had him change into a dark red, vintage-style martial outfit, insisting it suited his aura better.

Ever since Li Mengyao had moved into the Geometric Pyramid Realm, Yu Fei had deposited a considerable number of merit points into her account. She was in charge of all daily expenses and furnishings. As a result, there was now a dedicated warehouse within the Geometric Pyramid Realm filled entirely with Yu Fei’s clothes, all of them high-end, custom-tailored pieces.

Li Mengyao had personally selected every item. The clothes were made from transcendent materials, each piece costing anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of merit points.

At first, she hadn’t dared to spend so lavishly. Everyone knew how precious merit points were. Li Mengyao knew Yu Fei was wealthy, but she had no idea just *how* wealthy, so she started out being quite frugal.

Later, as the two grew more intimate, she learned many of Yu Fei’s secrets, such as his teleportation and spatial abilities. Only then did she realize that for Yu Fei, merit points were utterly meaningless.

Unwittingly, over the past year, Li Mengyao’s mindset and habits had changed dramatically. She had abandoned nearly all of her own life plans, wanting only to be the one who kept a light on at home for Yu Fei.

"You’re such a pain. These clothes were all tailored to your old measurements. Now they’re all too big. I’ll have to get them resized!"

"Then I’ll be counting on my dear lady~"

"Get out of here! Are you coming back tonight?"

Li Mengyao’s eyes were filled with reluctance, but she knew perfectly well that their wonderful life was built upon Yu Fei’s strength.

"I should be. If I can’t make it, I’ll find a moment to let you know."

"Mm. Go on!"

Li Mengyao rose slightly on her toes and tied a headband around Yu Fei’s forehead, covering the mysterious Great Sun Sword Seal. Instantly, Yu Fei’s aura lost some of its majesty, and he seemed much more approachable.

His teleportation ability activated, and Yu Fei vanished from before her eyes. In that final instant, Li Mengyao’s right hand lifted slightly. She froze for a moment before slowly lowering it with a soft sigh.

No sooner had Yu Fei entered the Profound Bright Palace, before he could even survey his surroundings, he suddenly sensed Ye Shuping’s location.

Or rather, he sensed Ye Shuping’s golden gem talent.

Back in the Red Sun Realm, he had used his marking ability on the old man, but the vast difference in their strength had prevented him from completing the replication.

He suddenly realized that after marking a target with his Reversing Destiny ability, even if the replication failed, he could continuously sense the target’s location.

’This...’ A thought struck Yu Fei. He seemed to have discovered a new use for his marking ability. A Martial Artist’s perception had a limited range; he needed to test just how far the sensory reach of this marking was.

’I must have been too focused on my training in the Red Sun Realm to notice.’

"Teacher..."

Following the sensation, he made his way to a courtyard on the eastern side of the Profound Bright Palace.

The place seemed to have been temporarily renovated. A massive sandpit, dozens of meters deep, had been dug into the ground.

The ground and the four surrounding walls were compressed into dense rock slabs. Yu Fei could faintly sense a supremely overbearing spiritual intent lingering in the area; he guessed Ye Shuping had created this giant pit with a single punch.

At the bottom of the massive pit was a layer of sand, where two puppy-sized balls of flame were bouncing around.

Ye Shuping stood at the edge of the pit, silently watching the two small fireballs.

"Ah, Yu Fei. Come take a look and see if the talents of these two fire spirits are damaged."

"Are these the two Tier-9 fire spirits?"

Yu Fei asked in surprise. As he looked closer with his Reversing Destiny Vision, he saw that the two small fireballs had brilliant golden gems above their heads, identical to the one Ye Shuping possessed.

Ye Shuping said with great interest:

"I didn’t expect they would end up like this after I brought them out."

"After passing through the Cross-Border Black Fog, these two fire spirits rapidly released a massive amount of fire-elemental energy. They boiled Flowing Mist Lake completely dry. If I hadn’t reacted quickly and brought the situation under control, it probably would have caused a major disturbance."

"After releasing all that fire-elemental energy, the spirits’ tiers plummeted all the way to Tier Three. When I brought them here to the Primordial Sea and Sky Realm, they dropped another tier. Now they’re only Tier Two, and they’ve lost their sentience."

"They only hop around a bit during the day when the sun is shining. At night, they don’t move at all."

"They’re incredibly fragile right now, so be careful when you replicate their talent. Don’t kill them in the process. I think there’s still a risk of them dropping another tier. We’ll figure out what to do after you’re done."

Yu Fei asked thoughtfully:

"I remember reading in the history books that when the Yuanmo race breaks through a border-realm to enter a homeworld, their tiers don’t drop, right?"

"That’s right, and it isn’t surprising. Once you begin to explore the myriad worlds, you’ll understand. Every border-realm, with its alien races and exotic lifeforms, is different. Their life forms and biological structures are bizarre and varied. There are commonalities, but there are also vast differences."

Ye Shuping paused before continuing, "We can talk more about this once you have a better understanding of these things."

He seemed reluctant to discuss the matter further.

"Alright, Teacher, I’m going in."

"Mm."

Yu Fei only had one use of his replication ability left. He didn’t bother being picky, simply grabbing one of the small fire spirits. He didn’t even need to summon his Sword Qi; with a flash from his Reversing Destiny ability, the replication was complete.

’Huh? It’s gold?’

He was pleasantly surprised. He had been worried this little thing might have other talents, but he had struck gold on his first try.

He focused his mind on his ability and saw that the newly replicated talent was, once again, [Master of Fire].

’Don’t tell me all fire spirits only have a single talent? And it seems to be passed down from a single lineage.’

He still had a red-tier [Fire Control] talent from his Reversing Destiny ability that he hadn’t broken down yet.

’I’ll have to test this again next time. If these fire spirits only have one talent, then a fire spirit whose single talent is at the gold tier is a veritable gold mine for me!’

Yu Fei could see a path to upgrading his existing talents to their maximum level in a very short time.

Back in the Eternal Night Forest, he had been thrilled to find a feral tiger beast with a single, silver-tier talent, replicating it nine times. In hindsight, it felt like he had passed up a fortune.

Yu Fei wondered if he would have received better training and opportunities had he been upfront with the old man from the very beginning.

After a moment’s reflection, however, he still felt he had made the right decision.

Ye Shuping’s kindness toward him had grown over time, but this teacher was not like the straightforward Yan Sea. As a top figure in the world of Martial Artists, one who truly wielded power, his position was complex.

Yu Fei still couldn’t forget how Ye Shuping had triggered a ’fated trajectory’ just a few days ago. It was clear the old man had once again manipulated him, this time through Teacher Yan Sea.