I Can Copy the Talents of All Creatures

The Immeasurable Sword Seal between his spiritual body’s brows shone brightly, eventually forming a tangible sword body.

This tiny sword body was identical in form to the Returning Ruins Realm Sword that Yu Fei had obtained from condensing his divine will.

According to the Cultivation Technique, upon mastering the middle volume of the Star Soul Forging Scripture, one would condense a spiritual crystal the size of a grain of rice. This crystal would then be strengthened and refined by the final volume, laying the foundation for a Martial Artist to advance to the Grandmaster realm.

In the future, when crossing the Dragon Gate, this object would manifest and form the core of one’s spiritual soul.

But for Yu Fei, the situation was completely different.

First, he had already opened his Sea of Consciousness. The core of his spiritual soul had long since condensed under the effect of his [Spiritual Intelligence] talent. Even the range of his Divine Sense, boosted by his talent’s upgrades and various treasures, had already reached a ten-zhang radius.

Now, the Star Soul Forging Scripture had formed a sword-shaped core the size of his little finger. No matter how he looked at it, this was different from the path of the original Cultivation Technique.

After pondering for a long time to no avail, Yu Fei decided to consult Ye Shuping.

「Primordial Sea and Sky Realm, Xuanming Palace Dojo.」

Zhuo Feiming was squatting on the ground, feeding a chicken. She held a handful of rice, translucent as jade and rich with dense primordial energy.

This rice, named Jade Dragon, was grown on the island. It was considered a high-grade variety and was quite valuable.

Zhuo Feiming shot out the Jade Dragon rice from her hand one grain at a time, faster than bullets. Ah Zhen’s wings flapped so fast they were practically smoking, barely keeping up with the feeding rhythm. It gobbled them down one by one with great delight, clucking happily.

Nearby, Tang Lihui was brewing tea over a stove while Ye Shuping half-reclined in a rattan rocking chair, eyes squinted, looking just like a retired old man.

Suddenly, Tang Lihui froze for a moment before resuming his tea brewing. Zhuo Feiming, however, stopped what she was doing. She looked in surprise toward the quiet room in the northeast corner, where the anchor point made of Profound Crystal Stone was located.

"Yu Fei? How did he appear?"

Zhuo Feiming was completely bewildered. No one could evade the perception of a Martial Saint, especially not a prodigy Martial Saint from one of the Seven Greats.

In terms of Cultivation Techniques, perception-based Secret Techniques always held priority over Stealth Secret Skills. It was widely acknowledged that stealth was useless against the direct disciples of the Seven Greats.

She glanced at Ye Shuping first, but the old man played dead and said nothing.

Then she questioned Tang Lihui, "Xiaohui? Explain. What’s going on? What kind of dark arts did this kid learn from the old man?"

Tang Lihui replied helplessly, "Miss Zhuo, how could I pry into our junior brother’s secrets? Besides, with our master guiding him, how could he possibly go down the wrong path?"

Zhuo Feiming sneered, "Why couldn’t he? Look at you—haven’t you gone down the wrong path? You’ve read yourself stupid. You can’t win an argument, and you’re even worse at fighting. Aren’t you just useless?!"

Tang Lihui was speechless. He and Zhuo Feiming had become their master’s disciples one after the other, just a year apart, and they had a very good relationship.

Just as Zhuo Feiming was about to get up and investigate, Ah Zhen, having waited a while without being fed, strutted over. It glanced left and right, then pecked at Zhuo Feiming’s hand!

"Hey! You wretched beast, are you rebelling?!"

She slapped Ah Zhen away with the back of her hand. Just as Zhuo Feiming was about to leave, Ah Zhen puffed up its feathers and charged at her aggressively!

Thoroughly annoyed, Zhuo Feiming casually scattered the Spirit Rice in the courtyard. But Ah Zhen was unappeased. It spread its wings in a fighting cock’s stance, eager to display the might of a 7th-rank exotic beast.

Zhuo Feiming’s expression turned cold. ’A mere animal dares to be so insolent? Fine, I’ll just have stewed chicken for dinner today!’

Seeing the murderous glint in his senior sister’s eyes, Tang Lihui quickly gathered the steam from the tea. Using his finger as a brush and primordial energy as ink, his strokes flowed like dragons and snakes as he wrote the character for "Calm" in the air. The character seemed ordinary, but it emanated a unique artistic conception. In an instant, it landed on Ah Zhen’s head.

’It wasn’t easy for this fellow to grow from an ordinary rooster into a 7th-rank beast,’ he thought. ’It would be a waste to eat it.’

Ah Zhen, which had been strutting proudly with puffed feathers, suddenly found its eyes clearing. It shook its head, smoothed its plumage, and upon noticing the Jade Dragon rice on the ground, began to leisurely peck at the grains.

"Tch. Petty tricks."

Zhuo Feiming raised an eyebrow. "You’ve ruined my appetite for cooking!"

Tang Lihui nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes, it’s all my fault!"

Zhuo Feiming stood up, hands on her hips. ’It seems that little guy Yu Fei detected us. That’s unreasonable. I’m a Martial Saint, and this kid hasn’t even crossed the Grandmaster’s Dragon Gate. How could his perception be so strong?’

’It would be one thing if he’d only detected Xiaohui, since he’s just in the eighth realm.’

’The eighth realm, was it~’

Her thoughts shifted. She hadn’t paid it much mind before, but now she processed what her junior brother had just done.

’What kind of eighth-realm cultivator is so strange? Ah Zhen is a 7th-rank beast with powerful Qi and Blood, after all. And Xiaohui can make it abandon its will to fight and become peaceful just by writing the character for "Calm"?’

’And he made it look so simple, so effortless. If he used it seriously, would a Grandmaster be affected? What about those at his own rank? Could it even work on a Martial Saint?’

’With my power as a Martial Saint, if I wanted to kill this chicken and cook it, I’d have a million ways to do it. But to make it lose its will to fight... I can only think of suppressing it with force or beating it into submission. There’s no other way!’

"Why hasn’t Xiaohui advanced yet? What in the world is he waiting for?"

These thoughts flashed through her mind, but she quickly dismissed them. ’No matter what mysterious techniques he has, if he dares disrespect me, his senior sister, I’ll just knock him flat with one punch.’

Ye Shuping shook his head slightly. ’A Martial Saint is still just a warrior, in the end,’ he thought. ’I wonder if Tang Lihui will have the chance to forge a new path.’

Yu Fei passed through layers of space and teleported to this location.

The primordial energy here was clear, spiritual, and pure. As the dojo of a Martial Saint, its environment was naturally among the best in the world.

He looked toward the wall, activated his see-through vision, and searched for Ye Shuping!

’Huh? Miss Zhuo and Mr. Tang are here too!’

After the placement tournament, this was the first time he had seen his senior sister. Their only other contact had been when she sent him a batch of Senluo Jade Fruits. The energy they contained was quite high; they were considered top-grade even among the treasures his master, Ye Shuping, had "fed" him.

Yu Fei strode forward. He hadn’t seen his master or the gentlemanly Mr. Tang in half a year, and he had missed them.

"Master, Miss Zhuo, Mr. Tang, it’s good to see you!"

Ye Shuping smiled faintly. "Not bad."

To his surprise, Zhuo Feiming stepped forward and circled him twice before saying mockingly:

"What’s ’not bad’ about him? Old man, how have you been training his body? Why is it so impure? It looks strong, but it’s riddled with holes. Hmm, it seems he’s been frequently injured, too. There are hidden wounds everywhere!"

"Old man, I found you a peerless prodigy, and this is what you’ve turned him into?"

Ye Shuping retorted irritably, "Don’t talk nonsense about things you don’t understand. When you’ve managed to train a disciple to the Martial Saint realm, then you can come show off!"

"I was originally planning to take Yu Fei as my disciple, but you beat me to it, Master..."

Ye Shuping ignored her and instead carefully scanned Yu Fei’s condition.

"Your divine will is complete and agile, its quality magnificent. Excellent, excellent, very promising! But what’s crucial is this Evil Qi all over you. It seems you’ve been through a lot. Tell me, how many 7th-rank desolate beasts have you slain?"

Zhuo Feiming exclaimed in astonishment, "7th-rank desolate beasts? From the Sea of Desolate Beasts? The only place with 7th-rank desolate beasts is the Eternal Night Forest. Our junior brother can slay 7th-rank desolate beasts?"

"His realm... it’s so ambiguous!"

"Gang Qi? Or divine will?"

She couldn’t quite figure it out. The strength of his body and the purity of his divine will far exceeded that of a Gang Qi Martial Artist, but the fundamental nature of his Inner Qi didn’t seem to have reached that level.

"Master, Senior Sister, my trip was a success. I’m about to break through to the Gang Qi realm! As for 7th-rank desolate beasts, I slew more than twenty of them!"

Zhuo Feiming was startled. "You’ve got to be bluffing! It’d be impressive if you slew one or two, but more than twenty?"

Seeing the doubt in Zhuo Feiming’s eyes, Yu Fei felt a surge of smugness.

’Back then, I looked upon Honglian as if she were a celestial being,’ he thought. ’And now, I can actually shock her a little.’

Ye Shuping didn’t refute the claim. Instead, he instructed, "Take out your spoils of war. Your senior sister here moonlights as a craftsman; maybe she can make a set of armor for you. Desolate beasts are full of Qi and Blood, so their hides and Scale Armor are perfect for it!"

"Yes, Master!"

"What do you mean, craftsman? I’m a Runesmith! You old man!"

Zhuo Feiming said indignantly, though inwardly she was confused. ’This junior brother of mine has nothing on him. He isn’t even carrying the Zhanming sword I gave him. How is he going to take anything out?’

The mention of the Zhanming made her a bit indignant. The base material of that sword was exceptionally fine. ’This kid, a supposed Martial Artist, doesn’t even carry his weapon with him. The old man has really spoiled him rotten!’

Tang Lihui’s attention was no longer on his tea. He had a theory, and now he would see if he was right!

"What? Spatial abilities?"

Zhuo Feiming’s eyes went wide.