“Impossible.” Feng Jingyu shook his head, “I recognize this Yin Palm Flame; it’s black and silver on the outside and blue on the inside. It’s completely different from my Phoenix Divine fire, but there are similarities. I have tried comparing Phoenix Fire and Yin Fire before, and they’re on par with each other, so my memory is especially deep.”
Phoenix Divine Fire represented the light that could eliminate all evil in the world, while the fire of Yin Flame Palm was the opposite, representing the evil.
Yan Tianhen was stunned. “If this is not called the Yin Flame Palm, then what is it?”
Feng Jingyu explained, “The name of this whole set of martial arts should be the 《Eighteen Hells of the Underworld》. It is the most superior skill of the devil clan. It used to always be in the hands of Demon Venerable You Ming. The Yin Flame Palm is just one of many palm techniques within this set, and it’s only at the introductory level. Your current cultivation is not high enough to see the entire cultivation method, so you mistook the 《Yin Flame Palm》 as the whole skill set…”
Speaking of this, Feng Jingyu gasped. He couldn’t help but look at Yan Tianhen, who was equally shocked, “Maybe the person who gave you this secret method was You Ming?”
Yan Tianhen had the same speculation, but after calming down and thinking carefully, he shook his head, “That’s unlikely.”
“Why not?” The more Feng Jingyu thought about it, the more suspicious he was, “You Ming must have come in person. His narrow-minded and stingy temperament certainly wouldn’t let him hand over something as crucial as the 《Eighteen Hells of the Underworld》 to others, and then let them pass it on to you.”
Yan Tianhen fidgeted with his hands together and whispered, “But if he was in the Nine Lands and had already been killed, then could the 《Eighteen Hells of the Underworld》 be robbed by others?”
“Regardless of whether Demon Venerable You Ming, who is full of clever tricks, is so easy to be killed, someone else won’t take the 《Eighteen Hells of the Underworld》 and travel all the way to the Five Continents just to give it to you. Do you think he has nothing better to do than to amuse you?” Feng Jingyu rolled his eyes, “Besides, he is your dad. Can’t you give him some hope?”
Yan Tianhen replied with some sadness, “But if he really is my father, why is he unwilling to acknowledge me when he clearly recognizes me and deliberately contacts me?”
Feng Jingyu opened his beak but was completely speechless.
He was not You Ming. He couldn’t understand why You Ming didn’t tell Yan Tianhen about him if he really came to the Five Continents and approached Yan Tianhen’s side.
Although he had lived for hundreds of years, he’d never been a father to others, so naturally he couldn’t grasp the complex thoughts of You Ming yearning to see his son but daring not to talk to Yan Tianhen.
Yan Tianhen’s eyes were red as he silently found a big tree and sat on the ground against its trunk. His mouth was slightly pursed, and his small face was full of injustice.
Seeing this, Feng Jingyu couldn’t help but feel guilty. He regretted speaking without thinking and immediately wanted to dig You Ming out so he could deny Yan Tianhen’s idea.
Feng Jingyu jumped onto Yan Tianhen’s knee and looked up at him while chirping a few times, “If I think carefully, it’s not impossible that You Ming is already dead. Maybe someone really did kill him and seized the treasure to tease you.”
Yan Tianhen angrily snapped, “Don’t curse him, your father is the dead one!”
Feng Jingyu paused for a moment and with some grievance, replied, “My father really is dead.”
Yan Tianhen, “…”
Yan Tianhen and Feng Jingyu looked at each other and felt the same type of sorry for one another.
Yan Tianhen reached out and touched Feng Jingyu’s head, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Feng Jingyu pecked at his hand and dismissively replied, “It’s no big deal if you don’t have a father or mother. In this world, there are more miserable people than I am. Moreover, I know that my parents had to leave me for the sake of all living beings. They did not show me any affections because it was another way to protect and accompany me.”
Yan Tianhen’s heart gave birth to a feeling of envy. He looked at Feng Jingyu and pretended to smile easily, “My father… didn’t want me and sent someone to kill me so you are much happier than I am.”
At least Maomao’s parents loved him very much.
Feng Jingyu jumped onto Yan Tianhen’s shoulder, “It’s not like Yan Zhonghua doesn’t want you either. In fact, over the years, although he has appeared indifferent to you and has not allowed anyone to mention your existence, secretly, he has always been asking me to find your whereabouts.”
Yan Tianhen turned his head and a pair of black eyes stared unblinkingly at Feng Jingyu.
Feng Jingyu tilted his head, “Yan Zhonghua is like a one man’s show. He is very good at pretending. When he first came to me, I laughed at him. Later I asked him why he didn’t directly send his Crow Guards to look for your trail. He explained that if people knew he was looking for you, they would certainly send more people to look for you. Moreover, several people in Purple Emperor’s Heavenly Capital are watching his every move. The Yan clan’s forces are also trying to catch him making a mistake. How can a cautious person like Yan Zhonghua reveal such a big tail for others to catch?”
“But even so, it can’t erase the fact that he sent someone to kill me when I was born.” Yan Tianhen’s expression went rather cold.
He touched his face, and the uneven scar on it reminded him of how painful his life had been all the time in his childhood memories that no longer existed.
Feng Jingyu rubbed his feathery head against the back of Yan Tianhen’s hand and chirped, “At the beginning… it was not really Yan Zhonghua who wanted to kill you.”
Yan Tianhen froze for a moment, “Is there some hidden secret?”
Feng Jingyu shook his head, “I was not there so I don’t know. I was in the Northern Land at that time. When I learned that the prophet family had shamelessly screwed you over, You Ming had already taken you away in a hurry. Then I went to the demon world to quickly look for You Ming. I didn’t get to say much to him when a group of Crow Guards had arrived. During the chaos, I partnered up with You Ming and threw you to Su Mo. He was the one who took you away. After that, no one saw you and Su Mo again.”
Feng Jingyu took a slow breath and continued, “You Ming was seriously injured in the process of fighting the Crow Guards, but I didn’t know what new instructions they received because they stopped at the critical time and retreated. Since You Ming was badly hurt, he had to go into closed-door cultivation for three years. After that, he went to the Purple Emperor’s Heavenly Capital to find trouble with Yan Zhonghua, which messed up Yan Zhonghua’s marriage. He nearly killed Yan Zhonghua’s prospective imperial concubine right then and there. But after stirring up chaos in the Purple Emperor’s Royal Capital, he patted his ass and disappeared completely. At that time, I was still doing other things in the Northern Land so by the time the news reached me, You Ming was already gone and even I couldn’t find him.”
Yan Tianhen’s eyes fell and he gazed at Ling Chigu not too far away, who held a bamboo spear in hand as he stood upright. He could not help but say, “You said you did not know Ah Gu before. As the monarch of the Western Land, you must have returned to the Northern Land and gone after my family’s Ah Gu.”
Feng Jingyu flapped a wing on Yan Tianhen’s face. At last, he shouted angrily from embarrassment, “You son of a bitch, this king kindly comforted you and gave you so much important information, but you still vilified this king. You are too much!”
Yan Tianhen rubbed his own nose and muttered in a low voice, “Whether or not I truly vilified you — you know it clearly in your heart.”
Feng Jingyu was a little annoyed, “I’ll never talk to you anymore.”
Yan Tianhen grabbed Feng Jingyu who was about to fly away and pulled up the feathers on his head, “Maomao, how did you live for so many years but still act like a child with a bigger temper than me?”
Feng Jingyu spoke righteously, “Pah! This king is still a young bird, still a baby!”
Yan Tianhen, “…”
He was truly speechless.
Feng Jingyu joined Ling Chigu again, and twittered happily around Ling Chigu, like a follower.
Ling Chigu recently went on a killing spree at the Hunting Peak. Like a duck in water, he killed plenty of demonic beasts. At the same time, he absorbed the Yin Qi from their corpses and turned it into his own. He could also control corpses that were of lower rank than him and that died by his hands.
In less than a month, Ling Chigu’s cultivation improved a lot and his movements had become more flexible.
Yan Tianhen got the benefit of feedback from Ling Chigu. He was able to improve his own cultivation unconsciously, and his understanding of Imperial Corpse Technique had also somewhat deepened. He realized that its essence was not controlled by the method of Gu worms, but that the most important thing was to be able to control the death Qi and Yin Qi in the corpse.
Although actual combat was important, perception and comprehension were equally important. After Yan Tianhen was clear on these key points, he would practice in the Hunting Peak daily and control corpses who had not established a contractual relationship with him.
Yan Tianhen was born with strong Yin Qi, and in addition, he was a Divine Devil. Within a few days, he mastered the method of controlling dead bodies to attack demonic beasts.
In a few days, Lin Xuanzhi, who had been in closed-door cultivation in Fierce Gale Cliff for a short time, came to Broken Sword Peak to look for Yan Tianhen.
After searching in the spiritual herb fields and the bamboo house, Lin Xuanzhi knew that he was in Hunting Peak.
When Lin Xuanzhi flew on his sword over to Hunting Peak, he found Yan Tianhen fighting with Ling Chigu.
Ling Chigu was different from other corpse puppets after establishing a master-servant contract with Yan Tianhen. Even if Yan Tianhen’s Imperial Corpse Technique was not well-practiced, Ling Chigu could fully understand Yan Tianhen’s commands and would not antagonize them.
Ling Chigu still had the bamboo spear in hand, waving it neatly but without any elegance. However, a discerning person only needed to take one look at this to know that this was a move used in the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Yan Tianhen held a silver-black whip of flames in his grip. He fought with Ling Chigu in an orderly way and did not back down.
The longer the weapon, the stronger it was. Ling Chigu soon found a weak point in Yan Tianhen’s moves and put a bamboo spear to his neck.
At the same time, Yan Tianhen’s whip was like a snake wrapping around Ling Chigu’s spear. However, he was a little slow.
Ling Chigu did not continue to move, but only loosened the burnt bamboo spear and let it burn to ashes.
Yan Tianhen sighed ruefully, “Lost again.”
—