The Spiritual Attainment of Minghe

Haotian pulled himself together and said resentfully, "I won’t let this slide. I’ll make the entire Western Religious Sect pay someday! But speaking of Liu Er, his cultivation really improves at a surprising speed. He’s actually like me, in the late Stage of the Sage-to-be. He’s really impressive to be able to take on a strike from a Sage without even batting an eyelid!"

Beside him, Yaoji was puzzled by his words. "Is the one called Liu Er that formidable? Brother, you’re the Great Jade Emperor but he doesn’t seem to care about you at all. Is he even more powerful than you?" In her mind, her brother had always been the most powerful person in the world beneath the Sages.

Haotian felt a little resentful to hear this but had no way of refuting her. It embarrassed him as well. Honorable Ancestor made him the master of the Heavenly Court, so he was supposed to dominate the Untainted Land. But was the land truly under his control?

The Untainted Land was immeasurable in size, with so many forces that it was hard to counterbalance all of them. The Heavenly Force was only the ruler in name and didn’t possess absolute strength. Outside of the Heavenly Court, only the Human Tribe living off the Coast of the East Sea and the Dragon Tribe of the Four Seas yielded to him. Which among the Wu Tribe, Demon Tribe, Earth Immortal’s Residence, Nether World, and the Blood Sea truly obeyed him?

Noticing Haotian’s awkward expression, Yaochi said, "Liu Er is the eldest disciple of Ancestor Minghe. His cultivation is on a par with your brother’s. Ancestor Minghe is an existence akin to The Sage, so with his backing, not even the Sages could force Liu Er to submit to them. Once, Liu Er beat up a disciple of Sage Jade Pure, but there wasn’t anything they could do about it."

Haotian’s awkward expression faded as he listened to Yaochi’s consoling words. He looked at his sister in the eyes and said earnestly, "Sister, you can’t act so recklessly in the future. You’re not allowed to sneak into the Untainted Land without permission. You got lucky this time, but who knows what will happen next time?"

...

Over on the Holy Mountain of the West, Yang Tianyou might have been rescued but he nevertheless sustained severe injuries. This time, Liu Er’s superpower had harmed him and he was only safe thanks to Zhunti’s Magical Tree of Seven Treasures. But his injuries were so bad that it remained to be seen if he would be able to ascend to the Realm of Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal.

Zhunti was naturally infuriated by the situation. Though he had struck Liu Er almost carelessly, Liu Er still managed to block the attack with ease. What an incredible humiliation. Considering how big the commotion was, there was no way the other Sages wouldn’t find out about this. Though Yang Tianyou’s life was intact, his path to the Celestial Immortality was basically over. Unless there was a fateful interference, he would likely remain a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal for the rest of his life.

Given Zhunti’s temper, there was no way he would let this slide. But just as he was preparing to make his move, a murderous aura firmly sealed his Magical Tree of Seven Treasures. He naturally knew where this aura came from and could only give up.

Honestly, Zhunti was envious of Minghe’s three disciples. Among them, Liu Er had the highest cultivation in the Late Stage of the Sage-to-be realm. Few people could rival him at this point. Minghe’s second disciple, Kong Xuan, was a descendant of the Phoenix Tribe. He was a talented young man who was now in the Early Stage of the Sage-to-be. But what surprised Zhunti was the third disciple, Black Tortoise.

All the Sages had already done their research on the mysterious Black Tortoise. Surprisingly, he turned out to be Exotic Beast that held the Sky with his limbs when the Sky was being mended. Though he was just in the Realm of Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, he owned so many Merits that it was enough to make Zhunti green with envy. More importantly, he would continue to receive Merits as long as the Pillars of Heaven remain upright. Naturally, everyone was envious of him.

Now that Liu Er had sabotaged his plan, Zhunti was naturally enraged. Not only did the plain failed, he even drew the ire of Haotian and the attention of all the other Sages. It would be difficult to come up with a second plan, but fortunately, it didn’t affect the West much. After all, the West never had much influence over the East and thus the West wasn’t afraid of losing anything.

...

On the bank of the Yu River, everything that had been destroyed earlier was restored to its original condition. Liu Er’s fighting spirit was rekindled after taking Zhunti’s hit and he decided to go into a Closed Door Meditation for the moment. Since he intended to stay here for a while, he restored the hills and rivers nearby, as well as the large peach orchard.

Though he was now in the late stage of the Sage-to-be realm, he had only managed to enlighten the Law of War to the Early Stage of the same realm. Since he had time now, he really ought to start enlightening it again. The collision with Zhunti only lasted a blink of an eye, but it inspired Liu Er. The Law of War existed because of war and only battles could accelerate his understanding of it.

After he completed this, he planned on looking for new opponents. Whether it was the Wu Tribe, Demon Tribe, or Human Tribe, they all had no shortage of strong Sage-to-be warriors. It was a great idea to use them as stepping stones. His blood boiled even hotter. It was only now that he knew he had been suppressing his true nature all along. Zhunti had awakened his instincts. This was fate as well as good fortune.

For the next few decades, Liu Er lived like a hermit near the bank of the Yu River, enlightening on what he had learned. He had basically reflected over most of his experience and comprehended about 40 percent of the Law of War. The rest he could only learn when he gained another inspiration. He planned to live in a short while.

His first stop would be the Wu Tribe with its inherent warlike tendencies. At the moment, Xuan Ming was the only Ancestor of Sorcerer holding down the fort at the tribe, but his policy was not to fight women. Whom he was looking for was the God of War, Xing Tian, who was rumored to have surpassed the Realm of Sage-to-be. He ought to be a worthy opponent.

"Hey! Liu Er, are you in? Hurry up and come out!" Liu Er heard someone yelling miles away from outside the mountain. He looked past the tactical formation he laid and saw Yaoji. He was stunned that Haotian still allowed her to leave after that incident the last time. Wasn’t he afraid of Yaoji getting tricked again?

Outside the mountain, Yaoji looked dejected as she stared at the tactical formation that barred her entrance. Without any options, she could only yell for Liu Er and hope he heard her. Sure enough, the formation instantly vanished. It seemed that Liu Er had lifted the formation and she happily ran inside.

Inside the forest, she saw a large field of peach trees with a massive stone in the middle. Liu Er was seated cross-legged on the stone, looking like he was immersed in his cultivation. He opened his eyes the moment she stepped in. "I wonder what brings Yaoji Fairy here."

Yaoji smiled. "Nothing really. It’s just that the Heavenly Court is too dull, so I came down here to play. Since I don’t know anyone here, I can only come and find you. Oh right, I brought you something this time." She held out a plate full of Peaches of Immortality and handed it to him.

Liu Er’s heart instantly stirred. The peaches that Yaoji brought him could only be harvested once every 9,000 years. He had never tasted any of it since the peach feast the last time. With his cultivation, all peaches were just food to him. Even so, these peaches were the best he had ever tried. Of course, he would be intrigued by them.

Watching Liu Er devour the peaches, Yaoji found a seat beside him. She looked at him doubtfully and said, "Why do you like peaches so much? Won’t you get bored of them? Are they really that delicious? I always eat them in the Heavenly Court but I never thought they’re particularly tasty."

Liu Er couldn’t help rolling his eyes. Nonsense! Could a monkey that didn’t like eating peaches be considered a monkey? It was the same with humans. Could they get sick of rice? Facing a girl who didn’t know how to count her blessings, he really had no idea what to say.

Suddenly, Liu Er’s ears quivered. He looked up to the Sky before turning to Yaoji. "You sneaked out again, didn’t you?" He could sense someone was spying on him. It must be Haotian. Considering Yaoji’s "criminal record", it wasn’t hard to guess that she had secretly left the Heavenly Court again.

Yaoji looked surprised. "How did you find out? My brother went into Closed Door Meditation again and my sister-in-law is off running the Heavenly Court. I was bored on my own so I sneaked out. I didn’t take my brother’s Haotian Mirror, so he wouldn’t be able to find me this time."

Looking at the smug expression on Yaoji’s face, Liu Er was rendered completely speechless. The mirror was something gifted by Honorable Ancestor himself and it was capable of monitoring the entire Untainted Land. It would be so easy to find her whereabouts. How could she not know about this function after having the mirror with her for so long? Liu Er asked, "How did you know I’m here?"