“May I have your names, Brothers?” Feng Feiyun tried his best to calm down but waves of emotions continued to a.s.sault his mind.
Why was a statue from four thousand years ago so similar to her? It felt like a dream.
The two youths staring at the statue had a tidy appearance. Earlier, they helped Feiyun out because they could see that he was special and wanted to be his friend.
The youth to the left was tall and thin with thick brows. He said with a tinge of pride: “Heavenly Tiger Marquis’ faction, Li Fengxin.”
The marquis had a hundred million troops under his banner. He was a top-level n.o.ble since the first of his line was a founding father of the dynasty. This won his descendants the inheritance t.i.tle.
In other words, the faction of the tiger marquis also had more than six thousand years of history. It had produced many amazing talents and was quite influential all around the world.
Thus, Li Fengxin couldn’t be blamed for being proud of his faction.
The youth to the right wore a green robe and was around seventeen or eighteen years of age. He said: “Profound School, Zhu Ming.”
Profound was one of the five schools of the daoist doctrine; the majority of them were vagabonds and became guest followers of the n.o.bles.
Both youths had amazing cultivation with a black solar light in their dantian. They also had an elegant air as well.
“May I ask where you are from?” Li Fengxin took notes of Feiyun’s clothing and couldn’t see through the guy’s cultivation. Moreover, he had a great beauty as his companion. His maids and bodyguards were full of spirit so the guy had to come from a great background.
Feiyun was still a bit out of touch while staring at the statue. Xiangcen answered in his stead: “We’re from a minor sect of the Grand Southern Prefecture, hoping to broaden our horizon by visiting the capital.”
The southern region was indeed desolate in the eyes of these n.o.bles. They believed that real experts were from Central Royal and Earthchild.
Feiyun naturally understood why she answered in this manner. They were here to form an alliance with a corpse cave so a low-profile was necessary.
Fengxin became a bit excited and asked: “I heard a demon’s son came out in that region and people considered him the best in the dynasty. Have you met him before, Brother?”
Zhu Ming was attracted by this topic as well.
Xiangcen didn’t realize that the southern region has shocked the world at this moment. All eyes were fixated on it. She slightly glanced at Feiyun and vice versa.
Feiyun became a bit awkward and said: “He’s a dragon among men, the jewel in the southern region. Little characters like us aren’t lucky enough to meet him.”
Fengxin nodded in agreement: “He even slept with the Seventh Heretical Lord. Such courage is quite rare indeed.”
Feiyun’s smile instantly froze while Xiangcen turned pale.
“Sigh. It’s fine to not see him. I heard he’s poisoned right now and only has two more years to live. It has been one year so I’m sure his vitality has weakened along with his cultivation. He could be dead in a marsh somewhere.” Zhu Ming said.
Feiyun kept on agreeing as the group walked towards Faith Convent.
His mind was in disarray and his expression showed it. Why was a statue of Shui Yueting here in the Jin Dynasty? It was excavated four thousand years ago but surely, the statue must have been there for even longer.
What was going on? Perhaps reading some books in the convent would grant him some clues.
The convent was north of the statue and deep in the clouds.
A stone pathway led all the way to the peak. There were loud bell rings up there but it didn’t break the serenity of the Buddhist building. Occasionally, one could see a young nun preparing some boiled water along the way while reading some scriptures and heading for the top.
The Beastmaster Camp was another sacred ground for Buddhism that only took in female disciples. However, it allowed for female disciples to cultivate without adopting Buddhism completely. Meanwhile, the Faith Convent’s disciples must become nuns and monks. It was divided into the Jialan Hall and Arhat Hall.
Jialan was for women cultivating the Orchid Scripture. The goal was to transcend the world while realizing that everything was nothing.
Arhat was ascetic with the Diamond Wisdom Scripture. It focused on the self while removing all unrelated aspects and leaving behind all pursuits in the world. Wisdom was the way to reach nothingness.
The real difference between the Beastmaster Camp and the Faith Convent was their way of life. The Beastmaster disciples would join the mortal world to polish their nature. However, the disciples here wouldn’t come out and partic.i.p.ate in mortal conflicts.
Many cultivators came to light an incense; the majority of the group were young prodigies.
With Fengxin leading the way, the group finally made it to the library of the convent. There weren’t any Buddhist cultivation manuals here, only the most ordinary scripture and old canonical texts. Because of this, only four nuns at early Immortal Foundation kept a lookout.
They all wore a white dress. One stood by the entrance while the other three were cleaning up the shelves.
After stating his intent, one nun led Feng Feiyun inside and took out an old book about the divine statue stored in a dark corner. People rarely read it.
As for Fengxin and Zhu Ming, they had no interest in these Buddhist texts so they left for the Ask Buddha Platform. They were only here to see Ye Xiaoxiang and couldn’t wait at all.
Meanwhile, Xiangcen received a jade talisman and took it out. After reading the content, she quickly left with the two maids, only leaving behind the four guards. They stood outside waiting for Feiyun.
Feiyun stood alone under the red sandalwood shelf. He slowly opened the bamboo scroll written more than four thousand years ago. Even though it was carefully preserved, many words were nearly illegible. Some ashes also fell out.
Feiyun carefully read: “In the ninth year of Chengfeng, the Jin River became dried and the statue of a G.o.ddess showed up…”
It took an hour before he finished reading the scroll without missing a single detail. In summary, it stated that a rare flood had occurred in the dynasty during this period so half of the statue’s head was shown. At that point, the court mobilized thirty thousand troops to change the flow of the river and another two years to excavate the statue completely.
The emergence of the statue was quite auspicious. Rains poured down with spirit items appearing all around the dynasty. It was a prosperous era.
This was the reason why that emperor during that generation changed the name of the Jin Capital to the Divine Capital.
Feiyun slightly grimaced. There was not a single clue in the scroll. It didn’t talk about where the statue came from at all.
‘Looks like I have to dig deeper into the legends.” Feiyun rolled the scroll back before putting it back on the shelf.
However, there was a pair of eyes on the other side. They stared at each other through the gap.
The girl was afraid since she didn’t expect for someone to be in front of her and issued a scream.
“Lady, are you alright?” A different girl quickly walked closer.
“No… it’s fine.”
Feiyun didn’t expect to meet an acquaintance in this place. It was Yu Chan from the Supreme Beauty Pavilion.
After several years, this talented musician became even more elegant with a scholarly aura.
She told him that the Supreme Beauty Pavilion had moved to the capital. He was quite surprised and asked: “Hongyan is still there?”
Yu Chan sighed and shook her head: “Big Sis has been missing for a year without any news.”
‘That’s when she left the Feng Clan.’ Feiyun was disappointed. He thought he could meet Hongyan if Yu Chan was here.
Where could she be going if not the pavilion?
Feiyun looked at the other girl who was dressed in white and asked: “Are you and Xue Wu doing well?”
He didn’t know whether he started caring for them just because he loved Hongyan. After all, these girls in this business looked beautiful on the outside but they faced hards.h.i.+p and couldn’t complain to others.
This was a maid name Lan’er, a young girl with bright eyes and white teeth. She didn’t know who Feiyun was and proudly answered the question: “Our lady and Lady Xue Wu are the top three at the Supreme Beauty Pavilion. But…”
“But?” Feiyun inquired.
Yu Chan took a deep breath and said: “The capital is the most prosperous place in the world with countless cultivators. All the playgrounds here normally have the backing of the n.o.bility or cultivation sects and clans. However, we only got here so we lack stability. Other powers are either staying away from us or stealing our talents…”
She slightly whimpered with her eyes getting misty.
Feiyun naturally heard the unhappiness in her voice and became surprised: “Isn’t the Supreme Beauty Pavilion only behind the Beauty’s Smile Pavilion? Shouldn’t all of you be quite successful in this capital where people love this type of stuff?”
Yu Chan shook her head: “More than half of our sisters in the top ten ranking have been poached by the Triflower Palace and we’re without Sister Hongyan too. We’re no match for Triflower now, let alone Beauty’s Smile.”
Lan’er said exasperatedly: “Really, in terms of music and dancing ability, the top girls from Triflower are not necessarily better than Lady Yu Chan and Lady Xue Wu. But if we have a Grand Historical Genius backing us up, it will attract many visitors then we can be as hot as Triflower.”
“Why does having a Grand Historical Genius as your guest increase your popularity so much?” Feiyun was confused.
Lan’er explained: “The people who go to these playgrounds are young. The most excellent among them are part of the lower and upper lists of Grand Historical Geniuses. The twenty members are the young generation’s idols.”
“When a historical genius visit a playground, young n.o.bles and young masters will come running. The value of the lady will go up several times and she could be granted the t.i.tle of maestro.”
“The hot maestro right now is Ye Xiaoxiang from Beauty’s Smile. Because three historical geniuses like her a lot, she is propelled to a very influential role in the capital right now.”