Chapter 184: Matriarch Huang Yufeng
The spectacle was terrifying and fascinating at the same time. All the mortals in Baziyun City locked themselves inside and prayed to whatever they believed in. But the cultivators knew more or less what was going. Only Spirit Warriors fully understood what they were seeing.
All the elders of the Huang family left the residence and levitated above it to have a better view of the phenomenon. Even among the younger generation, they felt something, whether they knew what it was or not. Huang Cixi ran in her courtyard and jumped on the roof of a corridor joining two pavilions. Above her, Huang Liyue was also admiring the pillar of light fending off darkness. No one could see her but her eyes were deeply emotional.
In the depths of her heart, Huang Cixi felt the True Fiery Drops react to this blinding light. And just as she was piecing everything together, she heard the screech of a phoenix resound all the way from these rocky hills.
The hill itself had been completely blown away and turned into rubbles. Within the pillar of light something was slowly ascending into the firmaments. Huang Cixi focused all her senses and she was able to vaguely see it. Gradually her heart was beating faster and faster as excitement was coursing through her veins. In her blood, the essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang was reacting to this light. And she knew why.
In the center of this pillar of light, she recognized an old woman with pure white hair. Despite the light, she saw her clothes with the colors of the Huang family. Moreover, she also recognized the characteristic crown of the matriarch. It was different from the crown of the emperor obviously. It looked like a stylized golden phoenix with the wings horizontally on each side. Its peacock wheel was fully opened in the center and its claws were holding small threads studded with colorful beads.
The old woman, Matriarch Huang Yufeng, was sitting cross-legged amidst this pillar of light and seemed perfectly peaceful, as though all this catastrophe didn't concern her at all. Several others distinguished her form and all understood. The matriarch's breakthrough had invited a tribulation. During the current era, the Forsaken Dao Era, seeing a Spirit Warrior breaking through into the final grade was rare beyond measure. In the kingdom, only a handful of cultivators had reached this stage. Among them were Sect Leader Xuan of the Wubei Sect and Emperor Weide, the current emperor of the Hongchen Kingdom. Even Director Ge from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute had failed repeatedly.
Having another 9th-grade Spirit Warrior was a miracle for the Hongchen Kingdom. No matter how old she was, if the Huang family could have a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior for one or two centuries, this would change everything.
Huang Cixi was not entirely sure of what this last stage of the Spirit Warrior realm implicated, but she was completely fascinated by the spectacle. Furthermore, her blood, like the blood of everyone born into the Huang family was getting overexcited.
Huang Liyue and the late Spirit Warriors knew that Matriarch Huang Yufeng was not attempting just a mere breakthrough. After several centuries of cultivation and many periods of seclusion, she had decided to give it her all. The truth was that she was trying to cross over directly into the Sage realm. The recent news that Spirit Master Xiao had succeeded into making a legendary pill had renewed her hopes. Sadly, the Sage realm would not extend her lifespan. But if she could accomplish such an feat, she would die without any regret.
Being only a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, Huang Liyue didn't understand all the subtleties. What she knew was that during the last two stages of the Spirit Warrior realm, she had to open her Third Eye and then send her Soul Embryo through her Bai Hui point. Usually, less than five years would separate these two stages. For stages of the Spirit Warrior realm, that was very short. It was possible to attempt the two steps directly one after another and what she was seeing was clearly the second step. It meant that Matriarch Huang Yufeng was already a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. But Huang Liyue was not happy at all, because if she failed the next step, her mistress could get heavily wounded, or even killed. If she succeeded though, that would be incredible. According to the legends, a Sage could perceive the laws of nature and the Dao with their spirit directly from the Heavens.
Huang Yufeng had indeed crossed over to the 9th-grade Spirit Warrior a few weeks ago, but had kept it a secret. Despite knowing that her chances were slim, she was well aware that her life was approaching its end. She wasn't confident in her attempt, but if she delayed it, she couldn't try it as much as she would need to in order to succeed in the end. This didn't mean that she was not serious, quite the contrary. Huang Yufeng desired this breakthrough to succeed with all her blood and all her soul.
After opening the Third Eye of her Soul Embryo, she had been seeing the world in a new light. Now, she had opened her Bai Hui and was trying to send her Soul Embryo out of her body so that it could use this Third Eye directly in the world. The gigantic pillar of light around her was the physical manifestation of the Third Eye watching the world without any veil. But she had to pierce through the dark clouds. The Dao was the ultimate truth, the first principle from which all was born. It wasn't so easily seen through. Even if a Sage could only see a small part of it, it was still protected with jealousy and greed. Those clouds were an attempt by the Dao itself to hide its true nature to the mortals, even if it was just one small part.
Huang Yufeng had condensed eight True Fiery Drops. She was only missing one to finish the 'Nine Chambers of Life Fire' of her ancestral matriarch. Sadly she knew that she lacked the blood essence to reach this completion. But it did not mean that her strength was weak. Using all of those drops of blood, she ignited the essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang within her. Behind the matriarch, a gigantic fenghuang appeared and screeched toward the sky. Around her, the pillar of light widened even more and began to resemble a pillar of flame as the light was undulating under the temperature.
Inside this pillar of light, Huang Yufeng felt like a goddess being birthed. And those clouds were the membrane she needed to tear apart to finally be born. Instinctively, she felt as though she had never really walked the true path of cultivation. Only by reaching the legendary Sage realm would she really be qualified to be called a cultivator. Until now, like all cultivators in the Hongchen Kingdom, she had merely cultivated her body, her blood, her mind, her Qi, all things that were hers. But she had never been able to understand the Dao, the true way, the purpose of every cultivator. She had prepared her body and mind, her very soul for this new path and it was right before her eyes.
The clouds became even darker than the starless night. Thousands of lightning bolts came hurtling toward Huang Yufeng. The flames enveloping the pillar of light protected her a bit, but this wasn't enough. Some bolts traversed the pillar and struck Huang Yufeng directly. Immediately, the Qi Manifestation of the fenghuang behind her closed its wings and protected her body. But the pillar of light was a manifestation of her Soul Embryo, as such, it was both being tempered by the thunder but also being hurt. If it took too much damage, her Soul Embryo could literally die out and she would lose her cultivation, just like Saint Xun Ke. Given her age, it would probably mean instant death.
Still, she persisted and the fenghuang screeched once more. Every demonic beast in the vicinity got terrorized and fled. In Baziyun City no sound except for this screech could be heard. Everyone was either terrified or transfixed by the spectacle.
From all around Huang Yufeng, an even deeper light emerged. She was pouring everything she had into this last assault. From her spatial ring, a huge rock scarred by thousands of strange markings appeared. Her light flowed through the rock that turned into dust as all the markings came to life, animated by her light. They levitated around her, forming some kind of shield.
Several bolts of lightning penetrated the pillar but got stopped by these strange markings floating around Huang Yufeng's body. Some of them fluttered and dissipated under the power of the clouds. But there were enough left for Huang Yufeng's plan. Now that she was satisfied that she controlled them fully, she aligned them over her head. They formed a straight line between the summit of her head and the dark clouds above. From the fenghuang, a long feather of fire climbed and coiled around this imaginary line. Right now, the markings looked like beads on a giant rope of fire. The fenghuang closed completely its wings over Huang Yufeng who was engulfed in an inferno.
Suddenly, the pillar of light contracted in a deafening boom as air filled the void. Just after disappearing, this gigantic pillar of light flashed one last time. But this time, it was the size of this strange line linking Huang Yufeng to the dark clouds. A concentrated strand of light shot out from her Bai Hui and ascended through this beaded rope. Some of the markings dissipated under the pressure of this light. Finally, it reached the sky and tried to pierce the clouds. For an instant, the light of the sun shined through the sky. But in the end, the small hole got filled up by the dark clouds. A powerful lighting strike came down along the same path directly toward Huang Yufeng's head.
Prepared for her potential failure, she was ready. All the markings came down, even faster than the lighting strike, as they were pulled in by the rope of fire from the fenghuang. And they all formed a shield over Huang Yufeng's head. The shock of the attack was so powerful that a crater got formed on the ground below. Everyone in the Huang family had stopped breathing as they could be witnessing the very death of their matriarch. Thankfully, she proved them wrong.
That was the last strike of the dark clouds who slowly dissipated now that Huang Yufeng had stopped her attempt to breakthrough. Only half of the markings were still visible. The other half had been destroyed either by lightning or by Huang Yufeng's Soul Embryo during the failed breakthrough. Slowly, they entered Huang Yufeng's head through her Bai Hui. Huang Cixi had understood what they were, those were Insight Writings. Most likely, Huang Yufeng had engraved them herself into this rock to protect herself during this breakthrough.
And she was right, but only partially. The Insight Writings Huang Yufeng received after this failed attempt were now different. They were imbued with a part of her Soul Embryo as it was trying to see through the Dao. In fact, it had seen through it but only for an instant. And they were also imbued with a tiny fraction of the thunder summoned by this part of Dao that tried to keep her blind to it. They were now totally different from the Insight Writings she had engraved herself. They would give her a ton of information she could use to try another breakthrough in a few decades. That was one of the reasons for her hurry. Each time she failed, she would get new insights into this breakthrough and the Sage realm. But if she lacked the time to analyze these insights, they would be useless to her.
Huang Yufeng was now levitating in a smoking crater. She opened her eyes and looked at the sky.
"Traitorous Dao, I will see through you. Your secrets will be exposed for me to take. Even if I die soon after, this is why I cultivated my entire life. And you won't prevent me from doing so. Send me all your tribulations and all your catastrophes, I will endure. If not in this life, in the next."
After this prideful comment, the last remnants of the dark clouds completely dispersed.
In Baziyun City, Huang Liyue received a telepathic message from her mistress. Even she got agitated. Considering the distance between them, Huang Yufeng's spiritual senses could extend at least twenty times farther than hers. In fact, she could probably sense through the entire Baziyun City without any problem. It was even possible that her spiritual senses were powerful enough to sense through a cun or two of pure Void Nurtured Platinum.
"I still need to meditate on what I learned today. I'll be back during the tea ceremony. But the city seems to prepare for an invasion, what is going on?"
Unable to send a telepathic message back, Huang Liyue simply mouthed her response. She knew that with her senses, Huang Yufeng could easily read her lips even with the distance. Of course, she couldn't tell her absolutely everything, so she focused on the important news.
As she 'listened' to Huang Liyue, the matriarch turned her senses over Huang Cixi and Huang Si. She knew Huang Si and wanted to see her progress. There was nothing unexpected, she was progressing at the same rhythm as usual, fast. But Huang Cixi impressed the matriarch because she was now able to see through her sea of consciousness and saw both her mind cultivation, her Pure Golden Dantian and her True Fiery Drops.
"I understand the situation. No stampede will occur for quite some time. Most demonic beasts, even the most powerful, will be too afraid to go out after my... my failure. No one may disturb my chambers before the tea ceremony. However, you and Family Head Huang Yi will both report to me the night before. I trust Family Head Huang Yi to handle the situation until then."
Just after talking, Huang Yufeng crossed over the distance between her and Baziyun City in an instant. Apart from a few late Spirit Warriors no one saw her figure. They simply saw her disappear. And now, she was cloistered in her chambers, meditating on her failed breakthrough.