“A sea? A sea made entirely of scorching sun seeds?”
Qing Envoy Shi Song stared at the crimson mirror, nearly thinking he was hallucinating.
Since when could the scorching sun seeds—so extremely difficult to condense even once—appear in the form of a “sea”?
Ever since Marquis Qingfen received his title from the Liyang Ancient Kingdom and took charge of the Qingfen Domain, countless talents had emerged there over innumerable ages.
A genius with ten scorching sun seeds could be called exceptional within spans of a hundred thousand or a million years, able to join Marquis Qingfen directly.
But if we look at tens of millions, hundreds of millions, or even more extended time scales, a ten-seed genius does not seem all that dazzling.
According to the information Shi Song knew, the strongest genius in the history of the Qingfen Domain was Feng Wanxing, the first disciple of Marquis Qingfen.
Before reaching five hundred years of age, Feng Wanxing had condensed a total of seven hundred and thirty-two scorching sun seeds.
But now?
Shi Song stood there, dumbfounded, gazing at the sea of scorching sun seeds in the crimson mirror. Just one crashing wave contained several dozen scorching sun seeds.
So how many scorching sun seeds were in the entire sea?
Three thousand? Ten thousand?
Shi Song could not wrap his mind around it. This entirely exceeded his understanding.
“I have to inform Senior Brother immediately!”
He barely managed to steady himself, knowing that the current situation was not something he could handle. He had to report it to his senior brother at once.
In truth, even his senior brother in the Dominance realm could not truly handle a monster who had condensed so many scorching sun seeds, but it still needed to be passed along.
Buzz.
In the next moment, Qing Envoy Shi Song took out a red jade slip.
This was the communication tool shared by disciples of Marquis Qingfen. As long as one remained in the Qingfen Domain, “instant contact” was possible.
“Senior Brother, here at the Yu Family, I’ve found a…sea of scorching sun seeds.”
Qing Envoy Shi Song rewrote the message multiple times, trying to convey what he was seeing as clearly as possible.
“What’s wrong with the Envoy?”
The Yu Family’s ancestors and senior members, including the patriarch, Yu Chao Long, noticed Shi Song’s abrupt shift, but they were only slightly suspicious.
They did not overthink it.
At the moment, most of their attention was on how to deal with the grim situation ahead.
The Dongyang Family had produced a genius with ten scorching sun seeds—an absolute disaster for the Yu Family, possibly even spelling their utter extermination if handled poorly.
Hence, the Yu Family’s Ji Dao realm ancestors were already deliberating how to evacuate and preserve the clan’s core bloodline.
The Yu Family and the Dongyang Family had clashed for many years; their grudge could not be resolved. Now that the Dongyang Family had risen in one stroke, how could they possibly spare the Yu Family?
So none of the Yu Family’s old ancestors had considered surrender or compromise.
If the Yu Family had produced a ten-seed genius, they likewise would not have accepted the Dongyang Family’s overtures.
“That crimson mirror can detect how many scorching sun seeds I have inside me?”
Lin Yuan remained where he stood, observing Qing Envoy Shi Song, who was blankly staring at the crimson mirror.
Moments earlier, he clearly sensed a kind of probing presence, and every single scorching sun seed within him had reacted.
By now, the scorching sun seeds in Lin Yuan’s body formed a complete cycle, practically a single entity. Even the slightest change in the outside world could be sensed.
“It looks like he’s figured out how many seeds I’ve managed to form.” Lin Yuan noted the Envoy’s reaction without much surprise.
Half a year earlier, Lin Yuan had already condensed more than three thousand scorching sun seeds. Now, the total number exceeded ten thousand—
Reaching ten thousand three hundred sixty-three.
A count like that—appearing in someone under five hundred years old—was beyond anything Lin Yuan had ever heard of.
“But this might be for the best,”
Lin Yuan thought to himself.
Whether in the Qingfen Domain or other domains, all lay under the glow of the eternal scorching sun.
Unless Lin Yuan planned to remain hidden forever, standing in opposition to the Liyang Ancient Kingdom, the only choice was to join their camp and secure the greatest benefit for himself.
At least from what he could see, Marquis Qingfen was at minimum on the level of a Chaos Venerable, and as for the Liyang Ancient Kingdom? Its depths were unfathomable.
Dongyang Family.
The tall figure was currently being entertained by several of the family’s old ancestors.
Dongyang Meng stood obediently to one side. The many clan leaders present regarded her with awe.
As a ten-seed genius, once Dongyang Meng successfully joined Marquis Qingfen, she would gain unimaginable status and glory.
The Dongyang Family as a whole would benefit for countless ages because of her.
“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have bothered ambushing Yu Yan,” Dongyang Meng mused aimlessly.
If she had not yet condensed her tenth scorching sun seed, getting rid of Yu Yan from the Yu Family in advance would have been a decent plan.
But in retrospect, having finally formed the tenth seed, the so-called act of “elimination” now felt almost laughable.
In Dongyang Meng’s mind, she and Yu Yan would possess entirely different statuses in the future.
“Why hasn’t Shi Song come back yet?” the tall figure wondered.
He had asked Shi Song to visit the Yu Family purely for form’s sake. Could it be that the fellow was enjoying the Yu Family’s hospitality?
“Huh?”
Just then, the tall figure’s expression shifted. He took out a crimson jade slip. Shi Song, who had gone to the Yu Family, had sent him a “message.”
“What’s going on?”
The tall figure frowned, not seeing the need to communicate this way. Why not just come back?
Though it made him impatient, he still sent a thread of consciousness into the jade slip.
The slip’s message was short, but it made the tall figure’s face change drastically.
“A sea formed from scorching sun seeds?”
He found it unbelievable. If not for his certainty that Shi Song would never joke about something like this, he would have dismissed it as nonsense.
A sea?
Made of scorching sun seeds?
“Senior Brother, what’s wrong?”
Another Qing Envoy standing nearby asked in a quiet voice.
“It’s about the Yu Family…”
The tall figure’s mind reeled. He glanced at his fellow Envoy and quickly said, “Come with me to the Yu Family.”
He was sure Shi Song wouldn’t lie to him about such a thing,
But if the Yu Family truly had somebody who condensed a sea-like amount of scorching sun seeds, he needed to see it himself.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
At once, in front of the Dongyang Family’s old ancestors, the tall figure and the other Envoy vanished.
They never explained to the Dongyang ancestors why. If Shi Song’s account was correct, then Yu Yan of the Yu Family would be the greatest genius in the history of the Qingfen Domain.
Compared to that, Dongyang Meng—the ten-seed genius—was insignificant.
Geniuses who managed ten scorching sun seeds before reaching five hundred were born in the Qingfen Domain regularly, every so often.
“Both Envoys…?”
The Dongyang Family’s old ancestors were baffled, unprepared for the Envoys’ abrupt exit.
“Where did they go?”
The Dongyang patriarch couldn’t help asking.
At the same time, he looked toward Dongyang Meng. The Envoys had disappeared without offering any explanation, leaving behind the supposedly extraordinary ten-seed genius as though she were unimportant.
This made the patriarch nervous.
Dongyang Meng was their family’s future hope, but now she’d been left behind?
“Maybe they had urgent business?”
An old ancestor of the Dongyang Family ventured a guess.
The two Envoys’ hasty departure probably meant something big had happened.
“I hope so.”
Another old ancestor looked unsettled.
“Let’s go check the area around the Yu Family.”
Though it seemed unlikely, the third Envoy, Shi Song, had gone to the Yu Family and hadn’t returned; now the remaining two Envoys had reacted in this baffling manner.
He could not help guessing that their abrupt exit was connected to the Yu Family.
“The Yu Family—what for?” The Dongyang patriarch asked in surprise.
“Let’s just take a look.” The old ancestor felt a surge of unease.
“I hope it’s not what I’m thinking.”
Yu Family.
Shortly after Shi Song’s communication,
The tall figure and another Envoy arrived.
The Yu Family was not far from the Dongyang Family, which explained the tall figure’s puzzlement about why Shi Song had not come back quickly.
“Senior Brother.”
Shi Song, seeing the tall figure, went up to meet him right away.
Meanwhile, the Yu Family’s old ancestors were busy planning how to evacuate their line. They immediately noticed the arrival of the other two Envoys.
“Two Envoys, welcome,” Yu Chao Long said, walking forward at once. Though clearly confused, he bowed in greeting.
“Three Envoys together… Didn’t Envoy Shi Song say the other two were at the Dongyang Family? Why would they come here if Dongyang Meng is a ten-seed genius?”
The Yu Family’s ancestors glanced at each other, perplexed.
“Envoy…”
The leading old ancestor of the Yu Family watched the tall figure accept the crimson mirror from Shi Song’s hands, and an outlandish notion rose in his mind.
Could Yu Yan also be a ten-seed genius?
Otherwise, why would the two Envoys hurry over in person, once again verifying things with the scorching sun mirror granted by the Liyang Kingdom?
“My son?”
Yu Chao Long had the same thought. The reactions of the three Envoys were so unusual that, without a word being said, an eleventh-rank or twelfth-rank mind could still figure out a lot.
“That Envoy who just arrived is probably in the Dominance realm.”
Lin Yuan’s gaze rested on the tall figure. Among the three Envoys, two were at the peak of Path-Clearing, and one was at Dominance.
“This source world truly has astonishing depth,” Lin Yuan mused.
Though the Qingfen Domain was vast, its area was only about the size of a single universe in the Chaos Void, yet it had so many powerful beings?
“Maybe it’s due to the ‘Liyang Nurturing Spirit Method’?” Lin Yuan guessed inwardly.
That method allowed those born into the Liyang Kingdom to greatly enhance their ability to perceive rules, which in turn increased the odds of producing powerful experts.
Others might not be able to condense over ten thousand scorching sun seeds as Lin Yuan had, but without the five-hundred-year age limit, forming a few or even a few dozen was definitely possible.
And a few or a few dozen scorching sun seeds would raise one’s rule comprehension by multiple levels.
“So it’s true?”
The tall figure looked upon the crimson mirror’s vision of the roiling “sea of scorching suns,” overwhelmed by turbulent thoughts.
Hearing the phrase “sea of scorching suns” was one thing; seeing it with his own eyes was quite another.
“Even our senior disciple, at his present stage, hasn’t reached this level, right?”
He silently wondered.
That senior disciple was Feng Wanxing, the lead disciple under Marquis Qingfen and second only to the Marquis in the entire Qingfen Domain.
Feng Wanxing had formed over seven hundred scorching sun seeds before turning five hundred. After countless years of cultivation, he surely had more by now.
Even so, it was unlikely he could match this “sea of scorching suns” in the crimson mirror.
“How could someone under five hundred form all of that?”
Another Envoy could hardly believe it. None of them questioned whether the scorching sun mirror was malfunctioning. A mirror bestowed by the Liyang Kingdom would never fail.
Yet the more certain they were of that, the more unbelievable it seemed. Ten thousand scorching sun seeds making a sea? Could Yu Yan have condensed one every few days or years?
What they did not know was that these ten thousand or so seeds were formed by Lin Yuan in just the past year—nowhere near five hundred.
In fact, if they only realized how fast he really was, they would find he once condensed each new scorching sun seed in mere breaths.
“Senior Brother, what should we do now?”
Shi Song, seeing the tall figure rooted to the spot, felt oddly relieved. He spoke up right away.
“How do you think we should handle it?”
The tall figure gave Shi Song a sidelong glance.
“How do I think?” Shi Song considered.
“We should contact His Lordship?”
Even though they were disciples of Marquis Qingfen, they still referred to him as “His Lordship.”
“No need.”
The tall figure shook his head, an odd look on his face.
“His Lordship probably already knows.”
Every scorching sun mirror had a sub-mirror and a main mirror. While these Qing Envoys traveled the Qingfen Domain with the sub-mirrors, the main mirror was kept by Marquis Qingfen himself.
Whatever scorching sun seeds the sub-mirrors detected would “synchronize” with the main mirror.
In the center of the Qingfen Domain, a grand, majestic city stood, drawing countless mighty auras from all directions.
Within the city stood Qingfen Mansion.
A man in a green robe, a wisp of pale-blue flame flickering faintly at his brow, sat cross-legged there.
His narrow eyes revealed a casual aura, yet it surpassed even the vastness of the entire Qingfen Mansion and the city around it.
This man was Marquis Qingfen. Before the Liyang Ancient Kingdom conferred his title, he had been known as Great Sovereign Qingfen.
“Hmm?”
Marquis Qingfen’s eyes suddenly opened, the blue flame at his brow dancing gently.
In that moment, a crimson mirror likewise appeared before him.
Compared to the mirrors possessed by the Qing Envoys, this one exuded a heavy dignity, truly resembling the eternal scorching sun in the heavens that radiated infinite light and heat.
“So they’ve discovered a being who has condensed ten thousand three hundred sixty-three scorching sun seeds…all under five hundred years old?”
Marquis Qingfen stared at the crimson mirror in front of him, where an expanse of crimson sea was faintly visible, made entirely of scorching sun seeds.
He fell at once into a silence.
...
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