Zhang Fei - The Abandoned Son

"Are you sure you want to dive into this lake?"

"You know that I can't let my big sister go through the ritual by herself, right? Even if my chances of getting the ice element are slim, I must get the ice elemental seed first." Zhang Fei then stood up and prepared to dive into the icy lake.

"Wait a minute." Feng Yao stopped Zhang Fei by grabbing his shoulder. 'Huo Ling, please help him get the ice elemental seed.'

Huo Ling sighed in Feng Yao's mind, but he didn't say anything and entered Zhang Fei's body directly, surprising him. 'Dive in now! You won't freeze as long as I'm with you. The ice phoenix can freeze anything, but it can't freeze a fire spirit like me.'

Even though Huo Ling helped him, Zhang Fei still activated his fire element to warm his body. He immediately jumped into the icy lake and swam down at high speed, surprising Feng Xueying. "How can he dive underwater without Qi protection?"

"Are you still unaware of Zhang Fei's other identity, Ancestor?" Feng Xueying turned to Feng Yao. "That kid has three identities: human, a heavenly fox, and a demon."

"How is that possible?" Feng Yao told Feng Xueying about the writings left behind by the ten-tailed fox. "So you mean that he is his potential successor?"

"Yes." Feng Yao replied with a nod. "Zhang Fei is the main candidate to become the next ten-tailed fox, but the conditions are difficult to fulfill, especially since he needs the hearts of both of the heavenly fox ancestors to be able to evolve into the ten tails."

Feng Xueying fell into a daze upon hearing that. "Tian Baitian and Tian Baixing have long desired to evolve into the ten tails, but they have never been able to achieve it. It turns out that the conditions for them to evolve are really harsh, and they have to kill each other to be able to do it."

"Ancestor, do you know how strong Tian Baitian and Tian Baixing really are?" Feng Yao curiously asked. "All this time, everyone has always said that their strength is equal to my parents', but I think that's impossible, and I'm sure their strength is higher than that."

Feng Xueying confirmed it with a nod. "Tian Baitian's and Tian Baixing's cultivation should have long reached the 5-Moon Divine Ascension Realm, but something inside their bodies suppressed theirs."

"Hmm?" Feng Yao raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know anything about it, but I heard it from Tian Baixing long ago, so it should be true."

Feng Yao propped her chin with her hand and thought about several possibilities. 'Could it be that the old ten-tailed fox left that thing in their bodies? What was his reason for doing that? Since Tian Baitian and Tian Baixing's cultivation has been suppressed for so long, it would enter that stage directly if they managed to get rid of it from their bodies. If that happened, Zhang Fei would never be able to defeat them, and he needed a special way to do so.'

"What are you thinking, Little Yao?"

Feng Xueying's question woke Feng Yao from her thoughts. "I'm thinking about Zhang Fei's chances of defeating Tian Baitian and Tian Baixing to take their hearts."

"Why do you care so much about Zhang Fei? I've watched you since you were little, so I know that this is not your usual character."

"Haha." Feng Yao chuckled. "I want to tell you the truth, but this is not the right time, and I will tell you everything when Zhang Fei is ready to leave these three mortal realms."

Feng Xueying was shocked to hear that. "What do you mean by that? Are there other realms after the upper realms?"

"The realms after the upper realms do exist, but it is difficult to reach those places." Feng Xueying looked at Feng Yao with suspicion. "Even with your cultivation having reached the peak of mortal cultivation, you still won't be able to go there by yourself, and your best choice is to join Zhang Fei."

"Zhang Fei?"

Feng Yao nodded. "Zhang Fei has met people from those places, and they also helped him to do some things."

"Where did Zhang Fei meet those people?"

"Since you have closed yourself off from the outside world for hundreds of thousands of years, it is natural that you do not know about the appearance of many towers in the middle realms; those towers are the key to going to those places." Feng Xueying did not refute Feng Yao because she had only focused on her cultivation for the past hundreds of thousands of years, and she had never left her icy lake, so she did not understand the changes in the outside world. "I learned about those towers from Zhang Fei, and we've challenged one of them, but we've only cleared the first floor. In fact, my parents are in one of those towers right now, and they went there together with the Nameless One and the others."

Feng Xueying looked annoyed because Feng Yao's parents didn't tell her about the tower. "Does this mean you and Zhang Fei will challenge the tower again soon?"

"Yes." Feng Yao then asked. "Do you want to join us? If the people in the tower know about your cultivation, they might give you a chance to go to those places."

"All right, I will join you two." Feng Xueying spontaneously made a decision.

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Sometime later, Zhang Fei had already dived halfway, but he didn't feel the slightest bit of cold, which was thanks to Huo Ling. No ice beasts dared to approach him because of his heavenly fox aura. 'Can you tell me about you and Feng Yao?'

'Humph!' Huo Ling snorted in his mind. 'If you want to know about me, you must conquer the Paradise Realm first. If you can't do that, you are not worthy to know about me or my master.'

Zhang Fei smiled bitterly at that. 'Why do you always look down on me? You already know that I have only been a cultivator for a little over a year, so there is no way I can reach your level in a short time.'

Huo Ling snorted again. 'Humph! I don't want to talk to you much!'

'Tch! This haughty spirit! I really want to spank her ass!' Zhang Fei then spoke to Huo Ling again. 'You should have experienced being in my position in the past, right? There is no way you were powerful from birth; it must have taken you tens or hundreds of thousands of years to reach your current level.'

'Stop asking questions and focus on diving to the bottom of this lake, or I'll leave you to freeze to death.' Huo Ling shouted in annoyance.

[Master, you should stop bothering this female spirit, or you will freeze to death if she leaves you here.]

Zhang Fei sighed in his heart and dove faster, but the temperature inside became colder and colder as he dived deeper, and his fire element disappeared because of the cold. However, it had no impact on Huo Ling, so his body was still warm, even though the surroundings were extremely cold.

After he dived for several hours, Zhang Fei finally arrived at the bottom of the ice lake, and he found the ice elemental seed inside a block of ice.

'Take that seed and return to the surface as soon as possible!' Huo Ling urged him.

Zhang Fei did not reply to Huo Ling, as he did not want to further irritate her. He then took the ice block, stored it in the inventory, and swam to the surface as quickly as possible.

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A few hours later, Zhang Fei jumped out of the icy lake, and Huo Ling immediately returned to Feng Yao's body.

Feng Xueying looked at the ice block in surprise as Zhang Fei took it out, but she then touched it and melted the ice. She gave the ice elemental seed to him. "Your chance of getting the ice element is only about 10 to 20 percent, so you don't have to be disappointed if you fail to get it."

"Can you help me to obtain the ice element?" Zhang Fei asked her.

Feng Xueying acknowledged it with a nod. "I can help you, but I won't. Little Yao has already helped you get this seed, so you have to try to get the ice element yourself. You also don't need to ask Feng Jinqiu for help, especially since I've forbidden him from helping you."

Zhang Fei turned to Feng Yao, but the Phoenix Princess refused with a shake of the head because she had already helped him obtain the ice elemental seed, so she wanted him to make his own efforts to obtain the ice element.

"Well? Not everything can be obtained easily, right? Since you are not willing to help me, and you also forbid Feng Jinqiu from doing so, I will ask my big sister for help." Zhang Fei immediately opened a portal to the training space and asked Zhang Yue to come out of it.

Feng Xueying and Zhang Yue immediately looked at each other, as their ice phoenix bloodline resonated with each other.

Zhang Yue bowed slightly to Feng Xueying. "Ancestor Ice Phoenix, I have heard about you from Senior Jinqiu, but I didn't expect that we would meet so soon."

"Yeah." Feng Xueying nodded at her. "You are still unable to undergo the ritual with your current cultivation, so you can come to me again after your cultivation reaches the quasi-divine realm."

"I understand, Ancestor." Zhang Yue then turned to Zhang Fei. "Fei'er, I do have the bloodline of the ice phoenix, but I am not sure I can help you obtain the ice element."

"It's okay, fail or succeed, let luck decide." Zhang Fei then brought Zhang Yue to sit floating above the icy lake with their palms pressed against each other. "It would be great if I managed to obtain the ice element, but I won't regret it if I fail to obtain it, so let's do it now."

"Wait a minute." Zhang Fei looked at Zhang Yue in confusion. "Lan Zhe is a frost lynx, so you can summon her and let her help you too."

Zhang Fei wasted no time and summoned Lan Zhe, who immediately transformed into her human form and sat behind him. "What should I do, Master?"

"Place your palms on my back and channel as much of your ice qi as possible into my body." Lan Zhe immediately followed his orders, and Zhang Fei rushed to swallow the ice elemental seed.

[Ding]

[Ice elemental seed was detected.]

[The process of absorbing the ice elemental seed begins.]

[The chance for the host to get the ice element is 20%.]

"Let's start."

Zhang Yue and Lan Zhe immediately channeled their ice qi into Zhang Fei's body, directing it at the ice elemental seed to activate it.

[Ding]

[The chance for the host to obtain the wind element has increased to 40%.]

'My chance of getting the ice element increased to 40%, huh?'

Mei immediately spoke to him. [Master, I'm not sure if you can get the ice element with such a low chance, so you should ask other ice cultivators for help, or the ice elemental seed will be wasted.]

'Who should I ask for help? There are no other ice cultivators by my side, Mei.'

[Master, you sometimes act like a senile person! Don't you have many allies? Xue Jingling is an ice elf, and there are many ice fairies in the fairy race, so you can go to the natural race kingdom and ask them for help.]

'Oh! That's right!'

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In a few minutes, Zhang Fei [4] had arrived at the capital of the natural race kingdom together with Xin Xianzi and Zefyr.

Xin Xianzi immediately led the two of them into the royal palace to meet Xian Lianghua and Xue Jingling.

Xian Lianghua and Xue Jingling, who had already noticed their presence, immediately asked Zhang Fei [4]. "Do you need our help?"

"Yes." Zhang Fei immediately spoke to Xue Jingling. "Empress Xue, I have already obtained the ice elemental seed, but my chances of obtaining the ice element are too small. I need some ice cultivators with a high affinity for the ice element to help me, so I hope you are willing to help me."

Xue Jingling was momentarily taken aback. "Where are you trying to do it?"

"The Phoenix Realm." Xian Lianghua and Xue Jingling exchanged surprised glances. "How? Are you willing to help me?"

Xue Jingling nodded. "I'll help you, but you have to take my husband there too."

After he sent Xian Lianghua and Xue Jingling to the Phoenix Realm through the gate, Zhang Fei [4] brought Xin Xianzi and Zefyr to the fairy forest.

Xin Xianzi took Zhang Fei [4] to meet several ice fairies and helped him persuade them, but only one of them was willing to help him.

Zhang Fei [4] did not mind it and sent the ice fairy to the Phoenix Realm. "Do you two want to stay here for the time being?"

"Yes." Xin Xianzi and Zefyr. "We have been training for too long, so we want to freshen up first."

"All right." Zhang Fei [4] immediately left them and returned to the training space, continuing to stabilize his cultivation.

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Above the icy lake, Xue Jingling and the ice fairy were already sitting on either side of Zhang Fei, and they immediately channeled their ice qi into his body before directing it into the ice elemental seed.

[The chance for the host to obtain the wind element has increased to 70%.]

Zhang Fei let out a heavy sigh in his heart, especially since his chances were still not 100%. 'Sigh! I hope the goddess of luck will bless me and help me obtain the ice element.'

By the lake, Feng Xueying asked the elf emperor. "Are you willing to help him because he is a heavenly fox?"

"The old nine-tailed fox is a hero to our natural races, and Zhang Fei is the leading candidate to be his successor, so we choose to be on his side." Feng Xueying was not too surprised by Xian Lianghua's answer.

"Do you know that he is also a demon?"

Xian Lianghua turned to Feng Xueying. "Senior Ice Phoenix, almost everyone in our realm knows Zhang Fei's identity as a demon, but none of them have a problem with it because he has done a lot for our realm, and our realm was able to regain peace thanks to him."

"I see." Feng Xueying nodded in understanding and looked at Zhang Fei, but she still had no intention of helping him obtain the ice element.

[Master, your body temperature is turning cold too quickly due to the effects of their ice Qi.] Mei warned Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei himself was aware of this, but he decided not to use his fire qi to warm his body, especially since he thought it would reduce his chances of obtaining the ice element. Moreover, the cold was still not as cold as when he dual cultivated with Zhang Yue, so he was confident in enduring it.

*Crack*

Zhang Fei suddenly heard a cracking sound from within his body, and he immediately inspected the ice elemental seed within it. He found the seed starting to release the ice element, and it slowly spread throughout his body, which made his body temperature even colder. 'Damn it! No matter how cold it is, I have to endure it to be able to obtain the ice element!'

Unexpectedly, the ice elemental seed within Zhang Fei's body began to absorb the ice Qi within the icy lake, causing his body to slowly freeze.

The four women immediately realized it, and they wanted to withdraw their ice qi, but Zhang Fei right away stopped them. "Don't stop! I have to face this challenge or I will fail to obtain the ice element."

"But—"

"Continue, Big Sis! I can endure it!"

Zhang Yue and the three women sighed softly at Zhang Fei's stubbornness, but they dropped their intention and continued their action of channeling their ice qi into the ice elemental seed.

- To Be Continued -