I am a mortal who has achieved enlightenment through burning my secrets

Chapter 204 Coming out of seclusion
In each cycle of destruction and reconstruction, the laws within the strange fire were constantly imprinted on his body, making his divine body stronger with each passing moment.

This is a technique similar to the body refinement of gods and demons, where laws are imprinted on the body to refine one's body into an innate body like that of innate gods and demons and strange fires.

This process was extremely painful, but Xiao Wuji was somewhat captivated by it. Such a scene, where the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth was right before his eyes, was not something that could happen at any time.

……

In the blink of an eye, another year has passed, and the Holy Son Trial of the Flying Spirit Clan is just around the corner, which has greatly worried the elders of the Sky Roc Clan.

All the other holy sons and daughters were in place, except for Xiao Wuji, who was still in seclusion. The other two elders tried to wake him up several times, but Jin Yue firmly stopped them each time.

But now that the trial is just around the corner, they can no longer care about Jin Yue's objections.

"Elder, I'll ask you one more time: will you give way or not?"

The red-bearded old man and the middle-aged beauty blocked Jin Yue's cave entrance, clearly adopting a coercive attitude.

If Xiao Wuji cannot emerge from seclusion today, then the Tianpeng Clan will almost certainly be wiped out. Therefore, no matter how much Jin Yue insists, they will forcefully knock on the gate today.

"I've already told you, Wuji is in seclusion, and no one is allowed to disturb him!"

"Compared to the Holy Son Trial, he is the future of my Tianpeng Clan!"

Jin Yue was very resolute about Xiao Wuji's matter, because in her view, the Tianpeng Clan was far less important than Xiao Wuji.

"Since you insist on stopping me, let's see who's the real deal!"

Seeing that Jin Yue was unwilling to back down, the red-bearded old man said directly to another middle-aged woman behind him, "I'll hold her back for a while, you go and awaken the Holy Son!"

The old man moved, transforming into a silver-winged roc several dozen feet long, and swooped down towards Jin Yue's cave. The middle-aged beauty also spread her wings, poised to break through Jin Yue's defenses as quickly as possible.

collapse!
The gate to Jin Yue Cave suddenly shattered, and a stream of colorful light shot out from the cave, crashing headlong into the silver-winged Kunpeng Dharma image that was pouncing towards it.

The colorful stream of light collided with the Kunpeng Dharma Image, producing a muffled "bang," and both stopped in mid-air.

Amidst the colorful flames, a figure with golden wings on its back placed one hand on the head of the Kunpeng, its eyes flashing with lightning, exuding an aura of imposing authority.

"Elder Xu is really impatient. Can't he even wait a moment?"

As they spoke, the colorful flames gradually subsided, and Xiao Wuji, now sporting a new head of colorful hair, reappeared before everyone.

"you……"

Elder Xu stared in astonishment at the person before him. He truly possessed the aura of a Heavenly Roc! But what was with these flames? He was indeed a Flying Spirit General! But what was with this terrifying power?

"Humph!"

After repelling the Dharma image with one hand, Xiao Wuji glanced back at his unconventional colorful hair and, with a thought, turned it black, making it look somewhat more pleasing to the eye.

However, his current body is no longer the ordinary divine body cultivated by "Song of Blazing Fire," but rather a "Different Fire Body" forged by different fires.

After absorbing the energy from the Flaming Lotus Seed, his cultivation level leaped from the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm to the perfect stage, making him capable of going toe-to-toe with a Nascent Soul cultivator with his bare hands.

The methods used by the ancient emperor Tuoshe to pass on his knowledge were simply inconceivable; he was able to demonstrate the Dao within the strange fire to his successor in such a way.

In order to comprehend the Dao within, Xiao Wuji lay down in a coffin after his body could no longer be destroyed, using the power of the Enlightenment Tea Tree's heartwood and the coffin to aid his enlightenment. This allowed him to master it within a year.

However, his good mood was ruined as soon as he came out of the pass and someone forcibly knocked on the gate.

"Holy Son, please forgive me!"

After a brief moment of shock, Elder Xu was overjoyed. With such a holy son, how could the Tianpeng Clan not prosper? He immediately humbled himself and begged Xiao Wuji for forgiveness.

"Considering you did it for the sake of the Tianpeng Clan, I'll let it go, but next time..."

"There won't be a next time!" Elder Xu quickly replied.

"Then let's go!"

"...I am Bai Bi, greetings, senior!"

"My name is Lei Lan, greetings, senior!"

On the large, snow-white bird, the other two holy sons were more respectful than ever before, showing none of the impatience they had displayed while waiting.

Although they were all at the Flying Spirit General level, based solely on his ability to defeat Elder Xu, they could never place themselves on the same level as him.

Xiao Wuji accepted the two men's respectful greetings without hesitation, then turned to the elders who had followed him and asked:
"What exactly is going on? Why is the trial being conducted so early?"

Normally, there should still be more than half a year before the trial, and the situation should not be so urgent that it is necessary to force him to come out.

When this matter was brought up, Elder Xu also began frantically shifting the blame.

"It was proposed by more than a dozen clans, including the Crimson Fusion Clan and the Raven Clan, that the trial be held ahead of schedule. Their aim was to deprive the Sky Roc Clan of its status as a major branch, so that they could annex the Sky Roc Clan."

"Although our clan elders strongly advocated for this matter in the joint council of elders, the majority of them still agreed."

"Red Melt? Raven?"

Xiao Wuji asked with a sinister expression, "If all the other main lineage's holy sons die in this trial, it shouldn't affect the stability of my Flying Spirit Clan, right?"

Xiao Wuji was never a good person, but he rarely did things unrelated to his goals, because he considered it a waste of his time. However, this time he was genuinely angry, and almost ruined his great opportunity.

“Holy Son, no! If we kill them all, the Joint Elders will certainly not stand idly by, and even the Holy Masters of the major lineages will come to investigate in person!”

Elder Xu was nearly scared to death by Xiao Wuji's words. His Tianpeng Clan was already weak, and if Xiao Wuji really did this, the other seventy-one main branches would probably wipe out their Tianpeng Clan without any evidence.

"Then list out those dozen or so main branches that were proposed, one by one. I'm going to take them down one by one!"

"If they dare to lay a finger on my Tianpeng clan, I'll wipe them out from the roots first!"

Looking at Xiao Wuji's sinister appearance, Elder Xu felt a chill in his heart. This Holy Son is very vengeful, so could his promise of forgiveness just now have been a lie?
"Holy Son, you mustn't! The greater good must come first!"

Although he was quite angry, the primary task of the trial was still to find the Netherflame Fruit and bring it back successfully. Compared to revenge, completing the task was more important, as it was the deciding factor for their Skyroc Clan to remain the main lineage.

"Let's talk about that after we complete the mission! Now, tell me about the main branches!"

Xiao Wuji is truly vengeful, a trait almost universally possessed by villains.

Three months later…

Above the distant giant peaks, enormous, multicolored flames appeared, swirling and intertwining, painting half the sky with a radiant glow.

Such an astonishing sight was clearly visible to them even from a hundred miles away.

Then suddenly a celestial melody was heard, followed by a flash of light on the horizon and a large expanse of colorful clouds rolling in.

In the blink of an eye, Caixia arrived at the spot high above them. After a pause, ten people dressed in various styles walked out, most of them with white hair and looking old and frail.

"Greetings, elders." Upon seeing the ten people, Jin Yue and Elder Xu were startled and jumped off their mounts, bowing deeply to them.

"There's no need for you all to be so formal. You'll all be one of us sooner or later. The other elders are all waiting for you at Jade Emperor Peak," said an elderly woman with a cane in one hand, one of the ten people, with a smile.

"What, is it that our clan is the last to arrive this time?" Jin Yue asked politely, a thought flashing through her mind.

"It's not that it'll be the latest, but the Ghost Face and Poison Dove clans in the far north have important matters to attend to and won't be able to arrive until the Abyss opens. So once your Sky Roc clan arrives, this grand gathering can officially begin," the old woman replied with a smile.

While the group was talking, Xiao Wuji was also sizing up the people opposite him. They should be the joint elders of the Flying Spirit Clan.

These people were originally elders of their respective clans. They could only join this council of elders when their lifespan was running out. From the day they joined, they automatically gave up all their status and position in their original clan and became responsible for the entire Flying Spirit Clan.

In comparison, the human and demon races are indeed lacking in this aspect, clearly not united enough, which explains why they don't rank highly in the spirit realm. Once I become stronger, I must properly rectify the situation of the human and demon races.

(End of this chapter)