Mortal: Li Feiyu, who came from the realm of a supreme being

The moonlight, like water, poured over the sixty-nine layers of clouds.

Li Feiyu and Ling Yuling sat side by side in a pavilion on the edge of the cliff, with a surging sea of ​​clouds below them and the ever-flowing waterfall in the distance—it cascaded down from the seventieth floor, passed through the sixty-ninth floor, and plunged to the sixty-eighth floor, separating their residence to the east and west, yet connecting them into one.

Ling Yuling did not tie her hair up tonight.

Her long, black hair cascaded down, making her face appear even more ethereal and beautiful. She turned her head to look at Li Feiyu, who had been silent for a long time beside her, and said softly, "Junior Brother, is something on your mind tonight?"

Li Feiyu gazed at the distant waterfall, the sound of the water faintly reaching her ears, like a lament or a yearning.

"There's something I want to tell my senior sister," he paused, "something."

"Um?"

"Many years ago, when I was still living in that fishing village..." Li Feiyu's gaze seemed to pierce through the sea of ​​clouds, looking towards a very distant place, "There was a girl in the village, two years younger than me. Her parents died early, and she lived with her grandmother."

Ling Yuling listened quietly.

"Life was tough back then, but she always shared good things with me. A boiled bird's egg, half a piece of bread, or the occasional wild fruit she picked from the mountains." A faint smile appeared on Li Feiyu's lips. "When I was thirteen, her grandmother passed away. After that, she lived next door to me, all by herself. Every day when I came back from fishing, I would share some with her."

"And then?"

"Later..." Li Feiyu paused for a moment, "When I was fifteen, a cultivator passed through the village. For some reason, he took a liking to her and said he would take her to cultivate immortality."

Ling Yuling was slightly taken aback.

"She just left like that." Li Feiyu's tone was very calm, as if she were telling someone else's story. "On the day she left, she stood at my door for a long time, and I didn't dare to go out. When I finally went out, there was only a stone left, pressing down on the strip of cloth she left behind—a few words were written crookedly, saying that she would come back to find me."

Silence fell over the pavilion.

Ling Yuling looked at him; his profile was clearly defined in the moonlight, but his eyes were somewhat vacant.

"So you came to the Star Palace," she said softly, "to find her?"

Li Feiyu remained silent for a long time before saying, "Initially, yes. So when the Li family came looking for me, I was incredibly excited and took the things and went to sea without any hesitation. Actually, at the time, I thought that as the largest power in the Chaotic Star Sea, it would be convenient for the Star Palace to find people."

He turned his head to look at Ling Yuling, his gaze both honest and complex.

"Then...decades passed, I practiced cultivation techniques, read books, and discussed the Dao with you. I don't know when it started, but that thought gradually faded. Occasionally when I think of it, it just feels like something from a past life."

Ling Yuling didn't reply, she just looked at him.

"Now that I'm about to begin dual cultivation with my senior sister..." Li Feiyu paused, "there are some things I feel I shouldn't keep from her."

He gave a wry smile: "Actually, I don't know how I feel. It's not exactly unforgettable; but I can't guarantee I'll be indifferent when we say goodbye. It's just... that's not fair to my senior sister."

Ling Yuling gazed at him, moonlight shimmering in her eyes.

"If in the future," she asked softly, "if you were to see that girl again someday, what would you do?"

Li Feiyu remained silent for a long time.

"I don't know." He only said those three words in the end, then whispered, "I'm sorry."

Ling Yuling suddenly stood up.

Li Feiyu looked up and saw her turn around, the moonlight spreading a silver path behind her. She reached out, took his hand, and pulled him up.

"Junior brother," she called out.

Ling Yuling looked at him, her eyes filled with no blame, no resentment, only an indescribable emotion.

"I trust you."

She threw herself into his arms, wrapped her arms around his waist, and buried her face in his chest.

Li Feiyu froze for a moment, then gently embraced her. Her hair carried a faint, fresh scent of grass and trees, exactly the same as the fragrance he had grown accustomed to over the years.

The sea of ​​clouds surged, and the waterfall roared.

The moonlight cast long shadows of the two people, which blended together.

……

That night, Li Feiyu did not return to his palace.

For the first time, the waterfall that once separated east and west ceased to be an obstacle and became a witness.

The moonlight, like water, filtered through the spray of the waterfall, refracting into countless tiny rays of light. Those rays fell upon the two people, upon the stones, and upon the sea of ​​clouds, creating a dreamlike scene.

The roar of the waterfall gradually faded into the distance, as if from another world. A misty haze enveloped the pavilion, creating a dreamlike atmosphere. Moonlight pierced through the mist, transforming into countless points of light that swirled around the two figures, like starlight falling.

The sea of ​​clouds surged and rolled up the cliff edge, sometimes engulfing the pavilion for a moment before slowly receding. In that instant when enveloped by the mist, the world was silent, leaving only each other's breath and heartbeat.

Under the moonlight, the waterfall's curtain of water resembles a flowing silver ribbon, and the splashing water droplets refract the moonlight, as if millions of stars are spinning, floating, and merging in the night sky.

After an unknown amount of time, the waterfall continued to roar, and the sea of ​​clouds continued to surge.

The moonlight shifted, shining on the stone railing of the pavilion, on the clasped hands of the two people, and on the ever-flowing water.

Everything is the same as before, yet everything is different.

……

Six months later.

Ling Yuling went into seclusion to attempt to form her core.

Li Feiyu escorted her into the pass, watching as she deactivated the palace's protective barrier, and the stone gate slowly closed.

He stood outside the door, listening for any further movement inside, before turning and leaving.

In the years that followed, Li Feiyu and Ling Yuling often practiced dual cultivation. During this time, Ling Yuling began to take on Star Palace duties and would frequently go on missions.

Li Feiyu remained rooted in Cangyuan Pavilion, devoting himself wholeheartedly to the study of martial arts techniques.

He tried many methods of the Five Elements Transformation, but without much success. Modifying the "Primordial Magnetic Divine Light" was extremely difficult, and Ling and Wen had already refined the power of the Five Elements into their bodies, which meant they had mastered a small part of it, making further modifications difficult.

……

Several years later, the Twin Saints of Tianxing officially ended their seclusion and left Yuanci Divine Mountain.

"Your son-in-law pays respects to Mount Tai and the Tai River."

Li Feiyu knelt on one knee, his posture respectful. This time he changed his form of address because Wen Qing and Ling Xiaofeng had both revealed their true forms and were not communicating via telepathy, making it clear that this was not a greeting between superiors and subordinates of the Star Palace.

The two saints exchanged a glance, a hint of satisfaction flashing in their eyes.

"Feiyu, get up," Wen Qing said.

Li Feiyu stood up and stood with his hands at his sides.

Ling Xiaofeng said, "I called you here today because there's something I need to discuss with you."

"Please speak, Mount Tai."

"My wife and I have discussed this, and a hundred years of cultivation is too long," Ling Xiaofeng said. "We plan to perform the initiation ceremony for you."

Li Feiyu was slightly taken aback, then said with trepidation, "I have already received a great favor from the Star Palace, how could I dare to trouble Mount Tai and the Tai River to expend my foundation?"

Finally, finally they brought this up on their own initiative!

Achieving Nascent Soul formation in a hundred years is something even he would find difficult to accomplish, given the environment of the human realm.

However, cultivation is not the only way to improve one's realm. Since joining the Star Palace, he has been constantly cultivating his persona and showing his talent, all in order to guide the two Heavenly Star Saints to empower him!

Wen Qing waved his hand: "Don't worry. With our combined cultivation levels, although there will be some loss in the process of empowering you, we can recover in a few years without damaging our essence. It's more worthwhile than you cultivating for a hundred years."

Ling Xiaofeng continued, "There's one crucial point: the breakthrough after Core Formation isn't simply a matter of filling up your cultivation level. You need considerable confidence to ensure you can break through on your own. If you get stuck in a bottleneck, the initiation ceremony will only harm you."

Li Feiyu raised his head, his gaze calm and his tone steady yet resolute: "I am absolutely certain."

Upon hearing this, both saints were taken aback.

100%?

Ling Xiaofeng and Wen Qing exchanged a glance, their divine senses secretly converging.

"This kind of confident attitude is even more arrogant than I was back then," Ling Xiaofeng said. "If it were someone else, even if they were more talented, I would just think they were ignorant and arrogant."

Wen Qing responded, "Fei Yu is no ordinary Heavenly Spiritual Root, and cannot be measured by common sense. Since he is so confident in breaking through his cultivation realm, then let's empower him."

"Hmm...but," Ling Xiaofeng hesitated, "are we really not going to place a restriction?"

"If it were before, explaining the pros and cons and explicitly stating that I would empower him to reach the Nascent Soul stage, then whether it was negotiating the restriction or secretly holding back, it would have been reasonable," Wen Qing said. "But now that he is cultivating with Ling'er, his status is different. In addition, he is skilled in modifying cultivation techniques and secret arts, so even if I secretly left a restriction, it would definitely be discovered. If he then becomes disloyal, it will only create more complications."

She paused, then continued, "Leaving aside the fact that the Star Palace has nurtured him for decades, this entire Star Palace will belong to him and Ling'er in the future. What reason does he have to betray us?"

Ling Xiaofeng pondered for a moment: "What you say is true, Madam. However, since he is so confident, why not just empower him to the peak of Core Formation and let him advance to Nascent Soul on his own? This way, it won't be too taxing on us, and even if there is a great battle in the Void Heaven Palace later, it won't affect our condition."

"That makes sense. My husband is very thoughtful. Let's see how his modified cultivation method advances to the Nascent Soul stage."

After the telepathic communication ended, Ling Xiaofeng spoke:

"Feiyu, since you have such confidence, why not only extend this empowerment to the peak of the Core Formation stage? Afterward, you will need to break through to the Nascent Soul stage on your own. Do you have any objections?"

Upon hearing this, Li Feiyu immediately bowed deeply: "I will forever remember the profound kindness shown to me by Mount Tai and the waters of Mount Tai. As for breaking through to the next realm on my own—"

He raised his head, his gaze calm as still water, his tone remaining resolute: "Absolutely no problem."

"Very good, let's begin."

The observatory was silent for a moment.

……

The initiation ceremony began one day later.

A massive surge of spiritual energy erupted from Wen Qing and Ling Xiaofeng's bodies, flowing like two torrents into Li Feiyu's dantian. The purity and vastness of that spiritual energy far surpassed what he had gained through years of arduous cultivation.

But he was clear-headed and accepted all who came.

The spiritual energy surged into his body, and he guided it, allowing it to gradually merge into his meridians, his flesh and blood, and the newly formed golden core.

Without any hindrance or obstruction.

It was as if that was originally his cultivation level, just temporarily stored elsewhere, and now it had been returned to its rightful owner.

One day, he reached the mid-stage of Core Formation.

Three days later, late stage of Core Formation.

Several days later, he reached the peak of Core Formation.

When the final initiation ended, Li Feiyu opened his eyes, his body brimming with powerful magic energy, far surpassing that of ordinary late-stage Core Formation cultivators.

But he knew that wasn't enough.

……

Right there on the star-gazing platform, they sat cross-legged.

"This place is constantly illuminated by the three luminaries, so I'd like to form my nascent soul here. Is that convenient?" he inquired.

The "Three Constants Illuminating the World Technique" does indeed require the three lights to illuminate the body to refine spiritual power, and this place is also the place with the most abundant spiritual power in the entire holy mountain, which can make the formation of the Nascent Soul more stable.

Ling Xiaofeng and Wen Qing exchanged a glance, both seeing the confusion in each other's eyes.

To form a fetus right under their noses? What incredible confidence!

But looking at that cross-legged figure from behind, they couldn't bring themselves to refuse.

"What are your chances of successfully forming a Nascent Soul?" Wen Qing couldn't help but ask again.

Li Feiyu didn't turn around: "Ten percent."

Then he closed his eyes.