History's Number 1 Founder
chapter-441

Lin Feng was quite surprised that he actually triggered the system’s side quest like that.

He scrutinized the description of the side quest and a bitter smile appeared on his face. "Does this quest not seem a little too difficult?"

The quest’s background: The Great Thunderclap Temple had been destroyed, and the pagodas that housed the relics of the ancestral monks had also been destroyed. Many of the relics were now dispossessed and lost somewhere in the world.

The ’s target: The host needed to gather all the remaining relics and subsequently bring them back to the remains of the pagodas in the Great Thunderclap Temple for a proper burial.

The quest’s deadline: There was no deadline.

Lin Feng stared at the deadline of the quest but could not lift his spirits. It was naturally great that the quest had no deadline, but the system had a pattern of sarcasm and a history of conning everyone. The fact that the conditions were so relaxed showed instead that the difficulty of the quest must be out of this world.

Lin Feng read the description of the quest carefully again. The quest was clear that only when he had returned all of the remaining lost relics back to the Great Thunderclap Temple would the quest be considered complete.

This was a complete scam, he thought. Who would know how many relics there were in total? Who would know where these relics would be, and in whose hands they were in?

If they were all in somebody’s possession, then perhaps it would not be too tragic. However, if one of the relics was located in a random place that nobody knew, then he would never find it even if he searched for his whole lifetime.

Still, the system had a rule. The harder the quest, the ampler the reward. However, the contents of this quest were not the worst – they were simply extremely terrible and cunning.

Lin Feng laughed bitterly and considered withdrawing from the quest.

"Eh?" One of the voice-projecting crystals began to stir. He pinched the voice-projecting crystal and heard Yan Mingyue’s voice from within. "Master Lin, we can basically confirm that the Qiong Qi demon tribe did not return to the Barren Expanses. They are currently hiding in one of the middle worlds and waiting for their opportunity to make a move."

"The Qiong Qi tribe managed to obtain materials for the Nine Luminaries Heaven-Crushing Formation not just from the Brilliant Lunar Grandmaster and the others that you caught by tasking them to scour the Divine Lands. At the same time, they had men collecting magic treasures from the Barren Expanses. Judging the current situation, the Nine Luminaries Heaven-Crushing Formation is about to be complete once again."

She paused, and her voice turned a little more serious. "We don’t have much time left. We should hurry towards the middle world at once."

Lin Feng replied quietly, "I am currently at the remains of the Great Thunderclap Temple, within the Great Zhou Empire’s territory. You are welcome to meet me here."

"We will be there shortly." Yan Mingyue cut off the connection immediately after.

Lin Feng’s eyes sparkled. "She said ‘we’ just now? There are indeed other people besides the Great Void Sect."

He strolled out of the Great Thunderclap Temple’s remains and began to saunter around in the mountain ranges. He opened up his temple and a ray of clear light shot up into the heavens and tore a hole within the void. Thick clouds of purple mist hurtled around and a faint silhouette of Mount Yujing came into view.

Lin Feng made a gesture with his hands and began to cast a spell. His whole spiritual being, along with Mount Yujing, the Heaven-Revolving Purple Clouds and the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree, were integrated as one. Time, space, spirit and matter all achieved a state of perfect equilibrium.

The gargantuan mass of purple clouds barreled downwards and into Lin Feng’s forehead. The Black Heavenly Treasure Tree radiated with the Seven-Colored Treasure Light within the purple clouds, and the massive Mount Yujing minimized under the cover of the light as it ultimately joined the purple clouds as they continued to flow through the top of Lin Feng’s head.

Lin Feng’s soul trembled and he grew extremely drowsy. This was a sign of an intense lack of vitality and energy.

To Lin Feng, who was currently in the intermediate stage of the nascent soul stage, it was almost impossible for him to experience something like this. However, such a thing still happened to his body.

Lin Feng laughed bitterly and muttered under his breath, "I’m still forcing it. My entire pool of mana was almost frozen."

"I’m still missing some things. After dealing with the Qiong Qi demons, I shall take extra care to obtain some magic items. I will definitely enter the system to play a big one."

"Master, what’s going on?" Atop Mount Yujing, Xiao Yan, Shi Tianhao and company began to notice something was off.

Mount Yujing was still enveloped by the Heaven-Revolving Purple Clouds, but it was clearly not the Space-Time Turbulence outside the purple clouds.

The only issue was that the outside world was separated by the Heaven-Revolving Purple Clouds, so they had no way of finding out what was going on outside.

Lin Feng calmed himself down and said plainly, "Everybody calm down. I will venture into a middle world not so long from now, and when the time is right I will take everyone travelling. However, that place is dangerous and is not suitable for any of you to be in, so just patiently stay on top of the mountain for now."

Xiao Yan and the others acknowledged together, "Yes, master."

Lin Feng nodded his head, and suddenly began to laugh as he thought to himself, "Everyone’s like a man with destiny carrying the burden of his elders, but here I am carrying a whole bunch of people with great destinies – I wonder who attracts more attention?"

Lin Feng continued to stride along the mountain ranges. His footsteps were not light nor heavy, and he did not expose a single trace of his mana and energy – much like that of a normal man.

At the start, his steps were uneven and some were heavier than others. He tottered around and his movement was awkward and it seemed as if his limbs were all uncoordinated.

After walking for a long period of time, his movements became more agile and vivacious – he was no longer so stiff.

Towards the end, his strides were a lot more relaxed and he felt extremely free and without a care for the world. He hiked between Heaven and Earth, and was faintly connected to them as well.

However, he still did not use a single bit of his mana all around his body.

Because of the pressure of Mount Yujing, if he channeled his mana now it would still be incredibly stagnant. Now, Lin Feng felt like he was back to the time when was still in the Qi Cultivation Stage or the foundation establishment stage.

However, his conjoining with Mount Yujing gave him a more profound understanding of the great wisdoms of Heaven and Earth. His pool of stiff mana was pressed bit by bit, much like the repeated hammering of steel upon the anvil – it became purer.

He did not know the duration of his endeavor. Lin Feng suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned to look at one of the peaks behind him. On top of the mountain, the air began to ripple and tremble like water waves.

The trembling of the air came and gone within the blink of an eye. A girl clad in a green robe appeared on the summit of the mountain and she overlooked the clear streams with a very natural and calm disposition.

This individual had a very noble and elegant essence, and every single one of her features was enchanting. She was Yan Mingyue, disciple of the Great Void Sect.

Yan Mingyue opened her stride and ended up in front of Lin Feng. She smiled and said, "Master Lin, h ow are you? It’s nice to see you."

Lin Feng nodded his head and replied, "Yan Mingyue, my friend, it’s been a long time."

The two of them watched each other with calm and composed expressions, but in reality they were both wary and in silent anticipation.

Ever since they first knew each other, they had been helping each other but yet at the same time one was also wary of the other. They were in neutral grounds – not enemies, but not friends either. Yan Mingyue needed Lin Feng’s help at times and used him to put Pang Jie down. Lin Feng also needed Yan Mingyue’s help occasionally and used her specially to obtain much precious information and secret messages.

Yan Mingyue said, "I haven’t congratulated Master Lin for attaining half of the Secret Treasure of Kun Peng. It was an ample harvest."

Lin Feng shook his head and replied, "Even though I expected the Kun Peng demon race of the Barren Expanses to cause trouble, I did not expect that they managed to obtain the Heavenly Stone of Divine Defiance, which had been elusive for multiple millennia."

"With the Heavenly Stone of Divine Defiance, they managed to initiate the Demonic Life and Soul Reversal Ritual, and very nearly revived the Immemorial Kun Peng."

Yan Mingyue laughed faintly and said, "The fact that the Kun Peng demon tribe managed to obtain the Heavenly Stone of Divine Defiance did indeed escape everyone’s expectations and calculations. However, nobody could have predicted that Master Lin would be able to successfully disrupt the Ritual and thwart the grand plan of the Kun Peng demon tribe."

Lin Feng gazed at Yan Mingyue and said quietly, "Based on what I know, the Ten Demonic Saints of the Barren Expanses are currently in the limelight, and amongst them the Heavenly Charms Grand Sage is the strongest one and also the one that commands the most influence. He is close to the status of the Holy Demonic Emperor of ancient times."

"The Golden Crow Demon Tribe and the Kun Peng Demon Tribe are both rebels against the power of the Heavenly Charms Grand Sage. When the Golden Crow Grand Sage invaded the Divine Lands, I was there to defeat him. Even though he brought his demise upon himself, but the outcome indirectly benefited the Heavenly Charms Grand Sage."

Yan Mingyue nodded her head slowly. "Yes, that is true." She shot a look at Lin Feng and smiled. "Therefore, Master Lin let the Kun Peng escape so that he could cause trouble for the Heavenly Charms Grand Sage?"

The corner of Lin Feng’s mouth curled into a faint smile. "That’s only one of the reasons." Yan Mingyue’s eyes sparkled and a look of contemplation came over her face.

Lin Feng asked, "Besides our two parties, how many other powers are joining us in our quest to conquer the Qiong Qi?"

Yan Mingyue laughed and said, "They should be here soon." Once she finished her sentence, both hers and Lin Feng’s gaze turned towards the sky beyond the horizon. The void opened and a small gap appeared.

Two elderly figures stepped out, one after another, from within the gap.

The old man in front wore a white robe with golden edges and had crane-like hair with a child-like look. His face was pale yet elegant, and from his graceful expression one could feel a kingly aura.

This was Prince Anliang of the Great Qin Empire, Shi Zongyue, with whom Lin Feng had a single moment of acquaintance during the Spiritual Conference of Huanghai. He was in the second level of the Immortal Soul Stage and was incredibly formidable.

The elderly figure behind him wore a plain expression, and upon his long robe were patterns of the stars and the constellation. They shimmered with brilliant radiance in the sunshine, and the star patterns seemed to come alive as they began to spin around. The most profound and complicated wisdoms of the mass of stars in the universe seemed to be derived from them.

This person was also an old acquaintance. When Lin Feng sent Xiao Yan to the Sword of Radiance Sect as per their arrangement, the crown prince of the Great Qin Empire, Prince Chongyun, was also present at Xingyun Peak. One of the people in the company that accompanied him was this Stellar Holy Man, one of the celebrated immortal soul stage cultivators of the Great Qin Empire.

Lin Feng came up to these two immortal soul elders and greeted them. "Prince Anliang, it’s been a while." He turned to the Stellar Holy Man and said, "This time, it’s the Stellar Holy Man’s turn to show up?"

Shi Zongyue’s expression was calm. He nodded his head and replied, "With regards to the incident during the Spiritual Conference of Huanghai, the Great Qin Empire has the responsibility of providing everyone with an explanation, and we also have to find a way to make up for it. This time, I have to thank Master for providing the lead. I do feel guilty and embarrassed about it."

The Stellar Holy Man smiled and said, "Greetings to you as well, Master Lin. I’m here to accompany Prince Anliang – he is my leader."

Lin Feng laughed as well. The arrival of people from the Great Qin Empire was well within his expectations. After all, the Great Qin Empire had bad blood with the Qiong Qi demon tribe in the first place.

After the incident during the Spiritual Conference of Huanghai, the dignity of the Great Qin Empire was almost ruined. If they did not show up to conquer the Qiong Qi, they would have no way of explaining themselves.

Yan Mingyue smiled and greeted Shi Zongyue and then the Stellar Holy Man. Afterwards, she cast her gaze to the other side.

Lin Feng said plainly, "The people from the Mount Shu Sword Sect should already be here as well, eh?"

Initially, Lin Feng exchanged information regarding the Qiong Qi with Yan Mingyue and the Great Void Sect for their help in hindering the Mount Shu Sword Sect, so that neither party would proceed to the Secret Treasure of the Kun Peng in the Northern Polar Sea.

For the Great Void Sect to convince the Mount Shu Sword Sect, they naturally needed something to show for it. The Nine Luminaries Heaven-Crushing Formation was an attractive item, so the Mount Shu Sword Sect was bound to try their hand in the matter.

Yan Mingyue laughed lightly and said, "They’re here."

The void was once again ripped open, and a sharp and formidable sword aura flashed across the sky. Its brilliance was in full display and could chill others to the core.

Two shadows stepped out from the air. It felt like they were swords unsheathing themselves, and an air of hostility permeated the immediate surroundings.

Lin Feng raised his eyebrows as he could clearly feel that the hostility emanating from one of them was faintly directed towards him.