"Yu"er, are you ok? What happened? Why did you take so long to return? And how did you escape from the chaos at Tydol Mountain Range?" As Feng Yunlong asked a series of questions, he looked impatiently towards Feng Yu as he pressed for answers, the concern visible in his eyes.

Hearing his questions, all the family clan members within the room paid close attention as they did not want to miss any of the details.

"Father, even I don"t know what happened as I was knocked unconscious for a period. If it weren"t for the help of a friend, I would have most likely perished within the mountain range. After I regained my consciousness, I took some time to recover and rest before traveling back home," Feng Yu said as he did not want to go into the details of killing the Huan clan"s Young Master, as well as the dangers he experienced while leaving the mountain range.

"Good! Yu"er you must remember to invite this friend of yours next time, as my Feng clan owes him a debt of grat.i.tude," Feng Yunlong said as he sighed in relief that someone was there to aid Feng Yu in his time of need.

He couldn"t help but complain internally about his lack of vigilance in not sending any guards to protect Feng Yu, due to his preoccupation with the matter of unsealing the clan"s bloodline.

"As you wish father," Feng Yu said as he nodded towards his father.

"Yu child, how did your training go? What cultivation level have you achieved now?" Feng Junling asked as he looked towards Feng Yu expectantly. It seems the only thing a martial arts fanatic like him would care about was Feng Yu"s progress in cultivation rather than safety.

Looking towards his older brother for a moment with an uncomfortable expression on his face, Feng Yunlong also followed up with an inquiry of his own, "That"s right! Yu"er, you"ve been out for training for a decent amount of time. How was your progress?"

Hearing his father and uncle"s interest immediately shift to that of his cultivation and seeing the curious expression on their faces, Feng Yu laughed in his mind as he casually replied, "Replying to father and uncle, my training at the Tydol Mountain Range went smoothly. After tempering myself through various life and death encounters, I have successfully cultivated to the middle-stage of 8 Tier Body Training realm!" Feng Yu said casually.

"Middle-stage of 8 Tier Body Training realm... Middle-stage of 8 Tier Body Training realm!" As Feng Yu finished his statement, the echoes of his words lingered inside of the main hall due to the deafening silence. Not long after, those present processed the information it caused a large commotion amongst the clan officials.

"What! The middle-stage of 8 Tier Body Training realm in only under two months, are you for real?" Elder Duan exclaimed as he looked towards Feng Yu with shock.

"How can this be? Is this the true potential of his top-tier aura pulse? Or is it due to his rich awakened true bloodline?" Elder Chen thought to himself; he started to wrap his beard around his finger, lost in his thoughts.

Feng Yunlong as well as Feng Junling were similarly surprised but did not overreact; they looked at each other for a moment before nodding as if they were exchanging messages.

Feng Xingyu who was bored with the meeting soon got excited when she heard about Feng Yu"s cultivation, as she was about to go talk with him a hand lightly tapped her on the shoulder. Looking over to her side, she saw Feng Yunlong looking at her with a strange look in his eyes. Quickly, realizing what he meant she then stopped her movement and watched Feng Junling who slowly rose from his seat making his way towards Feng Yu.

Feng Yu seeing his uncle standing before him felt strange, he began to ponder, "I wonder what Uncle Junling is planning to ask."

As they saw Feng Junling"s actions all core members and elders soon became silent as if they realized what he was now going to do.

"Yu child, how much do you know about the coming talent selection hosted by the kingdom"s Sky Splitting Sword School?" Feng Junling asked while looking at Feng Yu before him.

"Uncle Junling, I don"t know much, only a few rumors here and there about some strange prophecy," Feng Yu said, as he recalled the scene at the pub.

"Hmm, it"s to be expected, after all the only persons who truly know the details are those who exist at the top of the pyramid as well as certain capable outside parties," Feng Junling said, as he smiled while looking at the Feng Clan Elders.

A feeling of smugness rose deep within the Feng Family Clan members" hearts, but soon, it was ruined as Elder Duan shyly rubbed his nose with his index fingers while replying as if to claim credit, "Haha! My "Hawkeyes Squad" is truly capable indeed."

"Che!" While some made noises of discontent no one voiced out their opinions as they all knew too well the capabilities of the squad.

Seeing this expression, Feng Yu felt like laughing, but soon he cleared his distracting thoughts and asked Feng Junling, "Uncle Junling, then what exactly is this so-called prophecy? Who was it that said it? And why has it caused such a commotion?"

"It"s pretty simple really; it was about three months ago the Bright Flame King hosted a banquet for a mysterious individual who is hailed as a "Divine Prophet" from a distant land. Based on the information we have gathered, we found that the Bright Flame King had wanted to use that opportunity to divine the future of the kingdom. But who would have thought that what the famous Divine Prophet would say would be on such a shocking scale!" Feng Junling said as he looked at Feng Yu.

He then took out a piece of parchment with a few words written on it with exquisite calligraphy techniques and pa.s.sed it to Feng Yu for inspection. As he saw the paper in front of him, Feng Yu quickly received it and started to recite the words:

"The Ancient Dragon Will Rise from the East as New Chosen"s will be born in this Generation."

"The Rosefinch will Burn the West as One Arrow shall Pierce the Heavens."

"The Star governing Destiny will Fade as the Heavens and Earth will Fall into the Eternal Darkness."

"And when one loses all, the "Eternal Ancient" will Ignite Once More Anew."

Reading all of this Feng Yu felt confused as he looked towards Feng Junling and asked, "Uncle Junling, while these statements are profound, what does it have to do with the Talent Selections?"

Hearing his response, Feng Junling smiled and replied, "Normally it would mean nothing to us, however, there was another crucial factor that got everyone riled up. It was the fact that a very long time ago there was a place where pract.i.tioners would go to temper themselves and seek fortune. A legacy of an ancient civilization that had reigned supreme during the Pre-Calamity Era of the True Yuan Continent. However, it"s been a very long time since the entrance to this place has appeared to the world."

The family elders and core members listening soon had a light of excitement shone deep within their eyes, as Feng Yu"s aunty and his father both started to grip their fists tightly.

Pausing for a brief moment, he took a deep breath to control the excitement inside of his heart and continued, "This place is known as the "Ancient Dragon Battlefield." A place that can appear as it wishes with no particular time for its next appearance."

Hearing this a spark of excitement shone within Feng Yu"s eyes as even back in his old world there was a term for places like this, he looked towards his uncle as he spoke in a hurried manner, "Uncle Junling! You don"t mean..."

Promptly responding Feng Junling continued excitedly, "Em, that"s right! The battlefield of the Ancient Dragon Clan that used to reside at the center of the Pre-Calamity True Yuan Continent. This battlefield was said to have been lost to the ages of time, never appearing again since pre-calamity. An ancient "Mystic Realm."

"A Mystic Realm!" Feng shouted in his mind excitedly choosing to ignore the memory of his last encounter with the one from his past life. He calmed down enough to ask Feng Junling another question.

"But Uncle Junling, how would they know whether or not the entrance would appear just because of a single prophecy?"

Feng Junling replied, "The answer to that is also related to the mysterious "Divine Prophet" but even our information squad had no means of looking up any further details. We only know that once the Divine Prophet made a second divination, all the powers hidden inside and outside of the Bright Flame Kingdom were secretly transferring some of their forces to the Kingdom, placing most of their human resources within the vicinity of Machen Town."

"Eh? Machen Town? Why would they gather in Machen Town?" Feng Yu asked.

"That we don"t know for sure, what we do know is that the Ancient Dragon Clan"s Mystic Realm most likely holds a certain relation to this remote and average town. The coming Talent Selection is only a guise for what remains hidden underneath the surface," As Feng Junling said this a look of certainty appeared in his eyes.

"Then will we be making any particular movements?" Feng Yu asked as he noticed the clan"s strange atmosphere. Hearing his question, the core members of the clan soon began muttering to themselves.

"Originally, we were going to avoid taking part in this complex situation, but who would have thought that fate or rather, destiny would give us the chance of having the fortune of an awakened True Bloodline Successor, now that our bloodline has awakened, we have grown to a level that should make us capable of partaking in this." Elder Chen said as he looked towards Feng Yu as if looking at a prized piece of gold.

"Hahaha! Indeed, you"ve really come through for us this time Yu boy," Elder Duan said, hearing his words the core officials started to laugh. Upon seeing this scene, Feng Yunlong who was quiet all this time finally once again opened his mouth to speak.

"Em, we do, but we will not be the ones to make the first move, as the saying goes - "The mantis stalks the cicada unaware of the oriole behind." We will only act when all the hidden forces have revealed their cards in hand; our Feng Clan needs these kinds of opportunities if we want to regrow and become stronger. Now that this situation has gotten to such a state there is no meaning in partaking in the selections, we only need to lay in wait to reap the benefits."

"That"s right, we do not need to send any of our talents to partake in such a fiasco when there is a much larger matter at hand," said a core official.

"I"m still willing to partic.i.p.ate," After listening to his elder for a while, Feng Yu finally replied.

"Eh, you still want to go despite the current circ.u.mstances?" Elder Duan asked confusedly.

"Yes, I want to test my strength against the "talents" from distant places, as for what happens after that I will act according to the family"s plans," Feng Yu asked as he looked towards his father and Feng Junling.

"Hmm, fine. You have my permission to partic.i.p.ate, come to my room later after the clan meeting," Feng Yunlong said as he looked towards his son with a hint of praise as he thought to himself, "Seeking to temper yourself even in the face of uncertainty is a demeanor of a true expert should have. It reminds me of Junling in his past glory."

"Yes, father!" Feng Yu said as he stood up from the floor and headed towards a vacant seat near the table.

∞∞∞

Far away at a distant location, there was an enormous city that rested between two gigantic mountains.

The mountains were strange, almost lifelike as they wrapped around the edges of a city like a dragon coiled around itself. Looking with the naked eye one couldn"t see the end of the city, for a large variety of multi-colored divine lightning would endlessly fall from the heavens as if trying its utmost to destroy the mystical city beneath it.

It was a pity, however, for all its power could only fade away upon meeting the two coiled up dragon-like mountains. As if treating the threatening divine thunders like they did not exist, many groups of pract.i.tioners could be seen casually going about their daily lives; A few of them prefer to travel on foot, while there were those among them who rode a variety of floating instruments that soared throughout the sky, travelling towards the distant parts of the city.

At the center of the city was a towering wall that stretched out as far as the eye could see. It had a ma.s.sive gate with two dragon sculptures that rested at its sides, each giving off an aura that could shake the will of any man. In front of this gate, there was a giant creature, with one humongous crystal-like eye on its forehead.

A Cyclopean... hailed to be an ancient and mysterious race that was rumored to have gone extinct since ancient times. Suddenly, it opened its eye and looked towards a specific location on the broad and distant street.

Step… Step... Step… Soon, the silhouette of a man had appeared from the distance, slowly making his way towards the gate. As this man walked, there was a strange rhythm per his movements. It seemed as if each of his steps took him further and further towards a distant time rather than the present. Noticing this man, the cyclopean then closed its eye acting as if it didn"t see him.

Creak! Bang! The gigantic gate had slowly opened, before shortly after closing in a strange manner.

Inside this gate was a different world, with a castle at its center that needed no guards, all the individuals whom walked along this stretch of s.p.a.ce and loitered about gave off a vast aura, as if they were indifferent to all beings existing outside of this small world. However, for some reason, they would curiously and pensively glance at the strange man who walked in and headed towards the castle.

Seated on a throne that emitted endless lightning, a youthful-looking man could be seen with a strange lightning bolt resting by his side. His eyes remained closed as if nothing in the world was worthy of his sight, as his body started to emanate an immense imperial aura filled with dignity and oppressive might. Not long after, he abruptly opened his eyes to gaze at the strange man who now stood a few meters before him.

"Why have you come?" The man on the throne emotionlessly said.

"There was an unusual fluctuation felt in the Outer Continent," The strange man said indifferently.

"Hmm, that degraded and desolate place? Why is any of their matters our concern?" The man on the throne asked while knitting his brows uncomfortably.

"Normally it wouldn"t be, but there was something felt from that fluctuation that felt extremely familiar. So, I had my subordinates use their means to identify this aura which leaked from the Outer Continent taking roughly about two months of time," The strange man said once again.

"What was it?" The youthful man on the throne asked with spa.r.s.e interest.

"It was... " The strange man said while pausing for a moment to look straight into the eyes of the youthful man on his throne before continuing, "The Aura of the Phoenix..."