Year Ten Thousand and Four of the Divine Prefecture Calendar

In the back mountains of the Cottage, an ocean of clouds graced the skies along with a beautiful sunrise. Such a picturesque view. On a field of gra.s.s, music played from a guqin. The rays of the new year"s first sun fell on Ye Futian"s face. Both he and his music were full of youthful spirit. Beside him, Hua Jieyu sat quietly. As the music continued to flow, she sat audience while appreciating the beautiful sunrise. Everything seemed perfect. If only life was always like this.

Looking around her surroundings, the Spiritual Qi took shape and fell continuously. It looked like tiny sparks of gold in the air. Every bit of Spiritual Qi was so clearly visible to them as it filled the area they were in. This was brought about by the sounds of the guqin. When Ye Futian used his spiritual energy to create harmony between his music and heaven and earth, all the Spiritual Qi in the air stood still.

The first rays of sunlight shined on Ye Futian"s handsome figure. A peculiar aura radiated from him. It was almost as if he was in control of everything in existence. All the spiritual energy materialized in his mind. Spiritual Qi of all elements came together with the artistic conception created by the sounds of the guqin and a.s.similated into his will.

Just then, the fingers of Ye Futian"s right hand strummed across the chords of the guqin. As the music sounded, the Spiritual Qi around transformed into golden vines. They continued to grow endlessly and as the gathered Spiritual Qi grew more powerful, the golden vines shot into the sky like flashes of lightning at an unbelievable speed.

At this, a look of surprise spread across Hua Jieyu"s face. He had succeeded. Ye Futian had actually successfully cultivated the spell given to him by the teacher in a day.

The music stopped and Ye Futian opened his eyes. Although the sun was on him, it was not blinding. The look in his eyes was pure and held the hint of a smile.

Three elements incorporated into one spell. This brand-new spell had the tenacity of the wood element, the sharpness and defensiveness of the metal element, and the speed of the wind element. It was terrifyingly powerful, far more powerful than the Lock of a Thousand Vines. The name of this spell, the Fatal Entanglement.

"Not bad." Hua Jieyu smiled.

"Of course! That"s because I"m your man," Ye Futian said pridefully.

Hua Jieyu let out a soft humph.

"Do you think the old man has more of these types of spell that he"s keeping to himself?" mumbled Ye Futian. If they were all spells of this level, he would definitely be able to defeat common attacks from any cultivator at the same level. He would also no longer need to rely on the Nine Heavenly Attacks during battle. His strong martial arts and sorcery abilities greatly complimented each other, taking his combat ability to a whole new level.

This way, even if he made his way into the Arcana Plane, he wouldn"t have to worry about fighting cultivators from other planes. After all, as the levels of cultivation increased, the difference between each plane also increased. People went to new means and took more powerful measures. Thus, causing the effects of some of his skills to decrease. Ye Futian must do more if he wanted to have the same combat ability between different planes as he did before.

"How greedy," teased Hua Jieyu.

"This isn"t greedy. How"s this for greed? I want every day to be like today so you"re the first person I see in the morning." Ye Futian chuckled.

Obviously, Hua Jieyu knew what he was insinuating. She smiled softly. "What are you thinking? Would you have been able to release the Fatal Entanglement without the help of your music? Focus on cultivating. Don"t you want to gloat in front of Mr. Du later?"

"You"ve got a point. Indeed, my fox is the only one who gets me," Ye Futian nodded. Then, he closed his eyes again. Previously, he had entered a mysterious realm through his music and a.s.similated into the Spiritual Qi of the world by the means of spiritual energy. That was how he released the spell. Without the help of the Ukiyo song, it was difficult to do so. Ye Futian continued on his way to enlightenment through cultivation.

Many hours later, the teacher strolled in while stretching. He smiled at the sight of Ye Futian and Hua Jieyu cultivating together. This rascal sure is diligent. Looks like I"ll have to put him down a little more...

Would Ye Futian spit blood in anger if he knew what the teacher was thinking at the moment? Need to be put down for being diligent?

"Teacher." Hua Jieyu turned around to greet him.

"Morning, Jieyu." Mr. Du smiled at her. Ye Futian stood as well. His eyes were shining as he said his greetings. "Teacher, the spell you gave me yesterday was no challenge at all, I already mastered it."

"Oh, really? Show me." The elder male placed his hands behind his back and smiled at Ye Futian.

Ye Futian nodded in response and closed his eyes. A peculiar force of will radiated from his body while his spiritual energy harmonized with the Spiritual Qi around. A moment later, the air was filled with golden vines that blocked the sun. They grew extremely rapidly and created a cage around the entire area in mere seconds.

Witnessing the spell released in front of his eyes, the elder gave Ye Futian a look. He was looking down on him. "It took you a whole day to learn that and it takes you that long to release the spell? Who"s going to wait for you in a battle? If you meet a powerful opponent, you would be dead before you finished releasing the spell."

Uh… Ye Futian blinked. According to his script, wasn"t the teacher was supposed to be shocked and subdued by his great gift? However, he did have a point.

"How come I have such an incompetent disciple?" The elder sighed. "Here are some more spells. Keep them and focus on cultivation. Don"t even think about going anywhere else before you learn everything. I can"t stand to be embarra.s.sed by you if you leave the mountains with your abilities at this level." With that said, the elder threw some books at Ye Futian and turned to leave. He walked with leisure, hands behind his back.

"I…" he wanted to cuss but held himself back when he looked at the books in his arms.

Hua Jieyu let out a laugh. Ye Futian had finally met his match. Mr. Du was a strange man indeed. Not even her father could render Ye Futian speechless like that.

And just like that, Ye Futian was put on house arrest. From the very first day of the new year, he was forbidden from leaving the back mountains to focus solely on cultivation. So pitiful. Ye Futian began to miss the days before the teacher returned to the Cottage.

…

The days pa.s.sed and the Eastern Barren Territory remained quiet without any rain or storm. Those of the Qin Dynasty alliance still had their heads buried in cultivation. Everyone in the Eastern Barren Territory knew that they were preparing for the final war.

Things had already escalated to this point. The battle of the Eastern Barren Territory was inevitable. Furthermore, the Qin were in a much bigger hurry for this war to begin. Mr. Du had already returned to the Cottage and all of the Eastern Barren Territory already knew how capable he was in bringing up his disciples. There was no way they were going to give him more time to do so.

After the bells rang on Sky Mountain the year before, the snow never stopped. The Eastern Barren Territory"s number one mountain was now a snow mountain, covered with a soft, fluffy layer of precipitation. After all this time, the bells never rang again. The commotion at the foot of the mountain had also subsided. However, there was still quite a handful of people who stayed behind. For example, there was the Qianqiu Temple of the Eastern Barren Territory"s Western Region. Now that those from Sword Saint Mountain had moved to Book Mountain, the Qianqiu Temple was now at the top throughout the Western Region.

However, the temple still felt a wave of urgency.

If a big war broke out in the Eastern Barren Territory, the times of top clans fighting for power would be over. As soon as victory was determined, all power in the Eastern Barren Territory would fall in the hands of one group. The people must pray for change, to become stronger.

At the foot of Sky Mountain, the Arhat looked up at the majestic mountain. He remembered the situation when he climbed the mountain last year. That was his first time stepping on to Sky Mountain and he had reached the very top. After that time, he had tried many times, but not once did he reach such heights again.

"The evil energy from Sky Mountain is growing stronger," one of Qianqiu Temple"s monks said from beside the Arhat. He held a strand of Buddhist beads in his hand while his sight was set on the great mountain in front of him.

"It"s been this way since the bells rang. Furthermore, the force of repressed energy has also gotten stronger. The two energies seem to have kept at a balance from the very beginning, fighting from dominance," another person said from the side.

"Could it be that the bells were really the summoning of the Great Emperor and that someone had already made their way onto the mountain?" someone mumbled.

"It"s very possible. The short period after the first bell would have been the perfect opportunity."

Hearing the elders" words reminded the Arhat of the first time he stepped onto Sky Mountain. At that time, someone attacked him and used the Spiritual Qi on the mountain to force him off the mountain. If someone had really made their way to the top of Sky Mountain, could it be the same person who attacked him? Also, the bells rang again once he was off the mountain. It was when Ye Futian came down. The n.o.bles of the Qin Dynasty had wanted to hurt him when the bells rang again. Could it really just be a coincidence?

The Arhat"s eyes were cold. He had a feeling. If someone really did make their way onto Sky Mountain, it was very possible that it was Ye Futian.

Just then, the roar of a dragon came from the skies above. The cultivators of the Qianqiu Temple were surprised. The roar did not come from Sky Mountain. It was headed for the mountain.

Turning their attention, everyone looked up into the sky. Snow began to fall, blowing in the wind. In the high skies, a dragon appeared. This dragon actually had wings. It was the Responding Dragon also known as the lord of the skies.

The dragon came down toward them. Those of the Qianqiu Temple were shaken as they took in the scene unfolding above them. Not just because they saw the Responding Dragon, but also because there were some figures standing on its back. The most shocking thing was that the dragon was pulling a carriage.

Someone had arrived in a dragon-pulled carriage. A carriage pulled by the Responding Dragon.

Even those of the Qianqiu Temple were shocked, so it was no question for the others. Many at the foot of the mountain looked up and trembled in fear. Who was this person?

In all of the Eastern Barren Territory, they had only heard of the powerful Dragon Army of the Qin Dynasty and not even they could compare to the line-up in the skies right now.

The dragon carriage stopped above Sky Mountain. On its back, the group of people took one look at the crowd on the ground below with cold eyes, showing no emotions. Then, a few youths stepped out of the carriage. There was an indescribable aura around them. They didn"t look down, but instead, focused all their attention on Sky Mountain. Was this the place where Donghuang the Great and Emperor Yeqing left their mark?