Chapter 43: Man Can Conquer Nature

  In the compartment, loud laughter came from time to time.

  As soon as she walked into the house, Zhao Min let out a sigh of relief and couldn't help but think of Ma Yan's face, which was twisted in pain. Not just him, but also Ling Feng and Zhang Wuji burst out laughing.

  "Zhao Shixiong, Ma Yan has suffered a great loss at your hands. You'd better be careful in the future and prevent him from secretly taking revenge!" Ling Feng reminded kindly.

  "As for Ma Yan's endurance, I really don't put him in my eyes!" Zhao Min said with disdain.

  "What I'm afraid of is that this guy will play a trick, inciting the Ma family of Nanling to suppress our families!" Chapter Wuji said with a worried expression, speaking in a low voice.

  This is also what Ling Feng worries about. If the Li family in Siping is suppressed, it will be of no benefit to him who replaced Li Changqing's identity!

  "You can rest assured!" Zhao Min laughed loudly and said, "To put it bluntly, our families are just like the Ma family of Nanling, we are all affiliated families affected by the sect's power. From the sect's standpoint, they will absolutely not allow the Ma family to unilaterally annex us. Moreover, the three of us have better qualifications for cultivating immortality than Ma Yan, and in the future, who knows, maybe we'll all have a chance to become core disciples. The Ma family of Nanling may be powerful, but they definitely won't easily take action against our families just because of Ma Yan!"

  "Zhao Min is right, the Tianji Pavilion aims to balance the powers of its subordinates, so it will not allow the Ma family to dominate. And we three have excellent innate talents for cultivating immortality, with time, we may all enter the core layer of the Tianji Pavilion. Even if the Ma family's people are brainless, they won't provoke potential threats because of a junior member of their clan!"

  Ling Feng secretly analyzed in his heart and felt that Zhao Min's words were extremely reasonable. Judging from the current situation, Ma Yan was bound to suffer a loss, and it was impossible for his family to take revenge for him.

  Putting that aside, Ling Feng's gaze swept across the room and saw Guan Bai still curled up in the corner of the wall, his head deeply buried between his legs, not making a sound.

  "Zhang Shixiong, do you have any medicinal pills that can cure external injuries?" Ling Feng asked in a low voice. To be honest, he felt deeply sympathetic towards the tragic fate of this child before him.

  "I was just about to give it to him!" Zhao Min smiled, taking out a jade bottle from the storage bag hanging at her waist. She exchanged a glance with Ling Feng and the two of them walked over together.

  "This is the Zhao family's secret recipe 'Stop Bleeding and Dispel Stasis', which has a miraculous effect on treating external injuries. Take half of it orally and apply the other half externally, and I guarantee that all your wounds will be healed within six hours!" Zhao Min walked up to Guan Bai and handed over the jade bottle, explaining how to use it at the same time.

  After he finished speaking, it was quiet for a long time before Guan Bai slowly lifted his head and looked at the three people in front of him. His face was covered with bloodstains, mixed with the dust on the ground, forming dark purple scabs that looked very dirty!

  Guan Bai didn't say a word, slowly stood up, reached out to take the bottle of 'Stop Bleeding and Dispel Stasis Powder', and put it into the storage bag hanging from his waist. At the same time, he also took out a piece of spiritual stone from the storage bag and handed it to Zhao Min.

  "This is for you!" Zhao Min smiled brightly and didn't reach out to take the spiritual stone handed over by Guan Bai.

  "I've never accepted charity from anyone!"

  Guan Bai finally spoke up, he threw the spiritual stone in his hand directly to Zhao Min, then turned around and left, walking to a wooden bed near the window, without even taking off his dirty clothes, and lay down on the bed.

  Zhao Min weighed the spiritual stone in her hand and looked at Ling Feng and the other person, sighing and shaking her head helplessly.

  "What a weirdo!" Zhang Wuji looked at the Ling Stone in Zhao Min's hand, as if he remembered something, and shouted loudly at Guan Bai who was lying on the bed: "Since you can use the storage bag, you must have practiced martial arts before. Why did Ma Yan and others bully you so much, and you didn't even fight back?"

  Cultivators choose their cultivation methods based on their own spiritual root attributes. To put it simply, someone with a fire spiritual root will make rapid progress and achieve great things if they cultivate fire attribute techniques, but if they try to cultivate other attribute techniques, they might not achieve much even in their entire lifetime.

  This is also the reason why Li Changqing and Zhang Wuji have never practiced any martial arts. Suitable martial arts for cultivating heterodox spiritual roots are extremely rare, and their families are too weak to find them. It's better to wait until they enter the Tianji Pavilion before practicing, rather than wasting time on other attribute martial arts!

  As for Zhao Min, his family happened to have collected a Thunder Attribute technique, so he was able to start cultivating two years earlier than Ling Feng and the others!

  On the other hand, people like Guan Bai with poor and disordered spiritual roots are very good at choosing suitable cultivation methods for themselves. Take Guan Bai as an example, he has three spiritual roots of gold, fire, and wood, so as long as it is a method of these three attributes, he can cultivate it.

  Guan Bai's parents were loose cultivators, and he himself started cultivating at a very young age. The difference in spiritual roots' quality would not be apparent at the beginning of cultivation, but only when breaking through bottlenecks could it be felt. From this perspective, if we compare their strength, Guan Bai should be stronger than Ma Yan, not weaker.

  So Zhang Wuji saw Guan Bai using a storage bag and immediately shouted to ask him why he didn't dare fight back when faced with bullying.

  Don't look at his sissy appearance, but his temperament is even more straightforward than Zhao Min. In his heart, he looks down on Guan Bai's weak character!

  Facing his inquiry, Guan Bai seemed to have heard nothing and remained silent.

  "Shoo, get out of here!"

  Zhang Wuji saw this and felt a burning sensation in his heart, turned around and walked towards Guan Bai, wanting to ask for an explanation.

  "Zhang Shidi, he may have his own unavoidable difficulties!"

  Ling Feng reached out and grabbed him, shaking his head.

  "Yes, he looks quite pitiful now, all battered and bruised. Let him rest well, don't go disturbing him!" Zhao Min also whispered in persuasion beside her.

  They persuaded him like this, and Zhang Wuji finally stopped, but he cast a contemptuous glance at Guan Bi in his heart.

  ……………………

  Deep in the night, all around was quiet and still. The bright moonlight shone through the window lattice at an angle, casting a silvery glow on the floor inside the house.

  Ling Feng lay on the bed.

  This was his first night in Tianji Pavilion, he had gone to bed several hours ago, but he kept tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep!

  The room was extremely quiet, with only a faint and even breathing sound, presumably the other three had already fallen asleep except for Ling Feng.

  Since he couldn't sleep anyway, Ling Feng simply turned over and leaned against the wall on his side, stretched out his hand to take the storage bag that Zhang Shibo had given him during the day, and with a thought, a strand of divine sense seeped into the bag, examining everything inside clearly.

  The space inside the storage bag was not large, except for a red small sword, there were twenty pieces of spiritual stones, plus a cyan jade bottle.

  Ling Feng's mind stirred, and he poured a strand of beast yuan power into the bag. A faint glow flashed by, and the cyan jade bottle had already appeared in his hand.

  For the elixir refined by the cultivator, Ling Feng was full of curiosity, stretched out his hand to open the jade bottle, and poured out a pill the size of a pigeon egg.

  "Is this Peiyuan Dan?"

  As the fragrance of medicine wafted up to his nostrils, Ling Feng thought for a moment before swallowing the Pei Yuan Dan in his hand. The medicinal pill dissolved instantly upon entering his mouth, and within an instant, he felt a warm current rising from his lower abdomen, flowing through all the meridians in his body, making his Qi and blood flow smoothly, invigorating his spirit, and refreshing him to the extreme!

  "This is really good stuff!"

  Ling Feng savored the medicinal power emitted by the Pei Yuan Dan, silently praising it, and then put the jade bottle containing the medicine back into his storage bag.

  Compared to the cultivators, the Southern Barbarian tribes are rarely able to refine elixirs that assist in their cultivation. Take the Sheng Man tribe for example, apart from using the essence of demonic beasts' blood to concoct some spiritual liquids that supplement their vital energy, they basically do not refine any other type of elixir.

  This spiritual liquid made from the essence of these demonic beasts can only be given to children of the Savage Tribe who have not yet awakened their bloodline, and once they awaken, it has little effect!

  Even if it's a soul clan that masters various witchcraft and secret techniques, they can only refine a limited number of elixirs, which is far from comparable to the alchemists!

  "It is recorded in the secret archives that adjacent to the Eastern Yue Kingdom, within the borders of Western Qin Kingdom, there exists a sect called Tian Ding Zong. The cultivators of this sect specialize in the Way of Dan Ding, and merely by opening the furnace to refine elixirs, they can elevate their cultivation realm. This is truly inconceivable!"

  Ling Feng let out a quiet sigh. No wonder the southern barbarian tribes were at an absolute disadvantage in their battles against the cultivators, not to mention the numerical superiority of the latter, but just the various magical techniques and divine abilities that the cultivators had mastered, which already made the southern barbarian tribes feel inferior!

  A multitude of thoughts in my heart, at a time when hundreds of ideas are converging, I hear a faint rustling sound by my ear.

  A wisp of consciousness drifted outward, and he found that not far from himself, Guan Bai turned over and got out of bed, walking towards the outside of the house.

  For this poor child, Ling Feng's heart was filled with sympathy. Seeing him walk out of the house alone, Ling Feng did not make a sound to disturb him, and instead focused on regulating his breathing, wanting to fall asleep as soon as possible.

  After about half an incense stick's time, a faint and barely audible low sobbing sound came from outside the house, clearly transmitted to Ling Feng's ears.

  He let out a quiet sigh and flipped over in bed, getting up and heading outside.

  Tonight, the moon is bright and the stars are sparse. Walking out of the house, Ling Feng sees Guan Bai's lonely figure sitting on the steps outside, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably as he cries in sorrow under the pale moonlight.

  He seemed to be forcing himself to suppress his sobs, so as not to disturb others' good dreams, but in doing so, he suffered himself!

  As if sensing Ling Feng's footsteps, Guan Bai turned his head around and looked at Ling Feng standing behind him.

  Under the bright and peaceful moonlight, every shadow on his face was filled with sorrow, despair, and loneliness...

  Such a desperate gaze made Lingfeng's heart tremble. He could imagine how sad and painful the child in front of him was deep down.

  With a sigh, Ling Feng quietly walked over to his side and sat down.

  It wasn't until quite some time had passed that he finally spoke up in a soft voice, saying: "Everyone has their own sorrows and pains they don't want to face. The key is how you choose to face them. Rather than spending every day bemoaning your fate, why not turn sorrow into strength and achieve great things? That way, your parents' efforts won't have been in vain!"

  To be frank, Ling Feng hopes he can dissolve the knot in his opponent's heart.

  "You... you're right, but my innate talent is too poor. Even if I work harder, it's just a waste of my parents' efforts!" Guan Bai sobbed uncontrollably, and under the influence of Ling Feng's sincere words, he opened his heart and spoke out the words that had been pent up in his heart for a long time.

  "If you really think so, then it's a waste of your parents' hard work!" Ling Feng's gaze was fixed tightly on him, with an extremely firm tone, he said in a low voice: "Remember my one sentence, man can conquer nature, our fate should be controlled by ourselves, no one can manipulate it, not even the heavens!"

  "Man can conquer nature, man can conquer nature..."

  Guan Bai muttered to himself, his mouth constantly repeating the four words. His dull and lifeless eyes gradually brightened up, and the dead air on his face also slowly regained its vitality.

  "What you said is right, man can conquer destiny, my fate should be in my own hands, no one can control it, not even heaven! The voice grew louder and louder, finally, Guan Bai suddenly stood up, facing the bright moon in the sky, shouting loudly: "I, Guan Bai, will never admit defeat, I must fulfill my parents' wishes and achieve the great way of immortality!"

  Ling Feng also stood up, and at this moment, he looked at Guan Bai who was full of grand ambitions, with a faint smile on his face.

  "Thank you, Master Li!"

  It was a long time before Guan Bai calmed down the agitation in his heart and faced Ling Feng, bowing deeply.

  "You and I will be fellow disciples from now on, we should look out for each other. No need to bring up trivial matters!" Ling Feng smiled and continued: "Actually, Zhao Shixiong and Zhang Shidi are also very concerned about you. From now on... everyone needs to get along well, don't ignore people!"

  "This is natural!" Kanba's knot in his heart was untied, and he became much more cheerful. However, there were still some hesitant expressions on his face, and after thinking for a while, he said: "But... I'm afraid they will look down on me!"

  "Who says we look down on you!"

  Ling Feng had not yet responded when he heard Zhao Min's loud voice behind him. Turning his head, he saw that she and Zhang Wuji had already arrived at the door, smiling at Guan Bai.

  "I've never looked down on you!" Zhao Min walked over with a big laugh, patted Guan Bai's shoulder and said: "As long as you're willing, we'll be good brothers from now on. If anyone dares to bully you in the future, I, Zhao Min, will definitely help you out without saying another word!"

  "Are you saying I look down on you?" Zhang Wuji also walked over, Danfeng gave Guan Bai a slanted glance and said in a soft voice: "To be honest, I do look down on you. That Ma Yan bullied you like that and you didn't even dare to fight back, not a single bit of manliness!" He was indeed speaking the truth.

  "My identity is different from yours, my spiritual roots are inferior, and my qualifications are not good. I was able to become an inner door disciple only because the sect's elder took pity on my circumstances and made an exception for me. If I were to fight with Ma Yan, to be honest, I'm not afraid of him at all. However, what I fear is being punished by the sect, which would be a waste of my parents' efforts!"

  Guan Bai explained again and immediately got a nod of approval from Ling Feng and the others. Indeed, he had his own difficulties in this matter.

  "Alright, since we've opened up to each other, from now on we're good brothers. To quote Zhao Shixiong, if anyone dares to bully you in the future, I, Zhang Wuji, won't say a word and will definitely help you out!" The effeminate way of speaking was soft and gentle, but his actions were exceptionally straightforward and decisive.

  "Th-thank...thank you!" Guan Bai's voice was choked with emotion, his eyes moist at the corners, and the excitement in his heart could no longer be expressed in words.

  "No need to thank me, yet you're saying such things, brother!" Zhao Min laughed loudly and said.

  "Anyway, everyone can't sleep, how about this, we take turns telling our interesting experiences!" Zhang Wuji proposed.

  "Good!"

  "Who's going first?"

  "It all starts with you!"

  "Go! This... Speaking of which, when I was a kid, I once played with my cousin, she somehow got some rouge and powder, and even applied some on me. As a result, after being seen by my dad, I got a good scolding..."

  "Haha... no wonder you're so effeminate, it turns out this habit has been ingrained in you since childhood!"

  Hahaha...

  Under the bright and leisurely moonlight, four children of similar age sat on the steps in front of the house, occasionally laughing and chatting, talking about their childhood fun, endless joy...