Feng Li was the only phoenix in this world.
Millions of years after the Primordial River was split in two, the world’s essence gathered once again at Danxue Mountain, giving birth to a new deity.
Being the only phoenix, it was very precious.
With the attitude of protecting rare divine races, Feng Li, still a small phoenix egg, was sent to be raised by Xuanwu.
Xuanwu was an ancient divine beast who had lived for countless years.
It was said that when Father God Yingzhu was born, Xuanwu already existed in the realm.
One can imagine how incredibly old it was.
It seemed that the idea of young people managing birth but not raising, leaving children to be cared for by the elderly, had existed since the beginning of time.
Therefore, for a long period after Feng Li hatched,
He was raised by old Xuanwu, speaking slowly and having somewhat unusual aesthetics.
For the first few hundred years after birth, Feng Li often appeared as a fourteen or fifteen-year-old youth.
In the Divine Wood Forest, he would sometimes transform into a human to frolic, and other times change into his original form to flutter about. In any case, because he didn’t study, he lived very carefree.
Later, as the world’s spiritual energy became more abundant,
More and more naturally born divine races appeared.
Just like how people need to study when there are many of them,
As divine races multiplied, settling in different places, the young divine beings had nothing to do, so they began to divide territories, subtly sparking flames of war.
Later, Yingzhu came up with an idea.
Nothing to do, right? If there’s nothing to do, then set up an academy to study.
Being thousands of years old and barely able to read a few words.
How embarrassing.
Thus, the Penglai Academy was established.
At that time, there was no White Jade Capital yet.
The main activity area of the divine races was along the banks of the Primordial River, which millions of years later would be called the East Sea by mortals.
On the day Penglai Academy was built, admission notices were also sent to the Divine Wood Forest.
Feng Li’s carefree youth came to an abrupt end. Old Xuanwu accepted the notice for him, and the next day sent Feng Li to Penglai Academy to become an apprentice.
At Penglai Academy, besides him, there were many other young divine beings.
The master they were to apprentice under was a very, very old dragon ancestor, who was said to have existed after Father God created the world. He was knowledgeable and well-versed in both ancient and modern matters. Even Yingzhu had once been his disciple.
This was the first time Feng Li heard the name Yingzhu.
“Who is Yingzhu?” Feng Li asked curiously during a break.
Although Feng Li didn’t belong to any divine race, as a small phoenix formed from the world’s spiritual energy,
And having grown up under old Xuanwu’s care, no one in the divine races dared to look down on him.
Moreover, for the past thousand years, Feng Li had only lived in the Divine Wood Forest, never interacting with anyone.
The gods only knew that the small phoenix formed from the world’s spiritual energy was born with unparalleled beauty, only hearing his name but never seeing him in person.
Now that they saw him,
They realized the rumors were not false.
In any case, because of his face,
Most of the single young divine beings at Penglai Academy were eager to please him, answering every question.
“Technically speaking, since we and Supreme God Yingzhu apprenticed under the same master, he should be our senior brother,” one explained.
Oh, so he’s a senior brother!
Feng Li suddenly understood.
“But according to custom, Supreme God Yingzhu is an ancient god who opened up the world, so we should respectfully call him Father God.”
Oh, so he’s everyone’s father!
Feng Li had another moment of realization.
To thank his classmates for their explanations,
Feng Li returned to the Divine Wood Forest and made many pastries. He had never made these things before, so he just shaped a plate based on his memory. The next day, he brought them to Penglai Academy to share with everyone.
It wasn’t until five young divine beings were poisoned unconscious that the ancient gods teaching at Penglai Academy forbade Feng Li from bringing these poisons to study again.
What poison?
Feng Li felt a bit unwilling in his heart. Didn’t they taste good?
Taking a small bite,
When he woke up again, it was already a month later.
—
In short, Feng Li’s days of studying at Penglai Academy gradually fell into a routine.
As mentioned earlier, Feng Li was raised by old Xuanwu, which led to a harmless little quirk.
During his youth, his reactions were half a beat slower than ordinary divine beings.
When classmates gathered to tell a joke, everyone would finish laughing.
By the time class started, Feng Li would realize the punchline and burst into laughter.
The result was being sent out to stand as punishment.
Over time, Feng Li stopped hanging out with the academy’s youths.
He preferred sitting alone in his seat, staring blankly out the window.
When expressionless, Feng Li actually looked somewhat cold and aloof.
Even a beauty’s blank stare was a beautiful sight.
The divine youths sat in a row, resting their chins on their hands, gazing at him in a daze.
At fifteen hundred years old, it was the age for divine beings to discuss marriage.
Someone lovesick first said, “Hey, who do you think will be Feng Li’s future partner?”
“Definitely not you, dream on!”
“Can’t I just think about it? Don’t tell me you haven’t!”
“I’m not as shameless as you, thinking it and saying it out loud!”
“With his background, it’ll be either Qingqiu or one of the Nine Heavenly Emperors, anyway not us!”
“Hey, maybe it’ll be Houye? Isn’t his clan spreading rumors about discussing marriage with that one from the Divine Wood Forest?”
“Why bother with all this? Better think about what to do when Senior Brother Yingzhu returns from his tribulation and spot-checks our coursework!”
The teaching ancient god entered the classroom.
Everyone hurriedly scattered like birds and beasts.
Old Xuanwu had indeed been arranging a marriage for Feng Li recently.
After all, he was the only phoenix in the world. Phoenixes were meant for procreation, so leaving behind offspring was very necessary.
Every time he returned to the Divine Wood Forest,
Old Xuanwu would pick out portraits of eligible young divine beings for him to see. Feng Li was utterly fed up. In a fit of anger, he ran away from home, simply staying at Penglai Academy and refusing to return to the Divine Wood Forest.
During the day, he studied.
In the evening, he would go to a reef by the sea near Penglai Academy to watch the sunset.
Behind the academy was a vast ocean.
This place was remote and had a barrier, so few divine beings set foot here.
On this day, Penglai Academy was on break.
As usual, Feng Li carried his small book bag, stuffed with fruits, seeds, and pastries, to the reef to watch the sea.
However, his luck was bad today. Before waiting for the sunset, he encountered a sea storm instead.
Dark clouds pressed down, the sky interwoven with dense lightning, muffled thunder rumbling, the sea and sky almost merging into one line in the distance.
It looked like the Ninety-nine Thunder Tribulation.
But Feng Li had never seen anyone go through a tribulation in his life.
He just thought the weather was bad and scary, looking like it was about to rain, so he quietly took out an umbrella and made a small barrier to prepare for the rain.
Unexpectedly, after half a day of thunder, no rain fell.
Instead, something else gradually fell from the sky.
It seemed like a ball of fire, burning fiercely, creating a huge pit on the shore when it crashed.
It would have been fine if it had crashed anywhere else.
The pit it made was right where Feng Li watched the sunset on the reef every day.
The mountain-like reef
Was flattened into level ground.
He was annoyed. After dispersing the barrier, he went to see who it was.
But there was nothing in the stone pit. It was all black with the smell of burnt flames, and he could faintly smell a hint of blood. In the center of the pit, there seemed to be a water snake of unclear species lying horizontally.
Water snake?
Feng Li fanned the black smoke with his sleeve.
Where did a water snake come from in the Ninth Heaven? Could it have fallen from the Biluo River?
The previous thunder tribulation could now be explained.
After Yingzhu split the Primordial River in two, the Chaotic Sea and Biluo River were not always stable. Every few hundred years, Yingzhu had to go check. The thunder just now was most likely caused by the Biluo River.
Such a big thunderbolt had even struck down a water snake from the Biluo River.
Feng Li picked up a tree branch from the side and poked it.
Ah.
Poor thing.
It seemed this small snake had been cultivating for many years, as thick as an adult man’s arm.
He wasn’t sure how badly it was injured, but it was probably dead, its entire body burnt and charred by the thunderfire.
It looked…
Quite tasty.
Feng Li’s hand poking the small snake paused.
Based on the simple notion that it was already dead,
And wasting food was shameful,
A water snake from the Biluo River.
He had never eaten one before, and thought it should taste quite good.
Feng Li decisively set up a pot.
Preparing to stew this small snake that had delivered itself.
****
Yingzhu opened his eyes to see this scene.
Millions of years later, sitting with a friend,
When asked about his first encounter with Feng Li, he once joked about it.
“I used to think you, Yingzhu, you were born without emotions or desires, unable to discern beauty. But it seems you just hadn’t met a beauty beautiful enough. The Emperor was once the most beautiful in the Ninth Heaven. When you first saw him, was it love at first sight, unable to take your eyes off him?”
Yingzhu just laughed, without answering.
Recalling that first meeting, there was neither the stunning turn of head amidst misty immortal fog as his friend described, nor a glance that lasted ten thousand years amidst blooming flowers. In short, it had nothing to do with any romantic notions. When he opened his eyes, he only saw a youth’s face, skin whiter than snow, reflected in the firelight.
There was only a lonely moon and cold tides.
— And a large pot right in front of him.
Bubbling and steaming after being brought to a boil.
The youth was still adding firewood under the pot.
At that time, Yingzhu had just awakened.
He had to go through a thunder tribulation every thousand years. This time it was the Ninety-nine Thunder Tribulation, and with the Biluo River on the verge of collapse, this tribulation was a bit more difficult, resulting in a small accident.
Not only had he transformed into his original form, but his cultivation and spiritual power were also temporarily sealed.
He had shrunk to a thousandth of his original size, his flesh burned by thunderfire. Looking at his appearance, one couldn’t tell he was a dragon.
Yingzhu had lived for millions of years since the beginning of creation. Probably no one had ever dared to stew him for food.
Therefore, even when he saw the large pot before him, he didn’t think it was specially prepared for him.
He thought he had accidentally fallen into the mortal realm.
Rescued by this youth from the seaside, with no shelter around, he assumed the youth was preparing a meal on the spot.
Yingzhu had always been of a calm and gentle nature.
In such a situation of being saved by someone, he showed no arrogance of a supreme god, but first prepared to get up and express his gratitude. Unfortunately, he was too badly injured, and even the slightest movement took all his strength.
This tiny movement, of course, didn’t escape Feng Li’s eyes.
After all, there were only the two of them, one person and one snake, at the Penglai reef now.
Seeing the water snake move, he made a surprised sound and leaned in for a closer look. “It’s not completely dead yet?”
In his millions of years of life, Yingzhu had never spoken to anyone at such close proximity.
Moreover, he wasn’t truly unaware of beauty and ugliness. As Feng Li leaned in, Yingzhu couldn’t help but think: He’s kind-hearted, concerned about my injuries.
Feng Li took a glance, wondering whether to knock the small snake unconscious with another stone.
After some deliberation, the water was already boiling.
It was better to use a knife to process the snake’s internal organs first.
So he took out a dagger from his small book bag.
Seeing this, Yingzhu thought calmly: Is he going to treat my wounds?
Until Feng Li raised the dagger, and as his hand fell,
Suddenly, a flash of white light appeared before his eyes, and the wrist holding the dagger was suddenly gripped by a man’s powerful hand.
Feng Li almost lost his balance, nearly falling into Yingzhu’s embrace.
Where was the small snake now? There was only an incomparably handsome young man.
Feng Li’s eyes widened.
Yingzhu took away his dagger, seeing through his true form at a glance. “You little bird, is this your first time treating someone’s injuries?”
That knife technique could be described as reckless, not like treating his injuries, but more like giving him a fatal blow.
After speaking, Yingzhu remembered he hadn’t thanked this little phoenix yet, and said gently. “Thank you, young god, for saving my life today.”
As the words fell,
The silence between them was so complete you could hear a pin drop.
Yingzhu felt the atmosphere was a bit off and tilted his head.
He saw Feng Li suddenly come to his senses, mumbling, “How did it suddenly turn into such a big one.”
The youth looked bewildered. “I can’t fit it in one pot.”
Yingzhu: …?
This is probably a very big stain on God the Father’s reputation LOL.