Spirit Cultivation

"Who are you?" 

No matter where Yiren looked, she didn't see or sense anyone else in the nest. The person had to be either invisible or much powerful than her. 

"I'm a nobody…" the same voice replied. "Maybe a few thousand years ago I was someone but I guess that person has been forgotten for ages."

Yiren realized it was a man based on his voice and called out unhappily, "Sir, do you know it's rude to talk to someone without showing your face?" 

She wasn't particularly scared. If someone tried to kill her, she would order birdy to defend her. Thanks to her new ability, her bloodline power exploded, improving her connection with nature, including all beasts and animals. 

The man was silent for a moment before finally announcing, "I'm not going to show myself just cause—" 

Unfortunately, he didn't know who he was up against. 

Yiren cut him off mid-sentence and pouted, "Humph, then I'm not talking to you. Come birdy, let's go play." 

The Phoenix watched her counter the man in disbelief and advised, "Ehem, I think you shouldn't talk to him like this. He is quite explosive at times." 

Boom!

Just as he said it, an explosion blasted the ground fifty meters away from her, sending big rocks in the sky and a black-robed figure flew to the sky. 

"How dare you talk to me like this?! I'm the Time God! The Immortal that outlived many generations, thousands of Legends, and hundreds of Clans. No one lived longer than me!" 

The Phoenix covered his beak with the wing and whispered, "That's what I was talking about… He is obsessed with living forever. What a weirdo. I doubt he has many years left."

"I CAN HEAR YOU!" the man yelled, sending a massive wave of Qi their way but the Phoenix just waved with his wing, dispersing it completely. 

"Don't try it with me again. You can't defeat me." 

Seeing the exchange, Yiren's eyes brightened and she skipped towards the Phoenix, hugging its leg. 

"Did this man try to hurt you?" she asked with care. 

"Oh, many times. I told you, he is obsessed with immortality. He found me and wanted to take my blood, thinking he can rebirth his body with it. Too bad, he can't even defeat me," the Phoenix answered eagerly, looking like he didn't like the man one bit. 

"That's so mean!" Yiren exclaimed. "How could he try to hurt my beautiful birdy. Why didn't you kill him instead?" 

"Not only is he a maniac but also a coward. Whenever I try to attack him, he is hiding under the ground. I'm not a fan of digging in the ground so I'm forced to ignore him." 

The Phoenix was clearly annoyed by the man but she finally understood why he was so cocky. The Phoenix just couldn't be bothered to kill him. 

"I can still hear you!" the man called out to which both of them replied at the same time, "You were meant to hear it!"

"You are making a great mistake talking like this to the greatest Immortal! Once I achieve my goal, no one will be able to stop me!" the man cried out with his fist up in the air only to scream in fear when the Phoenix's feathers began to flare with flames.

The Phoenix turned out to be only bluffing as he returned back to normal right after and commented sarcastically, "See? He is such a coward. I don't know how can he still brag so much."

"Yup, I agree," Yiren nodded eagerly and then saw the man's face when his hood dropped once he tried to run away. "Oh! He is an old man too." 

The man already had wrinkles and long white hair, the signs of getting old. No wonder he had such an obsession about living forever. His life was reaching its end.

"I'm not old!" The man denied and quickly covered his face. "That's a mask! A mask to cover my identity!" 

"So crazy and delusional. I really want to leave this place so I can get away from this maniac," the Phoenix lamented. "Imagine that after he couldn't kill me, he figured out a new plan. He talks about this Elemental Bracelet all the time." 

"Oh… Elemental Bracelet?" Yiren feigned ignorance. 

She naturally knew about Xuefeng's Elemental Bracelet. 

"Yeah, he thinks that once he collects all Elemental Stones, he will achieve immortality. Too bad, he doesn't even have that bracelet. He is just hoping that someone will eventually come to claim the Elemental Stone in his possession before he dies. He even slowed down the time in this Hidden Realm to buy himself as much time as possible," the Phoenix explained casually. 

"Hey! Why are you exposing my secrets!" 

"Pfft," the Phoenix laughed. "You were the one who bragged about them for heaven knows how many years and it's not like I care about you." 

Yiren was the one who showed interest instead. "Whoa! I heard about Elemental Bracelet! To think you have one of its stones!" 

"Hehe, so you know how powerful it is! Once I get my hands on it, I will collect all stones one by one and finally achieve immortality! Bahahaha!" the old man burst out laughing only to freeze at Yiren's words. 

"Well, you say you have the Elemental Stone but has anyone seen it? I don't believe you have it." 

"True, he never showed it to me either. I bet he is lying," the Phoenix added, playing along. 

"Of course I have it! Why would I search for the Elemental Bracelet without any Elemental Stones." 

"Then show it. We are waiting," Yiren dared. "If you don't show it, we will assume you don't have it. We can't really be bothered with liars." 

"Yeah. If you don't show it, I will fill the ground with flames and chase you away. You will be forced to live with beasts in the jungle." The Phoenix joined Yiren's gang. "Your choice." 

The old man had no other alternative. The mountain was the only safe place in this Hidden Realm due to the Phoenix existence and he couldn't fly forever as he would eventually ran out of Spirit Qi.

"Okay, okay! I will show you!" The old man finally gave up and reached inside his cloak, pulling out a white circular crystal. 

Swoosh!

Wind blew in all directions as the old man spoke in crazy tone, "Behold! This is the one and only, Wind Elemental Stone!" 

Yiren gazed at the magical stone and smiled, extending her hand forward. 

Ah!!!

The old man screamed as the stone slipped out of his hand, and immediately chased after it. With his eyes fixated on the stone, he didn't realize a giant Phoenix was standing right in front of him. 

Bang!

A flaming wing met with the old man, sending him flying while the Elemental Stone landed safely on top of Yiren's hand. 

Despite getting hit, the old man recovered quickly and attacked once again. "My Stone! Give it back!"

The Phoenix didn't like the confidence of the old man and waved with its wing, sending a fan of flaming feathers which he ate all without the care of his safety.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

He got blasted into rocky ground, creating a massive groove at the shape of a human. 

"So annoying," the Phoenix commented and gazed at Yiren who held the Elemental Stone. "Did you really just take it from him? You are so good!" 

"Hehe, thank you. I know someone who would do a lot to have it," Yiren replied with a giggle, already thinking how many kisses should she demand in exchange for the stone. 

"Give it back!" The old man cried out as he got out from the hole, his cloak all burned down, exposing a shiny armor underneath. "It's mine!" 

This time he didn't attack immediately as Yiren had Phoenix's protection. 

Yiren smiled and wondered out loud, "Hmm, let me think… No. It's mine now." 

"You don't want to mess with me! Give it back!" 

"Still no," Yiren shook her head and kept the stone, pissing the old man even more. 

He glared at her angrily and launched himself to the sky, yelling, "You have Phoenix protection but your friends don't! Let's see what you say when I kill them all!" 

Yiren's eyes widened and she pleaded, hugging the Phoenix's leg, "Please, can you save my friends?"

"Why would I help the friends of that bastard little dragon?" the Phoenix questioned. "At first I only took you here to force him into fighting me." 

"Oh! I will tell him to play with you afterward! He always listens to me. Please, at least let me warn them!" 

The Phoenix got interested at her words and grabbed her, placing her on its back. 

"Hold tight!"