Chapter 37: Feng Raising Nine Chicks

Volume 1: Entering a New World

Is this Dafeng, the monstrous beast from ancient Chinese mythology? In his previous life, as someone who often chatted and debated on forums, ancient and mysterious books like the *Shanhaijing* were essential reading. The mythical beast Dafeng mentioned in them seemed to look exactly like this.

Suddenly, a thought struck him. He recalled a myth: besides the dragon's nine sons, the phoenix also had nine offspring. The first was the Peacock, the second the Golden-winged Great Peng, the third the Fire Phoenix, which "shone with immense brilliance when happy and and turned a thousand li into barren land when angry," the fourth the Golden Phoenix, which "radiated golden light and stirred the eight winds with its cry," the fifth the Azure Luan, the sixth the Snow Phoenix, the seventh the Hundred Calls, the eighth the Blue Drake, and the ninth was Dafeng! If you asked why he remembered it so clearly, it was a painful memory. Back then, written tests for NetEase's game department were full of these obscure questions. Compared to the many uncommon characters in the names of the dragon's nine sons, the phoenix's nine offspring were much easier to remember. However, there were many versions of the phoenix's nine offspring; the one he remembered was just one of them.

Zu An realized that he was cultivating the *Phoenix Nirvana Sutra*, and now that he had reached the second stage of Great Perfection, the image of Dafeng had appeared. Could it be a complete coincidence? It seemed that a new phoenix offspring would appear with each subsequent stage of Great Perfection. But what exactly was this thing for? Surely it wasn't just to scare people? He had secretly tested it before; others couldn't see the magical array on his body, nor could they see the Dafeng pattern. So, using it to scare people was out of the question.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. He channeled the elemental energy within his body into the lines of the Dafeng pattern. As the energy flowed through the entire Dafeng, its fierce eyes suddenly lit up, and immediately, a ghostly image of Dafeng materialized before him. Zu An was overjoyed; it really worked! But what was its power? Was it like a flying sword? After some thought, he had an idea and commanded Dafeng to crash into the wall to test its power.

Dafeng spread its wings, and a fierce gust of wind swept through the room, sending tables and chairs tumbling. In an instant, it slammed into the wall. Zu An watched with wide eyes, observing its power. On one hand, he worried that it would be too weak and disappoint him; on the other, he feared it would be too powerful and attract experts from the Duke's mansion. Before he could see what happened, a powerful force suddenly struck him, and he was uncontrollably flung towards the wall. Almost instantly, he crashed directly into it. It was truly as if he had been plastered against the wall!

Zu An slowly slid down the wall. A human-shaped impression appeared on the pristine white wall, along with two streaks of bright red blood—the nosebleed caused by his direct impact with the wall. "Damn it!" Zu An was both cursing and excited. So this thing was a teleportation ability! If used properly, it would be an excellent tool for surprise attacks or escape. He didn't know how far he could move each time, and without bothering to wipe the nosebleed from his face, he began channeling elemental energy into the Dafeng pattern again, trying to summon it once more. But soon after he started channeling, he felt a dizzy spell. It turned out his elemental energy had been depleted. It seemed this ability could only be used once a day. Perhaps it would improve when his cultivation level was higher and his elemental energy was more abundant.

He slowly climbed back into bed and lay down. He noticed that the first magical array in his muscles had accumulated some golden substance. He figured the unpredicted, close-range collision with the wall had caused a significant injury, enough for the array to collect certain materials. He recalled Ji Xiaoxi mentioning that cultivators at the second stage would have skin difficult to harm with ordinary blades, and upon reaching the third stage, they could form an energy-armor to resist attacks. Although he was at the lowest rank of the third stage, he was genuinely a third-stage cultivator now. He tried hard to circulate the last bit of elemental energy he had, finally managing to gather a palm-sized piece of armor on his body's surface. However, due to insufficient elemental energy, the armor immediately dissipated.

Despite this, Zu An was ecstatic. Now that he had advanced to the third stage, he theoretically possessed the strength of 88 normal people. In his previous life, he would have been considered a minor superhero. In the Marvel universe, even if he couldn't compare to the Hulk, he could probably easily defeat a "slacker" superhero like Black Widow. Moreover, he had two hidden trump cards: the Must-Die Dagger and Dafeng. No matter who in the mansion wanted to kill him, he now had the confidence to survive.

One moment Zu An was full of vigor, the next his demeanor abruptly changed. He kept rubbing various injured spots on his body, muttering, "Damn, that wall crash really hurt." His injuries were almost healed, but now, thanks to that collision, they had worsened. He dared not act recklessly anymore and lay quietly in bed, waiting for Ji Dengtu's healing medicine to take full effect.

Waking up the next day, Zu An found that after a night's rest, although his body was still somewhat weak, his injuries were mostly healed. However, he felt dissatisfied, thinking that Ji Dengtu's medicine was still far inferior to the divine healing potion obtained through the lottery. If others in the city knew his thoughts, someone might come with a knife to chop him. How could he consider the "Hundred Flowers Impermanence Pill," a highly sought-after healing elixir that countless people yearned for, as trash? This was unbearable.

At this moment, Zu An remembered something else. There had been too much going on yesterday, and he had forgotten about the lottery. Summoning his keyboard, he calculated that he had 69 anger points remaining after the previous lottery draw. Yesterday, he had earned more anger points from the Chu couple and Pei Mianman, bringing his total to 3273 points. He couldn't help but frown; he had been too soft yesterday. Otherwise, the anger points earned from Pei Mianman would have been far more. However, he also understood that any man would be reluctant to treat such a beautiful woman harshly when facing such a charming beauty. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but miss Plum Blossom Twelve and the bandits from Black Wind Fortress. Why did they seem so "cute" now? "Heavens, please send me a villain soon!"

The door was suddenly pushed open, and a handsome young man with neatly combed hair strode in. He approached the bed and looked down at Zu An, asking, "How are your injuries recovering? Can you go to the academy today?"

Anger points from Hong Xingying: 299!

"Not bad," Zu An replied subconsciously. "Wait, who are you?"

"Good then." The young man didn't answer him, turning directly to leave. When he saw the human-shaped impression on the wall, he paused for a moment, but quickly regained his composure and walked out with his head held high. Zu An was dumbfounded. He had just made a wish, and a villain appeared. Could it be that effective? And who exactly was this guy? Why did he generate so much anger from him right away?

"Young Master!" a resentful voice called out. Chen Shoubing appeared at the doorway, sporting two dark circles under his eyes and a look of deep grievance.

"What happened to you? Were you drained dry by a succubus yesterday?" Zu An was startled.

Chen Shoubing shuffled over unsteadily. "Young Master, how can you even say that? I didn't sleep a wink last night; I was copying those family rules until dawn."

Zu An gave a wry smile, got up, and poured him a glass of water. "Chen, my boy, it's a good thing you stayed in the quiet room copying the family rules yesterday. If you had come out with me, you'd probably be a corpse by now."

"Thank you, Young Master," Chen Shoubing said, flattered, as he took the cup, but his face was puzzled. "Why would I become a corpse?"

Zu An pointed to the human-shaped hole in the wall. "See that? Last night, assassins came to attack me. Luckily, I'm blessed with great fortune and supreme martial arts, so I narrowly escaped. Imagine if you had been there; wouldn't you have fought desperately to save me? The assassin's blade has no eyes; you might have been gone."

Chen Shoubing swallowed nervously, still shaken, and instinctively mumbled, "Then I'd rather copy the family rules."

"What did you say?" Zu An's eyebrows shot up.

Chen Shoubing immediately forced a smile. "I was saying that a loyal person like me would definitely fight the assassin with all his might. If he wanted to harm you, Young Master, he'd have to step over my corpse first."

Seeing him speak with increasing righteousness, practically spitting on his face, Zu An pushed his face away directly. "Alright, calm down, don't get too carried away. Let me ask you something: who was that arrogant guy who just left?"

"Oh, him? That's Steward Hong's precious son, Hong Xingying," Chen Shoubing replied. "He's a bit arrogant, but he's a cultivation genius. He never formally attended an academy; he reached the third stage just by self-study. Steward Hong has always been incredibly proud of him, and even the Master and Madam praise him highly. They've always valued him immensely and have been cultivating him as the leader of the younger generation in the mansion."

So he was Steward Hong's son; no wonder his hair was as meticulously combed as his father's.

"Hmph, I thought he was some big shot. Just a third stage after over a decade of cultivation," Zu An thought to himself. "I went from a good-for-nothing to the third stage in just two or three days. Do I go around showing off?"

Chen Shoubing, however, couldn't help but curl his lip. No wonder everyone said the Young Master was ambitious but lacked talent—he had no real ability but spoke grandly, always boasting. If Zu An could reach the third stage in this lifetime, the Master and Madam would probably wake up laughing in their dreams.

"What are you mumbling about?" Zu An glared at him.

Chen Shoubing immediately put on a wide smile. "I was thinking of telling the Madam that since you're so badly injured, Young Master, you shouldn't have to go to the academy today."

"No need. These injuries are nothing," Zu An said, patting his chest. "Father-in-law and Mother-in-law sent me to the academy, clearly for my own good. How could I betray their kindness?" He naturally didn't want to go to school, but staying home was even more boring. Because of yesterday's assassin incident, Chu Zhongtian had assigned two guards to his door, preventing him from leaving. In that case, it was better to go to school; he might even find a chance to slip away midway.

Hearing him speak so earnestly, Chen Shoubing's mouth dropped open wide enough to fit a fist. He quickly came over and felt Zu An's forehead. "Young Master, do you have a fever today?"

"Get lost!" Zu An kicked him away.

"Hahaha, Zu An, you're becoming more sensible. Our efforts haven't been in vain." Laughter drifted in, and Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru entered, beaming.

"Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, why have you come?" Zu An feigned surprise and flattery. "Ah, acting like this every day is truly exhausting. If I stay here a bit longer, I might just go back and win an Oscar for Best Actor."

"I heard from Xingying that your injuries aren't serious and that you've decided to go to the academy, so I came to check on you, just to be sure." Qin Wanru's usually strict face now held a touch of tenderness.