Chapter 569: Dumb

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Throughout the entire Thousand Feathers Alliance, many legends circulated about Min Yanlu.

Yes, within the Thousand Feathers Alliance, Min Yanlu had already become a legendary figure. Because the vast majority of people had never seen Min Yanlu.

They had only heard of him, but never seen him!

Don’t mention ordinary warriors; even experts at the Combined Aperture Tempering realm were often treated in this manner.

Take, for example, Qin Haishan and his group within the Sea Peak City; they hadn’t seen Min Yanlu, and naturally, neither had Chen Fei. The closest anyone had been to Min Yanlu recently was probably when they entered the Enlightenment Tower.

The Enlightenment Tower was a spiritual treasure belonging to Min Yanlu. This treasure had many avatars and was established in various major cities within the Thousand Feathers Alliance.

However, although many people hadn’t seen Min Yanlu, it didn’t hinder the spread of various anecdotes about him.

It was rumored that before the establishment of the Thousand Feathers Alliance, Min Yanlu had actually been born in this area.

Being able to become a strong figure in the Mountain Sea Realm, Min Yanlu’s talent and comprehension were naturally extraordinary, stunningly talented, and unparalleled among peers.

But Min Yanlu truly gained fame after coming of age.

The Min family was a prominent family. Nowadays, they were naturally the strongest family within the Thousand Feathers Alliance. Before the establishment of the Thousand Feathers Alliance, they had also been a powerful clan capable of suppressing an entire city.

Before coming of age, Min Yanlu showed no talent whatsoever, and even appeared somewhat dull-witted, lagging behind in both martial arts and academics.

Those with sharp intellects often learned fully after being taught once, and could even extrapolate further, allowing them to progress swiftly in martial arts.

However, Min Yanlu needed to be taught five or six times before truly remembering, and if he didn’t practice for a while, he would forget some of what had been taught before.

With such a talent, if he were from an ordinary family, he would have long abandoned the idea of learning martial arts or academics.

But the Min family was a prominent clan, and despite Min Yanlu’s dullness, he received all the treatment he was entitled to as the legitimate heir. Also, because of his dullness, his siblings were least wary of him, and Min Yanlu had never suffered any oppression since childhood.

Chen Fei was somewhat surprised when he first saw the biography of Min Yanlu.

Not only was he surprised by Min Yanlu’s dullness before coming of age, but he was also astonished that such matters could be spread within the Thousand Feathers Alliance.

Clearly, regarding Min Yanlu’s biography, someone within the Thousand Feathers Alliance had deliberately organized and recorded it, spreading it out.

This led Chen Fei to involuntarily think of Min Yanlu’s Enlightenment Tower and Master Haiyue’s Haiyue Cave.

These Mountain Sea Realm experts seemed to have intentionally tried to spread their reputation further.

Before coming of age, Min Yanlu had spent nearly twenty years seemingly accomplishing nothing, neither excelling in academics nor martial arts. If he hadn’t been born into a clan like the Min family, his situation would have been more than just blending into the crowd.

Before the establishment of the Thousand Feathers Alliance, conflicts among warriors in this region had been extremely frequent. Sometimes it was for resources, other times it was simply to save face.

In the world of warriors, sometimes there were many reasons for doing something, but sometimes, there was no need for any reason at all; many acted purely based on mood.

Given the survival of the fittest, naturally, many warriors wanted to live more selfishly.

In such a situation, ordinary people were easily caught in the crossfire, dying without understanding why. Min Yanlu, being dull-witted and slow to learn anything, could only do the lowest kinds of tasks.

And such individuals were the most easily abandoned.

However, there were no “ifs” in life. After performing the coming-of-age ceremony in his clan, Min Yanlu seemed to suddenly undergo a transformation.

It wasn’t just that he learned things faster like ordinary people; Min Yanlu seemed to undergo a complete metamorphosis, becoming a completely different person.

If Min Yanlu’s temperament hadn’t changed, and there were no abnormalities in his mind, the Min family would probably have suspected that Min Yanlu had been possessed by someone.

But upon careful consideration, it seemed unlikely that someone capable of possessing others would choose someone like Min Yanlu, whose lack of talent and potential was evident.

Min Yanlu began to display monstrous talent. The phrase “learning by analogy” was no longer sufficient to describe Min Yanlu’s aptitude. After learning a martial art, Min Yanlu could even innovate upon it once he reached the pinnacle of cultivation.

At the age when one usually started martial arts training, Min Yanlu was already a bit late. Just like Chen Fei’s predecessor, who started martial arts training too late and ultimately died from overwork without adequate nutrition.

Min Yanlu naturally didn’t have problems with nutrition and wouldn’t die from overwork. He only needed to showcase his talent, and various resources would naturally be offered to him.

And so, Min Yanlu’s cultivation realm was advancing at an astonishing speed.

Min Yanlu was well aware of the internal power struggles within large clans. Therefore, he chose to lie low at first. By the time others realized something was amiss, Min Yanlu’s cultivation had already reached the Combined Aperture Tempering realm.

At this cultivation level, even if Min Yanlu’s siblings had the intention to do something, they were now powerless to act.

Breaking through the Combined Aperture Tempering realm was as simple for Min Yanlu as eating and drinking, with no obstacles whatsoever.

By this time, Min Yanlu’s reputation had begun to spread to the surrounding areas. Ten years later, Min Yanlu broke through to the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, propelling the Min family to a new level.

During the mid and late stages of the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, Min Yanlu’s growth was accompanied by struggles, but also by various opportunities.

Just when people thought Min Yanlu would continue to follow the usual path of cultivation and reach the peak of the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, Min Yanlu suddenly left, departing from the current region of the Thousand Feathers Alliance and venturing alone to the Outer Territories, which were filled with sea demons.

For thirty years, there was no news from him. When others began to suspect that Min Yanlu might have died in the Outer Territories, he returned, directly returning with the cultivation realm of the Mountain Sea Realm.

Gathering all the forces within the Thousand Feathers Alliance, although there were some obstacles, with the power of the Mountain Sea Realm, ultimately no force could resist, and the Thousand Feathers Alliance was officially established.

Min Yanlu’s life could be described as full of ups and downs. When Chen Fei read about it at the time, he almost treated it as a storybook. Not only Chen Fei, but probably most people within the Thousand Feathers Alliance had similar thoughts.

At this moment, as Chen Fei was about to meet Min Yanlu, memories involuntarily flooded his mind.

Sun Lixin led Chen Fei to the central location of Sea Dominion City, which was the restricted area of Sea Dominion City. No one was allowed to approach because it was where Min Yanlu usually practiced.

In front of a courtyard, Sun Lixin stopped and respectfully approached the door, knocking on it. After a moment, the door of the courtyard opened, and a burly man with a long beard stepped out. He glanced at Sun Lixin, nodded slightly, then turned to look at Chen Fei.

After sizing up Chen Fei, the burly man spoke in a deep voice, “Master has just gone out. You can follow me for now, and when Master returns, I will inform him.”

“Thank you!” Chen Fei bowed slightly to the burly man.

This burly man was named Gu Danying. His name sounded somewhat elegant, but no one dared to make fun of him based on his name.

As one of Min Yanlu’s closed-door disciples at the peak of the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, Gu Danying was one of the few people in the Thousand Feathers Alliance who had the most hope of breaking through to the Mountain Sea Realm.

Even the peak Combined Aperture Tempering realm experts from the top ten powers were slightly inferior to Gu Danying in terms of potential.

It was rumored that Min Yanlu had great expectations for Gu Danying as well, hoping that he could produce the third Mountain Sea Realm expert in the Thousand Feathers Alliance.

Gu Danying nodded slightly, leading Chen Fei into the courtyard before disappearing.

Chen Fei stood patiently in the courtyard, simultaneously activating the Soaring Heaven Technique within his body. In his sea of consciousness, insights of the Shadow Escape Technique rose.

He refrained from using the Three Lives Slicing Shadow Sword, as it would have been slightly inappropriate given the circumstances, as it tends to draw attention with its movements.

While the Soaring Heaven Technique was indeed a simple cultivation method for the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, especially after the internal cultivation realms merged into one Combined Aperture Tempering realm, the movements and actions required to activate this cultivation method were so subtle as to be negligible.

Continuously experiencing insights within his sea of consciousness, the seemingly dull wait at this moment didn’t make Chen Fei feel any discomfort.

Although it was slightly less compared to experiencing three different insights simultaneously in the cultivation chamber, as long as progress was being made, time was not wasted.

After several hours of waiting, Gu Danying stood in front of Chen Fei, who finally opened his eyes.

“Making the most of your time for cultivation. Well done!”

Gu Danying nodded slightly as he looked at Chen Fei, finding him somewhat more pleasing to the eye.

Having reviewed Chen Fei’s information, Gu Danying knew that Chen Fei had broken through to the Combined Aperture Tempering realm in his early thirties, which was no less remarkable than the geniuses from the top powers.

Now, it was evident that Chen Fei possessed exceptional talent, but his diligence was also one of the main reasons for his progress.

Gu Danying himself was extremely diligent in his cultivation. Even though he had reached the peak of the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, he knew that without breaking through to the Mountain Sea Realm, there was no further progress to be made.

Yet Gu Danying still spent most of his time on cultivation every day, even more than before. Despite his relentless efforts, his cultivation realm remained stagnant, but Gu Danying persisted nonetheless.

Seeing Chen Fei’s diligence in cultivation, Gu Danying felt a sense of acknowledgment.

“Senior, you praise me too much,” Chen Fei replied, bowing respectfully.

“Master has decided to see you. Follow me,” Gu Danying nodded and didn’t say much more, turning and walking ahead.

Chen Fei followed Gu Danying to another courtyard. The door of the courtyard was already open, and Gu Danying halted in front of it, gesturing for Chen Fei to enter.

Chen Fei nodded and stepped past Gu Danying into the courtyard.

In his sea of consciousness, the power of the Dragon-Sealing Elephant and God-Sealing Elephant fluctuated slightly before falling into silence again.

Feeling puzzled, Chen Fei opened his eyes and found himself in a chamber. Sitting calmly in front of a tea table was a person, who was now looking at Chen Fei.

“Greetings, Alliance Master!” Chen Fei bowed his head and saluted.

Inside the chamber, Chen Fei sensed that his power was completely sealed off, but it was vastly different from the usual sealing; it felt as if his power had vanished altogether.

At this moment, Chen Fei felt like an ordinary person.

Power doesn’t just vanish for no reason. It must be that Chen Fei’s consciousness had been deceived, leading him to mistakenly believe that his elemental and mental powers had disappeared.

However, in this case, perception was reality. If one couldn’t sense their power, it was essentially no different from actually losing it..