Chapter 132 (1): Destined for Great Things

There was no fear on Starlight's face at all as his eyes smoldered with deranged joy.

Feng Xing looked into his eyes for a moment longer, then averted his gaze as he sighed, "You are an admirable man!"

Those words had come straight from the bottom of his heart.

Never had he seen someone with so much backbone before.

His sword was withdrawn, and Fang Che shuddered as a gaping hole was left in his chest.

However, his back remained ramrod-straight, and even now, there was still a smile on his face as he said, "Looks like it's time for me to bid farewell to you and this world, Young Master Xing."

Feng Xing merely smiled as he casually pulled out a white handkerchief, then began meticulously wiping the blood from his sword, only returning it to its scabbard when it was completely spotless.

All the while, blood was gushing profusely out of Fang Che's wound.

"I can now confirm that you are not Night Demon!" Feng Xing suddenly said.

"Wh... What do you mean?" Fang Che asked with a stunned expression.

However, Feng Xing offered no explanation. Instead, he mused, "I've heard stories in the past of people with indomitable spirits, but I've never seen one for myself. However, today, you've shown me what it means to have an indomitable spirit. My only question is, why did you look so happy just now?"

"Did I?" Fang Che asked.

"You did," Feng Xing insisted.

"Perhaps it's because I was finally able to let go of some mental burdens. My entire life, I've lived in almost constant fear of death, but as death came to me, I realized just how powerless I was to resist, and so, I let go and accepted my fate. Isn't that funny?"

"Is it?" Feng Xing asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"It is!"

"Perhaps so, but you're wrong about one thing: it's not yet time for you to die."

Feng Xing summoned a small jade vial as he spoke, inside of which was a pill that was darting around like a living creature while giving off a mesmerizing, iridescent glow.

He heaved a forlorn sigh as he took a pained glance at the pill.

"I'm a fool. I shouldn't have gone so far. All I had to do was slice your clothes open to find out, yet I stabbed you on a whim, and it's now going to cost me."

Fang Che immediately understood what Feng Xing was referring to. Feng Xing clearly knew that Chen Yin had gifted Night Demon a protective undershirt, and he had stabbed Fang Che through the chest to check if he was wearing the undershirt.

However, just as he had said, there were countless ways he could've done this without inflicting such grievous injuries upon Fang Che.

This was precisely the reason why Fang Che had been refraining from wearing the protective undershirt.

While this was the final straw that truly convinced Feng Xing that he wasn't Night Demon, realistically, that still wouldn't have been enough for Feng Xing to spare him.

Instead, Fang Che had only survived thanks to his aptitude, ability, and his attempt at pledging his subordination to Feng Xing earlier. Otherwise, even if it had been confirmed that he wasn't Night Demon, Feng Xing would've still put an end to his life.

Despite his clear understanding of the situation, Fang Che feigned a dumbstruck expression as he murmured, "I don't understand... What do you mean?"

"You don't need to understand. All you need to know is that you get to live."

Feng Xing reluctantly opened the jade vial, and the pill inside flew out at his behest before darting into Fang Che's mouth.

Only now did Fang Che allow himself an internal sigh of relief. The storm had finally been weathered.

"I only have three of these Iridescent Cloud Pills," Feng Xing sighed with a pained expression. "I suppose it can't be helped. This is my punishment for being so reckless."

Almost as soon as the pill flew into Fang Che's mouth, all of his pain instantly faded away, replaced by an unbearable itch as the torn tissues in his chest began to rapidly regenerate.

He could see the hole in his chest rapidly closing, and before long, the wound had completely disappeared, new skin and flesh taking its place.

At the same time, a surge of warmth was flowing through his body from head to toe, circulating over and over again, causing him to shed layers upon layers of dead skin.

Inside his dantian, the misty vortex began spinning rapidly as vast volumes of spirit qi surged in in a frenzy, forming a series of opaque clouds.

Fang Che hurriedly closed his eyes to cultivate as the rapid influx of spirit qi continued, and he felt as if his dantian were about to explode, yet more spirit qi continued to gush in.

All of a sudden, his King tier bottleneck was obliterated, and a spirit qi vortex that was visible to the naked eye appeared above his head, forming a spirit qi crown that rose up toward the heavens.

The crown was a telltale sign of a King tier breakthrough.

Not only had the pill almost instantly healed him from a lethal wound, it had allowed him to make a breakthrough!

***

Feng Xing looked up at the rising crown, initially with an expression of casual disinterest, but as the crown rose up to a height of a hundred feet, his gaze became much more focused and intense.

The spirit qi crown rose all the way up to over a thousand feet in the sky before finally dissipating, yet Feng Xing's gaze continued to linger up at the heavens with a solemn look of astonishment on his face.

He turned his gaze to Fang Che, whose eyes were still tightly shut as the spirit qi in his bulging dantian erupted forth in a frenzy, circulating rapidly through his meridians.

Finally, he reopened his eyes, and as soon as he did so, he immediately pledged his gratitude to Feng Xing.

However, Feng Xing didn't seem to have heard him, and there was a dazed look on his face as he instructed, "Hang your sleeves down."

Fang Che did as he was told, letting his arms dangle down naturally by his sides, and some white powder, enough to fill a small teacup, instantly came rustling out of both of his sleeves.

At the same time, he rose to his feet, and the same white powder came pouring out from the legs of his pants as well.

Feng Xing's gaze remained transfixed on the white powder for a long time.

"This is white jade powder, Starlight."

"What does this powder entail, Young Master Xing?" Fang Che asked with a puzzled expression.

Feng Xing was silent for a moment, then said, "I want you to serve me from now on."

Fang Che offered no response.

Feng Xing raised his head to fix a cold gaze on him as he asked, "Are you having doubts?"

"No."

"In that case, are you hesitating because you resent me for stabbing you earlier?"

"That's not it, either. You may have stabbed me, but the pill you've given me has more than made up for it and allowed me to reach the King tier. There is no resentment in my heart, only gratitude."

'What are you thinking about then?"

"I'm thinking about what I can do in the future."

"What do you

want

to do?"

"I don't know," Fang Che replied with a lost expression. "All I know is that I don't want to just be a fighter."

Feng Xing smiled as he assured, "As long as you can reach sufficient heights in the future, I will reserve for you a place by my side as my right-hand man."

"That is far too lofty an honor for me!" Fang Che hurriedly said. "May I ask what your future aspirations are, Young Master Xing?"

This time, it was Feng Xing's turn to hesitate, and found himself unable to come up with an answer.

As a direct descendant of Feng Du, the first-in-line deputy pope of the Church of the Self-Righteous, there were few people of a loftier status than Feng Xing on the entire continent.

From a young age, he had grown accustomed to taking measures to seize power for himself and eliminate competition, but what was he actually working toward?

He was constantly on the lookout for capable subordinates to bolster his own position, but he didn't actually know what his ultimate goal was.

Starlight was definitely a bright prospect, and he was considering Feng Xing's offer to join his camp, but just as birds went out of their way to select the best tree to support their nests, a subordinate had to take care when choosing a master.

While Starlight hadn't turned him down, he had raised to him a question, and that, in itself, was a test.

Feng Xing found himself unable to answer the question.

It seemed like a simple question, but it was proving very difficult to answer.