Feng Yun opened his eyes slowly, getting used to his surroundings. He still felt a little hazy from being kicked into a wall by Yi Fen but realized that he was gradually recovering his injuries. He sat up from his laying posture and looked around. Stars and planets surrounded him. It appeared as though he was submerged within the Universal Bindings cultivation method. However, it was much different than what he was used to. 

He had been surrounded by the same assortment of celestial bodies each time he had used the technique. However, the bodies had changed and emanated an even greater presence of qi. Their appearance was that of emerald green to azure gold stars. They all had about four to five rings surrounding them. Feng Yun felt a tingling sensation down his spine and a bit tired. His body had the slight sensation of wanting to fall but he was resisting. 

"Is...Is this the gravitational force of the bodies? Impossible! The Universal bindings cultivation method should counteract those forces and make me feel as if there is no gravity. No wait, my previous cultivation surroundings had no gravity but this one does. Does that mean that I've accessed a more powerful area for cultivation. But what would prompt this to happen?" 

Feng Yun was deeply fascinated with the change in his cultivation and pondered the reasons for this. This technique was created by one of the most powerful sovereigns in the universe. Naturally, it shouldn't be as simple as it seems. It could have multiple layers in it thus explaining the fact that his surroundings have changed. 

There had to be specific conditions such for unlocking each layer however. Feng Yun wasn't sure and tried to recollect everything that happened during the battle. When he had fought and killed Du Fan, he had been using a tyrannical aura that didn't originate from his personal kills. This belonged to the Overlord Heaven Piercer sword. The tyrannical aura was so powerful that it suppressed Du Fan and made not such that Du Fan was a few times weaker than his normal self. 

Feng Yun, using the power of the aura, increased his speed by ten times and appeared behind Du Fan beheading him. That was the first of the benefits of the battle. He didn't have an explanation for why it happened but when battling Luo Ren, Feng Yun, who shouldn't have had too much qi left felt a rush of fresh and pure qi that suppressed his pain and opened his Falling Heavens Wings involuntarily. Then unexpectedly, five pillars of azure light burst out from the wings and with incredible precision, blew Luo Ren's body to bits. 

"That's it, those five pillars of light. That was a new ability! If I can just recall it...perfectly...I've got it!"

Feng Yun exclaimed with joy. A celestial light covered his body and made him feel light again, contrary to the gravity that was slightly weighing him down. Is this the signs of a breakthrough? Immediately, his body began rising, and then shot off in an extremely high speed towards a certain planet. When he reached there, what he saw shocked him. The planet was a combination of a sky blue and an emerald green color. Half of each covered the planet. One half was like viewing the sky and the other was like seeing thousands of silky jade strewn together in magnificent conjunction. Feng Yun deeply sighed. Is this what it means to be a lofty sovereign overlooking the universe?

His arms started to shake and Feng Yun could feel a bubbly feeling arising in his chest. His arms spread outwards involuntarily and beams of light shot out  from the blue part of the planet and entered his body filling his body with a burst of energy. His wings opened up revealing one meter long wings that were bluish and gold in color. The energy entering Yun's body diverged from his dantian to his wings which appeared to be remodeling themselves. They were constantly repairing itself and becoming stronger and adaptable to the powerful qi from the planet. It must be said that direct energy coming from a planet was extremely powerful and potent. If one didn't have the body to handle this kind of energy, then you would likely die. Usually, only sovereigns would try something like this. This further proved the origin of the Falling Heavens Wings to Feng Yun as the energy didn't even give him the slightest amount of pain. 

He felt very refreshed and watched as the wings changed colors numerous times before finally settling into its final form and staying that way. However, that's not the only thing that happened. Five pillars of azure light shot out of the wings streaking past the universe at unimaginable speeds. Feng Yun had successfully done it! He had learned a new technique for his Soul Bone Artifact. 

"Haha, Yi Fen. I must truly thank you. You've given me an unprecedented rise I power that I only could've gained through battling you. Although I fought you with power that wasn't my own, it was still pretty fun. Hm, I shall name this technique, Five Azure Pillar Strike."

Not only that, he had gained extremely valuable insights from the planet and was extremely close to unlocking the second chapter of the Reigning Thunder Manual, Twin Dragon's Harmony Torrent. Feng Yun also realized something about the cultivation technique that he practiced. In the technique was the image of the universe in all its glory. However, when he received insights, he would be drawn towards a specific planet and would soon learn either a technique or increase his understanding of a technique by leaps and bounds. 

Feng Yun realized that all the celestial bodies of the images in his mind, were martial skills and techniques! Moreover, if they gave off the aura of a celestial heavenly body, then they had to have the potential to be at least Divine Class skills if not higher. The requirement was that you had to gain the recognition of a powerful celestial body in order to learn it. The millions of planets and stars within the Universal Bindings technique were limitless. Everyone of them was a lofty existence that had its own sense of pride. However, there appeared to be a hierarchy between certain planets. There were stronger planets with more powerful techniques the further deep you went into the universe. Gaining their approval would be hard. Feng Yun could guess at the intention of the creator of this technique.

"To gain absolute power, you must gain the approval of the universe!"

Feng Yun now understood this and his gaze turned somewhat solemn. He would not be able to learn all these skills so he would choose techniques that only suited him. The Five Azure Pillar Strike was one such skill that had merged with his Falling Heavens Wings. Surveying his cultivation level he saw that he was extremely close to the Tempered Body 7th layer. Soon, he would step into it and his power would increase substantially. 

'But for now, I should back out of the technique and explain myself to my parents.'

Thinking about that, he groaned at the reality. Reluctantly, he exited the technique and emerged into the real world once more. He was laying down on a comfy, white bed that had its sheets covered over him. His long, silky black hair draped down his shoulders and revealed his handsome face and slightly childish features. An eight year old but had the maturity of an adult. He opened his eyes, which gleamed with their ruby and golden irises and swept the room he was laying in with his eyes.

Feng Yun noticed the three people standing at the edge, obviously excited that he had woken up. The most excited was a young woman, nearing thirty, with beautiful charming looks and azure hair that stretched down to her thighs. This was his mother, Ling Qian. Next to her was a middle aged man who, like Feng Yun had black hair but green eyes that emanated fierceness. He was quite tall and was staring intently at him. Feng Luo of course. And last of then all was the old man with the white beard, stroking it in a happy manner as he realized that Feng Yun's qi was awakening. This was Feng Lei. 

"You've finally woken up Yun'er. You've been out for five days. Your parents have not left your side at all. I assured them that you would be fine but they insisted on it. Haaa, parents." Feng Lei said with a sigh but he was clearly amused. 

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"Hmm, that long? I see. Well, sorry to worry you and I'm fine. Ah? Mom don't cry. God mom, I'm alive." Feng Yun replied cool but realized that his mother had been crying while he was speaking and went to reassure her. She hugged him in return which nearly suffocated Yun but he smiled. Is this what having a mother truly feels like? Then I'm truly content.

"Oh god, I thought you were going to die. Thank the heavens...wahhhhhh!!!" His mom sobbed on his shoulder until he lightly pushed her away. She reluctantly let go and returned next to Feng Luo. Feng Yun smiled and then the gesture disappeared and was filled with seriousness as he looked towards his grandfather who was staring at them kindly.

"Did you find out who their employer was?" Feng Yun questioned.

"We found bits and pieces from the info we got on them. One of the members was on the verge of dying but we healed him and interrogated him. Our interrogations only got so far as something in his qi glowed and got excited. We were confused until the man began to self detonate. Your father was there so he set up a shield on the spur of the moment with Elemental Energy to block the explosion. It was still quite powerful though. The whole area in a one mile radius was destroyed. Nobody was there fortunately." Feng Lei said with a grim expression.

"So what did you find?" Feng Yun asked curiously. Their own members would detonate themselves to keep their info secret. It obviously proved that their backer was no ordinary figure. He himself had a couple of guesses towards who would send them after him.

"They come from a relatively low-profile assassins guild that is quite famous in the underworld of the Xu Dynasty. They are called the Crippling Mist guild.

A league of assassins that are hired by contract and are to never reveal their employers name to anyone lest they receive death by self detonation. An "honorable" death as they put it. They sent their lower level members to you out of arrogance. These guys have become a bit more active in recent years. I suppressed them for a time period but they found ways to survive. Finding and destroying then will not be easy. Along with that comes the matter of the employer who asked for your death. I can think of a few guesses but I don't have evidence."

"Grandfather, you appear to have had some dealings with them before. What happened?" Feng Yun was puzzled by some of Feng Lei's words and asked.

"Let's just say it was a long time ago and they pissed me off fifteen years ago so I whipped their ass. They were a pretty tough bunch though. Even the Xu Dynasty can't easily mobilize forces to deal with them. However, contracts don't end until they have been successfully completed. They'll come back, with much stronger numbers. We need to give Yun'er some protection." Feng Lei looked at Feng Luo with a determined gaze. The latter responded with a nod.

"With all due respect grandfather. Their assassin skills are trash. I'm surprised they actually exist in this world still. I can't find more trashier trash than this bunch. I'm pretty pissed off myself so how about this? I would like to personally destroy their guild with my own two hands. I'll do this when I reach the later part of the Xiantian Realm, or even the higher realms. From what other things you've been told besides this, their leader is a Xiantian peak stage ninth layer with connections to a couple Truth and Tyrant realm masters. Well, when I reach that stage I'll go invade them. I'll get as much information as I can and hunt down their employer." Feng Yun had a cold look in his eyes. A flash of murderous intent flashed through them. 

"Yun'er, now you're being crazy. You can't just do that. What if you underestimate your opponents? What if you get hurt? Or even killed? We can't afford that to happen." Ling Qian tried to reason with him but Feng Yun shook his head.

"I'm not stupid. I know my limits but I am serious about this. One day, I will kill this mystery employer of theirs and destroy their organization. Have faith in me." Feng Yun reassured her.

"Getting back to the topic at hand, how were you able to kill those five cultivators at the Tempered Body 8th and 9th layer with your Tempered Body 5th layer abilities. It's simply unfathomable."

Feng Luo remarked. He still thought that Feng Yun was at the fifth layer. This was due to Feng Lei hiding his strength with his own power. Feng Yun sighed. Here comes the difficult part.

"Well...I'm not too clear on exactly what events happened. The eighth layer cultivators were killed by means of surprise and assassination. As for the ninth layer people? I don't know but I was using my sword spirit and it filled me with power far beyond my own level. Somehow, it killed one of them with its raw power. The other was killed as a result of my Falling Heavens Wings opening up against my will and somehow for whatever reason blinded the guy and it flapped at him cutting him into pieces." 

Feng Yun tried to say it with as much of a straight face as possible. He was mostly telling the truth, but he didn't tell them about the five pillars of light as well as the the swords amount of bloodlust. Feng Luo and Ling Qian seemed to buy it but Feng Lei had a frown on his face. He clearly did not believe Feng Yun and indicated on his face that he wanted to speak in private to his grandson later.

"Good good. As long as he is okay, that's all that matters. Oh, by the way Grandson. The Four Powers tournament is coming up in two years. You have to start preparing for it and get into the top five disciples rankings." Feng Lei said.

"Hmm? Four powers tournament? What's that all about?" Feng Yun had never heard about this sort of event before.

"It's a competition hosted for disciples of the respective four main powers of the Xu Dynasty, the Xu Royal Family, the Cloudscale sect, the Tyrant Thunder God Dragon Clan, and the Blood Demon Sect. It tests who the best disciple is and offers the winner a reward. We've always been second to the Xu dynasty but this time, it will be different. You must participate. You will claim first place for us and gain glory." 

Feng Lei's eyes shone with pride, as if he could already see his own sect winning.

"But you must focus in your cultivation. I've heard that the crown prince Xu Fangzi is at the peak of the Tempered Body 8th layer and there is a high chance that he will ascend to the ninth layer. He is only eleven years old and he is at this level."

Feng Lei was the only person besides Ling Sun who knew his true cultivation. This was because it most families and powers would conceal their children's cultivation levels as much as possible so as to gain an advantage in knowledge over others. 

"Is that so? Well I will certainly do my best grandfather. As for this Xu Fangzi, I'll definitely beat him."

"Haha, good boy. However, merely martial cultivation is not enough. After the month is over, about two weeks from now and you're done recovering from your injuries, Feng Luo will take you to the treasury." Feng Lei said with a smile. 

"Hmm? Oh yeah the treasury. Okay grandfather, we will definitely become number one in the Xu Dynasty as well as kill those bastards from the Crippling Mist guild." Feng Yun said resolutely. 

Feng Lei nodded his head and motioned for Feng Yun's parents to follow him out of the room. Feng Yun just sat there, letting out a sigh and looked at his chest, feeling the sensation of being so close to breaking through to the 7th Layer. He stared up at the ceiling in lost thought.

"It seems I have a lot to prepare for." He said with a determined gaze, ready to tear apart anyone who tried to hurt his family.