Little Phoenix Is Not An Immortal Chapter 14
Translated by Luen Translations
Edited by Siren and Birdie
Chapter 14: Cultivating in the Heavenly Temple (2)
After waking up, Tian Zhen discovered that she had become a big phoenix!
Of course, still a big gray phoenix.
Or, a big gray bird would be more appropriate.
From head to tail, she was more than six meters long! If she had intact tail feathers, perhaps she’d be bigger than the fire phoenix beside her by at least two-fold! Tian Zhen’s head was covered in cold sweat and each and every one of the feathers on her body were standing up. In regards to this level of cultivation speed, she found it hard to accept. It was just too frightening for her. The feeling was like that of a pig dreaming and then waking up to find that it had suddenly become an elephant.
It seems that yesterday night she had received a serious injury……
Tian Zhen immediately looked at Zhao Huajun. ‘Was it the leader who saved me?’
Zhao Huajun was smiling gently like before and stroked her head to comfort her: “Don’t be afraid. Very soon, little phoenix will be able to turn into a human.”
Her body supported a thousand year’s worth of cultivation and was only lacking one neidan.
Having brought back her unworthy life, Tian Zhen felt immensely grateful. At the same time, she was also quite puzzled by her own indescribable growth. She merely felt like her whole body was brimming with strength and vitality.
However, this degree of change directly influenced her social advantage. Although a small gray phoenix was ugly, in any case, it could still act cute and let beautiful men hug it. Now with this stout build, No matter how you look at it, it couldn’t be linked with “really cute”. Such a big bird, I reckon that there isn’t a beautiful man anywhere who would hug it instead of running away. If there is, that scene would certainly be quite magnificent as well as really horrifying.
Zhao Huajun turned his eyes towards You Po Mountain and softly said: “Let’s go.”
‘Having yet to find traces of his lover, he’s already planning to give up?’ Tian Zhen sighed. Suddenly, she discovered that the gaze of the fire phoenix beside seizing her up was somewhat strange. It carried fury and hostility.
Tian Zhen quickly understood and used her wing to pat it’s back.
‘Big brother, although I’ve become big, you can be reassured, I definitely won’t snatch your job.’
‘Not good, when I get back I have to think of a method to lose weight. If by any chance, there comes a time when leader sees how robust I’ve become and wants to ride……’
Tian Zhen lightly coughed twice. She flapped her wings and flew straight. This single flap had her fly out over eight thousand miles.
The famous Yu Mo Heavenly Palace was simply a vague place. It didn’t touch the ground nor the sky. The exterior of the temple was covered in foggy clouds, and the entire temple was suspended in midair.
The palace walls enclosed an expansive array of halls, rivaling the grandeur of the imperial court. Quiet and elegant spaces coexisted with lush vegetation, featuring flowers, trees, a sprawling wutong tree, and a vibrant bamboo forest in the serene rear area.
The wutong leaves would gracefully catch the morning sun, while at nightfall, raindrops akin to pearls adorned the slender branches. The jade green bamboo swayed gently in the wind, casting fragmented shadows that danced with the silver moonlight.
A marble tiling adorned the floors of the main hall. Usually, Zhao Huajun would be in the rear palace hall, working.
The main hall was like a small soccer field, so it wasn’t difficult for Tian Zhen to turn her body and so on. With regards to the food eating phoenix, Zhao Huajun showed particular favor and allowed her to dine with him.
Of course, the dining table couldn't support her weight and so she silently crouched in a corner, looking at the food in front of her on the ground. She felt a deep sense of shame.
Zhao Huajun consolingly said: “When you have a neidan, you’ll be able to change into human form.”
Tian Zhen still had her head lowered. Her body emanated an air of dejection.
‘Leader promoted me and passed me a millennium of cultivation. Cultivating a neidan was originally a very simple matter, but I had cultivated for a full two months and somehow still hadn’t acquired one.’ She had truly failed to meet her leader’s great expectations. The sole thing that she could be proud of was that none of the phoenixes in Yu Mo Heavenly Palace dared to bully her. One wing slap from her could flip several of them.
“Little phoenix, don’t be discouraged,” Zhao Huajun stroked her head. “You certainly can.”
Tian Zhen’s heart ached and her eyes brimmed with tears.
Zhao Huajun took one piece of sesame meat cake and placed it at the edge of her beak: “Cultivating originally isn’t supposed to be rushed. Take your time.”
Looking at that handsome face and thinking of her own gray feathered face, Tian Zhen shook her head and strolled outside of the hall.
Zhao Huajun sat back down on his chair.
In a few days time, the crown prince would be sent on a diplomatic mission to the Immortal Realm. The team that was employed was huge. Having one person mixed among them wasn’t too difficult. This plan was admittedly good and if it succeeded, the crown prince would establish an accomplishment and his position would be more stabilized. However, if the plan were to fall through and be exposed, the crown prince was likely to become a hostage. The Heavenly Empress and he had taken a large gamble this time. The present little phoenix’s strange situation was also incomprehensible……
Rustle– Having received too strong of a force, the wutong leaves fell all over the ground. The several small children who were sweeping the floor gnashed their teeth and their eyes practically shot out flames. Helplessly, their king was especially tolerant towards this ugly phoenix and as a result, all of them dared to be angry but none dared to speak up.
A thousand years of cultivation without a neidan to control it was what brought about this result. Tian Zhen silently jumped down from the wutong tree and with her head hung down dispiritedly. She walked along the palace wall for two loops. Finally, she still decided to return to the palace hall to look for Zhao Huajun and hear about cultivation methods.
The rear palace was extremely quiet. Zhao Huajun wasn’t there.
‘There’s no way to live this life anymore! There’s no way!’ Tian Zhen rolled about on the ground. The desire to become a human had never been so strong before. ‘God, grant me a neidan!’
“Pata,” Something had fallen.
That was a small exquisite case. It was unknown how it had fallen from the top of the table. During the process of colliding with the floor, the case’s lid had been opened. A fiery red pearl rolled out from inside.
It was resplendent and was multicolored with the color of sunset. The large hall was brightened by the light.
‘It can shine, so it’s similar to the luminous night pearl, right?’ Tian Zhen stretched her neck out to confirm. She then turned over, stood up, and shook out her feathers. She walked over and used her beak to hold the pearl in her mouth. She prepared to place it back into the case.
At that moment, the pearl began to move!
As if it were living, the small pearl followed down her throat and moved inside without receiving any peristaltic movement. Without waiting for her response, it had already rolled around and slid into her esophagus.
Tian Zhen was shocked.
‘That’s right, it could move by itself! Could it be that……Sun Wukong or someone similar in disguise?’
(T/N: Sun Wukong (孙悟空) is a fictional character best known as one of the main players in the 16th-century Chinese novel ‘Journey to the West’. He basically knows how to transform himself into anything, be it a living creature or inanimate object. Here's a video compilation of all his transformations; there's eng sub, just kinda wonky - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN4U5YuBE-Y)
There wasn't even time to carry out countermeasures before the bones in her body began to ache.
‘You really can’t randomly eat things. Not dying from being slapped by the Devil God, but instead dying from eating something. This is really unjust.’ Tian Zhen realized that something was wrong and turned around to run. She needed to get outside and cry for help.
A lone figure occupied the doorway, a complicated expression in his phoenix eyes.
