TY Chapter 33: Rebirth of the Black Flames

Lu Chen was astonished. Taking a closer look, he noticed a coalescence of water that was denser than that of its surroundings in the depths of the water. It had formed into a circular ball of water that floated in its stationary position. In the center of the transparent water, a small bundle of black flames burned silently.

Lu Chen stared solemnly at the bundle of black flames. Suddenly, he chuckled bitterly. Inconceivably, he felt a bizarre, but familiar sensation from it. At the moment, his body was devoid of strength and unimaginably fragile. He slowly took a few steps back and stumbled into a seating position.

After panting for a brief moment, he crossed his legs and looked inward through his shennian. Under the nourishment of that miraculous water of vitality, the gruesome wounds in his qihai spirit sea had regenerated. It looked completely empty, as though nothing had happened at all.
Shennian -> Mental/divine consciousness|Qihai -> spirit sea|Dantian -> Acupoint in the lower abdomen

Everything, seemed to be a fresh start.

Lu Chen sat quietly. After a moment, an aura emanated from his spirit sea dantian. After which, as a miracle, a shadow flashed across his dantian and a brand new, undamaged and complete Five Element Divine Compass gradually floated upwards.

A hint of frenzied joy flashed across Lu Chen’s face. However, the next moment, he was taken aback. The Five Element Divine Compass seemed like a newborn infant; nothing was present on it. It was a far cry from the outstanding aptitude he possessed back then.

At this very moment, the Five Element Divine Compass was completely bare, except for a divine pillar rising up on the center of the earth bearing in the palest yellow color. Barely an inch tall, it stood alone in the center of the divine compass.

That was the worst aptitude and roots for cultivation one could possess out of all of the cultivators in the world.

Lu Chen went silent. After which, he shook his head and smiled bitterly, but he did not seem to be overly disappointed. Just when he was about to leave, the Five Element Divine Compass shook and turned over completely.

In that moment, Lu Chen’s face froze.

On the other side of the Five Element Divine Compass, on the unheard of other side of the divine compass, laid a barren land. Other than the ground which took on a deep shade of black and was devoid of any greenery, it was entirely barren. At the center of the bizarre black divine compass, a faint black flame burned silently.

Just like the sneer of the demon, as it slowly bared its vile fangs toward Lu Chen.

※※※

“This is really a damned weather!”

Curses could be heard from the tavern. Dressed in a giant pair of pants, Old Ma’s upper body was bare, revealing his white lumps of fats. Sitting in his tavern, he grabbed onto a towel and wiped away the beads of perspiration that appear relentlessly on his face as he complained non-stop beneath his breath.

Lu Chen, who was sitting on his opposite, looked spiritless. He glanced lazily at the fatso and frowned. With a look of contempt, he scorned, “Does anyone conduct business the way you do? Dressed in such a way when the sun is still hanging in the sky, who would dare to come knocking for a drink?”

Old Ma harrumphed and replied, “In such a damned scorching weather where even cicadas would be cooked, whose head would be so dysfunctional to come for a drink?”

Lu Chen did not refute his words and simply looked at the glass of alcohol on the table before him.

Since the onset of summer, the weather had been bizarre. It had been significantly warmer than the previous years. According to the elders of the village, it had been at least thirty years since the appearance of such a scorching summer. ‘A change in the heavens and earth, perhaps something is about to happen.’ These were the words of those talkative elderly who liked to mystify events. However, it seemed that no one believed in such words that held little credibility. Furthermore, even though the weather had been hot, nothing peculiar had happened.

Lu Chen widened his mouth into a yawn and his eyelids drooped as he leaned by the wall, seemingly on the verge of sleep.

Old Ma wiped off the perspiration from his head yet again while staring enviously at Lu Chen, who didn’t have a single drop of sweat on him despite the scorching weather. A moment later, he suddenly frowned and walked toward him.

Lu Chen immediately opened his eyes and asked, “What are you doing?”

Old Ma assessed him and muttered, “Little fellow, your body seems to be very weak. Have you been overdoing homely activities? Listen to me, you should protect your body from young, do not wait…”

Before he could finish his words, Old Ma leaped backward with agility unfitting for his size to dodge a kick that came from beneath the table. He chuckled, “Panicking, you are panicking! You are obviously hiding something!”

“Hiding something your head!” Lu Chen rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Old Ma chuckled as he used the towel in his hands to wipe his face again. Then, he sat back down and casually mentioned, “Speaking about that, why does it seem that you haven’t been looking for Ding Dang these few days?”

Lu Chen laughed coldly and said, “I’ve had enough playing with her, alright?”

“Sure, sure!” Old Ma grinned crookedly. Then, he raised his head to look at the gigantic sun outside and fell into depression again, muttering, “Why is the weather so hot?”

Gulping down a mouthful of alcohol, Lu Chen was silent for a moment before suddenly speaking up, “Right, how has the one who has been accepted by the Thousand Autumn Doors a few days ago, Li Ji, been doing recently?”

Old Ma harrumphed and said, “It’s not like I have ears everywhere. What does the things he do in the cultivator sect have to do with the events occurring in the village?”

Lu Chen smiled as he continued to stare at Old Ma. Old Ma curled his lips and replied impassively, “That fellow possesses outstanding talent. I heard that soon after he had been accepted into the sect, he got into the good graces with one of the elders of the Thousand Autumn Doors and is about to become one of his disciples. He will probably have a bright future ahead.”

Lu Chen nodded his head, “Sounds not bad.”

Old Ma said, “It seems like the sparrow has evolved into a phoenix after finding a new nest.”

Lu Chen continued to ask, “Has he returned to the Clear Stream Village ever since then?”

Old Ma burst into laughter, “Of course not. Considering his current identity, why would he be bothered about this dilapidated village!”

Lu Chen contemplated and replied, “You’re right.”

※※※

“Boom!”

Suddenly, a loud explosion echoed, a bolt from the blue, from beyond the doors of the tavern. Furthermore, the sound seemed to originate from the skies above the village. Lu Chen and Old Ma were taken aback. Exchanging gazes, the both of them jumped up and dashed out.

At the same moment, many of the other villagers had also dashed out from their dwellings, surprised by the deafening blast.

The next moment, innumerable people from the Clear Stream Village raised their heads to look at the sky simultaneously.

The sky was clear and the sun hung high above. Clouds couldn’t be seen even in the distance and it seemed to be an ordinary sweltering day. Not mentioning the dark clouds that usually accompanies thunder, even white clouds couldn’t be seen above.

What was going on?

…

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It seems like the sparrow has evolved into a phoenix after finding a new nest (麻雀飞上枝头变凤凰)
Means that opportunities await the person who had found a new place to develop in. (blessed with great prospects after jumping over towards another organisation/branch etc)

For some reason, he feels a bizarre illusionist, but familiar, sensation from it. (不知为何，他竟然诡异地感觉到了一股熟悉的错觉)

Tried my best to translate this portion literally. Not really sure what it means, though.