Ye Futian kept training in the Battle Sage Palace. While voices of doubt had been all over the place in the Holy Zhi Palace, he paid no heed to it and chose not to fight to prove anything. He did not even say a word about anything. As such, those voices kept circulating throughout. While there were many who believed him, it seemed that those voices would stay around until he came out to prove himself.
Many top-notch figures ranked on Law Rank spoke out. For instance, Lian Yuqing criticized Ye Futian and voiced his doubt openly during the day Sage Daozang was giving a lecture, demanding to know since when had the Law Rank come to give such little regard about the rankings?
The Holy Zhi Palace was known for its openness, and students were pretty much allowed to do as they pleased. It was not even seen as problematic to doubt the rankings on Law Rank. So long as they had the power to back their claims, they were free to break the rankings through their own actions. The elders of the Holy Zhi Palace did nothing to intervene.
A tower was placed in the compound of the Battle Sage Palace where Ye Futian lived. Ye Futian sat cross-legged within the tower. Fearsome flowing lights circled around the tower. Violent lightning bolts, earth-shattering tornados, terrifying flames, bone-chilling frost and so on. The will of every element was suppressed within the tower, and they were brought to bear on Ye Futian. The tower was a deliberate attempt to imitate the Sky Reaching Tower of the Holy Zhi Palace by You Chi. It was built for refining one's body, and Ye Futian was welcomed to train his body up any time he wished to use it.
At the same time, the tower also served as a place to temper one's will. Furthermore, that ritual implement allowed him to adjust the magnitude of force which he wished to subject himself to. Everything was controlled by his own will. It was the prowess of a masterpiece crafted by the best master armorer there was. At the very least, a treasure that was made specifically for refining one's body like that was not something the Holy Zhi Palace was capable of creating. Only top-notch figures from Alchemy City were capable of such a feat. It was due to such reasons that Alchemy City enjoyed a prestigious status in all of the Barren State.
Ye Futian halted his training, shrinking the tower back to the size of a palm and put it away. Ye Futian walked out of the compound. His progress seemed to be getting increasingly slow. While he was already a Grade Three Noble, it seemed like it would have taken a while more still before he could become a Grade One Noble.
"Loulan, how is Yu Sheng doing?" Ye Futian asked Loulan Xue.
"I heard that he made it through to superior noble planes a while ago," Loulan Xue replied.
Ye Futian smiled in response, thinking it to be a normal occurrence. "Is there anything else happening in the Holy Zhi Palace as of lately?"
Loulan Xue looked uneasy at the question, telling him, "There are many who doubt your rank as number one on Law Rank. Phoenix looked for you for a while, saying that there is something she needed to talk to you about training, but she left as soon as she heard that you are shutting yourself in to train. There are many others who came to the Battle Sage Palace, but I dismissed all of them."
"Go to Daozang Palace and tell Phoenix that she is welcome to look for me anytime. Other than that, keep an eye on Jieyu and see if she is training," Ye Futian said, thinking that Hua Jieyu was not being nice, as she made no attempt to come look for him. He could have just go to Daozang Palace himself, but he found it tiresome to deal with all those trivial matters. He had kicked up quite a ruckus back in Daozang Palace, and he would have made himself the center of attention again if he were to show up there.
"Will do." Loulan Xue nodded lightly and left. Ye Futian remained where he was and heard someone coming. It was Yu Sheng, and he said to Ye Futian just as soon as he came close enough, "If there is someone who doesn't like you, you can just go tell them to shut up."
"Outstanding people invite jealousy from others all the time." Ye Futian added with a smile, "Can you just tell everyone to shut up then? I couldn't care less, just as they leave me alone."
Yu Sheng felt rather startled at Ye Futian, and nodded seriously. Outstanding, eh.
"How does it feel breaking through?" Ye Futian asked.
"Would you like to have a go?" Yu Sheng felt rather energetic. Despite the brutal processes involved in training, he felt himself exploding with power all over his body after every session. After he began practicing the Broken Heaven Techniques, it was as if he needed to exude that extra energy all the time.
"Yeah right, get lost," Ye Futian cursed under his breath. He would have rather fought a Grade One Noble like Di Gang instead of fighting Yu Sheng, who was of the same plane. Yu Sheng's body was so tough that Ye Futian would have risked hurting himself fighting Yu Sheng instead of hurting the other guy.
"Let's go out for a bit." Ye Futian began walking. Both of them left the compound and came to the edge of Battle Sage Palace. He stared at the tall, magnificent Holy Zhi Palace before him, thinking that three years had passed in the blink of an eye. You Xi was about to give birth in the coming months, and Ye Futian would then become an uncle of the baby.
"Yu Sheng, where do you think Godfather is?" Ye Futian thought about how he had not been seeing his godfather in ten years, and could not have helped himself but ask.
Yu Sheng shook his head. It had been quite a while since the last time Ye Futian asked.
"It has been quite a number of years and I'm wondering if he has gotten old; if he is still watching us train." Ye Futian chuckled. If his godfather was indeed somebody as claimed, there was no way his godfather could have turned old yet.
A few figures were seen coming from afar. Ye Futian saw beautiful silhouettes with bright smiles on their faces.
"Here comes my wife," Ye Futian shouted with a smile, and Hua Jieyu rolled her eyes.
"Phoenix," Ye Futian addressed the other girl.
"I have developed comprehension of a type of Spirit Zone and spell. Care to have a look?" Phoenix asked Ye Futian.
"Sure." Ye Futian nodded. Phoenix cast her gaze forward, unleashing a streak of overbearing aura. The air around her turned heavy and fearsome as Tree-elemental Spiritual Qi whipped about around. Fire-elemental Spiritual Qi turned especially fearsome. A terrifying shadow of a phoenix appeared in the air all of a sudden, basking in undying fires out to burn everything down.
Ye Futian cast his gaze forward, unleashing all powerful cold will to snuff the fires out. Yet the fire of the phoenix lit up again as if a phoenix was becoming increasingly powerful basking in fire.
"Very well done." Ye Futian smiled.
"This is Flames of Nirvana. While it is a type of fusion power, I feel something is missing still," Phoenix said.
"Do not attempt to deliberately try to control the Spiritual Qi. Focus on your Spirit Zone. There is no need to deliberately try to sense the elemental nature of the Spiritual Qi. The spell will come on its own," Ye Futian elaborated. He extended his hand as soon as he finished, conjuring a powerful Spirit Zone and a spell was born as well. The flames within the air felt as if they were being frozen, before dissipating entirely.
A flash of realization was seen in Phoenix's eyes and she nodded. "I will try again when I return."
Ye Futian had developed an unusually deep understanding of the workings of this particular area. The difference between the Noble Plane and the planes before lied within the Noble Will. Ye Futian was already at the pinnacle when the understanding of will was concerned, and there was no doubt that he was a Noble at the pinnacle of his training.
"Yeah." Ye Futian nodded lightly and turned his eyes elsewhere. He gazed at a place not far before him. There was a silhouette carrying an ancient sword. A girl, tall, lithe and exuding an aura of brilliance.
"Yan Qingwu," Ye Futian looked at the girl below and said. She was ranked second on the Law Rank, and she was better at swordsmanship than her brother, Yan Jiu.
"I heard that you defeated my brother again in Alchemy City," Yan Qingwu said.
"Your brother?" Ye Futian smiled and shook his head. "I've stopped considering him my match for quite a while."
"You can say whatever you like since you are now ranked first on the Law Rank. There are many who admire you in the Holy Zhi Palace, and you've gained the right to enter the Sage Hall. I'd really like to see for myself how powerful you truly are. Would you mind?" Yan Qingwu said.
"The difference between you and me is too great. There is no point to doing so," Ye Futian said.
"You requested to battle against the Noble at the pinnacle of their training on the sparring sessions back when you were still a Grade Eight Noble. If you were able to do so, why can't I?" Yan Qingwu asked.
"That was different." Ye Futian said, "But if you wanted to test yourself so badly, give it a shot."
Yan Qingwu nodded, conjuring countless sword will around her in an instant. She came to bask herself in the dazzling light of the sword as well, gathering the sword will around her. She turned to look incredibly blinding before turning herself into a sword and coming for Ye Futian.
Ye Futian spared a glance at her before bursting incredibly powerful Noble Will. In that very split second, Yan Qingwu felt everything around her slow, and she herself became incredibly heavy. Her sword was in the same state as she was. She soon found herself unable to move, being frozen in the air. She turned her eyes at the silhouette dressed in white and came to realize the difference in power between them. Was this the power of the will of a true top-notch genius noble?
Voom. The pressure was lifted in a second. Her body and sword kept moving forward like a bolt of lightning, but Ye Futian was soon seen stopping her sword between his fingers. The sword aura around her raged, but Ye Futian hardly budged.
"If you are thinking about surpassing me, I'm afraid that is something you will never be able to achieve," Ye Futian said with a smile. He then twisted his fingers, flinging Yan Qingwu with her sword far away, making her look rather awkward. As she steadied herself and looked at Ye Futian, Yan Qingwu felt as if she was standing right in front of a near-insurmountable mountain.
"If you take pride in yourself so much, why don't you just go prove yourself in front of the students and dispel their doubts once and for all?" Yan Qingwu asked.
Ye Futian looked at Yan Qingwu and smiled. "The Responding Dragon was known as the lord of the skies, the Roc was called the Celestial King. While the Roc might actually fight with the Responding Dragon to see who reigns supreme in the air, have you ever heard of the Roc actually proving its abilities to eagles? Make no mistake. I'm the current number one on the Law Rank."
Yan Qingwu felt a shudder deep down as soon as Ye Futian finished. It was something that came from her soul. Her eyes followed the smiling young man, as she continued to feel a thick air of pride around him. She had never had such bold words before, and she had never seen anyone smiling so confidently.
Since when did the Roc need to prove itself to eagles? The Roc would only fight with the Responding Dragon to see who reigned supreme in the air. That line meant that Ye Futian would only fight with the best. Those who doubted him were hardly worth his time, and he deemed it pointless to prove himself.
Who will be considered the best in Ye Futian's eyes? Someone like Bai Luli? He was being very apt with one thing: he is the current number one on the Law Rank. He doesn't need to prove to anyone else about anything. The Law Rank itself is the best proof there is.
Yan Qingwu left but she kept feeling restless. His words moved her deeply. She thought herself to be a genius like no other and was very arrogant, thinking she was some superior being. She only came to realize that if she wanted to go far, she did not need that sense of superiority around her, as the ones she needed to compete with were those who were more exceptional than she was. The sense of superiority came only when one competed with weaklings.