Chapter 223: The Tragedy of a Genius

"Xinghe, what's wrong?"

Liu Changfeng, standing nearby, noticed the change in Liu Xinghe's demeanor.

"Brother Feng, I'm fine."

Liu Xinghe took a deep breath, striving to calm his emotions.

Liu Changfeng glanced at the spot where Lu Xun had disappeared, pointing at a meteor streaking past Lan Xing in the distance: "Xinghe, look at that meteor, how brilliant it is."

Liu Xinghe looked.

All that could be seen was the meteor dragging a long blue tail, streaking across the sky above Lan Xing.

After Lan Xing entered the Flower Crown Nebula, such meteors appear in great numbers every day.

This one is the most dazzling and special of this period.

Liu Xinghe's gaze lingered on the meteor; with his eyesight, he clearly saw its rough shape.

It was a meteorite over a kilometer in diameter; due to its internal abundance of promethium, it blazed a blue tail as it sped past Lan Xing.

Its brilliance lasted less than a minute before vanishing from sight, falling into eternal silence.

He understood Liu Changfeng's meaning.

The present Lu Xun is merely a fleeting meteor.

From the moment Lu Xun chose immortal-martial dual cultivation, his fate was sealed.

Others do not know the difficulty of immortal-martial dual cultivation,

but the Liu family members are fully aware of it.

Because the Liu family once had a peerless genius who also practiced immortal-martial dual cultivation, opening both spiritual and martial meridians.

Moreover, his martial meridian opened the Heaven Earth Meridian.

Even if his spiritual meridian did not open the Heaven Earth Meridian, it still opened nine major spiritual meridians and eighteen minor spiritual circuits, forming a small spiritual circuit.

This genius was once extraordinarily heaven-defying, invincible among peers, and even able to fight above his level.

However, after the Fourth Realm, he gradually faced problems of power conflict.

The Fourth Realm was still tolerable, but upon reaching the Fifth Realm, it became a matter of life and death.

When the Liu family genius first broke through the Fifth Realm in martial arts, he nearly caused an internal power imbalance.

He had to maintain the balance of his cultivation.

That is, keeping the cultivation of the Immortal Dao and Martial Dao equal, so that the two forces within his body remain evenly matched, preventing the expansion of his Qi Sea from crushing his Spiritual Palace.

But maintaining such balance is not easy; if he encounters a bottleneck on either path, he often gets stuck for a long time.

In the end, this Liu family genius, after the Fifth Realm, could be described as proceeding with extreme caution, each step difficult.

Whenever his martial arts made slight progress, he had to stop and wait for his immortal cultivation to catch up.

Over time, his spirit gradually wore away.

A genius, what else does he need but that spirit?

Why do many geniuses gradually fade into obscurity among the masses?

It is because after making rapid progress, they encounter a bottleneck, get stuck repeatedly, and their spirit gradually dwindles.

Although this is also a kind of precipitation, from then on this genius no longer possesses the mindset of a genius.

A true genius advances without hesitation, covers a thousand miles a day, sings all the way, and rises straight to the blue clouds.

The longer this state persists, the higher the future achievements of this genius.

Just like this Liu family genius.

When he saw that those originally inferior to him had all broken through the Sixth Realm while he was still stuck in the Fifth Realm, he suffered a great blow.

Once his spirit was gone, he began to regret and resent his original choice.

At first it was not so bad.

But the power of time is terrifying.

Day after day, year after year, he painstakingly maintained the balance of internal power, clearly able to advance rapidly in cultivation yet daring not to forge ahead aggressively.

One year like this, ten years like this.

After several decades, this Liu family peerless genius finally could bear it no longer, giving rise to a heart demon.

One moment of inattention, the internal power lost balance, and he suffered severe injury.

Not only did his cultivation greatly decline, but his whole person became mad, falling from genius to lunatic.

Since then, the Liu family members have dared not practice immortal-martial dual cultivation.

Even if a genius is extraordinarily heaven-defying, the same applies.

"Brother Feng, I understand your meaning, I'm just unwilling; why can't I surpass him at his most brilliant moment?"

Liu Xinghe clenched his fists.

He was unwilling.

A fleeting meteor, even if only momentary, its light is enough to be remembered for a long time.

And he, Liu Xinghe, was completely overshadowed by his opponent.

Only after his opponent dims will he be noticed by the world.

What kind of victory is this?

"Xinghe... this opportunity, if you seize it, perhaps it's possible."

Liu Changfeng patted his shoulder, encouraging him.

"Really?"

Liu Xinghe's eyes shot out a gleam of light.

"Of course, the convergence of three stars is extremely rare in the universe; for you, this is an opportunity that comes once in billions of years—too bad it was discovered a little late; otherwise, your gains would be even greater."

Liu Changfeng said.

"Good!"

Liu Xinghe's eyes showed strong confidence.

These past few months, he did not go into the Spirit Realm of the Starry Sky Ancient Road, but instead had been wholeheartedly cultivating.

With the stellar power from the Floral Crown Nebula, he successively opened the secret apertures in his body, and the effect of opening the apertures was extraordinarily good.

Until recently, on the Rainbow Bridge, inside a newly appeared Spirit Realm, three different but similar stars converged, about to collide.

This is a wondrous sight that is hard to encounter even once in a hundred million years.

Liu Xinghe also encountered the greatest opportunity of his life.

The convergence of these three stars, under the influence of Dark Energy, will produce many extraordinary stellar powers.

If Liu Xinghe makes good use of this, his gains will be immeasurable.

"Go."

"Mm!"

Liu Xinghe left the South Heaven Gate under the protection of the strong ones of the Liu family.

That Spirit Realm... the two rainbow paths occupied by the East do not lead there.

One must go to the rainbow path occupied by the West.

With the strength of the Liu family, this is not a problem.

"Xinghe... keep it up!"

After Liu Xinghe left, Liu Changfeng gazed at the place where Lu Xun had disappeared.

He had actually just been comforting Liu Xinghe.

Even with the opportunity of the three-star convergence, Liu Changfeng did not think Liu Xinghe could thereby overshadow Lu Xun's limelight.

These past few months, there haven't been many news about Lu Xun.

However, Liu Changfeng learned some astonishing news about Lu Xun.

This news left Liu Changfeng shocked for a long time.

In his view, unless Lu Xun himself fades away.

Otherwise, no matter how brightly Liu Xinghe shines, before Lu Xun's dazzling presence he would have no sense of existence.

It's like a firefly desperately trying to prove itself under the moonlight.

"Living in the same era as him, isn't this the tragedy of a genius?"

Liu Changfeng muttered self-mockingly.

Even though he is proud and arrogant, he cannot help but admit that he... is inferior to Lu Xun.

This feeling is really fucking unpleasant.