Chapter 101
Yuan Shijie took two steps back, distancing herself from him, her face showing a clear fear of getting splattered with blood.
No sense of loyalty!
"Is that all?"
Zhang Shijie's tone was unreadable, but Zheng Fa dared not push his luck and quickly replied, "That's it!"
"What were you doing just now?"
Zheng Fa sensed the anger simmering beneath Zhang Shijie's restrained demeanor.
"I was testing a hypothesis," he said, lowering his head and speaking softly.
"What hypothesis?"
"The elemental properties of talismans are determined by the elemental sub-talismans."
Zheng Fa picked up a pen from the desk and sketched the appearance of the elemental sub-talismans on paper.
"Elemental sub-talismans?" Zhang Shijie slowly furrowed her brow.
"Yes!"
Zheng Fa drew a water elemental talisman. "Shijie, look, doesn't this part resemble the water sub-talisman?"
He then drew a metal elemental talisman. "And this is the metal sub-talisman."
"Wood sub-talisman."
"…"
Zheng Fa analyzed each elemental talisman, circling the presence of the elemental sub-talismans on each one.
Zhang Shijie seemed to gradually understand Zheng Fa's point. The anger on her face faded, replaced by a glimmer in her eyes.
"You just…"
"I was verifying this classification method."
"And the result?"
"All correct!" Zheng Fa put down the pen, scratched his head, and added, "I was just caught up in the verification, not disrespecting you, Shijie."
Zhang Shijie nodded gently but remained silent.
"Also, Shijie, the elemental sub-talismans are supposed to be one entity, but when I was using the Talisman Foundation Method to condense the elemental talismans, I found that the earth sub-talisman and the metal sub-talisman didn't fully align."
"One entity?"
Zhang Shijie looked at Zheng Fa sharply, as if she had thought of something.
Zheng Fa sketched the combined form of the elemental sub-talismans on the paper.
"…"
Zhang Shijie stared at the drawing in silence for a long time before softly saying, "You may be disrespectful."
"Huh?"
Zheng Fa was taken aback.
"If you have more discoveries like this—feel free to be disrespectful."
He suddenly looked up at Zhang Shijie.
He had never seen such a smile on her face before.
A carefree, unpretentious smile.
Or rather, a smile that was no longer aloof or pretentious.
Zheng Fa's heart leaped with joy—
Just think about it, a genius from the Bai Xian Alliance, with a perfect elemental spirit body.
It was like having a top-tier, fully equipped laboratory in the world.
He could experiment to his heart's content!
This was a dream for any researcher!
Beside them, Yuan Shijie blinked and suddenly said, "I want to play with your body too, Shijie!"
"?"
Zheng Fa noticed Zhang Shijie's smile freeze, her expression turning hesitant.
What a ridiculous thing to say!
(End of this chapter)
**Chapter 114: Unmatched**
Seeing that Zhang Shijie's expression was off, as if she regretted something, Zheng Fa quickly changed the subject. "Shijie, I have a question."
"What is it?"
"Since there are elemental sub-talismans, are there also yin-yang sub-talismans?" Zheng Fa posed his question. "But when I tried to analyze the yin-yang talisman with the same approach, I couldn't find any parts that symbolize yin and yang."
In modern times, he and Bai Laotou had actually tried many methods.
Whether it was getting Han Xiaobai to modify the algorithm or the three of them using topological analysis.
It seemed that the yin-yang talisman truly had no similar components.
"Yin and yang… I don't know much about that either," Zhang Shijie said slowly, her brow furrowing. "But yin and yang should be different from the five elements."
"Why?"
Zhang Shijie remained silent, her body shimmering with light as she demonstrated her elemental spirit body.
The dual lotus platform in her dantian slowly rotated, one of the lotus platforms collapsing as if it had suddenly withered.
But in the next moment, Zheng Fa clearly saw that the remaining lotus platform extended several root-like tendrils, as if it were growing spontaneously.
The vanished lotus platform gradually reappeared.
"This is…"
Zheng Fa felt a bit dazed.
"Yin and yang are interdependent; one cannot exist without the other," Zhang Shijie explained.
Zheng Fa nodded gently, his brow slightly furrowing.
He understood what Zhang Shijie meant—
The essence of the five elements being one is that they are like components of a single object.
But the concept of yin and yang being interdependent is more like light and shadow; as long as one lotus platform exists, the other must also exist, even if it briefly perishes, it can regenerate.
This was even harder to grasp than the elemental sub-talismans.
Seeing the confusion on his face, Zhang Shijie comforted him, "The Talisman Foundation Method was originally created by the Nine Mountains Ancestor. I'm just making preliminary improvements, so there's no need to rush."
"Mm…"
"If you need anything in the future, feel free to come to me," Zhang Shijie said gently.
"That's not fair!" Yuan Shijie muttered from the side. "When I come to find you, I have to wait until you're free!"
As she spoke, she leaned against Zhang Shijie, as if to assert her claim in front of Zheng Fa.
"You come here and make my head hurt."
Zhang Shijie shot her a glance but didn't move away, allowing her to lean against her.
"What about him?" Yuan Shijie complained. "You let him do whatever he wants!"
"He comes…"
Zhang Shijie suddenly chuckled, her long figure rising gracefully into the air.
Zheng Fa stepped out of the study and looked up at Zhang Shijie above him.
By now, the sky had darkened, the sun long gone, leaving only layers of thick clouds occupying the sky above the Nine Mountains Sect.
Zhang Shijie shimmered with dazzling multicolored light. With a wave of her hand, the towering sea of clouds dissipated, revealing a clear sky.
The light on her body resembled a colorful aurora, illuminating the snow-white peaks of the Nine Mountains and reflecting back, making the entire Nine Mountains Sect look breathtakingly beautiful, like a scene from a polar night.
Zhang Shijie slowly descended beside the two, glanced at Yuan Shijie, and smiled, saying:
"See? The sky brightened when he arrived."
…Shijie, you really know how to put on a show.
…
"Zhang Shijie has perfected the five elements."
On the eighth peak of the Nine Mountains, a middle-aged man, plump like a wealthy gentleman, watched this scene with a sigh.
"Perfected the five elements? Master, what realm is that?" asked his disciple, Sun Daoyu, who stood beside him.
This man was none other than Sun Daoyu's master, Pang Zhenren. Hearing his disciple's question, he patiently replied, "When the five elements are fully gathered and then harmonized with yin and yang, it leads to the completion of the Golden Elixir, with the hope of reaching the Nascent Soul."
"So… is Zhang Shijie about to advance to the Nascent Soul?"
Sun Daoyu's tone was mixed with joy and worry.
"Just one step away, only one step," Pang Zhenren shook his head, his tone more regretful than anything else. "I initially thought that repairing the Talisman Foundation Method to harmonize the five elements would suffice, but now it seems that harmonizing yin and yang is also a hurdle. This technique is too incomplete."
"…Then Master, should we still exchange it?"
Hearing that the Talisman Foundation Method had not been fully improved, Sun Daoyu hesitated, clearly losing interest in this method.
After all, if the technique was still incomplete, he had no need to practice it—though the Talisman Foundation Method was good, he preferred techniques that directly pointed to the Nascent Soul.
"Exchange! Don't even mention two portions of the thousand-year-old purple bamboo tears; no matter how high the price, I must exchange it—however, I want to exchange for someone else!"
Unexpectedly, Pang Zhenren nodded emphatically, even more eagerly than before.
"Huh? Who?" Sun Daoyu was taken aback.
"Whoever improved this technique, I want to exchange for them."
Pang Zhenren looked toward Zhang Shijie's courtyard, as if he could see a certain figure within.
"Zhang Shijie?" Sun Daoyu was stunned. "Master, if you try to take Zhang Shijie, I'm afraid Huang Zhenren will fight you for it."
"Who said it was her?"
Pang Zhenren shot him a glance, as if looking at a fool.
"Then who is it?"
"Zheng Fa." Pang Zhenren's eyes sparkled with silver light as he gazed down the mountain. "He is the one who improved the technique."
Sun Daoyu was left speechless.
Even though the person speaking was a Nascent Soul master and his own master, he still found it hard to believe.
"Master… Zheng Fa is just at the initial stage of Qi Refinement, and he has only been in the door for less than three months!"
Pang Zhenren shot him a glance, as if looking at a fool. "You've been watching Zheng Fa for so long, and you haven't thought of anything?"
"Thought of what?"
"Fool!" Pang Zhenren's face showed a hint of disappointment. "It's a sequence! You first discovered that Zheng Fa solved the problem of the five elements' disharmony, and then Zhang Shijie advanced!"
"…Oh, right." Sun Daoyu was taken aback but still asked, "What if Zhang Shijie let Zheng Shidi practice it first?"
"Just now, Zheng Fa went to Zhang Shijie's place, and then Zhang Shijie perfected the five elements."
"…"
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