Chapter 128
Seeing the man's expression, he candidly replied, "To be honest, I'm from the Qianhe Sect's market nearby. Your market is thriving, and I wanted to come and learn a thing or two."
"Honestly, after watching for so long, we could learn a lot from your free ferry service," the middle-aged man sighed. "But your drama... sigh."
"Drama?"
This was a blind spot for Li Shixiong. Hearing the middle-aged man mention it, he looked puzzled, his face betraying that he had no idea what drama was.
"You don't know what drama is? It's all the rage thanks to Zheng Fa!" The middle-aged cultivator pointed toward the distant circular theater, exclaiming, "It's right in there, and it's fantastic!"
He seemed to be promoting the Jiushan Sect to Li Shixiong, saying, "I was planning to watch it just once... but after seeing it, I wanted to watch it again! I'm coming back next month!"
Li Shixiong was taken aback. He glanced at the theater and murmured, "Is it really that good?"
"Sigh... let me put it this way, junior brother," the middle-aged cultivator said with envy. "Even though I manage the market for the Qianhe Sect, I still feel like a big deal. But just thinking about how easily you can watch dramas and even get internal tickets... I really regret not coming to the Jiushan Sect back in the day!"
Li Shixiong twitched his lips, feeling that his faded Jiushan Sect disciple robe had suddenly gained a lot of value.
A sense of pride unexpectedly welled up within him.
"I have to say, your Jiushan Sect was stronger than our Qianhe Sect in the past, but the lives of ordinary disciples are pretty similar! That Zheng Fa, he came in and introduced a lot of new things... I see he's someone who loves to innovate and can actually pull it off!"
As they parted ways, the middle-aged cultivator sighed again toward Li Shixiong.
On his way back, Li Shixiong couldn't shake off the thought that kept swirling in his mind.
Zheng Fa.
Someone who loves new things.
He rushed into the market and found Han Qi and the others.
"I heard you are now under Zheng Shidi?"
"Yeah."
Seeing Li Shixiong's eager expression, Han Qi and the others were a bit confused.
"Could you introduce me to him?"
Li Shixiong asked directly.
...
The next morning, Zheng Fa arrived at the Fufa Pavilion.
As he walked through the gate, he felt a bit sentimental—
He had only been here three times before.
Each time, he came as a novice disciple.
He never expected that on his fourth visit, he would be a lecturer—just a few months after enrollment, and now Sister Zhang wanted him to take on the role of principal. It felt utterly surreal.
The students hadn’t arrived yet, but the lecturers were already there.
And quite a few of them—clearly, many had come because of him.
A new disciple in the Qi Refining stage, who had been in the sect for less than half a year, becoming a lecturer at the Fufa Pavilion was indeed quite a spectacle.
As he faced the attentive lecturers, Zheng Fa respectfully cupped his hands in greeting, lowering his posture significantly: "Today, as a new lecturer, I have little experience. If I make any mistakes, I hope the senior brothers will guide me."
"Not at all! We've heard of your talent in talismans!"
"Guidance? It's all about sharing knowledge!"
"This group of senior brothers might even have to learn from you!"
The senior brothers were all exceedingly polite, even a bit humble.
Zheng Fa felt even more embarrassed and continued to downplay himself: "I’m not very familiar with the rules of the Fufa Pavilion. If I offend anyone, I hope you’ll forgive me..."
"We're all from the same sect, so why worry about rules?"
Zheng Fa stood up, looking at the friendly and courteous senior brothers before him, and couldn’t help but reflect:
What disputes in the Fufa Pavilion? What animosity between the two factions!
What senior brothers would look down on me for being in the Qi Refining stage and rising too quickly?
Those were just slanders from outside forces!
Look at this atmosphere!
Isn’t it wonderful?
Sister Zhang, standing behind him, nodded at the scene of camaraderie and smiled subtly, slowly walking out of the Fufa Pavilion like a casual passerby.
...
Before long, the disciples who came to listen to the talisman lecture began to arrive.
Zheng Fa found an empty room and waited for the disciples to come.
On the surface, the Fufa Pavilion had a rule that students could choose their lecturers freely, attending whoever's class they liked without any compulsion.
But in reality, it often ended up being just two lecturers, one from each faction, so as long as the students weren’t rebellious enough to betray their sect, they didn’t have much choice.
For instance, today, Zheng Fa represented Sister Zhang’s faction as a mentor.
What surprised Zheng Fa was that the first ones to enter were several lecturers from the Fufa Pavilion—among them were those from Uncle Pang’s faction.
It was clear that while Sister Zhang could make them polite, she couldn’t make them respect him.
Zheng Fa was puzzled—there were more from Uncle Pang’s faction than from Sister Zhang’s.
He didn’t see Brother Zhuang, who had come to teach him in the past.
Not only Brother Zhuang, but the other two senior brothers who had taught him in the past also didn’t show up today.
Before long, new disciples arrived for the class.
At first, they were all new disciples from Sister Zhang’s faction.
Then Zheng Fa noticed some sneaky figures slipping in with their heads down.
He recognized these people; they were new disciples who had come on the same boat, but they had joined Uncle Pang’s faction.
Shouldn’t they be attending Uncle Pang’s class?
Voices drifted in from the entrance, and one of them sounded familiar to Zheng Fa:
"Brother Zhou, won’t our faction’s people get in trouble for attending Zheng Shixiong’s class?"
"Don’t worry! I’m telling you, Zheng Shixiong has prepared something great!"
"But... isn’t this like biting the hand that feeds you?"
"Trust me, the master knows! As long as we keep a low profile and don’t do this right under the senior brothers’ noses, they won’t mind too much..."
As Zhou Qianyuan stepped into the classroom, he suddenly froze.
Inside, several senior brothers from Uncle Pang’s faction were silently watching him.
The disciples he had dragged along looked pale, their voices trembling: "Brother Zhou, I have a feeling... we just walked right under the senior brothers’ noses?"
Zhou Qianyuan stiffened, glancing at the unfriendly expressions of the senior brothers, and shrank his neck to find a seat.
Zheng Fa quickly understood:
Perhaps this was an attempt to simulate a trial, or maybe it was to prevent his first class from being a flop.
Zhou Qianyuan was probably trying hard to bring in new students for him...
Looking at the new disciples from Uncle Pang’s faction, sitting in the classroom like quail, too scared to move, Zheng Fa felt a bit sympathetic.
As the classroom gradually filled up, Zheng Fa cleared his throat and said, "Some of you may not know me, while others do."
The world before the audience shifted like a revolving lantern, finally settling in a dim canyon.
"So, I’ve prepared a new educational method for everyone, which will serve as a self-introduction." In the darkness, Zheng Fa’s voice seemed to echo from the void: "I call it 'The Great Path to Immortality.'"
In the eyes of the Foundation Establishment lecturers, faint circles of light appeared beneath the feet of the Qi Refining disciples.
The circles were divided into red and blue.
"Attention, disciples! You will be randomly divided into two teams. Please identify your allies and enemies based on the color of the circle beneath your feet."
"In 'The Great Path to Immortality,' you can use your cultivation, spirit talismans, and magical treasures."
"You have two ways to win: first, eliminate all members of the opposing team. Second, shatter the signboard in the opposing team's stronghold."
"Although death in 'The Great Path to Immortality' won’t truly end your life, your soul will feel discomfort for a day or two."
'The Great Path to Immortality' is the newly revised simulation trial created by the sect leader.
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