Chapter 215
Zheng Fa had just stepped into the Wulong Heavenly Palace when he spotted his master standing in the main hall, seemingly waiting for him.
He hurried forward to pay his respects. "Master, you’re here?"
"Indeed!" The headmaster, Yuan Zhangmen, smiled at him, clearly pleased. "I heard you even managed to outshine the Spirit Yao Fairy. You’ve got quite the flair, just like I did in my youth."
Zheng Fa couldn’t help but glance at Uncle Pang, who seemed to let out a soft "tch."
"And what about the Jiu Shan Sect?"
Zheng Fa remembered that his master had previously been adamant about not leaving the Jiu Shan Sect, fearing it would be raided.
"Now, the Tian Bei Realm is our top priority!" Yuan Zhangmen seemed to have forgotten his earlier reluctance to move, speaking with grand ambition. "Though controlling the Tian Bei Realm is no easy feat, if we can achieve our goal, we won’t have to fear the Great Freedom Demon Sect anymore."
Just as they mentioned the Great Freedom Demon Sect, a voice interrupted.
"Junior Brother," came the voice of Sister Zhang. "We seem to have discovered some secrets about the Great Freedom Demon Sect!"
Zheng Fa turned to see Sister Zhang approaching with Sister Yuan, who was carrying a coffin, while Lin Bufan stood beside it, looking quite uneasy.
"Headmaster?" Sister Zhang seemed to have been busy earlier and hadn’t noticed the headmaster’s arrival, now looking a bit puzzled.
"You said you found secrets about the Great Freedom Demon Sect?" The headmaster waved his hand, pressing for details. "What secrets?"
"This matter starts with Junior Brother Zheng’s theory of the Three Child Symbols." Sister Zhang glanced at Zheng Fa before explaining the theory to the two of them.
After finishing, she ignored the contemplative headmaster and Uncle Pang, turning to Zheng Fa. "Junior Brother, you had Sister Yuan fuse this copper coffin, but she couldn’t melt it no matter what—later, two symbols appeared on the coffin."
"Symbols?"
"Sister Yuan doesn’t understand topology, but I can see it at a glance… These two symbols are actually the same as the two that keep appearing in Lin Bufan’s blood."
Sister Zhang explained.
What does this mean?
Is it the trademark of the Great Freedom Demon Sect?
(End of this chapter)
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**Chapter 206: Writing the Universe**
The atmosphere in the Wulong Heavenly Palace was somewhat eerie.
Zheng Fa stood with Sister Zhang on the left.
Yuan Zhangmen and Uncle Pang were on the right.
In the center, there was a copper coffin, with Lin Bufan standing beside it, looking extremely anxious.
At the bottom of the coffin, a blue-gold flame flickered.
This flame was Sister Yuan’s life fire; she was sitting cross-legged on the ground, trying to melt the remnants of the old man’s coffin.
"This copper coffin is indeed a Nascent Soul artifact, but the old man is dead, and the treasure is ownerless," Sister Zhang said. "Sister Yuan’s life fire is extraordinary; as we initially thought, it should be enough to melt this coffin."
Zheng Fa nodded.
An ownerless artifact, if it hasn’t gained sentience, is like a lamb waiting for slaughter—significantly weakened.
But in the eyes of the four, the copper coffin began to reveal a multitude of silver symbols as the flame flickered.
As the symbols appeared, the coffin trembled slightly, and hundreds of black, withered hands reached out from within, grasping at the life fire.
Along with these hands came a bone-chilling, eerie aura.
The temperature in the hall plummeted, and the blue-gold flames at the bottom of the coffin stopped flickering, appearing frozen.
Sister Yuan opened her eyes and shook her head at Zheng Fa and the others, signaling that she was at a loss.
"This… is what you call the secret of the Great Freedom Demon Sect?" Uncle Pang asked. "What does this prove?"
Unlike Sister Zhang and Zheng Fa, he wasn’t as familiar with their explorations.
"You know about the symbols, right, Uncle?" Sister Zhang glanced at Lin Bufan. "The blood in his body can create symbols, and it also contains some special symbols. According to the Three Child Symbols theory, one type of child symbol is actually the same as the symbols appearing on this copper coffin."
Zheng Fa looked at the coffin, then at Lin Bufan.
He had just confirmed that the symbols on the coffin, when viewed through topology, could be divided into two types, which were indeed the two types of child symbols appearing in Lin Bufan’s blood.
"So what does that mean?" Uncle Pang still didn’t understand. He looked at Lin Bufan and said, "Does it mean if we roast him over a fire, he won’t die?"
"…"
Cold sweat broke out on Lin Bufan’s face.
He glanced at the coffin beside him, feeling as if it was prepared for him…
To be fair, Uncle Pang had a knack for drawing inferences and had quite the experimental spirit.
Zheng Fa shook his head, suddenly reaching out. A beam of five-colored divine light swept toward the copper coffin.
The coffin trembled twice, as if trying to resist, but after being touched by the five-colored divine light, it hesitated, shyly accepting its caress.
However, Zheng Fa seemed insatiable today; he unleashed the divine light on the coffin three times with fierce determination.
If it weren’t for the considerable energy drain of the five-colored divine light, leaving him nearly depleted, he might not have stopped.
"Junior Brother?"
"This coffin seems to have an owner."
After the third sweep, Zheng Fa carefully reflected on the sensations he had just experienced and suddenly concluded.
"An owner?" Uncle Pang was taken aback. "The old man in the coffin isn’t dead?"
"He must be completely extinguished," Sister Zhang affirmed.
"When I used the five-colored divine light, I felt someone competing with me for control of this artifact. That feeling seemed to come from…" Zheng Fa looked up, as if he could see through the roof of the Wulong Heavenly Palace to the sky outside, his gaze filled with confusion. "The heavens."
"The heavens…"
Everyone looked up, their expressions varying.
"Junior Brother, are you suggesting…" Sister Zhang grasped Zheng Fa’s implication. "This person is the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor?"
"Yes," Zheng Fa replied softly. "I now believe these two child symbols refer to the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor."
This hypothesis had actually been brewing for a while.
When he first discovered the two identical child symbols within Lin Bufan, he had two directions in mind.
One was that these two child symbols pointed to Lin Bufan.
The other was that they pointed to the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor.
Now that these two child symbols had appeared on the copper coffin, the first option was effectively ruled out.
This was also why Zheng Fa had never dared to study these two child symbols in modern times: if he accidentally conjured the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor, it would be quite the spectacle.
Zheng Fa’s actions earlier were merely a form of verification.
…
Both Sister Zhang and Zheng Fa’s expressions darkened.
The others, however, were still puzzled.
"What riddle are you two playing at?" Sister Yuan asked, looking confused.
"It’s not a riddle; it’s just that this idea is rather shocking. When we first proposed the Three Child Symbols theory, we had a hypothesis that one type of child symbol corresponds to everything in the world… for example, one child symbol corresponds to a raindrop, another to a stone…"
Since the Xuanwei Realm didn’t have concepts of molecules or atoms, Zheng Fa could only explain in terms they understood.
The others nodded slowly.
"But now… if these two symbols correspond to the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor," Zheng Fa’s tone grew heavy, "then the question arises: what about the other similar child symbols? Do they correspond to different demon ancestors, or rather, to great powers?"
"In other words, the symbols we comprehend might have been created by those great powers?"
"Then… what’s the difference between us and the people of the Great Freedom Demon Sect?"
"Where are those great powers?" "And if the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor has already created his own child symbols… what level of power must he possess?"
Zheng Fa’s questions were simple, yet they plunged the room into a profound silence.
"You mean to say…" even Yuan Zhangmen’s expression stiffened. "These symbols, even the rules of our universe, might be… man-made?"
"I’m not sure, but I can’t rule out that possibility," Zheng Fa replied cautiously.
"…It does seem plausible." Uncle Pang suddenly spoke up. "After we achieved the Nascent Soul, we all felt that something in the heavens was guiding us, attracting us, even—shaping us."
As soon as he said this, both Yuan Zhangmen and Sister Zhang nodded.
Zheng Fa had also heard Sister Zhang mention this feeling before.
"We always thought this feeling was enlightenment…" Uncle Pang said slowly. "But what if the thing attracting us is a person?"
As soon as he said this, the atmosphere in the hall grew even colder.
"Uncle, are you saying… someone in the heavens is watching us?" Sister Yuan stammered.
A chill ran down Zheng Fa’s spine.
"No, there’s another possibility: the symbols were created by humans, but whether or not those humans exist is another matter," Sister Zhang suddenly said. "Junior Brother Zheng, I’ve thought about your experiences in the Tian Bei Realm, especially that so-called loss of the celestial beings."
Zheng Fa was taken aback.
He hadn’t previously considered the connection between the Tian Bei Realm and the Xuanwei Realm, but now, with Sister Zhang’s reminder, he realized—
The two might not be unrelated.
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