Chapter 249
Not to mention, there was a skeleton here that had been moving for hundreds of thousands of years!
For other cultivators, this place might hold no value at all.
But for Zheng Fa, it was a treasure trove!
After hearing his words, Senior Sister Zhang's mouth fell open, her eyes fixed on him. "Where... where did you come up with these wild ideas?"
Zheng Fa found it hard to explain and could only smile.
On the side, Senior Sister Yuan looked a bit confused, as if she hadn’t quite grasped what was going on.
"Dig!"
Senior Sister Yuan had a look of disbelief, "Huh?"
"Let’s do as Junior Brother says," Senior Sister Zhang replied.
Yuan opened her mouth, thought for a long moment, and suddenly said, "Sister, the way Junior Brother has turned out, I think it’s all your fault for spoiling him!"
...
Zheng Fa slowly approached the skeleton. The treasure hunters had indeed examined this white bone thoroughly.
But at this moment, it seemed to have exhausted its last bit of vitality, showing no signs of the extraordinary.
Naturally, those cultivators dismissed it, tossing it aside like garbage, leaving the bones scattered all over the ground.
Zheng Fa gathered the bones one by one, tidied them up, and placed them in the coffin he had brought. Then, he gently cupped his hands in respect towards the skeleton.
(End of this chapter)
**Chapter 234: Formatting Celestial Techniques**
"Are you really going to let Zheng Fa run wild?"
Elder Huang asked Senior Sister Zhang.
She gazed at the courtyard's skylight. Senior Sister Zhang was a neat freak who loved water; even though this was just a temporary residence, she had arranged it with care.
In the courtyard, there was originally a small lake, with the surrounding plants meticulously arranged.
It used to be a sight that brought peace to the heart.
But now, it was marred by a few unsightly items—a coffin and two square tables.
Zheng Fa took out his storage bag, opened it, and dirt poured out onto the square tables, dust swirling in the courtyard.
Elder Huang felt his eyes sting and turned to look at his disciple.
Senior Sister Zhang remained unfazed, seemingly oblivious to her master’s disdain, and countered, "What’s so outrageous about it?"
Elder Huang pursed his lips, pointing at the skeleton in the coffin, and said disdainfully, "This bone has no trace of spiritual energy. If it weren’t for that, would you even be able to pick it up?"
Senior Sister Yuan nodded in agreement.
This skeleton had an extraordinary origin; those treasure hunters had likely pondered over it, and many must have hoped to find a hidden gem.
If it hadn’t been deemed worthless, it wouldn’t have ended up in Zheng Fa’s hands.
Zheng Fa heard Elder Huang’s words but didn’t take them to heart—
In the Xuanwei Realm, the only person who might understand his thoughts was probably Senior Sister Zhang.
Or perhaps, even she had her doubts but trusted him enough to let him act freely.
Elder Huang was different.
Even among the three Yuanying of Jiushan Sect, she had spent the least time with Zheng Fa.
He could sense that Elder Huang didn’t have much affection for him—not out of dislike, but simply because she didn’t care much about him.
Zheng Fa even felt that in the entire Jiushan Sect, the only person Elder Huang truly cared about was Senior Sister Zhang.
It was only natural for her to be puzzled by his unusual actions.
Zheng Fa arranged the dirt he had taken from the secret realm, then turned to take out a white porcelain plate. He spoke softly to the skeleton in the coffin, "Predecessor, I apologize for the intrusion!"
With that, a frost blade talisman flew from his dantian, slicing off a thin layer of bone from the skeleton's finger, which fell into the porcelain plate in his hand.
"What are you doing?"
Elder Huang asked, while Senior Sister Zhang watched Zheng Fa’s actions, shaking her head in confusion.
Zheng Fa didn’t answer their questions. Instead, a silver light shone in his eyes as he focused on the bone slice.
Through the perspective of the *Dongxu Lingyan* (洞虚灵眼, "Void Spirit Eye"), the bone slice was magnified many times.
This bone slice had long since lost any trace of spiritual energy, rendering it devoid of its former power. It couldn’t even withstand a small frost blade talisman, which was why others perceived it as an ordinary object.
But to Zheng Fa, this bone slice was anything but ordinary—according to his understanding of current celestial techniques, or as Senior Sister Zhang put it, once a cultivator reached the Transformation Stage, their physical body would become mere nourishment, no longer significant to them.
In other words, cultivators above the Transformation Stage likely had no true physical bodies.
Yet this skeleton had existed for hundreds of thousands of years and still retained a strike of power.
Zheng Fa believed this was likely due to the influence of the new techniques from the Tianhe Sect.
The magnified bone slice showed nothing particularly special.
In the perspective of the *Dongxu Lingyan*, the bone slice appeared just like that of an ordinary person—filled with bone matrix and scattered bone cells. Perhaps because this person had already died, the structures within the cells had ceased to function.
But such ordinariness was extremely abnormal!
Let’s not even mention whether an ordinary person could live for so many years.
Could an ordinary person kill five Yuanying with a single sword strike?
With this thought, the silver light in Zheng Fa’s eyes brightened further as he approached the bone slice.
He had indeed found something different!
Within each bone cell, there seemed to be a vacancy, as if something had once existed there.
He couldn’t help but recall the cell structures in his own body that resembled talismans.
Did this person also possess a special Dao body?
"Junior Brother Zheng, did you discover something?"
Senior Sister Zhang asked when she saw him looking up.
Zheng Fa shook his head, "No conclusions yet."
He took out paper and pen, carefully sketching the structure of those bone cells, particularly detailing the vacancy, before heading towards the dirt.
The components in the dirt were much more complex.
Besides the dirt itself, there were fragments of magical tools and human remains.
"Senior Sister Zhang..." Zheng Fa looked at her, and without needing to say anything, she nodded, "What do you need me to do?"
"Any different fragments, we need to record their shapes and categorize them."
Zheng Fa shared his thoughts.
Senior Sister Zhang nodded and activated her *Dongxu Lingyan*, beginning to record alongside Zheng Fa.
Meanwhile, Elder Huang and Senior Sister Yuan exchanged glances, shaking their heads in unison, as if they shared a silent understanding, and stepped out of the courtyard.
"Elder, do you understand what they’re doing?"
"What are they doing?" Elder Huang sighed lightly, "Isn’t it normal for a young couple to have their own interests that others can’t comprehend?"
"…"
The materials in the dirt were far too numerous and complex. Even though both Senior Sister Zhang and Zheng Fa were cultivators, and Senior Sister Zhang was at the Yuanying stage, it still took them three days and nights to sort through everything.
"Are you done?"
Elder Huang watched as the two packed up the coffin and square tables, and couldn’t help but ask.
"Done."
Elder Huang glanced at Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang, noticing their calm expressions, and asked, "No discoveries?"
"There are, a few small findings."
"That’s still something," Elder Huang nodded, "At least it didn’t turn out to be a waste of time for your sister."
"Junior Brother, this discovery... is not small at all!" To his surprise, Senior Sister Zhang suddenly spoke up.
"Huh?"
"We’ve got a rough idea of what the new techniques from the Tianhe Sect are about!"
"What?"
Elder Huang was taken aback.
"Just from that bone? That pile of dirt?"
Zheng Fa nodded.
"Wait, the people from the Tianhe Sect have kept this secret for hundreds of thousands of years, and the transmission of the new techniques was severed for an entire era. You’re telling me you figured it out from just these two things?"
"Not quite," Zheng Fa shook his head, "We still don’t know what kind of techniques the Tianhe Sect’s master created; we just have some guesses, which is why I said it’s a small discovery."
"What do you know then?"
"Roughly... the thought process behind the Tianhe new techniques?"
"…"
Zheng Fa picked up the sketches and began to explain:
"Master, look, in the bone cells of that Tianhe Sect disciple, oh, in this circle, there’s a gap."
"Later, we also found some blood residue in the dirt, uh, cells, which also had a similar small gap."
"I didn’t know what this gap was at first, but later I discovered a type of spiritual metal particle in the dirt, and coincidentally—these two shapes match perfectly! We suspect these particles came from the bronze sword he originally wielded."
Elder Huang blinked.
How could this Foundation Establishment disciple’s words not make sense to her, a Yuanying cultivator?
"Master, what Zheng Fa means is that the general idea behind the Tianhe new techniques is likely to integrate the sword into the body, achieving a unity of man and sword, using the power of magical tools to enhance the physical body."
"So, that’s why the particles from the bronze sword match so well with these cells."
"The reason that cultivator could survive for so long is probably also due to that bronze sword."
Senior Sister Zhang explained.
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