Chapter 260
"In the market, all I see are disciples of your Jiu Shan Sect. I can naturally find out what kind of person you are..."
Zheng Fa twitched his lips, surprised that this Jin Wu had such thoughts.
"Take that Lin Bufan from the Da Zizai Mo Sect. Even after being captured by your Jiu Shan Sect, he seems to be living quite comfortably," Jin Wu continued.
"If a mere captive can live well, then what do I have to fear by coming to you voluntarily?"
In the Xuan Wei Realm, even the birds aren't foolish...
No, wait, Yuan Shijie is!
"Well, I can't give you everything..."
Zheng Fa pondered for a moment before speaking.
He had long considered that in the future, the Ling Lu would still be supplied primarily to Yuan Shijie, that silly bird.
"I know, this mixed-blood Qing Luan doesn't have such good digestion..." Little Jin Wu's words sounded almost pitiful, "There must be some left over."
Zheng Fa glanced at Zhang Shijie, who nodded at him. He extended his right hand, touching the ball of golden light.
The golden light seemed to possess intelligence, swiftly merging into his palm, flowing through his meridians and directly into his dantian, transforming into a small golden Wu phantom that stood atop the Fusang tree.
The Fusang tree trembled slightly, exuding a sense of joy. Perhaps the Jin Wu and the Fusang tree complemented each other, and now that the Jin Wu had recognized its master, it would benefit the tree as well.
But how exactly, he couldn't tell at the moment.
He looked at the little Jin Wu beside him, feeling as if the creature's life and death rested solely in his thoughts.
After recognizing its master, the Jin Wu's gaze towards Zheng Fa also changed slightly—now it seemed to convey a mix of closeness and unease.
Zheng Fa waved his hand, and the little Jin Wu understood, flying to his shoulder and letting out a long sigh, as if it were extremely comfortable.
"Master, you're even more enticing than that demoness from the Mo Sect!"
"......"
With that one sentence, Zheng Fa felt a wave of regret wash over him.
Zheng Fa and Zhang Shijie were originally waiting for Yuan Shijie to advance, but it seemed that this bloodline evolution wouldn't be completed in a short time.
Zhang Shijie simply waved her sleeve, and Yuan Shijie was lifted into the air.
"Zhang Shijie?"
"She probably needs some more time. Let's take her to my courtyard," Zhang Shijie explained.
As the two entered the courtyard and set Yuan Shijie down, a message talisman flew over the courtyard wall, heading straight for Zhang Shijie.
Zhang Shijie reached out, and the talisman landed in her hand.
"Uncle Pang has sent a letter."
Zhang Shijie raised an eyebrow and said to Zheng Fa.
Zheng Fa's spirits lifted as he looked at Zhang Shijie, who was reading the letter.
Uncle Pang had previously gone to seek help from Tongming Shangren, a transformation stage cultivator in the Bai Xian Alliance, who was said to be quite reputable. At least Uncle Pang trusted him, and Zheng Fa had faith in Uncle Pang's judgment.
After all, Uncle Pang's assessments of the previous group of Yuanying cultivators in the Bai Xian Alliance had been quite accurate.
But Uncle Pang had been gone for over a month, and Zheng Fa had worried during that time.
After finishing the letter, Zhang Shijie frowned, seemingly puzzled by something.
"Zhang Shijie? What's the matter?" Zheng Fa quickly asked. "Did Uncle Pang manage to meet Tongming Shangren?"
"Well, sort of," Zhang Shijie hesitated before responding.
Zheng Fa was even more confused. "Sort of?"
At that moment, Zhang Shijie's master, Uncle Huang, walked in and said to them, "Did you receive the letter too?"
Zhang Shijie nodded.
"The contents of this letter are quite unprecedented," Uncle Huang sighed, furrowing his brow. "Our Jiu Shan Sect is still lacking in transformation stage inheritance."
Seeing the two of them speaking in riddles, Zheng Fa felt even more bewildered.
Zhang Shijie seemed to understand his confusion and explained, "Since Tongming Shangren entered the transformation stage, he rarely appears in the Bai Xian Alliance. Even the Yuanying cultivators of Tongming Mountain seldom get to see him."
"This time, Uncle Pang personally visited, but he was blocked for several days. If it weren't for Uncle Pang's insistence, he probably wouldn't have met Tongming Shangren—or rather, he wouldn't have seen Tongming Shangren's spiritual treasure."
"Spiritual treasure?"
Zheng Fa was taken aback, growing more confused with each word.
"This matter, we only learned about because Uncle Pang mentioned it," Zhang Shijie continued. "According to Tongming Shangren, after entering the transformation stage, he can hardly take action and is almost always in seclusion. Even if he wants to break through, it takes time."
Zheng Fa nodded and said, "Just like that Qingyun Great Sage of the demon race."
"Yes, according to Tongming Shangren, if he were to break through recklessly, it might harm him. However, if something happens in the Bai Xian Alliance, he won't stand idly by, so he has his spiritual treasure support us in the Jiu Shan Sect."
"Not to kill enemies, but to hold off the Qingyun Great Sage until he can break through."
Zheng Fa still felt a bit puzzled.
"What exactly is this spiritual treasure? How can it hold off a transformation stage cultivator?"
In the Xuan Wei Realm, there has always been a distinction between magical tools and treasures.
Generally speaking, magical tools are of a lower tier, mostly used by those below the Golden Core stage.
Treasures are much more precious, with most people's treasures being their life treasures.
The differences between the two in terms of power, materials, and value are significant.
But Zheng Fa had heard of spiritual treasures before, yet he had never seen one.
"Spiritual treasures... are treasures with their own intelligence. Simply put, they are treasures with spirit," Zhang Shijie explained.
"I've heard that spiritual treasures possess intelligence, but what Uncle Pang mentioned in his letter caught my attention."
"What is it?"
"Uncle Pang said that Tongming Shangren told him that nowadays, in the realm of immortals, when it comes to the transformation stage, one must rely on spiritual treasures as a foundation—essentially, life treasures evolving into spiritual treasures, and even a spiritual treasure can be seen as another self."
"Therefore, Tongming Shangren said to have Uncle Pang bring his own spiritual treasure to assist us, which can hold off the Qingyun Great Sage."
"Foundation?"
Zheng Fa was taken aback, looking at Zhang Shijie. Seeing the thoughtful look in her eyes, he realized she was on the same wavelength—just like the oath signed by Jiu You.
The oath had once stated: "All beings are ignorant and unworthy of being a foundation."
At that time, they had thought it was merely a lament.
Little did they expect that in Uncle Pang's letter, the term "foundation" was mentioned again, and more importantly, Uncle Pang was referring to—transformation stage foundations.
"What are you two whispering about?"
Uncle Huang, who had been listening, interjected, clearly annoyed. Wasn't he a Yuanying cultivator? Did he really not understand what these two youngsters were talking about?
Zheng Fa glanced at Uncle Huang and didn't hide anything, saying, "We saw a passage in the Tian Bei Realm."
He recited the oath.
"Jiu You... the Demon Ancestor?"
Uncle Huang was also taken aback by the name Jiu You.
She scrutinized Zheng Fa from head to toe, suddenly exclaiming, "How does a Foundation Establishment cultivator like you come across such things... I feel like you’re more like a Yuanying than I am!"
Zhang Shijie shook her head and asked, "Junior Brother, what are your thoughts?"
Zheng Fa pondered for a moment before saying, "What the Canyang Sword Immortal said might be problematic."
"Huh? Are you saying he deceived us?" Zhang Shijie frowned. "I don't think he was hiding anything."
"He isn't deceiving us; rather, he himself doesn't know what the new method of Tianhe Zun is about," Zheng Fa said, unconsciously pacing around the courtyard as he organized his thoughts.
"He knows that the current immortal sect has betrayed Tianhe Zun, and there’s no longer any mention of a new method from Tianhe, so he assumes that the methods we practice now are from the previous era's demon sect."
"You mean..." Zhang Shijie's expression shifted as if she was beginning to understand.
Uncle Huang's face darkened even more, clearly not following along.
"But we studied the remains of that senior and found that the new method of Tianhe should encompass two aspects—one is the integration of weapon refinement into the body, and the other is the extermination of immortals."
Zhang Shijie nodded.
"So?" Uncle Huang couldn't help but ask.
"Setting aside the Canyang Sword Immortal's description of spiritual treasures, I believe... the immortal sect hasn't completely abandoned the path of integrating weapon refinement into the body. Instead, they have transformed it into what they call transformation stage foundations. What they have given up should be the extermination of immortals."
"...That’s not impossible..."
Zheng Fa's thought stemmed mainly from one question—cultivators in the Xuan Wei Realm might be selfish, but they are certainly not foolish.
Times are always progressing; although there are setbacks, good things will eventually be accepted.
With that in mind, he continued, "From what I observed in the Tian Bei Realm, I have some guesses about the development of immortal methods based on the remains of that Tianhe disciple..."
"What guesses?"
"The divine civilization of the Tian Bei Realm represents a kind of cultivation method—I’ll tentatively call it the Divine Path."
"Then there’s the Jiu You Demon Ancestor, and perhaps other demon ancestors who co-created the Demon Path."
"Finally, there’s the Tianhe method established by Tianhe Zun."
"We don’t know much about the Divine Path, so let’s set that aside. The methods currently practiced by the immortal sect are likely neither purely from the Demon Path nor purely from the Tianhe method, but rather a combination of both, probably leaning more towards the Demon Path."
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