Chapter 386
“Leave the Jiushan Realm?” Zheng Shan was even more puzzled. “Why do we need to leave the Jiushan Realm?”
Zheng Fa looked at her, understanding in his heart—though at her age she would still be considered a child in the modern world, in the Xuanwei Realm, she had already matured. Some things didn’t need to be hidden from her.
“If we stay in the Jiushan Realm, we might face great danger,” Zheng Fa said softly. This was something his little sister could hear, but their mother could not… after all, she had no cultivation, and knowing would only make her anxious.
“Great danger?” As expected, Zheng Shan’s eyes widened, but she spoke in a low voice.
“Yeah.”
“If I stay, will I die?”
Zheng Shan asked directly.
Indeed, his little sister had seen her fair share of life and death…
“Yeah.”
“Then are you leaving, brother?”
“I’m not leaving; they’re coming for me.”
Zheng Fa shook his head.
Since he had already spoken, there were many things he didn’t want to hide.
After all, if his little sister had to live on her own in the future, he shouldn’t keep her in the dark.
“Then I don’t want to take Sister Xiao as my master!” Zheng Shan refused outright.
Zheng Fa wasn’t surprised; he just gently patted her head and said, “Taking a master doesn’t necessarily mean you have to leave. Maybe it’ll be fine?”
He was just making the final preparations.
“Mom said that when Dad passed away, you were almost dead too,” Zheng Shan suddenly brought up another matter.
“Hmm?”
“Mom also said that if you died, she would die too.”
“I would die as well.”
Zheng Fa fell silent.
Then he heard Zheng Shan mumble, “If I have to take a master, I’ll take Grandpa Han as my master!”
Zheng Fa blinked.
He didn’t understand why she thought that way.
“Grandpa Han told me that the Tianhe Sect is very powerful! If I take Grandpa Han as my master… then can the Tianhe Sect help you?”
Zheng Shan’s words implied that she was trying to find a way to sell herself for a good price to help him.
Hearing this from his little sister, Zheng Fa couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly. She was still a bit naive—did she really think that with the Canyang Sword Immortal as her master, the Tianhe Sect would treat Jiushan Sect as their own?
Well, considering what the Canyang Sword Immortal had done, it was highly likely that the Tianhe Sect would just sweep Jiushan Sect away.
…
Since his little sister was unwilling, Zheng Fa didn’t press the issue. After all, it was still a bit early to discuss these matters… Ultimately, the Demon Ancestor Lin Chen still had some time; at least according to the message from Cheng Kong, he had destroyed two Blood Fiend Flags, and it would take some time for the other side to repair and refine them.
Zheng Fa was just about to go find Xiao Yuying to borrow a magical artifact for scanning when he was stopped by the elder.
“Master?”
“Come, I have something to discuss with you.”
The elder pulled Zheng Fa into his own courtyard, where Uncle Pang was waiting.
These two… their relationship didn’t seem that close, did it?
“Uncle, you’re here too?”
Zheng Fa glanced at Uncle Pang, then at the elder, unsure of what they were up to.
“Ahem!”
Uncle Pang cleared his throat, glanced at the elder, and said, “Your master and I have had some new insights recently, which should be helpful to you.”
“New insights?”
Zheng Fa was even more confused and looked at the elder.
“Don’t I have a method for talisman formations?”
“Your Uncle Pang has a method for linking talismans.”
Zheng Fa nodded lightly, waiting for his master to continue explaining.
He naturally knew both of them and had even studied their methods, but not in depth—at least not as deeply as these two founders.
“You asked me and your uncle to teach the disciples, and we listened to each other’s secret methods,” the elder said. “As we listened, we thought our secret methods could be combined.”
“At that time, we thought, since both are derived from the Mountain River True Form Talisman, they are essentially one.”
Uncle Pang added from the side.
“So…”
“Your uncle and I together came up with a… method for celestial formations.”
“Celestial formations?”
Zheng Fa didn’t quite understand, and he saw the elder hand him a jade tube.
Inside the jade tube was the celestial formation method they had developed.
The theory was actually quite simple: the elder’s talisman formation relied on spiritual talismans, while this celestial formation relied on cultivators casting spells.
But that wasn’t all.
The talisman formation method had a limitation: all the spiritual talismans had to act simultaneously, mainly because a cultivator’s spirit couldn’t control things that finely, especially with formations like the Zhou Tian Divine Thunder Formation, which exceeded a cultivator’s own cultivation level—controlling it was incredibly difficult.
However, if it were a cultivator, they could naturally cast spells at different times.
At this moment, Uncle Pang’s linking talisman method became useful.
If we were to use a computer analogy, it would be like adding a scheduling program to the talisman formation method, making it more flexible, capable of handling more tasks, thus generating richer functions and unleashing greater power.
Uncle Pang smiled and said, “With the celestial formation method, if foundation-building disciples gather together, they can reach the strength of golden core disciples. If a golden core disciple sets up the formation, with good coordination, even a nascent soul could try to withstand it.”
“Nascent soul… well, we don’t have that many nascent souls, but if we had enough, we’d be confident to face the transformation stage!”
Seeing Zheng Fa still in a daze, the elder chuckled and patted his shoulder, saying, “Though we old folks can’t compare to you, you don’t have to bear the burden of the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor alone!”
His expression was filled with pride—just one sentence:
Your master is still your master!
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 330: Reverse Engineering, The Truth of Wood
Zheng Fa looked again at the jade tube in his hand, his expression focused, deep in thought.
Both the elder and Uncle Pang could see that Zheng Fa was quite interested in this celestial formation method.
They exchanged glances and smiled, their eyes filled with satisfaction.
“How is it?” the elder asked.
“With this celestial formation method…” Zheng Fa looked up, generously praising them, “Master, Uncle, you both should be enshrined in the Hall of Worthies.”
“Hey!” The elder waved his hand, “What do we have to compete with those disciples for?”
“Exactly!” Uncle Pang nodded in agreement.
“Yet, it’s true that your uncle and I haven’t explored any secret methods together in these years, which is rather lamentable.”
“Indeed, it’s been thousands of years since you taught me talisman methods, and it feels like just a blink of an eye…”
“This celestial formation method is merely a fleeting insight of mine; compared to the bond between us brothers, it’s nothing, truly nothing.”
“Right… huh?”
Uncle Pang looked at his senior brother in confusion.
“Oh, and your uncle’s insignificant contributions.”
“...You, with the surname Yuan!”
Zheng Fa: …No wonder these two haven’t collaborated in thousands of years.
But from this joke of his master, it was clear that their relationship had improved quite a bit.
Especially since his master had become more lively and carefree after stepping down from the position of sect leader, it had inadvertently repaired many rifts from the previous generation.
Seeing him smile at the two, the elder added:
“The Great Freedom Demon Ancestor’s cultivation is unfathomable, but with this celestial formation method, we won’t become your burden in the future. If anyone dares to bully our Jiushan Sect, let them see what it means to stand united!”
Zheng Fa felt a warmth in his heart.
The celestial formation method originated from the talisman formation, but because the spiritual talismans and spells in the Xuanwei Realm are essentially two sides of the same coin, it allowed for this operation of using people instead of talismans.
From his master’s words, he understood why the two elders wanted to study this—
First, it was naturally Zheng Fa’s commitment to fostering communication among the cultivators of the Jiushan Realm, breaking down many barriers of knowledge.
Previously, the elder knew about talisman formations, while Uncle Pang had the linking talisman technique; both were aware of each other’s skills, but secret methods were not easily shared, and these two techniques could only be learned by direct disciples.
After entering the Jiushan Realm, due to Zheng Fa’s philosophy, both began teaching their secret methods at University Island, naturally not hiding anything from each other.
Through this back and forth, it was only natural that they would each gain insights.
This celestial formation method not only bore traces of the talisman formation and linking talisman techniques but also subtly incorporated some concepts from Senior Sister Zhang’s spiritual energy circuits, making it one of the great achievements of Jiushan’s talisman path.
He looked at the two elders, feeling a sense of pride—these two could achieve nascent soul status, and their talent and insight were undoubtedly top-notch; sometimes, the inability to progress could only be blamed on luck.
At times, it was just a matter of the system; the harm of cherishing one’s own talents over others could be even greater.
If Zhou Qianyuan could gain insights, it wasn’t surprising that these two elders, with their superior talents and knowledge, could also thrive under the current system of Jiushan Realm.
What warmed him was the goodwill of the two elders.
At this moment, bringing out this talisman formation method was probably just as the elder said—wanting to lend a helping hand.
The elder feigned nonchalance and said, “I just had a fleeting insight; why do you look so serious?”
“Tsk…”
“…”
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