Chapter 542
"I can't believe we’ve allied with the Baixian Alliance. This elixir... it goes against the taboos of the Five Sects. If he’s not careful, I’m really afraid he’ll drag us down with him."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jingfan found it quite reasonable and listened as Elder Xiong continued to lament:
"This is... a wise ruler!"
Zhao Jingfan felt something was off. A wise ruler, just like that?
He looked up to see Elder Xiong gazing dreamily at the vast array of spiritual herbs in the Jiushan Sect's medicinal garden, a blissful smile plastered across his face. Zhao Jingfan understood then... who could make Elder Xiong waste these precious herbs without a second thought?
That person must be the wise ruler!
From Elder Xiong's perspective, allying with the Jiushan Sect was indeed a lucrative deal:
Unlimited access to spiritual herbs, secret elixirs from the Tianhe Zunren to study, and even the chance to transcend...
The only downside was the risk of being killed by the Five Sects.
But the irony was that Elder Xiong had little time left to live...
He was already on the brink of death; could he really die a second time?
No wonder he couldn’t contain his laughter.
Watching Elder Xiong grow happier, even radiating a sense of bliss, Zhao Jingfan couldn’t help but think:
He didn’t want to be a traitor anymore.
But it seemed the Grand Elder was a bit too eager... he wondered if their sect leader could handle it.
...
Zheng Fazhen had no idea about Elder Xiong's joy.
"Master, the contents of that jade tube aren’t as simple as you fear, are they?"
Madam Xuanhua suddenly asked, her eyes glimmering with anticipation, as if she wanted to ask something beyond that.
"Oh? What do you think, Xuanhua?" Zheng Fa turned to her.
Jiao Wuji also looked at Madam Xuanhua with curiosity.
Now, this woman was the head of the Tiangong Pavilion, wielding considerable power within the Jiushan Sect. Especially in recent days, it seemed her influence was only slightly below that of Zheng Fa and Zhang Wuyi.
Though both he and the Blood River Zunren had reached the stage of transformation, their status was somewhat awkward—after all, they were captives.
One could even say they were still Zheng Fa's servants, and it was hard not to feel a bit curious, even resentful, about Madam Xuanhua's position as a Yuanying stage cultivator.
And it wasn’t just him.
There were murmurs within the sect:
On one hand, Madam Xuanhua was an outsider.
On the other hand, she had far too many disciples under her control.
Currently, the island of Gongkai was almost filled with the most elite disciples of the sect.
Jiushan Sect naturally had its share of discontent.
Madam Xuanhua seemed oblivious to Jiao Wuji's gaze and said to Zheng Fa:
"I thought... you wanted to reshape the path of alchemy."
Zheng Fa nodded; everyone knew that.
The Alchemist Guild was a new concept.
Jiao Wuji couldn’t help but show a hint of disdain on his face.
But Madam Xuanhua continued, "Or perhaps, you want to establish a new path of alchemy for our Jiushan Sect, based on our own principles."
Now that was intriguing.
"The path of Jiushan Sect?"
Zheng Fa looked at Madam Xuanhua, his gaze sharpening with scrutiny.
"I thought the path of Jiushan Sect was merely about repetition."
"Repetition..."
Jiao Wuji looked somewhat confused.
But Zheng Fa gazed at Madam Xuanhua with a hint of admiration.
He hadn’t expected her to have some insights of her own.
In Zheng Fa's mind, the art of crafting weapons in Jiushan Sect, or rather, scientific experimentation itself, was fundamentally about repetition.
Scientific theory is essentially a relationship of cause and effect.
Experiments are, in fact, validations of these relationships.
Based on past experiences, one summarizes certain theories and designs experiments to replicate phenomena observed in those experiences.
To put it simply, all experiments are about repeating a phenomenon under varying conditions and identifying the most essential condition.
"So, Master, you really want to learn in secret..." Madam Xuanhua continued, "But what you seek is not just Elder Xiong's secret methods, but all the data from the alchemical process..."
"With the data, we can recreate the environment needed to reproduce this elixir."
"Moreover, in the future, we can say that our research on each elixir will be more precise, even more fundamental."
Madam Xuanhua's expression turned peculiar: "In the end, our method of alchemy might even prove to be more effective than their orthodox practices..."
Zheng Fa suspected that Madam Xuanhua had some ulterior motives regarding the Qiuqiu Tianhe Sect...
"You want far more than what Elder Xiong desires," Jiao Wuji remarked, looking at Madam Xuanhua with newfound understanding—he now realized why Zheng Fa entrusted such an important position in the Tiangong Pavilion to her.
Zheng Fa felt helpless...
Madam Xuanhua had indeed seen through him.
Ultimately, what he was doing was leveraging Elder Xiong's alchemical project to gather data.
In Zheng Fa's view, alchemy was merely about raw materials, environment, techniques, and the study of medicinal properties.
Previously, Jiushan Sect was relatively weak, primarily due to a lack of experience.
This time, in collaboration with the Qingmu Sect, Zheng Fa sought not only the experiences they were aware of but also to gather insights they were unaware of, to incorporate them into Jiushan's research framework.
Zheng Fa understood well that personal experiences often had many unreliable aspects.
In simple terms, he aimed to learn in secret, but what he sought was treasure even Elder Xiong himself was unaware of...
"You truly are the most suitable person to lead the Tiangong Pavilion..." Zheng Fa thought that Madam Xuanhua had spoken a bit too much this time, as if trying to prove something, so he comforted her, "The rumors in the sect are merely due to their lack of understanding of you."
"They will eventually fade away."
Madam Xuanhua fell silent for a moment before suddenly speaking up: "I don’t care about that."
"Huh?"
"Master, everyone calls me Madam Xuanhua, but do you know who my husband’s family is?"
Zheng Fa shook his head.
He had never met Madam Xuanhua's family.
Nor had he asked... it was easy to guess.
"My husband died when I was in the Foundation Establishment stage."
"Huh?"
Zheng Fa looked at Madam Xuanhua, unsure why she was acting so unusually today.
"At that time, he was also a Golden Core cultivator, who inherited a secret method of crafting weapons and had some renown."
"…"
Zheng Fa's expression turned strange; this story sounded familiar.
"Then a true disciple from the Chongxuan Sect tried to seize that secret method, framing my husband, claiming he had stolen it from the Chongxuan Sect, even ambushing him... My husband was gravely injured while trying to protect the secret method."
"But by then, the Baixian Alliance had already called for his head, and his reputation was in tatters."
"In the end, he had no choice but to pass the secret method to me, dying with regrets."
Zheng Fa listened, feeling rather indifferent. To be honest, such things happened frequently in the Xuanwei Realm.
Since it was about Madam Xuanhua's husband, he asked one more question:
"And that true disciple from the Chongxuan Sect?"
"He's now the Grand Elder of the Chongxuan Sect."
Familiar, very familiar.
"So, Madam, you..."
"That was three thousand years ago; I’ve actually long forgotten what my husband looked like..." Madam Xuanhua shook her head, being quite honest, and added, "But all my skills come from him."
"So..."
Zheng Fa thought Madam Xuanhua was seeking revenge.
"Master, if you destroy the Chongxuan Sect in the future and obtain their secret method of crafting weapons..."
"Huh?"
"I’ve always thought, I can’t let my husband’s name be tarnished in vain... Once we finish studying their methods, turning them into something even stronger for our Jiushan Sect, I’ll present it right before that Grand Elder of the Chongxuan Sect."
Zheng Fa pondered for a long time and finally understood that Madam Xuanhua was actually eager to learn the secret methods of the Qingmu Sect!
And she wanted to use this knowledge against the Chongxuan Sect!
Zheng Fa looked at Madam Xuanhua; though she smiled, her eyes held many unspoken thoughts...
Had she forgotten?
If she had forgotten, why was she still thinking about killing first and striking at the heart...
Even in the past... Madam Xuanhua had always kept her distance from the major sects, and now Zheng Fa understood the reasons behind it.
But if Madam Xuanhua said she had forgotten, then let it be forgotten.
After all, he never regarded the Chongxuan Sect as a threat.
Ultimately, with his modern perspective, the most restrained were these weapon-crafting sects.
...
"What is this?"
In a modern nursing home, Team Leader Yang stared at a thick stack of documents, bewildered:
"I need to contact various mechanical design institutes..."
"Mining talents..."
"Shipping talents..."
"Textile and food processing industries..."
The first Five-Year Plan had foreign assistance.
Zheng Fa certainly couldn’t go it alone.
With such external support, the Chongxuan Sect... truly didn’t pose a threat to him.
Team Leader Yang looked at the overwhelming workload, feeling as if he could hardly breathe.
"Did all this come to the nursing home?"
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