Chapter 564
"Are you out of your mind?"
I asked for your opinion, and you want to scare my disciple?
The Blood River Ancestor was taken aback, immediately understanding the meaning behind that look. He cleared his throat and said, "Ahem, but the Sect Master is someone I can never see through."
"Let’s not talk about anything else. If I were facing the Heavenly Sovereign, I would have been struck down long ago."
"I don’t understand anything... Uh, my words don’t count."
Elder Huang nodded secretly, thinking that at least the Blood River Ancestor knew how to navigate the situation. She then comforted, "That kid Zheng Fa has all sorts of tricks up his sleeve. Our worries are for nothing..."
"Zheng Shidi!"
From behind, Yuan Xiaoniao exclaimed, causing Elder Huang's heart to skip a beat as she quickly looked toward Zheng Fa's direction.
Yuan Shijie wasn’t one to shout for no reason; something significant was indeed happening over there!
At first, Zheng Fa's Golden Core was merely burning with the surrounding Tiangang and Dizhao energy, but because he had accumulated so much of it, it appeared exceptionally intense.
However, now, even the little Yuan Ying inside his Golden Core was ablaze.
In fact, Zheng Fa himself was engulfed in flames, making it hard to discern the situation.
"This..."
The sight left Elder Huang speechless.
A disciple with a洞虚灵眼 (Dongxu Lingyan, a special ability to see through illusions) quickly examined the scene and trembled as he reported, "The Sect Master's Yuan Ying is gone..."
Elder Huang staggered, her thoughts of comforting her disciple evaporating, replaced by a wave of panic.
How could Zheng Fa's tribulation be so fierce?
If Zheng Fa truly couldn’t overcome this calamity, what would happen to Wuyi and even Jiushan Sect...?
Elder Huang had always understood Zheng Fa's importance to Jiushan Sect.
But at this moment, she had to admit that Zheng Fa was far more crucial than she had realized.
Even as a Yuan Ying, she felt a sense of dread.
The Golden Core disciples, who had been nurtured by Zheng Fa, were even more anxious.
Not only were they less experienced, but many also idolized Zheng Fa, making it impossible for them to remain calm.
Some stood frozen in place.
Others, like Yuan Shijie, were eager to rush toward the Immortal Island.
"Stop!"
At this moment, it was Sister Zhang who remained the calmest. Her eyes sparkled with silver light as she shouted, "The Sect Master is fine."
"…"
Elder Huang turned sharply to look at this disciple, who had just needed her reassurance, hoping to find some comfort.
Sister Zhang even had a hint of a smile on her face as she softly said to her master, "Zheng Fa is doing this on purpose."
"…"
On purpose?
Is he trying to scare us?
Elder Huang and the others wore expressions that suggested they wanted to scold her but held back.
Little did they know, Sister Zhang then addressed the anxious Golden Core disciples, "You all should watch closely; it will be useful when you face your own tribulations in the future."
"Tribulations?"
Elder Huang was even more confused upon hearing this.
"Shidi is using the 'Tiangang Dizhao Transformation' to face his tribulation."
As the second author of this technique and having practiced it with Zheng Fa, Sister Zhang was well-acquainted with the 'Tiangang Dizhao Transformation.'
"'Tiangang Dizhao Transformation'?"
Elder Huang looked up in confusion, gazing at the Golden Core, still not quite understanding, "What does this technique have to do with facing tribulations?"
"The Yin Fire outside the Golden Core is the true Yin Fire tribulation."
"The Yin Fire inside the Golden Core is transformed from Shidi's Yuan Ying..."
"Yin Fire may be powerful, but it cannot harm itself..."
"I see Zheng Shidi seems to be consuming the Yin Fire's energy, slowly recovering."
"…"
Elder Huang felt like she understood, but at the same time, she felt lost.
She looked again toward Zheng Fa.
Now she could barely grasp what the Sect Master was doing.
Under the Yin Fire, Zheng Fa sat cross-legged, his face not showing any signs of struggle or pain; in fact, he seemed to be cultivating...
Beside him, the Blood River Ancestor marveled, "Is it really possible to do it this way?"
Sister Zhang nodded.
The Blood River Ancestor then sincerely said, "I truly... cannot comprehend this."
Elder Huang, listening from the side, was also somewhat dazed: "What we endured back then... to face our tribulations by refining our spiritual power and enduring with our soul cultivation, what was that worth...?"
"…"
Sister Zhang had no words to respond.
After all, she hadn’t expected the Yin Fire tribulation could be handled like this...
...
Zheng Fa indeed didn’t find the Yin Fire tribulation too difficult.
At first, he was a bit nervous when he saw his Golden Core burning, not fully understanding the nature of the Yin Fire.
But soon he realized... this was just a special transformation of the Tiangang and Dizhao energy.
In Zheng Fa's understanding, this phenomenon was quite powerful against ordinary Golden Core cultivators.
The Yuan Ying, being pure and refined, could not tolerate foreign substances.
And the Yin Fire itself was like adding an uncontrollable reaction to a nuclear reactor like the Golden Core—
It was easy to see how dangerous this could be.
The Golden Core could truly explode.
On the other hand, even if a cultivator managed to control the Golden Core, impurities would still appear in the Yuan Ying, leading to a failed tribulation.
Zheng Fa could even imagine that while the external Heavenly Thunder tribulation might seem stronger, the Yin Fire tribulation arising from the Golden Core could actually be more perilous.
But the 'Tiangang Dizhao Transformation' was different.
My Yuan Ying is the Yin Fire!
This was akin to a village being invaded by bandits, only to find that the villagers themselves were bandits...
That’s what you call "fellow villagers meeting fellow villagers."
Zheng Fa even had the leisure to study the composition of this Yin Fire, planning to take notes for future lessons with his students.
Before long, he discovered something.
The Yin Fire was, on one hand, a calamity for cultivators.
On the other hand, it seemed to bring some opportunities.
Zheng Fa's Yuan Ying had already shown signs of forming, but it had been unable to break free from the constraints of the Golden Core, primarily due to the layer of Tiangang and Dizhao energy surrounding it.
Yet the Yin Fire, using this Tiangang and Dizhao energy as fuel, was unknowingly burning away that layer.
As Zheng Fa's Yuan Ying also became Yin Fire, the Tiangang and Dizhao energy was rapidly consumed from both inside and out.
In less than the time it takes to burn three sticks of incense, the once thick layer of Tiangang and Dizhao energy had been reduced to a mere transparent shell.
From a distance, Elder Huang watched this scene and suddenly asked, "How long did it take you to overcome the Yin Fire tribulation?"
Before anyone could answer, the Blood River Ancestor recalled and said, "For this tribulation, I endured for at least three months..."
"…"
The others fell silent.
They were all reminiscing about their own Yin Fire tribulations.
Some were long, some short; three months was considered long, but some had only taken ten days.
But Zheng Fa...?
In less than an hour.
"'Tiangang Dizhao Transformation'..." Elder Huang exhaled softly, "Even if this technique has no other merits, as long as it serves this purpose..."
"It can become the foremost method for Yuan Ying in our Jiushan Sect!"
The Blood River Ancestor shook his head.
"Jiushan Sect?"
"I dare say, even the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor has never created such a method to evade tribulations!"
"The Yuan Ying tribulation has always been known to us Xuanwei cultivators."
The Blood River Ancestor looked up at Zheng Fa, who was clearly on the verge of overcoming the Yin Fire tribulation, his tone filled with an indescribable shock:
"In the Xuanwei realm, there has likely never been such a miraculous method for forming a Yuan Ying."
This statement was somewhat absolute, as the Blood River Ancestor did not know all the methods in the Xuanwei realm throughout history.
But when looking at Zheng Fa, Elder Huang and the others found no reason to refute.
Elder Huang paused for a moment before saying, "I actually didn’t quite believe in the idea from that 'First Fifty-Year Plan' about cultivating so many Yuan Ying..."
Sister Zhang was taken aback and turned to look at her master.
"Actually, your Master Pang also had his doubts... Yuan Ying, which one isn’t the result of a thousand or ten thousand years of accumulation?"
"Fifty years... is too short."
Sister Zhang blinked, somewhat puzzled: "Then why didn’t Master Pang say anything...?"
"The Sect Master is ambitious; he’s just happy to see it happen." Elder Huang smiled, "Before he left, he told me not to mention that Jiushan Sect could have those Yuan Ying in fifty years."
"Even in five hundred years."
"Even in five thousand years."
"He would be willing to travel to the ends of the earth."
Sister Zhang nodded silently, unsure of what to say.
The three great elders of Jiushan Sect each had their own priorities; like her master, who cared most about herself, and Master Yuan, who now valued Zheng Shidi the most.
But only Master Pang held the entire Jiushan Sect in his heart.
"However, today... I realize I was wrong."
Elder Huang fixed her gaze on Zheng Fa, her tone revealing a complex mix of emotions:
"'Fuda Zhi Ji Fa,' 'Jiushan Golden Core Method,' plus 'Tiangang Dizhao Transformation'..."
"In the future, our Jiushan Sect disciples will have a nearly smooth path to forming their Yuan Ying."
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