Chapter 604
Yanzhangmen raised an eyebrow at the question, a hint of bemusement in his gaze. It seemed he found the inquiry rather foolish. "Zheng Fa wants the method to transform into a deity? What does that have to do with me? He’s not really my son, so why should I give him anything?"
The Jiu You Mo Zu was left speechless for a moment before responding, "So you want the techniques from Haori Mountain?"
"I don’t lack formations, but if I could obtain the true secret methods of Haori Mountain, I might catch a glimpse of its strengths and weaknesses, which would give me a better chance of success."
Jiu You Mo Zu nodded at this, then after a pause, remarked, "I think you’re just dreaming."
"…"
"You’re unwilling to give him the transformation techniques, so how could Haori Mountain possibly hand them over?" Jiu You Mo Zu scoffed. "Is Haori Mountain foolish?"
---
**Chapter 438: Secretly Altering the Formation, the Elder's Change of Face**
"Haori Mountain, transformation techniques?"
Upon receiving a message from Xie Qingxue, Zheng Fa raised an eyebrow, feeling not disappointment but rather a flicker of joy.
Although he held little affection for the Five Sects, and Yanzhangmen had previously acted against him, having something to negotiate was better than having nothing at all.
Moreover, it seemed Yanzhangmen was intent on making a grand mistake, possibly targeting Haori Mountain as well.
As long as Yanzhangmen was willing to clash fiercely with Haori Mountain, Zheng Fa was more than willing to align himself with a united front and generously forgive him.
"True techniques from Haori Mountain?" Sister Zhang, walking alongside Zheng Fa, frowned. "I remember from Old Han's intel that Haori Mountain should have three true lineages?"
Zheng Fa nodded. "Yes, Xie Qingxue also mentioned that Yanzhangmen told her Haori Mountain has three Dao Fruit ancestors. Besides the Yang surname we’ve seen, there’s also one with the surname Lu and another with the surname Yun, collectively known as the Three Saints."
"Only the disciples of these Three Saints can be called true inheritors."
Since the conflict with Haori Mountain had escalated, Jiu Shan Sect had been gathering intelligence about them.
Using the channels of the Wushuang Alliance, Old Han had uncovered quite a bit of information.
Sister Zhang and the others had also captured two Yuan Ying cultivators who had come to cause trouble from Haori Mountain, extracting some insights about their strengths and weaknesses.
More importantly, the information from Xie Qingxue was crucial—after all, the existence of Dao Fruit cultivators was something far beyond the reach of the Five Sects.
Now, Zheng Fa had a rough understanding:
Haori Mountain had three Dao Fruit cultivators, which was significantly stronger than Jiu Shan Sect's current struggle against even one.
Without the Six Sect Alliance, Jiu Shan Sect might have already perished.
"Getting the true techniques won’t be easy," Sister Zhang said, her brow furrowed.
"Or maybe…" Zheng Fa chuckled, "I think that Shi Nandang is quite generous."
He knew that his cheap master, Elder Jiu, possessed the true transformation techniques from Haori Mountain!
Seeing his confidence, Sister Zhang stopped pressing for more details and turned her gaze toward the University Island.
The architectural complex of University Island was the most expansive among the Nine Islands of the Heavenly Palace.
This place had once likely been the residence of the Celestial Sovereign, with palaces and pavilions scattered like stars, and a grand main hall that was nothing short of magnificent.
By the time Zheng Fa arrived, it was already in ruins, a shadow of its former glory.
However, Zheng Fa, with his somewhat frugal and austere nature, had made use of the ruins while repairing the island with his disciples.
Now, hundreds of classrooms on University Island were mostly built on the foundations of the previous palaces, with many of the bricks and stones repurposed from the crumbling walls.
Interestingly, the site of the main hall had no new construction; instead, it had become an open space.
This open area had undergone some changes:
Three hundred sixty spirit stones were arranged in concentric circles, embedded in the ground.
Spiritual energy slowly gathered toward the center, with countless runes flowing in the air.
It was the recently set up Jiu Zhang Calculation Array.
Zheng Fa noticed that Sister Zhang's expression was tinged with a hint of anxiety...
"Sister?"
Sister Zhang snapped back to reality, letting out a soft sigh before flashing him a bright smile. She lightly tapped the ground with her toes and floated into the array.
Holding the Feixian Brush, she sketched several symbols in the air. The three hundred sixty spirit stones embedded in the ground burst forth with golden light, converging upon her and making her appear even more extraordinary.
Then, a water curtain materialized out of thin air, standing on University Island like a mirror, reflecting various characters and numbers—this included the data collected by Uncle Pang and Sister Zhang, as well as the accounts of transactions between Han Qi and various sects over the past few days.
Watching the text on the water curtain, Zheng Fa felt a sense of relief; as long as it could start up, that was good.
If they failed after using so many spirit stones, it would be painful for everyone in Jiu Shan Sect.
Conversely, if it succeeded, this amount of spirit stones would be nothing!
Although the Jiu Shan Calculation Array had not yet fully developed an artificial intelligence algorithm, with Sister Zhang as the administrator, using it as a computer was completely feasible.
Moreover, given the vast number of spirit stones used, the computational power of this "computer" far surpassed that of Sister Zhang—
Or rather, in Zheng Fa's view, this was the supercomputing platform he had always dreamed of for Jiu Shan Sect!
Sister Zhang focused her thoughts, and the tip of her Feixian Brush continuously poured symbols into the Jiu Zhang Calculation Array.
Zheng Fa concentrated on the water curtain, and with his Yuan Ying-level vision, he could easily see that Sister Zhang was calculating the distribution of raw materials for Jiu Shan Sect over the next half month, as well as the production of various spiritual tools, pills, and herbs.
Planned economies have their shortcomings, one of which is computational power.
To develop Jiu Shan Sect, Zheng Fa had learned some relevant knowledge in modern times—or rather, he had come to understand a tragically ironic truth:
Historically, the planned economy of the northern big brother could even be said to have been ruined by a lack of computational power.
Not to mention how complex the various models and mathematical theories in economic planning were, the most straightforward point was:
To plan the production of a thousand goods, fifty thousand elastic parameters were needed.
And at that time, the combined power of all the computers in the world might not have equaled that of a single smartphone in later generations.
So the consequences were clear: the big brother left behind a massive economic ruin and a group of extraordinarily talented mathematicians... even many of the reference books Sister Zhang studied came from that country.
But Jiu Shan Sect didn’t have this problem!
Although the Jiu Zhang Calculation Array had not yet been fully completed, its computational power was sufficient to meet the current needs of Jiu Shan Realm.
Just this one aspect saved far more spirit stones than those three hundred sixty.
At this point, Zheng Fa felt confident in saying that the success rate of the "First Five-Year Plan" was ninety-nine percent!
He watched as Sister Zhang occasionally tapped the water curtain, sending streams of light flying out of University Island.
Some flew toward the herb garden, some toward the market, and others toward Gongkai Island.
Zheng Fa knew that Sister Zhang had calculated the results and was issuing instructions to various departments of Jiu Shan Sect.
With the Jiu Zhang Calculation Array, the entire economic system of Jiu Shan Sect had gained a brain.
In just a short incense stick's time, Sister Zhang set down her brush, her eyes sparkling as she smiled at Zheng Fa:
"In the past, this would have taken me half a month to calculate."
Zheng Fa grinned; if someone as talented as Sister Zhang could take half a month, others would probably need at least six months.
Having planned the resource allocation for Jiu Shan Sect during this period, Sister Zhang seemed to be enjoying herself, her brush tip tapping the water curtain again, causing the image to shift and reveal a dense array of runes.
Zheng Fa recognized them immediately; these were the runes of the Tiandi Shensha Grand Array.
He couldn’t help but focus intently.
The Tiandi Shensha Grand Array was a matter of life and death for him, so he was naturally invested.
Moreover, if he could add a backdoor to the grand array, his options would expand significantly, and he could devise ways to obtain the true techniques from Haori Mountain.
"The backdoor for the Tiandi Shensha Grand Array... the design is excellent, but the only issue is how to inscribe it into the spirit stones without being detected."
Zheng Fa watched as Sister Zhang frowned in contemplation, shaking his head in agreement.
Shi Nandang wasn’t a fool; at least now he didn’t fully trust Zheng Fa or the three Yuan Ying cultivators from Chong Xuan Sect.
He would inspect every spirit stone they inscribed.
If the incantations within the spirit stones differed, he would certainly notice.
Sister Zhang nodded gently, her Feixian Brush tapping the water curtain repeatedly, her brow furrowing deeper.
After a while, her eyes suddenly lit up as if she had thought of something. She pointed at the water curtain and said, "Junior Brother, take a look at this!"
"Hmm?"
Zheng Fa turned to look at the water curtain.
He discovered that a complex yet familiar symbol structure had appeared in the image.
After observing for a moment, he suddenly burst into laughter. "Sister, you really are... taking advantage of me!"
The symbol structure on the screen was ninety-nine point nine percent similar to the one Zheng Fa had originally intended to inscribe into the spirit stones.
However, upon closer inspection, it actually contained many additional structures compared to the original symbols—
But Shi Nandang probably wouldn’t be able to see through it:
Originally, Zheng Fa and the others had used topology to simplify various symbols, aiming for minimal consumption of spiritual energy.
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