Book 2: Chapter 200: I Don’t Like It
Vol 2 Chapter 200: I Don’t Like It
Old Yuan leaned by the window, looking gloomy—clearly, he had taken a heavy blow.
Martial Uncle Pang glanced at Zheng Fa, then at Old Yuan, the corners of his mouth curling up high.
"Back when I reached Foundation Establishment perfection, although my spiritual power was already sufficient, I still didn’t dare rush into Core Formation."
Old Yuan muttered.
"Later, I spent thirty years refining my spiritual power and divine soul."
"Then spent another forty years familiarizing myself with the Core Formation secret method, striving for absolute precision."
"Finally, I went into seclusion for over thirty years before I formed a superior-grade Divine Thunder Golden Core."
"……"
In the Xuanyi Realm, there had always been the saying “no regrets after forming the core.” This old man’s caution was not unusual. "And now you’re telling me..." Old Yuan’s eyes grew more and more resentful, "there’s a shortcut?"
"……"
"Other cultivators form their cores focused on refining spiritual power and soul, but you? You refined the method instead?"
"……"
Martial Uncle Pang’s gaze toward Zheng Fa also changed, as if even he found this a bit outrageous.
Seeing that Old Yuan was really upset, he coughed and said to his senior brother, "No matter what, Zheng Fa is still your disciple... future Jiushan disciples will remember this!"
Unexpectedly, Old Yuan looked even more bitter after hearing that, and said, "You think that’s why I’m unhappy?"
"Hmm?"
"Future Jiushan disciples will all get to cultivate the simplified Divine Thunder Golden Core!" Old Yuan lamented, "Why should they get that privilege!"
Zheng Fa couldn’t help twitching at the corner of his mouth.
Ever since stepping down from his sect master position, the old man had been increasingly unrestrained—he even asked Senior Sister Zhang, and she suspected this might be a form of cultivation before Soul Formation, aligning with one’s true heart.
But still...
Thinking back to Old Yuan’s words.
Uhh, it did kind of feel like paving the playground after you graduated...
Or canceling math from the college entrance exam after you got into university...
Or buying a house and then the prices drop...
Yeah, that did sting a bit.
"Senior brother, Jiushan disciples are still our juniors, aren’t they?" Martial Uncle Pang consoled him, "Let it go."
"You think your Dragon-Tiger Primal Core can escape?" Old Yuan curled his lip at Martial Uncle Pang. "You don’t know what the Golden Core Engineering project is?"
"……"
The smile on Martial Uncle Pang’s face gradually faded. Looking at Zheng Fa, even his gaze held a trace of grievance.
"Ahem!" Zheng Fa hurriedly said, "Master, Senior Sister Zhang and I have already selected a batch of participants for the Golden Core Engineering project..."
The Golden Core Engineering project was currently the Jiushan Realm’s most central research initiative.
It wasn’t just Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang participating.
The three Grand Elders were also involved.
Especially Old Yuan—he had cultivated the Divine Thunder Golden Core himself and could provide plenty of guidance for the project.
Hearing Zheng Fa speak of serious matters, Old Yuan finally stopped complaining and took the list Zheng Fa handed him, looking it over.
"Besides you, there are thirteen other cultivators at Foundation Establishment perfection in the sect? All participating?"
"Yes, they’re about to form cores anyway, so naturally they’re interested in the project." Zheng Fa replied.
Jiushan Sect previously had around a thousand disciples, and those above Golden Core were fewer than twenty—most were Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining disciples.
Among the rest, Foundation Establishment disciples numbered close to a hundred.
Those who had reached perfection were about a dozen.
Naturally, they were interested in Golden Core Engineering.
"If your project really succeeds, then... wouldn’t Jiushan Sect gain thirteen more Golden Core disciples? Oh, plus you, fourteen—wouldn’t that be double?"
Old Yuan did the math and looked even more amazed.
Martial Uncle Pang was also moved.
Including Senior Sister Yuan, Jiushan Sect only had twelve Golden Core cultivators.
If Golden Core Engineering truly succeeded...
Then their number of Golden Core cultivators would more than double!
Zheng Fa smiled but said nothing...
What he wanted wasn’t just to double the number of Golden Cores, but for all these disciples to achieve superior-grade cores!
After all, without a superior-grade Golden Core, reaching Nascent Soul was nearly impossible—just look at Senior Sister Zhang. Despite all her accumulation, forming a Nascent Soul was still extremely difficult.
Old Yuan clicked his tongue for a while, then looked over the names further down the list, paying particular attention to their backgrounds and specialties.
"These disciples sent by the Hundred Immortals Alliance... still a bit green, probably won’t come up with much for now."
Zheng Fa also understood what his master meant. These disciples, whether in cultivation or knowledge, were still lacking for the needs of the Golden Core Engineering project.
If expecting them to produce results in the short term—it would be difficult.
He smiled and said, "We’ll take it step by step, start with smaller topics, accumulate techniques and experience gradually, at least..."
"Hmm?"
Zheng Fa spoke sincerely: "It won’t take a hundred years."
"Ungrateful disciple!"
...
In the Hundred Immortals Alliance disciple quarters, Mu Qingyan lay on her bed, her young face frowning tightly in her sleep, as if caught in a nightmare.
After a while, she slowly opened her eyes.
She was currently only in the Qi Refining stage and couldn’t yet use cultivation to replace sleep.
That wasn’t the issue.
The problem was...
She stared blankly at the ceiling beam above her, face pale, as if she were still standing in that bone-strewn wasteland...
Ever since her rebirth, she hadn’t had a good night’s sleep.
The thousand years following the Xuanyi Realm’s fall were filled with bloodshed, desolation, displacement, and devastation.
Even though, compared to others, she had remarkable fortune, talent, and temperament—becoming a Nascent Soul cultivator within a few hundred years.
But she had still lost too many friends, witnessed too much horror.
Had she still been in the Nascent Soul stage, with her strong soul and a few secret arts, these memories wouldn’t have affected her at all.
She wouldn’t even need to sleep.
But now, with her low cultivation level, these memories were unbearably heavy.
So heavy that she had nightmares every night, never once sleeping soundly.
Mu Qingyan hugged her knees, sitting by the window, gazing at the misty sky outside Seeking Immortality Island, just as she always did, waiting for daylight to break.
The Nine Islands of the Heavenly Palace were always shrouded in fog, and the sun was often just a blurry outline—day and night distinguished only by the dimness of light.
"Qingyan, you’re up early again?"
A neighboring senior sister saw her looking out the window and called out.
"Mm, couldn’t sleep."
"Want to go to class together?"
Mu Qingyan nodded and walked out the door with her senior sister, only to hear the senior sister say, “I really don’t know what you’re always staring at every day. Everything’s fine in the Jiushan Realm, but the scenery is just too monotonous.”
She smiled without saying anything, and then the senior sister continued, “But life here is simple too. Either go to class, or head to Heavenly Palace Island to take on some tasks and accumulate some Merit... I actually quite like it.”
“……”
Seeing her remain silent, the senior sister asked again, “What about you?”
Mu Qingyan was silent for a moment, then said,
“Don’t like it.”
……
The two of them arrived at University Island. Today, the class they were attending was a talisman techniques lecture taught by Elder Pang.
Jiushan Realm had three talisman instructors. The most popular was Sect Master Zheng, followed by Zhenren Zhang, but they also enjoyed Elder Pang’s lectures.
Each of the three focused on different areas, but all of them were profound and extensive, so not only did Jiushan Sect disciples attend enthusiastically, even the Hundred Immortals Alliance disciples never missed a class.
When they entered the classroom, they saw Zheng Fa sitting in a corner, with Zhenren Zhang next to him, seemingly also waiting for the class to begin.
The two weren’t surprised, simply offered a respectful cupped-hands salute, then sat down to attend the lecture.
After class.
On the way to Heavenly Palace Island, the senior sister suddenly spoke again:
“Actually, the Jiushan Realm is really great.”
“……”
“Think about it, Elder Pang is a Nascent Soul Zhenren, and he never hides anything from us outsiders in his lectures…” the senior sister continued, “And it’s not like he’s just giving half-hearted talks—didn’t you see even Sect Master Zheng and Zhenren Zhang came to attend?”
“Yes.”
“Our Hundred Immortals Alliance isn’t this generous.”
Mu Qingyan had no words to reply.
“And I heard, if Sect Master Zheng isn’t occupied, he always comes early and usually sits in the corner too...”
“Why?”
Mu Qingyan hadn’t heard about this before and couldn’t help being a bit curious.
“They say he’s afraid that if he comes late, he’ll draw too much attention and disturb the teacher, so he sits in the corner for that reason.”
“……”
Mu Qingyan pressed her lips together and said nothing.
“I’ve never stayed in a sect like this before,” the senior sister said. “If I hadn’t come to Jiushan Realm, I wouldn’t have known that sects like this even existed... I wonder if the other sects in the Xuanyi Realm are like this.”
“No.”
Mu Qingyan said softly.
“What?”
Mu Qingyan shook her head. Her senior sister didn’t push, simply continued:
“Ever since we joined the Jiushan Realm, hasn’t life been a lot better than before?”
The senior sister kept talking.
“Senior sister, what are you really trying to say?”
Mu Qingyan listened, gradually growing confused.
“I’m saying, I know you’re still young, you miss home, and you can’t sleep at night,” the senior sister glanced at her and suddenly spoke sincerely, “but Jiushan Realm really is a good place. Why don’t you like it?”
Mu Qingyan stayed silent for a long time, then could only smile bitterly and say, “Senior sister, I went through all kinds of trouble to escape from the Hundred Immortals Alliance—how could I possibly miss it?”
Seeing her like that, the senior sister also laughed and said no more. The two arrived at Heavenly Palace Island, where the senior sister took on a task involving rain distribution in the mortal world.
As for Mu Qingyan, with her still-low cultivation, she only managed to take a task teaching children on Letu Island to read and write.
When she returned to her residence, there was a rough flower ring made of wild grass and flowers on her wrist.
The senior sister saw it and couldn’t help asking, “Where did that come from?”
“The children gave it to me.”
The senior sister looked her up and down for a moment, then nodded.
“It’s kind of charming in a wild way.”
Mu Qingyan didn’t reply, simply went into her room, sat down at the desk, and lifted her hand to look at the flower ring on her wrist.
After a while, she gently removed it and stared at it for a long time.
Suddenly, she placed it in her palm, and with a light squeeze, the flower ring crumbled into powder in her hands.
She opened the window, looking out at the misty fog beyond.
Everything I liked... is gone.
So...
I don’t like it.