Book 2: Chapter 235: Beneath Me the Young, Above Me the Old
Vol 2 Chapter 235: Beneath Me the Young, Above Me the Old
“They don’t want to leave?”
Upon receiving Zhenren Qian’s report, Zheng Fa was a bit stunned.
If Zhou Qianyuan felt that deeply for Jiushan Sect, Zheng Fa could understand. But Zhenren Qian and his disciples... that was unexpected.
Since they were unwilling to leave, Zheng Fa didn’t plan to force them. But when he returned to the main hall on Heavenly Palace Island, his face remained contemplative.
“What are you thinking about?”
Senior Sister Zhang saw his expression and couldn’t help but ask.
Zheng Fa shared what had happened with Zhenren Qian. Senior Sister Zhang had already seen most of it, so she wasn’t surprised. She just smiled and said, “That’s because you’ve won people’s hearts.”
Hearing that, Zheng Fa smiled and shook his head. Sitting back at his low table, he responded with clarity,
“People’s hearts, yes, to a degree—but not much.”
“In the end, it’s still because Jiushan Realm is a little more stable than the outside world.”
Zheng Fa had figured it out during his walk back:
To him, the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor keeping an eye on him was terrifying.
But for others—so what if the Demon Ancestor was coming?
Nowhere was safe.
The Xuanyi Realm was already spiraling out of control. The Hundred Immortals Alliance’s subordinate sects—how many still had their sect grounds left?
There were plenty of terrifying places in the Xuanyi Realm.
More importantly, Zhenren Qian’s disciples had low cultivation and only knew how to farm. Outside the safe haven of Jiushan Realm... life would be harsh.
Seeing him this clear-headed, even Senior Sister Zhang sighed and shook her head. “Isn’t Jiushan’s peace your doing?”
Zheng Fa smiled.
She wasn’t overstating it. Jiushan Realm had been won by him—from many different cultivators.
“People may be influenced by emotion,” Zheng Fa said softly, “but ultimately, it’s still about personal interest…”
As he spoke, he glanced at the flying sword beside Senior Sister Zhang.
Because he understood that—he never held out much hope for Blood River Ancestor.
If that man’s life and death were under the Demon Ancestor’s control, then he’d be nearly impossible to pull into their camp.
Even if he were willing, Zheng Fa wouldn’t be able to trust him.
Seeing his gaze, Senior Sister Zhang activated the Mountain-River Seal, which landed on the flying sword.
A roar erupted from the sword, but then there was silence—its senses had clearly been cut off by the seal.
“What are your thoughts on Blood River Ancestor?”
“Letting him go, or destroying the sword, is not ideal,” Zheng Fa said. “The Great Freedom Demon Ancestor is clearly interested in Jiushan Realm. Blood River Ancestor could have already revealed our secrets.” ṝἈℕŐ฿ÈS
“……”
“And he can’t escape the Demon Ancestor’s control. So for now, we’ll keep him sealed.”
Senior Sister Zhang nodded lightly.
“But, Senior Sister, this sword might not be entirely useless to us.”
“Hm?”
“My Reversed Five Elements Divine Light seems to have progressed. When I used it earlier, I could faintly sense the internal structure of the sword.”
Mm… Xuanyi-style X-ray vision!
Senior Sister Zhang stood up abruptly, her face filled with disbelief.
“...Really?”
Seeing she didn’t quite believe him, Zheng Fa thought for a moment and suggested, “How about you let me test it on the Flying Immortal Brush?”
The Flying Immortal Brush was Senior Sister Zhang’s natal magic treasure. A natal treasure was essentially another self;
cultivators were extremely unwilling to let others touch it—let alone hear someone claim they could see through it.
What Zheng Fa said would be a major taboo in the Xuanyi Realm.
If it were anyone else, he would never have made the suggestion.
But Senior Sister Zhang was different.
Sure enough, she took out the Flying Immortal Brush and handed it to him without hesitation.
Zheng Fa focused his mind and released the Reversed Five Elements Divine Light, which swept over the brush.
Senior Sister Zhang immediately felt herself lose control of her natal treasure. It wasn’t until a moment later that she regained its connection.
She couldn’t help but sigh, “Your Five Elements Divine Light is getting stronger.”
She still remembered—Zheng Fa had said before that his light could only suppress Nascent Soul-level treasures for a brief instant.
Now, it lasted nearly ten breaths.
“This divine power probably scales with my cultivation.”
The Five Elements Divine Light, and even more so the Rainbow Bridge technique, were both like this. Zheng Fa’s cultivation didn’t drastically affect the power of the divine powers, but it did greatly impact how long he could maintain them.
So this time, he credited his breakthrough to his deepening understanding of Five Elements spells.
“Senior Sister, your Flying Immortal Brush... besides being made with Vermilion Bird beak, I think it also incorporates some kind of bamboo? Ah, and there’s another spiritual material used to bind the two together… Was it produced from your Golden Core?”
Hearing this, Senior Sister Zhang nodded lightly. He was exactly right.
Zheng Fa then described, one by one, the brush tip, the brush cap, and the materials and structures of each part. Every detail was spot on.
“In the future, no one’s magic treasure will be a secret to you.”
Senior Sister Zhang was silent for a while before she spoke again.
“The Demon Ancestor’s cultivation—how high it is, I don’t know. Whether or not he’ll descend isn’t in our control. Worrying won’t help.”
Zheng Fa agreed. “This matter is still up to the Five Great Sects. What we can do… is support them however we can.”
“Yes. Jiushan Sect’s priority is still strengthening ourselves.”
“There are three main areas we should focus on now…”
“First—cultivating the Fusang Tree.”
Originally, Zheng Fa wasn’t in a hurry about this. But with the looming threat of the Demon Ancestor, it became a top priority.
According to Zhenren Chengkong, if they had a Heaven-and-Earth Spiritual Root, Jiushan Realm’s defenses would improve significantly.
The Fusang Tree was the most powerful among such roots.
If Jiushan Realm had one, they might not completely block the Demon Ancestor, but at least things would be a lot safer.
This, Zheng Fa felt, was their best chance at resisting him.
“Second, Jiushan Sect lacks a method for reaching Soul Formation. That’s why Master still hasn’t broken through.”
This was the downside of lacking a deep foundation…
Old Yuan had been talking about going into seclusion to reach Soul Formation for ages, but it never happened. At the root of it—Jiushan Sect just didn’t understand the process well enough.
“So you want to use your Five Elements Divine Light?”
“Mm. We have the Sun and Moon Bell, the Mountain-River Seal, and now this flying sword… The Sun and Moon Bell aside, the Mountain-River Seal and Blood River Ancestor’s sword are equivalent to Soul Formation tools. If I can use the Divine Light to analyze their structure…”
They weren’t lacking in ideas on how to reach Soul Formation—what they lacked was experience.
But now that they could scan these tools…
They could learn from those who had come before!
“Not just that. Your natal magic treasure should also be on the agenda…”
“That’s the third thing.”
Honestly, Zheng Fa’s cultivation had progressed rapidly—he’d only been cultivating for three or four years, and he was already at the Golden Core stage…
Just telling people that would scare them half to death.
But the situation was changing even faster than before. For Zheng Fa, unless his cultivation rose to Soul Formation in a short period of time, his strength wouldn't actually improve in essence.
And... that was simply impossible.
“At the early stage of Golden Core, one must begin condensing the seed of a natal magic treasure. By the late stage, once the treasure is fully formed, only then can one break through the core and achieve Nascent Soul.”
In the Xuanyi Realm, under the influence of Tianhe Venerable, Golden Core cultivation generally followed the path of the natal magic treasure.
The natal magic treasure was essentially a companion artifact for the cultivator, growing alongside them. Once it was fully formed, they could then condense their Nascent Soul.
Thus, the early, mid, and late stages of Golden Core naturally corresponded to the different stages of the magic treasure:
Early stage: the formation of the “seed” of the treasure within the core.
Zheng Fa understood this as the core generating a specific spiritual material—similar to the “cube” he had created before.
But that cube had been condensed casually by Zheng Fa and naturally had no true spiritual quality, let alone counted as a treasure seed.
Mid-stage: absorbing external spiritual materials, refining them with the core, and merging them with the early-stage seed.
Late-stage: the completion and formation of the magic treasure.
Right now, Zheng Fa was in the early stage of Golden Core. He hadn’t even condensed the treasure seed—mostly because he hadn’t yet decided what his magic treasure would be.
“Before, you said you wanted to create a natal magic treasure entirely your own,” Senior Sister Zhang said thoughtfully. “At the time, there were two major issues:”
“One, you don’t understand spiritual materials.”
“Two, Jiushan Sect is not skilled in artifact crafting. Even with Madam Xuanhua, she had no idea how to forge the kind of treasure you were thinking of.”
That was the helpless truth—Madam Xuanhua was great at crafting, but that didn’t mean she could invent new types of treasures.
In other words, she was an excellent engineer—but not an inventor.
“I’m planning to use the Reversed Five Elements Divine Light to scan more magic treasures—especially ones with communication functions.”
Creating a new treasure was mainly about design.
He didn’t know treasures, but he knew how to reference—no, design.
“Where are you going to find so many treasures?”
Senior Sister Zhang asked, puzzled.
“...Isn’t Fairy Xiao still around?”
Zheng Fa, who was very practiced in cozying up to rich backers, said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“……”
Zheng Fa wasn’t in a hurry to find Xiao Yuying just yet. He returned first to Letu Island.
Zhenren Qian had refused, Zhou Qianyuan also seemed reluctant. It seemed likely other disciples would be resistant too.
Arranging for his little sister, though—that was the part giving Zheng Fa a headache.
Why not just ask Xiao Yuying directly?
But first, he needed to ask his little sister what she wanted.
He walked into his courtyard.
Inside, only his mother was tending the Thunder Peppers she had just planted—thanks to Zhenren Qian’s efforts, she was finally growing vegetables.
“Where’s Shan’er?”
“In her room, cultivating.”
Zheng Fa stood at the window and looked in at Zheng Shan sitting cross-legged on her bed.
Zheng Shan was now over ten years old. Maybe it was because she was eating well these days, or maybe girls that age just grew fast—she had gone from reaching his thigh to nearly reaching his chest.
The way she sat there quietly cultivating made Zheng Fa feel like his little sister had become a grown girl.
Zheng Shan cultivated diligently. She had good aptitude, and with Zheng Fa personally teaching her the Talisman Foundation Establishment Technique, she had already reached the first level of Qi Refining within a month—not any slower than Zheng Fa had been.
Of course, without the reinforcement from a modern education system, she’d probably still fall behind him in the future.
But within Jiushan Sect—and even compared to the old Hundred Immortals Alliance—she’d still count as one of the top-tier talents.
No wonder Martial Uncle Pang and even Elder Han, the Sunset Sword Immortal, were both paying attention to this little girl.
As Zheng Fa thought about this, Zheng Shan seemed to sense something and opened her eyes.
“Brother!”
She called out cheerfully, jumping off the bed with a look like she wanted to leap straight into his arms—except their mother was watching from nearby.
Zheng Fa patted her head, secretly amused:
A moment ago she seemed all grown up, and now she was back to being a little kid.
Zheng Shan nudged against his palm, then looked up and said, “Brother, my talisman class teacher said I’m really talented!”
She ran back into her room and returned with a Dust-Clearing Talisman.
“You drew this?”
“Mhm!” Zheng Shan nodded. “I made two—gave one to Mom, and the other’s for you to use!”
She looked very generous.
The Dust-Clearing Talisman worked by using static to absorb dust particles. In Jiushan Realm, it was a common beginner-level spiritual talisman.
Zheng Fa inspected it—it was well-drawn.
He accepted the talisman and asked her, “I was thinking of letting you train under Fairy Xiao. Would you be willing?”
“Sister Xiao?” Zheng Shan blinked, clearly never having considered the idea. She asked in confusion, “You mean, take her as my master?”
“Not necessarily. Just that she’d take you out of Jiushan Realm.”
That was the best path Zheng Fa could think of—Xiao Yuying’s master was likely very powerful. Otherwise, even someone like Yan Wushuang had once suffered a major loss.
Maybe she had a way to stop the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor.
Also, her master was independent from the Five Great Sects. Compared to the rest, it was a bit safer.
And more importantly, Zheng Fa felt his relationship with Xiao Yuying was good enough. Entrusting his little sister to her wouldn’t worry him.
“Leave Jiushan Realm?” Zheng Shan looked even more confused. “Why would I leave Jiushan Realm?”
Zheng Fa looked at her, realizing that even though this age might still be considered a child in modern terms…
In the Xuanyi Realm, she was already considered mature. Some things didn’t need to be hidden.
“If you stay in Jiushan Realm… a great disaster might come,” Zheng Fa said softly.
This was something Shan’er could hear—but not their mother.
She hadn’t cultivated. Hearing this would only make her worry.
“A disaster?” As expected, Zheng Shan’s eyes widened, but she also spoke softly.
“Mhm.”
“If I stay… will I die?”
Zheng Shan asked directly.
As expected—his little sister had already seen many people live and die.
“Mhm.”
“Then are you going?”
“No. They’re coming because of me.”
Zheng Fa shook his head.
Now that he had said it, he didn’t plan to hide anything.
If Zheng Shan would have to face the world alone one day, it was better she knew the truth.
“Then I don’t want to take Sister Xiao as my master!”
Zheng Shan rejected him without hesitation.
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 nothing will happen?”
He was only making preparations for the worst.
“Mom said… when Dad passed away, you almost died too.” Zheng Shan suddenly brought up something else.
“Hm?”
“She said… if you died, she wouldn’t want to live either.”
“I’ll die too.”
Zheng Fa fell silent.
Then he heard Zheng Shan mumble, “If I’m going to take a master, I want to take Grandpa Han as my master!”
Zheng Fa blinked.
He didn’t know why she thought that.
“Grandpa Han told me the Tianhe Sect is super strong! If I take Grandpa Han as my master... then won’t the Tianhe Sect help you too?”
What Zheng Shan meant was—she was thinking about how to sell herself at a good price, so she could help him?
Hearing that, Zheng Fa couldn’t help but chuckle silently. His little sister was still a bit naïve—
She thought that just because she had the Sunset Sword Immortal as her master, the Tianhe Sect would really treat Jiushan Sect as one of their own?
Hmm... with the stuff Sunset Sword Immortal had done, chances were he had already been wiped out along with his people by the Tianhe Sect.
…
Since his little sister wasn’t willing either, Zheng Fa didn’t press the issue. It was still too early to force any decisions…
After all, the Demon Ancestor’s descent would still take some time—according to Zhenren Chengkong’s message, he had destroyed two of the Blood Fiend Flags, and the enemy would need time to repair and refine them.
Just as Zheng Fa was about to go find Xiao Yuying to borrow some magic treasures for scanning, he was stopped on the road by Old Yuan.
“Master?”
“Come with me. I’ve got something for you.”
Old Yuan pulled Zheng Fa back to his own courtyard—where Martial Uncle Pang was already waiting.
These two… didn’t usually get along this well, did they?
“Martial Uncle, you’re here too?”
Zheng Fa looked at Martial Uncle Pang, then at Old Yuan, confused about what the two of them were up to.
“Ahem!”
Martial Uncle Pang cleared his throat, glanced at Old Yuan, and spoke: “Your master and I have had some new insights lately. Might be helpful to you.”
“New insights?”
Zheng Fa was even more puzzled and turned to look at Old Yuan.
“I’ve got my Formation Talisman Technique, right?”
“And your Martial Uncle Pang has his Linked Talisman Technique.”
Zheng Fa nodded slightly, waiting for his master to continue explaining.
He knew both techniques, had even studied them—but not in great depth. Certainly not like their original creators.
“You asked your Martial Uncle and me to teach these techniques to the disciples, so we listened in on each other’s lectures.” Old Yuan said, “And while we were listening, we realized—our secret techniques could actually be combined.”
“Since both techniques were originally derived from the True Form Talisman of Mountains and Rivers, they were already two sides of the same coin.”
Martial Uncle Pang added.
“So...”
“So your Martial Uncle and I put our heads together—and came up with a new thing... the Immortal Formation Technique.”
“Immortal Formation?”
Zheng Fa didn’t quite understand, until Old Yuan handed him a jade slip.
Inside the jade slip was their research on the Immortal Formation Technique.
The theory was actually quite simple: Old Yuan’s formations were based on spiritual talismans, but this Immortal Formation relied on cultivators actively casting spells.
And that wasn’t even the main part.
The problem with formation talismans was that all the talismans had to activate simultaneously. This was mainly because a cultivator’s divine sense couldn’t manage intricate controls—especially in powerful formations like the Zhoutian Thunder Array, which exceeded the user’s own cultivation level. It was just too difficult to control.
But if it was switched to cultivators casting spells instead,
then each person could activate their part at different times.
This was where Martial Uncle Pang’s Linked Talisman Technique came in.
To use a computer analogy—this was like adding a task scheduler to a formation system. More flexible, better at multitasking, and capable of generating more powerful functions and effects.
Martial Uncle Pang grinned. “With the Immortal Formation Technique, even a group of Foundation Establishment disciples could combine to exert Golden Core-level power. And if it’s Golden Core disciples forming it, with proper coordination, they could even try to go up against Nascent Soul cultivators.”
“Nascent Soul… well, we don’t have many Nascent Souls, but if we did—we’re confident we could face a Soul Formation cultivator head-on!”
Seeing that Zheng Fa was still stunned, Old Yuan smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and said:
“We old guys might not be as amazing as you, but that Great Freedom Demon Ancestor... you don’t have to face him alone!”
The look on his face was absolutely proud—
In short:
Your master is still your master!