Book 2: Chapter 214: A Gifted Book from a Senior, and “Comprehend, My A”** |
Vol 2 Chapter 214 – A Gifted Book from a Senior, and “Comprehend, My A”**
Watching the disciples practicing in the simulated secret realm, Xiao Yuying switched the topic. “Golden Core Engineering is starting to show results. Are you preparing for Core Formation?”
Zheng Fa nodded, not hiding anything. “Fairy Xiao, you have sharp eyes. I’ve already accumulated enough Spiritual Energy, and now that I’ve grasped the principles of the Golden Core…”
After all, in the Xuanyi Realm, strength was everything.
He had done all of this ultimately for the sake of his cultivation.
And truthfully, his foundation was indeed solid now.
Xiao Yuying glanced at him, a hint of amusement in her pupils. “I’d say you passed that bottleneck quite some time ago.”
Zheng Fa chuckled, clearly understanding what she meant.
He had consumed plenty of Spiritual Materials, and had mastered the Yin-Yang Fusion secret technique. Forming a Shenxiao Golden Core wasn’t much of a challenge anymore.
But…
Xiao Yuying seemed to catch his thoughts. “They say that achieving an upper-grade Golden Core makes you a Nascent Soul candidate—but for cultivators like us, we always strive for more, especially those of us born with rare Dao Bodies…”
Zheng Fa translated that in his head—
Some people form upper-grade Golden Cores because that’s the best they’re capable of. They push themselves to the limit, even risking their lives just to achieve it.
Others form upper-grade Golden Cores… because that’s the highest the grading system goes.
Arrogant, sure. But it struck a chord with Zheng Fa.
“Fairy Xiao, how did you manage to link your Primordial Magnetic Dao Body with your Core Formation?”
He couldn’t help asking.
His current issue was that the Shenxiao Golden Core and his own Qingyang Dao Body seemed like completely unrelated things…
Especially after the Fusang Tree came into the picture—his cultivation had veered slightly off course. The Shenxiao Golden Core, inherited from Jiushan Sect, wasn’t originally designed for the Qingyang Dao Body.
Now, Zheng Fa had two main concerns:
First, whether the Fusang Tree was interfering with the condensation of the Shenxiao Golden Core.
Second—more selfishly—whether forming the Core might damage the Fusang Tree or even his Qingyang Dao Body.
The Fusang Tree’s greatest current benefit was its Fusang Spirit Dew, but Zheng Fa had high hopes for this legendary divine tree. He didn’t want to give up on it recklessly.
He needed a win-win solution.
Of course, most people wouldn’t understand this kind of dilemma—only someone like Xiao Yuying was worth asking.
Sure enough, Xiao Yuying nodded happily, like she got it. “That’s exactly the problem for people like us!”
“Ordinary cultivators just follow the steps in their manuals, one stage at a time. But people like us… we have to innovate on top of the existing methods. Who would understand our struggles?”
Standing beside Zheng Fa, Old Yuan raised his head slightly with an odd look on his face—he looked like he wanted to curse someone.
Zheng Fa pondered for a moment… and yeah, that was peak humblebragging.
Like a rich kid telling you, “Starting a business is so hard—even though we’ve got money, connections, and can afford losses, we still live in the shadow of our parents! Unlike you guys, going in with zero pressure!”
…No wonder Master looked like he was having a meltdown.
With Xiao Yuying talking like this, it’s a miracle she had any friends.
He asked again, “So how do you ‘innovate on top of the old methods’?”
“Comprehend.”
“…”
Zheng Fa hated that word.
He’d read plenty of Daoist texts even back in the modern world, but whether it was due to cross-world differences or the chaotic quality of those scriptures, they always felt confusing and vague.
Maybe he just didn’t have talent in that area.
To someone like him, who liked everything to be clear and well-defined, those cryptic writings were just… not it.
Xiao Yuying seemed to read his expression and smiled. “Cultivators like us, gifted as we are, have an edge in Spiritual Energy accumulation, but we often get stuck at certain cultivation bottlenecks.”
“Our constitutions—or rather, our talents—grant us many advantages. But they also force us down paths no one else has walked.”
“And those paths… you can’t rely on anything but personal insight.”
Zheng Fa suddenly understood. Come to think of it, Senior Sister Zhang was kind of in the same boat.
Xiao Yuying continued, “Take me, for example. Everything went smoothly up until Core Formation. But that stage alone took me nearly a hundred years—and more than half that time was spent waiting for that single spark of insight.”
“What spark?”
“It cannot be spoken. It must not be spoken.”
…Mystic nonsense! Get outta Jiushan already!
But then Xiao Yuying pulled out a jade slip from her robes and handed it to Zheng Fa.
“What’s this?”
“Some of my insights on Core Formation. Might be useful to you.”
Only then did Zheng Fa realize why she’d suddenly brought up the topic—she meant to give him this all along.
“Thank you, Fairy!”
Zheng Fa accepted the jade slip with both hands and gave her a formal bow.
She really was being thoughtful.
Xiao Yuying glanced at the Jiushan disciples and said softly, “May the Jiushan Sect last forever…”
“…?” Zheng Fa didn’t know why she said that, but then she added, “In the Xuanyi Realm, sects have risen and fallen countless times. That’s just how things are…”
He remained quiet, just listening. Xiao Yuying had explored so many secret realms that she was practically a historian of the Xuanyi Realm.
“I’ve seen too much. It’s all just routine to me now.”
“But the Jiushan Sect… deserves to last a little longer.”
Old Yuan froze for a second. His gaze toward Xiao Yuying instantly softened. Clearly, he and Zheng Fa shared the same feeling:
…This woman’s mouth is like spicy candy—usually burns you, but occasionally, it’s real sweet.
Behind them, Mu Qingyan lowered her head, silently thinking:
Fairy Xiao sees the past. But I… I’ve seen a glimpse of the future.
And if that future really comes to pass, then Jiushan Sect… deserves to flourish forever.
Since he was preparing for Core Formation, Zheng Fa handed off all responsibilities to Senior Sister Zhang and his Master, then returned to his courtyard.
He sat down cross-legged on a meditation cushion in his cultivation chamber, with three sticks of incense gently wafting smoke into the still air. The courtyard outside was silent. Even Senior Sister Yuan, who usually practiced her news announcements daily in the neighboring courtyard, hadn’t been around these past few days—she must’ve gone somewhere else.
Feeling a bit warm inside, Zheng Fa immersed his Divine Sense into the jade slip, studying Xiao Yuying’s Core Formation insights.
Half a day later, he opened his eyes and… grinned. He really wanted to curse.
Xiao Yuying had written her insights in great detail. Aside from a few things that couldn’t be shared, she’d basically poured out all her thoughts from before she formed her Core.
According to the jade slip, she had two main sources of help during her Core Formation:
First, and most important, was her own hard work—she trained diligently and scoured countless secret realms, gathering ancient records and experiences to guide her path.
Second, her Soul Formation-stage Master gave her a tiny, “insignificant” helping hand—by finding her a Nine-Leaf Bodhi Seed from who-knows-where.
Zheng Fa had heard of that. In the Xuanyi Realm, it was a legendary treasure for gaining enlightenment.
He was pretty sure 99% of cultivators had only heard of it—and most probably thought it was fake…
Translated, Xiao Yuying’s words meant: 99% effort + 1% help from her badass senior = she succeeded!
Zheng Fa slowly put the jade slip down, feeling like reading further would make Xiao Yuying turn into his Inner Demon.
Where the h*ll was he supposed to find a Soul Formation Master?
Still, she wasn’t showing off. She even described what it was like using the Nine-Leaf Bodhi Seed—it made her mind razor sharp, ideas flowed nonstop, and in a flash, it felt like she’d lived multiple lives…
That’s how she caught that tiny spark of insight.
Zheng Fa shook his head. That thing? Might as well not even dream about it.
But he hadn’t read in vain.
One crucial piece of info stood out: Xiao Yuying had modified her cultivation method, and the most important part of that modification was… she swapped the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Qi for a different kind.
And that clicked with Zheng Fa.
Through Golden Core Engineering, he’d confirmed that the Golden Core was essentially a nuclear reactor. The Shenxiao Golden Core was a process of transforming certain light and heavy particles—aka Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend—into energy and new particles.
And the Fusang Tree, or rather, the fruit growing on it…
In mythology, that fruit represented the sun.
Regardless of what the sun meant in the Xuanyi Realm, in modern astronomy, the sun’s main reaction process was the proton-proton chain reaction.
In other words, a reaction that starts with two hydrogen atoms.
Following Xiao Yuying’s line of thinking—if he were to replace the Heavenly Gang Qi in his cultivation with a stream of hydrogen atoms, wouldn’t that align perfectly with both the Fusang Tree and his Qingyang Dao Body?
This was the idea he had been mulling over for a long time, though never entirely confident in.
But today, the jade slip from Xiao Yuying had given him a big boost of confidence.
Just as he was deep in thought, footsteps suddenly came from outside the courtyard.
Zheng Fa looked up to see Old Yuan walking in, holding a notebook. Without saying a word, he shoved the notebook into Zheng Fa’s hands and said, “These are some of my insights from when I formed my Shenxiao Golden Core. Take a look.”
Zheng Fa was stunned. Then he heard Old Yuan add, “I can’t help you with much else—you and I are different. Just read it when you get a chance… As for everything else in the Jiushan Sect, don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. Just focus on your closed-door cultivation.”
…This old man had barely bothered with sect affairs even when he was Sect Master. And now, suddenly he was offering to take on responsibilities?
Zheng Fa opened his mouth to say something, but Old Yuan just waved a hand and strolled off.
He flipped through the notebook from his Master—the ink was fresh, and the contents were a bit scattered. It seemed the old man had rushed to write it recently, likely inspired by Xiao Yuying’s jade slip.
Before he’d even finished reading it, Martial Uncle Pang showed up—also bearing a notebook full of Core Formation insights.
Even Senior Sister Yuan had managed to cobble together one.
What could he say… As he flipped through hers, he could feel both her genuine sincerity—and her terrible writing.
Senior Sister Zhang hadn’t come—she’d already shared all her insights with him. No way she was letting Xiao Yuying outdo her.
The next day, someone unexpected arrived at Zheng Fa’s courtyard.
“Martial Aunt Huang?”
Zheng Fa went out to meet her, surprised.
Ever since they’d entered the Jiushan Realm, everyone’s attitude toward him had shifted—even his Master’s.
Not just because of his potential to reach the Soul Formation stage, but also because at this point, the entire sect’s survival basically rested on his shoulders. Zheng Fa understood the change.
But Martial Aunt Huang had stayed the same—distant, cool. He’d put her in charge of the Disciplinary Hall, and she did the job, but aside from the occasional word with Senior Sister Zhang, she didn’t talk to anyone.
She was the kind of person who stayed strong by needing nothing.
So why was she suddenly here?
Martial Aunt Huang didn’t say much. She just held out a jade slip and placed it against Zheng Fa’s chest.
“What’s this?”
“Core Formation insights,” she said.
Zheng Fa accepted it, only to hear her add, “Not mine.”
“…Huh?” He was confused.
“Do you know what kind of Golden Core I formed?”
Zheng Fa shook his head. He really didn’t. Among the many Nascent Soul cultivators in the Jiushan Realm, Xiao Yuying and Martial Uncle Pang had formed the Dragon-Tiger Primal Core, his Master had the Shenxiao Golden Core…
But as for Martial Aunt Huang, he’d never heard.
“Kan-Li Golden Core,” she said.
Zheng Fa was even more surprised. That was one of the twelve Golden Core methods of Jiushan Sect—but not one of the upper-grade ones.
For a Nascent Soul cultivator like her, forming anything less than an upper-grade Golden Core seemed unlikely.
Why would she cultivate that method?
“I had a Dao companion. You should know of him.”
Zheng Fa nodded. Martial Uncle Pang had mentioned once that Martial Aunt Huang had a husband—also a genius—and his close friend.
“The Kan-Li Golden Core method wasn’t very powerful. But my husband…” A rare softness flickered across Martial Aunt Huang’s cold expression.
Zheng Fa had never heard her speak in such a gentle tone.
“He wanted us both to form upper-grade Golden Cores. So he used this lesser method as a base for experimentation. In the end, both of us successfully improved it—and formed upper-grade Golden Cores.”
Zheng Fa was shaken. He knew a bit about Kan-Li—Kan and Li represented water and fire, or Yin and Yang. It was a method designed for dual cultivation between partners.
Her husband had chosen this method, naturally, to share longevity with his wife.
And the amazing part was—they’d actually pulled it off.
Only now did he understand why Martial Uncle Pang had been so heartbroken over the man’s death—and why he’d never forgiven Martial Aunt Huang.
What extraordinary talent!
Zheng Fa held the jade slip tightly. These were priceless insights—a successful modification of a Golden Core method.
Martial Aunt Huang looked not at Zheng Fa, but at the jade slip in his hand, her expression unreadable.
“This was his keepsake…”
Zheng Fa suddenly felt the slip grow heavier in his hand.
“All these years… I haven’t dared look at it,” she said—not to Zheng Fa, but as if speaking directly to the jade slip itself.
Zheng Fa understood. To her, this jade slip wasn’t some precious technique—it was the manifestation of her husband’s devotion, his hopes for their future, his heroic silhouette that once stood before all obstacles.
“Martial Aunt… I’ll return it to you as soon as I’m done,” Zheng Fa said seriously.
“No need.” She looked up and met his gaze. “Read it carefully. Don’t return it until you truly understand it.”
Zheng Fa frowned, puzzled.
Martial Aunt Huang said softly, “He wrote those insights for us… so we could be together, forever.”
“….”
“But we can’t anymore.” She fixed her eyes on him. “You still can.”
Zheng Fa stayed silent.
“Don’t let Wuyi end up like me.”
“…Martial Aunt?”
She turned and began to leave. Her final words were spoken with her back to him.
“That damned Pang once said: ‘It should’ve been you who died.’”
Zheng Fa froze.
“I’ve repeated that to myself a million times… but he still risked his life to save me.”
“I couldn’t die.”
“Don’t let Wuyi end up like me.”
Martial Aunt Huang slowly walked away. Night had fallen over the Jiushan Realm. Mist shrouded the island, thick and dark.
—
In his cultivation chamber, Zheng Fa held the jade slip Martial Aunt Huang had given him.
Its surface was smooth, with a muted luster—clearly it had been held and caressed many times over the years. It radiated a faint warmth in his palm.
He didn’t have a Soul Formation Master. But at this moment, he no longer envied Xiao Yuying—well, okay, maybe a little. He could pass on the Master… but that Bodhi Seed? He wanted that badly.
He closed his eyes and read through the jade slip.
When he opened them again, his face was full of helplessness.
Now he understood what made this senior such a genius.
He had a Dao Comprehension Physique.
As the name suggested—it made entering states of insight into the Dao incredibly easy…
Basically a weaker, but repeatable version of the Nine-Leaf Bodhi Seed.
Zheng Fa now fully grasped why Martial Uncle Pang had been so furious at Martial Aunt Huang…
Still, the jade slip had its value: the senior had split the Kan-Li Golden Core into Yin and Yang components for easier dual cultivation—and in the process, had adjusted the required Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Qi.
Putting down the slip, Zheng Fa returned to his earlier line of thinking:
According to his prior research, Spiritual Bodies seemed to grant unique effects to the Spiritual Energy itself.
For example, his Spiritual Energy could sprout pea shoots—thanks to a talisman diagram embedded within.
So, the Fusang Tree, with its mythical ability to “grow the sun,” might essentially be… producing fusion-capable hydrogen ions?
If Heavenly Gang Qi were all light nuclei, could he replace it with hydrogen ions for forming the Shenxiao Golden Core?
In other words: same product, but different ingredients—swapping in hydrogen ions.
Based on the experiences of Xiao Yuying and Martial Aunt Huang’s husband, this modification seemed feasible.
Zheng Fa pondered for a while, feeling that it could work—so he simply got up and left the courtyard.
—
Since Zheng Fa began preparing for Core Formation, Senior Sister Zhang had been busy handling sect matters in the main hall of Heavenly Palace Island.
Senior Sister Yuan was there too.
Even Xiao Yuying was present.
She and Senior Sister Zhang weren’t exactly close, but Xiao Yuying had always been selective about who she spoke to. In Jiushan Sect, aside from Zheng Fa, Senior Sister Zhang was one of the few she found worth talking to.
The three chatted sporadically, but the atmosphere gradually quieted, slipping into a strange silence.
“Without Junior Brother Zheng around, everything’s boring…”
Before Zhang or Xiao Yuying could respond, Senior Sister Yuan had already blurted it out.
The two glanced at each other, knowing full well—those words rang true. Zheng Fa had become the emotional anchor of the Jiushan Realm. His presence reassured everyone.
Without him, their minds often wandered to that little courtyard… mid-conversation, their thoughts would drift.
“Stop worrying… Core Formation isn’t something to rush. Even ten years would be fast.”
Xiao Yuying shrugged.
“Ten years? I formed my Core just by taking a nap!”
Senior Sister Yuan’s eyes went wide.
Senior Sister Zhang raised an eyebrow. “That nap lasted eighty years.”
“…Oh, right!” Yuan scratched her head—then a sudden flash of inspiration. “Then I’ll take another nap!”
She promptly slumped over the table, head facing the door.
“Wait—that’s not Junior Brother Zheng? Am I dreaming already?”
Senior Sister Zhang looked up. Sure enough, Zheng Fa was walking toward the main hall.
Even Xiao Yuying was surprised. “You’re done with your retreat already?”
Zheng Fa shook his head and turned to Zhang. “That rune in the Message Talisman that blocks Spiritual Energy interference with the electromagnetic field… could it be used alone?”
Zhang nodded slightly, though her eyes were full of confusion—clearly unsure why he was asking.
“Have we collected all types of Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Qi?”
“…Still missing a few.”
“Then have the Hundred Immortals Alliance and Wushuang Society purchase the rest.”
Even Xiao Yuying was baffled. “What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for the lightest Heavenly Gang Qi!”
To substitute the original materials of the Shenxiao Golden Core with hydrogen ions, he needed to find hydrogen ions.
Which was easy—hydrogen ions were the lightest charged particles!
He might not have been able to do this before. But now, with a rune that could block Spiritual Energy’s interference with electromagnetic fields, measuring atomic mass would be a breeze—
Who needs a Bodhi Seed when you’ve got a mass spectrometer?
Comprehend the Dao, my a**!
Time for another experiment!