Book 2: Chapter 220: Tongming Sends a Message, Life-Bound Treasure |
Vol 2 Chapter 220: Tongming Sends a Message, Life-Bound Treasure
Zheng Fa stood side by side with Sunset Sword Immortal, both staring ahead.
All the Jiushan Sect Nascent Soul cultivators, plus Xiao Yuying and Madam Xuanhua, stood nearby watching.
The atmosphere was tense. No one spoke.
Only Martial Uncle Pang had silver gleams shining in his eyes, with just one expression on his face—My eyes are the ruler!
This was a race between Zheng Fa and Sunset Sword Immortal:
It was actually suggested by Sunset Sword Immortal himself. When he heard Zheng Fa say “the fastest,” his curiosity was piqued, and he proposed testing the Rainbow Shift Technique.
To be fair, the two didn’t compete in Jiushan Realm, but found a location in the Xuanyi Realm instead.
“Take that mountain as the finish line. Go!”
Sunset Sword Immortal didn’t move his body. His life-bound flying sword wrapped around him and turned into an escape light—he vanished in the blink of an eye.
Madam Xuanhua sighed, “The Tianhe Sect’s sword escape technique is said to be the number one movement technique—truly impressive.”
The others agreed in their hearts. Even Xiao Yuying nodded slightly, admitting, “When it comes to sword techniques, Tianhe Sect really is peerless… And besides, Sunset Sword Immortal is no ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator.”
Coming from someone as proud as Xiao Yuying, that statement carried considerable weight.
After all, Sunset Sword Immortal… was the type of man who flirted with the threshold of Soul Formation but simply refused to step through. A true maverick.
Sunset Sword Immortal’s sword light took just one breath’s time to reach that distant green mountain.
He didn’t really care about winning or losing—he just wanted to see the power of Zheng Fa’s Innate Divine Power.
After all, even his own sect ancestor only had one of those.
How come Zheng Fa got another one?
It made them seem... cheap!
To sum up his concern in one sentence—if this keeps up, their ancestor’s prestige will be devalued!
He was still pondering this nonsense when he looked up—and saw someone already standing atop the mountain, smiling at him.
Zheng Fa stood at the summit, not a wrinkle in his robe, looking down at him with a relaxed air—it wasn’t clear how long he’d been waiting.
Who else could it be but Zheng Fa?
He honestly hadn’t noticed when Zheng Fa had arrived!
“You...”
“Just landed a moment ago,”
Zheng Fa said with a thoughtful smile.
Hah! Can’t even lie properly!
Sunset Sword Immortal blinked at him, unsure whether to feel comforted or annoyed:
Comforted, because this Innate Divine Power was truly amazing—his sect ancestor really was awesome!
Annoyed, because he suddenly felt weak... Zheng Fa was still just Golden Core!
…
Back in Jiushan Realm, once it was just Senior Sister Zhang, Master, and the others—people Zheng Fa trusted—he began analyzing the pros and cons of the Rainbow Shift Technique.
“After comparing it to Han Lao’s speed, this Rainbow Shift Technique... essentially captures the very concept of maximum speed,”
Zheng Fa said to them.
Everyone’s faces showed astonishment—this sounded like an absolutely incredible divine power!
Zheng Fa had to admit—it was even stronger than he’d imagined.
Light speed, in fact, was the universe’s ultimate speed for information transfer—photons could reach it only because they had no rest mass.
Rainbow Shift Technique—the rainbow was just the outer shell. The rule behind this divine power was the maximum possible speed within a given spacetime!
Put simply, in any duel, no matter the location or how fast you are—the top speed you can reach will never exceed mine!
“So you can go anywhere? Hit anyone you want, rob anyone’s stuff, just snatch and run?”
Senior Sister Yuan widened her eyes, face full of envy. She looked up at the sky, as if wishing the heavens would bestow her a divine power too.
...That’s all you aspire to, Senior Sister?
“Not quite,” Zheng Fa shook his head. “Just like the Reversed Five Elements Divine Light, this divine power is also limited by my cultivation.”
“...Time?”
Senior Sister Zhang suddenly understood.
“Yes. With my current cultivation, using the Rainbow Shift Technique drains my spiritual power in one incense stick’s time.”
Zheng Fa admitted honestly.
Mm, of course, he wouldn’t have said that in front of outsiders...
“And if I weren’t the Jiushan Realm’s master, then no matter how fast I fly, this divine power couldn’t get me out of Jiushan Realm.”
Everyone nodded, understanding what he meant—
If someone trapped Zheng Fa inside a space like Jiushan Realm, or used a similar domain-type technique, then… even the fastest speed would be useless.
Martial Uncle Pang’s eyes lit up. He asked,
“Can you carry Jiushan Realm with you when you fly?”
“Yes,” Zheng Fa nodded. “But… only for a moment.”
“...A moment?”
“After that moment, I’ll be burned out and drop dead on the spot...”
The joy on Martial Uncle Pang’s face vanished—Zheng Fa’s meaning was clear. He could carry external things when he ran, but… it would cost him much more cultivation.
He could already imagine the scene Zheng Fa was describing:
During that moment, there was no catching him.
But the next moment, Zheng Fa would already be kneeling in front of you, and you still couldn’t catch up to his death!
Even Senior Sister Yuan got the picture. She nodded seriously and gave a concise summary: “Junior Brother Zheng—super fast, but super short!”
...This bird-brained mouth—ever since she became a streamer, her words were poison-tipped.
Old Yuan chuckled and said, “Jokes aside, with this, Zheng Fa shouldn’t fear Nascent Soul cultivators—maybe even Soul Formation either!”
Hearing that, everyone’s faces lit up.
Jiushan Realm’s foundation was Zheng Fa. The safer he was, the more at ease they felt.
“I suppose I’ve been too greedy,” Martial Uncle Pang laughed as well. He looked at Zheng Fa and asked, “Now that you’ve reached Golden Core, have you thought about your life-bound treasure?”
“The materials for it must be gathered early... Back then, it took me many years just to collect everything for the Five Dragons Palace.”
“Now that spiritual materials are even rarer in the Xuanyi Realm, it’s bound to be tougher.”
“If you already have something in mind, we can start planning now—so you’re not held up later.”
Everyone turned to look at Zheng Fa, their eyes serious—clearly, they considered this a very important matter.
Zheng Fa felt a warmth in his heart. It was true—after Golden Core, it was time to start preparing for his life-bound treasure.
Only...
“I haven’t decided yet...”
Old Yuan stroked his beard and frowned. “In the Divine Thunder of Shenxiao, there are three types of life-bound treasures to choose from, all quite powerful.”
“For example, my Zhoutian Bagua Formation Plate—focused on controlling thunder techniques, especially helpful for laying thunder arrays.”
“Then there’s the Zixiao Demon-Slaying Sword, which channels all types of lightning into a single strike—pure yang, absolute force, peerless in slaughter. That’s the most popular choice.”
“Finally, the Heaven-Shaking Drum—a technique I came across in my youth, said to have some rather strange abilities...”
As Zheng Fa listened, he nodded along thoughtfully.
Divine Thunder of Shenxiao was Jiushan Sect’s supreme legacy technique, and the three life-bound treasures within it were indeed exceptional.
At the very least, for cultivation up to the Nascent Soul stage, it lacked no secret methods.
As for the sword, the drum, and the formation plate mentioned by his master—each had their own profound qualities, and all had stood the test of time.
Choosing the formation plate meant he could follow his master’s path—and its power was far from small.
The Demon-Slaying Sword was the most popular choice among those cultivating Divine Thunder of Shenxiao, powerful and perfectly compatible with swordsmanship.
The Heaven-Shaking Drum, on the other hand, was a rare treasure. Though it also had offensive capabilities, it was said to shine best on the battlefield—
It could dispel illusions, boost allies’ morale, and even had some healing effects.
...Put simply, a buff-support type magical treasure.
So not many cultivators picked it—after all, most of them were used to fighting alone.
Zheng Fa actually quite liked that one.
…
Everyone was watching Zheng Fa, but he still frowned slightly, seeming unsatisfied with any of them.
“What are you thinking?”
Senior Sister Zhang glanced at him and asked bluntly.
“Senior Sister, Master,” Zheng Fa looked up at them slowly and said, “What do you think of my talent in spell duels?”
“……”
“You’ve got some talent,” Senior Sister Zhang pursed her lips and answered.
“Not bad at all, progressing quickly,” Old Yuan gazed at the sky.
“...Above average,” Martial Uncle Pang grumbled for a long while before offering that.
…Praise from Senior Sister is affection, praise from Martial Uncle is fear.
Everyone sees their own kid as gifted.
Zheng Fa chuckled and shook his head, not minding exposing himself: “I know myself well—whether in illusion trials or in the Xuanyi Realm, I’m definitely not a genius at spell duels. In fact, I’m not as good as many of my senior and junior brothers.”
This… wasn’t him being overly modest.
He’d once read something in the modern world—it said that most military geniuses learned warfare in war. By comparison, his experience in combat was really lacking.
Senior Sister Zhang, Master, Martial Uncle Pang—each of them had fought in hundreds or thousands of battles.
Senior Sister Zhang opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to say something.
Zheng Fa smiled again, “Let’s be realistic—that’s just how it is.”
If he couldn’t even admit that, then everything he’d learned in the modern world was for nothing.
To be fair, his modern life had greatly influenced this part of him too.
According to modern teachings, he tended to improve strength by relying on knowledge and realm—rather than the pursuit of spell-duel techniques.
Moreover, the peaceful modern lifestyle naturally gave him a different mindset than Xuanyi Realm cultivators—especially lacking that edge-of-life-and-death sense of urgency. A trade-off, really.
Senior Sister Zhang was silent for a moment, then asked: “So you mean, your life-bound treasure won’t be focused on spell duels?”
As expected, Senior Sister Zhang understood him best!
Zheng Fa nodded, “If it’s about fighting, Jiushan Realm has those more talented than me. I think… my life-bound treasure should maximize my strengths and also bring unique benefits to Jiushan Sect.”
Everyone looked confused.
You couldn’t blame them—most life-bound treasures in Xuanyi Realm were combat-oriented. Very few chose otherwise.
Even the three options in Divine Thunder of Shenxiao showed where Xuanyi cultivators’ priorities lay.
“This… won’t be easy,” Senior Sister Zhang didn’t say much else, but her thoughts had already shifted. She began deducing based on Zheng Fa’s thinking: “Whether to create a new type of life-bound treasure or refine a rare existing one…”
“We don’t have enough foundation in artifact crafting.”
Zheng Fa nodded slowly. Life-bound treasures naturally couldn’t be separated from artifact refinement.
So…
A curvy figure appeared in his mind.
He glanced at Senior Sister Zhang and realized she had thought of the same person—Madam Xuanhua!
Just as he was about to speak again, he suddenly felt something, raised his hand, and waved. A Message Talisman flew in from beyond the realm and landed in front of him.
Everyone looked curiously at the talisman.
Zheng Fa held it, closed his eyes briefly, then opened them with a puzzled expression.
“Who’s it from?”
“Zhenren Tongming.”
Senior Sister Zhang frowned. “Isn’t Zhenren Tongming always sending you messages? Why that look?”
Zheng Fa explained:
“He said three things. First, congratulations on reaching Golden Core.”
“How’d he know?” Martial Uncle Pang’s eyes widened—then quickly realized: “Oh right—Innate Divine Power.”
What they didn’t know was, even without that divine power, Zheng Fa’s Golden Core was strange enough to shake the whole region.
“Second, he wants to borrow Jiushan Realm to host a Hundred Immortals Conference.”
“Hundred Immortals Conference?” Martial Uncle Pang frowned. “Ah, right—time for it again… but didn’t we leave the Hundred Immortals Alliance?”
Zheng Fa remembered—Seventh Young Master had brought this up before.
Two years after the Ascension Conference, the Alliance’s sects would hold a joint exam with their new disciples...
Basically, it was a way to evaluate new disciples across sects and exchange goodwill—a major tradition of the Alliance.
Senior Sister Zhang had earned her unrivaled reputation in one such conference.
“Zhenren Tongming said Jiushan Realm is safe, so he wants to borrow it for the event,” Zheng Fa explained.
“That doesn’t make sense…” Senior Sister Zhang shook her head. “Right now the Hundred Immortals Alliance and the Great Freedom Demonic Sect are at war. Holding the Hundred Immortals Conference would be a waste of time and resources...”
She had a good point.
Organizing such a grand event took lots of manpower, logistics, and resources.
And besides, if they wanted to see which disciples were worth keeping, the battlefield was the ultimate test…
“The third thing…” Zheng Fa continued, “The Supreme Dao’s former Dao Heir—Jiang Chengkong—will be coming to Jiushan Realm to attend the conference as well.”
“……”
Everyone exchanged looks—they all got the same feeling: Zhenren Tongming might be under duress.
“We just wanted a quiet life, and yet...” Martial Uncle Pang looked a little exasperated.
Now everyone understood—this Hundred Immortals Conference was likely Jiang Chengkong’s idea. No one knew what he was planning.
Among the three points, Jiang Chengkong’s visit was clearly the most important.
Zheng Fa had a guess—
As for who had created the Tianhe Ruins, there were only a few likely culprits.
Either it was the Demonic Sect, or one of the Five Great Sects of Xuanyi...
Other factions either lacked the capability, the motive, or the generosity.
From the Demonic Sect, the most suspicious nearby group was clearly the Great Freedom Demonic Sect.
But someone from their side had died in the ruins… of course, it was also possible that that Nascent Soul hadn’t known the inner secrets. Either way, the suspicion was a bit lower.
But among the Five Great Sects of Xuanyi—
The only one currently circling nearby was Jiang Chengkong…
Was this guy here to search the house?
After Martial Uncle Pang and the others took their leave, Zheng Fa didn’t return right away. Instead, he first went to Senior Sister Zhang’s courtyard.
“Senior Sister Zhang, how’s your research on the Message Talisman going?” he asked.
“Hmm?” Senior Sister Zhang was startled. She looked at Zheng Fa, her expression a bit dazed. “Your idea for a life-bound treasure… has something to do with that?”
Zheng Fa nodded. This inspiration had struck him ever since there was progress with the Message Talisman:
In his view, a life-bound treasure concerned one’s Path of the Dao, and judging from both Tianhe Venerable and that disciple’s experience, this thing was essentially a part of a cultivator’s body.
Put simply, this treasure should align with his Dao path and his ideals.
Zheng Fa asked himself—his ideals were very clear.
He wanted to spread a new kind of mindset—or rather, a scientific mindset.
But when it came down to it, he wasn’t that selfless—he wanted to borrow brainpower!
So…
Call him: Zheng “Server” Fa!
Actually, Jiushan Sect had similar things—like Senior Sister Zhang’s Mountain and River Seal, or the Jiushan Ancestor’s true body. But ultimately, those were different—those things were more like spiritual veins than tools for computation and storage.
Senior Sister Zhang only borrowed from it with great difficulty, and sometimes it even conflicted with the Jiushan Ancestor’s own spiritual energy circuits.
What Zheng Fa wanted to create was something that—in the future Jiushan internet era—could spread knowledge through the internet, and also borrow others’ brainpower through it…
Eventually, reaching a state of omniscience and omnipotence!
Of course, right now, that was just a dream. Zheng Fa wasn’t even sure if it was possible, but he truly felt this was the most suitable path for himself.
If not for Senior Sister Zhang discovering that diagram within the Message Talisman that shielded spiritual energy interference—letting Zheng Fa see the possibility of merging modern internet with spiritual energy…
He never would’ve thought of this.
For that, he needed not only the help of Senior Sister Zhang and Madam Xuanhua,
but also—help from the modern world.
…
Modern World, Nursing Home.
“You really succeeded in forming your core?”
Old Bai and the others looked at Zheng Fa, full of joy.
In the past six months, Zheng Fa had been too focused on core formation to even check in on them—the process was far too critical to allow for a single slip. He had even withdrawn the Lingshan Method.
Naturally, Old Bai and the rest had been on edge.
“I did it!”
Zheng Fa looked around at the people before him.
Over these six months, in the nursing home, Zheng Fa had only kept Old Bai, Tang Lingwu, Teacher Tian, and Tang Mu Dao.
Even Elder Hou and Cheng Yun had been asked to leave the mountain.
One reason: with the Lingshan Method withdrawn, there was no more spiritual energy here, and agricultural experiments couldn’t continue.
Second reason: to be honest, these were the people he trusted most. The others leaned more toward being partners.
“That’s great!” Old Bai beamed. “Now we don’t have to keep standing guard all the time!”
Zheng Fa laughed too.
It wasn’t that he was worried about his own safety—honestly, he was in Core Formation, not dying...
He had confidence in handling most threats.
But Old Bai and the others were even more diligent than he was—they had arranged shifts to guard him around the clock, not leaving his side for a moment, afraid someone would disrupt him.
As he laughed, he noticed Old Bai and Tang Lingwu looking a bit awkward.
“Hmm? Someone causing trouble again?”
Zheng Fa paused, starting to wonder if maybe he had been overconfident?
“...Not exactly.” Old Bai shook his head. “It’s just that someone… suddenly started being unusually friendly.”
“...Friendly?”
Old Bai sighed. “Jiushan Grain Company, Jiushan Martial Hall—instead of getting suppressed, they’ve been constantly receiving help from ‘important figures’...”
“……”
Zheng Fa finally understood. Some people were… preparing to divvy up his legacy?
At present, the two most valuable industries tied to the nursing home were the martial hall and the grain company. As long as Zheng Fa was around, no one dared touch them.
But once Zheng Fa was “gone,” naturally, it would fall to Tang Lingwu and Old Bai to decide things.
…People blinded by greed exist everywhere.
These were still considered restrained.
Clearly, Old Bai and the others hadn’t told him earlier, probably fearing it would affect his core formation…
Seeing the look on his face, Old Bai suddenly burst out laughing:
“Someone already gave them a piece of your mind!”
“Hmm?” Zheng Fa turned to Old Bai.
No way... Old Bai the King of Boasting went and slapped those people in the face?
“Me? Who am I?” Old Bai waved his hands frantically, then pointed at Tang Lingwu and roared with laughter: “It was little Lingwu! Anyone dared say something about you—she went straight to their doorstep!”
“……”
Tang Lingwu blushed at that—her cheeks red, smile sweet, and fists soft and puffy.
She looked adorable.
But judging by those fists... getting hit probably really hurt.