Chapter 433: Crying Poor, the Elders’ Thoughts
When Master Tongming came to Jiushan Sect, he anticipated that the Hundred Immortals Alliance would have a hard time.
But the scene in the Nine Mountains Realm still surprised him.
"Master Zhang, why has this market become like this?"
Master Tongming followed behind Senior Sister Zhang and asked, pointing at the market town of Jiushan Realm.
He was deeply impressed by the bustle of the Jiushanjie market: when he came here before, the lights were bright, the people were busy, the steaming food and the noisy laughter were intertwined, making it difficult to tell east from west.
But now, when I come back, most of the shops on the street are closed, and only a few disciples are patrolling the market bored. The whistling sound of the wind blowing through the streets is full of desolation.
Senior Sister Zhang remained silent for a moment, seemingly unwilling to speak.
Master Tongming understood.
The blow that Haori Mountain brought to Jiushan Sect was far greater than they knew.
It makes sense. The accumulation of Hao Ri Mountain is far greater than that of the emerging Jiu Shan Sect. The fact that Jiu Shan Sect has been able to persist for so long under the suppression of Hao Ri Mountain has actually surprised many people.
Master Tongming carefully looked at the disciples from the Nine Mountains along the way and found that they all had very pure spiritual energy and were not wearing shabby clothes. However, they were all in a hurry, extremely busy, and a little impatient.
When they arrived at the medicine garden, Master Tongming was surprised again.
The Jiushanjie Medicine Garden is quite famous even among the Five Sects - the Jiushanjie can even cultivate Pure Bamboo and Fusang Wood, and its agricultural attainments can even be said to be unparalleled.
But now, large tracts of land in this medicine garden are barren, and the medicinal herbs are sparsely distributed. They don’t have much vitality, and some even look a little withered and yellow.
Master Qian and his disciples stood in the field, their eyes somewhat confused.
Master Tongming said nothing.
The Jiushan Sect's current difficult situation was really beyond his expectations.
After returning to the guest room, Master Tongming looked out the window for a long time before he let out a soft sigh.
The disciples beside him looked at each other and understood what their master was sighing about. They said, "Fortunately, we went to the Supreme Dao..."
This time, Master Tongming did not scold them. He just nodded slightly and sighed, "The foundation of the Jiushan Sect is still too shallow. It is not easy for them to persist for so long under the suppression of Haori Mountain."
"Then Master, let's..."
Master Tongming thought for a while and said, "I will send a letter to the sect and see what Master Xuande and the others say."
…
"Wu Yi, what does Zheng Fa think?"
Uncle Master Pang came hurriedly, accompanied by Xiao Yuying and Master Qian.
"The market is closed, and the medicinal herbs in the medicine garden are harvested early. Are you pretending to be poor?" Uncle Pang frowned, his eyes a little suspicious, "Won't the Supreme Dao look down on us Nine Mountains?"
Senior Sister Zhang shook her head and explained, "I'm not pretending to be poor. I just don't trust the Supreme Dao."
"Um?"
"If Master Tongming comes here and finds that my Jiushan Sect is actually thriving and has not been affected at all... my Jiushan Sect will gain face, but it will expose the uselessness of Haori Mountain's various methods."
Uncle Pang suddenly understood: "You mean, you are afraid that someone from the Supreme Dao will leak information to Haori Mountain?"
Senior Sister Zhang nodded and said, "After all, Hao Ri Mountain is stronger than our Jiu Shan Sect. If one plan fails, we will have to come up with another one. We will be too tired to deal with it. It is better to show weakness to others."
"Junior brother said that our Jiushan Sect is now more famous than real, and it is not appropriate to be so high-profile."
"What you're talking about is building high walls, storing up food, and slowly becoming king. That sounds weird."
Xiao Yuying nodded her head, seeming to agree. After a moment, she sighed, "Many people know this truth, but too few cultivators are willing to give up fame and gain. The more talented and powerful one is, the more they care about face."
Senior Sister Zhang smiled and said, "Junior brother always thinks differently from others."
Uncle Pang thought for a long time before he nodded gently and suddenly said, "How about...I go and have a drink with Master Tongming?"
"?"
"Cry a little?"
“…”
"I'm familiar with shameless work!"
…
"Master Zhang, the head of Mingde said that most of the elixirs of my Great Dao are willing to be sold to the Jiushan Sect, and the spiritual materials are also easy to sell."
Senior Sister Zhang was refreshed, and then she heard Master Tongming say:
“But the trade route between the Supreme Dao and your sect is blocked by the Chongxuan Sect, and it is difficult for cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage to come here. Therefore, it is difficult for the elixirs of the Supreme Dao to be transported to the Jiushan Sect.”
Of course, the Chongxuan Sect cannot stop all the cultivators, but the problem is that the cost of asking the Jindan cultivators to transport the goods is too high.
This is indeed a big trouble.
"It would be best if your sect could meet us at the border of my Supreme Dao."
Senior Sister Zhang frowned. This was not an easy task.
Nowadays, in the Chongxuan Sect, in addition to the Chongxuan Sect disciples, there are also many independent cultivators who came from the Haori Mountain. It is a mixed crowd, and some of them are even more evil.
As if he could see the difficulty Sister Zhang was in, Master Tongming said, "Of course, the current situation of the Jiushan Sect... Master Xuande can understand. I will come to the Hundred Immortals Alliance every six months in the future. At that time, I will bring some elixirs and spiritual materials to trade with the Jiushan Sect."
"I, the Supreme Daoist, am also well-known for the Nine Mountain Sect's spiritual farming technology."
After hearing this, Senior Sister Zhang immediately smiled.
"That's best."
Senior Sister Zhang naturally knew that Tai Shang Dao itself was not on good terms with Hao Ri Mountain, and that its current cooperation with Jiu Shan Sect was not entirely out of good intentions. There was no question of who was taking advantage of the transaction between the two parties.
But as Junior Brother said—as long as the Supreme Dao shows some goodwill, the Nine Mountains Sect will be willing to talk.
"Another thing is that it would be best if we could exchange more information with my Great Dao and Jiushan Sect in the future."
Senior Sister Zhang was even happier when she heard this: "If we can share some information, it would be even better. I just don't know what the Supreme Dao needs my Nine Mountains Sect to do?"
Just like Zheng Fa, she was more wary of Tai Shang Dao than trusting him. Now that Tai Shang Dao was frequently showing goodwill, even if it was to cause trouble for Hao Ri Mountain, it was a bit too much.
Master Tongming also had some doubts in his eyes:
"The head monk said that the immortal in the sect sent a message saying..."
"Um?"
"Leiyin Temple has crossed the line."
Leiyin Temple? What does this have to do with Leiyin Temple? But looking at Master Tongming's expression, it was clear that he knew nothing about this, and Senior Sister Zhang just kept this in mind.
…
"Leiyin Temple?"
Zheng Fa sat in the cave of the Shenhuo Mountain, looking at the information that Senior Sister Zhang sent through Tongjian, and he was also confused.
It would be good to do business with Tianhe Sect, but now that Chongxuan Sect is standing in the way, it's really a hindrance.
However, it is the information sharing with Tianhe Sect that Zheng Fa is most concerned about.
Today, Jiushan Sect and Haori Mountain are at loggerheads, but they know too little about Haori Mountain—they don’t even know how many Dao Fruit cultivators there are in Haori Mountain.
But I didn't expect that the Supreme Dao helped Jiushan Sect not for Haori Mountain, but for Leiyin Temple? Zheng Fa felt that the relationship was complicated, so he simply put the Jade Book of Fortune into his Dantian and walked out of the cave.
"Brother Li!"
“Senior Brother!”
"Greetings, Senior Brother Li!"
On the mountain path, many Chongxuan disciples greeted him with expressions of admiration and respect.
In the distance, several Jindan disciples were also walking towards this side in a mighty manner. No one else dared to approach, and they blocked the mountain road tightly.
Zheng Fa also knew these people - disciples of several elders who had reached the state of Shenhua. They were domineering and now had great power in the Chongxuan Sect.
He just glanced at the few people, didn't care much, and just continued walking towards the top of the mountain.
Instead, those Jindan disciples frowned and looked at Zheng Fa, with expressions of fear, yet some reluctance.
Several people watched Zheng Fa getting closer and closer without stopping, as if he didn't see them. Their faces became even worse, but they looked at the top of the mountain again, and actually held their breath, making way for him, and watched Zheng Fa pass.
Only after Zheng Fa walked past did someone among them snort coldly.
The other disciples, on the other hand, exclaimed quietly and were actually somewhat happy.
Zheng Fa felt the gazes of the people behind him, but he was thinking:
The split between the two factions of the Chongxuan Sect became increasingly obvious.
Of course, this is also because Shi Nandang doesn't care about these disciples at all and does not discipline them.
“Senior Brother!”
"Junior Sister Ye."
"Brother, are you going to the top of the mountain to listen to the Master's teachings again?" Junior Sister Ye looked a little envious.
Zheng Fa nodded slightly, and then he heard Junior Sister Ye say, "Senior Brother, do you know that many disciples in the sect respect you very much..."
Upon hearing this, Zheng Fa used his spiritual sense to look behind him and knew that it was true.
In the past, when new and old disciples competed against each other, the original disciples of Chongxuan Sect were naturally at a disadvantage - after all, even their own chief elder had knelt.
Only in these days, "Li Hao" has emerged as a dark horse, won the favor of Shi Nandang, and his status in the sect has become more and more special, which has given these disciples a shot in the arm.
Even the disciples of the former spirit-transforming elders had to be more restrained when facing him.
It was normal for those original Chongxuan disciples to see this and feel even more admiration for him.
Zheng Fa actually didn't care much about these things. He became slightly friendly with Junior Sister Ye in order to find out some information about Chongxuan Sect and Haori Mountain.
As for the other disciples of Chongxuan Sect, their cultivation was too low and Zheng Fa did not take them seriously.
“Brother…”
Junior Sister Ye suddenly said hesitantly.
"Um?"
"You asked me to find out more information about the sect, and I used your name to recruit many disciples."
“…”
Zheng Fa looked at this cheap junior sister and didn't expect that she had such strong subjective initiative.
“This is the roster!”
Junior Sister Ye handed over a jade tube. Zheng Fa picked it up and took a look at it, then exclaimed in his heart, “Shit!”
There were actually more than fifty disciples' names in the jade tube, most of them were foundation-building disciples, three golden elixirs, and a dozen Qi-training disciples.
After each person's name, not only is the person's cultivation level written, but also his teachers, close disciples and specialties.
"Brother, these disciples all admire your reputation and sincerely join you!" Sister Ye said quickly, "I never paid attention to those who were worried!"
Zheng Fa looked at this junior sister with complicated eyes, and after a while he said, "What did Master say?"
"Brother?" Sister Ye widened her eyes and stammered, "How do you know?"
Too fast…
Li Hao became famous in the Chongxuan Sect so quickly, as if someone was deliberately spreading his fame.
You know, Zheng Fa is very low-key in Chongxuan Sect and hardly speaks to anyone.
And this Junior Sister Ye is able to win people over too quickly.
If there were five or ten disciples, Zheng Fa would not have doubted it, but more than fifty disciples... this was almost a quarter of the number of disciples in the sect.
There are only three people in the sect who can control such great power in a short period of time - the sect leader, the eighth elder, and the ninth elder.
Combined with Junior Sister Ye's identity, Zheng Fa naturally guessed who gave him this list.
"Junior Sister Ye...you said you were on good terms with those disciples, but that was all fake, right?"
Junior Sister Ye looked even more surprised when she heard this.
"At first I thought it was normal. What you told me was all information about the disciples within the sect..."
"Later, you even knew every move of the foreign Yuanying."
"There are some things that a Jindan cannot know."
Junior Sister Ye lowered her head and remained silent.
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I think this is the answer.
Zheng Fa took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
What on earth is my cheap master thinking about?
…
On the top of the mountain, Shi Nandang and seven other gods stood at the crater, their bodies forming the Big Dipper, and they chanted magic spells towards the crater.
Zheng Fa walked to the Ninth Elder, took out a spirit stone, and with his spiritual sense as sharp as a knife, he began to carefully carve runes into the spirit stone.
Beside him, besides the Ninth Elder, there were also the Sect Leader of Chongxuan Sect and the Eighth Elder.
Like Zheng Fa, these three Nascent Souls can now only help here.
His eyes couldn't help but glance at the Ninth Elder.
The Ninth Elder acted as if nothing was wrong. He just lowered his head and focused on carving the formation in the spirit stone.
Zheng Fa put aside all distracting thoughts in his mind and slowly imprinted the runes of "The Great Array of Gods and Demons of Heaven and Earth" on each piece of spirit stone.
Now Zheng Fa also understood——
It is not quite accurate to say that the spirit stone is a chip.
It’s similar to the raw materials of chips.
Only after the monks' runes are engraved on them can these spirit stones form a formation and exert their effectiveness.
What Zheng Fa and his team have to do now is to carve these spirit stones into chips and connect them to the earth veins to expand the scope of the "Great Array of Gods and Demons of Heaven and Earth".
While Zheng Fa was engraving the spirit stone, he was concentrating on memorizing the various runes of "The Great Array of Gods and Demons of Heaven and Earth".
This formation was extremely complicated, and with his poor memory, he couldn't remember it completely for a while, so he worked harder and harder, and even forgot about the strange behavior of the Ninth Elder.
Shi Nandang cast a spell in his hand, let out a sigh, and looked at the four people.
Seeing the focused look on Zheng Fa's face, he couldn't help but smile and said, "Li Hao, do you have any understanding of the "Great Array of Heaven and Earth Gods and Demons"? "
Zheng Fa came back to his senses after hearing this and said, "Disciple, I have gained some understanding."
"Oh? Tell me about it?"
"This formation should be divided into four parts..."
There is a sense of calculation in Shi Nandang's attitude, but he also wants to maintain his image as a so-called "genius".
Zheng Fa was picky and choosey. Apart from some things concerning the Tianhe School's methods and the secrets of the Nine Mountains Talismans, he told us almost 50% to 60% of his understanding of the formation.
At first, Shi Nandang looked quite appreciative and nodded as he listened.
Later, a look of confusion appeared on his face.
Then, he stared blankly at Zheng Fa's mouth opening and closing, with a trance-like look on his face.
As Zheng Fa was talking, he felt something was wrong - the surroundings were too quiet.
He turned around and saw that everyone's faces were a little dull, and he immediately understood:
More than 50%! Although he is just getting started with formations, he has accumulated enough experience in talismans and has experience in various similar methods such as immortal formations... His understanding of the Heaven and Earth God Array is far beyond the imagination of others! Thinking of this, Zheng Fa looked at Shi Nandang with some contempt - it's okay for others, but you, a master of Hao Ri Mountain, are so ignorant?
Shi Nandang was silent for a long time, then suddenly trembled. He looked at Zheng Fa with an expression that seemed to imply that he was making a fortune: "Did you realize all this on your own?"
Zheng Fa nodded.
"Have you learned formations before?" he asked again, but when he saw the spirit stone in Zheng Fa's hand, he realized, "No, you didn't even know how to use spirit stones before."
After realizing this, Shi Nandang's eyes became more interested. He stared at Zheng Fa for a long while, as if he was thinking about something. After a long while, he said, "I only thought you had some potential before, but I didn't expect... you also have this talent for formations!"
"very good!"
The other six gods and the three Nascent Souls beside Zheng Fa all heard his heartfelt admiration and couldn't help but look at Zheng Fa.
Zheng Fa bowed his head and saluted, still maintaining his taciturn personality.
"What difficulties do you have in your practice? Tell me about them."
Seeing a disciple with such a high level of comprehension, Shi Nandang seemed to be delighted and actually began to instruct Zheng Fa again.
The other few people looked at each other and realized that this disciple was becoming more and more popular in the eyes of Shi Shangren. The expressions they looked at Zheng Fa became increasingly different.
When the sun was about to set, Shi Nandang waved his hand with some reluctance and asked Zheng Fa and the others to go back to practice.
Zheng Fa followed behind the Ninth Elder, and waited until he separated from the leader of the Chongxuan Sect and others before he walked into the Ninth Elder's cave one after the other in tacit understanding.
There were only Zheng and Fa in the cave.
Silence enveloped the cave.
"Is Li Hao still alive?"
"Um."
"That's good." The Ninth Elder nodded slightly, and then said, "Do you know what will happen when the Heaven and Earth God Array is set up?"
"The land veins of the Hundred Immortals Alliance are cut off."
"No, the entire clan of Chongxuan Sect was killed."
Zheng Fa suddenly opened his eyes wide.
"The formation you see is only a part of it now." The Ninth Elder sat on the ice bed, looking at Zheng Fa, but his eyes seemed to be out of focus.
"When the formation is truly completed, all the Chongxuan disciples who have practiced the secret method of Haori Mountain will become nutrients for the formation..."
Zheng Fa was shocked and finally understood why Hao Ri Mountain was so generous and gave Chong Xuan Sect so many spiritual stones and secret techniques. It was not because they had too much money to spend, but because setting up the formation required the sacrifice of disciples. "Including you, Elder?"
The ninth elder smiled and said, "Everyone who enters the mountaintop has a way out. Including me and you."
"Does the Sect Master know about this?"
"What do you think?"
It turns out that this is the reason why this cheap master often says that all Chongxuan disciples will die.
That was also the reason why she had fought for herself to reach the top of the mountain before...
The Ninth Elder lowered his eyes and said softly:
"Whether it's the Sect Master or the Eighth Elder, they have let it go... well, even if they don't, what does it matter? How can my Chongxuan Sect disobey Haori Mountain's decision?"
Zheng Fa remained silent.
“But I was born in Chongxuan Sect, not in Haori Mountain. They recognized me, but I don’t want to… I want to buy a few lives for Chongxuan Sect.” The Ninth Elder raised his eyes, looked at Zheng Fa, smiled, and said softly.
"That list?"
The Ninth Elder nodded gently, looked at Zheng Fa, and smiled very clearly: "Master Zheng, whatever you want to do, I can help you."
"…How did the elder know that?"
The Ninth Elder shook his head slightly: "I don't understand Alliance Leader Zheng, but I also understand my disciple... He is not pretending to be stupid."
...It didn't seem like he was playing the fool, and he felt really sorry.
"Then how did the elder know it was me?"
"In this land of the Hundred Immortals, how many people are able to hide their transformation from the gods like Shi Shangren and try their best to sneak into the Chongxuan Sect? A few days ago, you were in my Chongxuan Sect, but Master Zhang showed up in the Hundred Immortals."
As expected, one cannot underestimate any Nascent Soul cultivator, they are all smart people!
“Why didn’t the real person tell on me?”
"Among the disciples who went to the Nine Mountains Realm before, there was a member of my clan." The Ninth Elder chuckled and looked up, "Between the Nine Mountains Realm and Haori Mountain, I would choose the Nine Mountains Realm."
“…”
Zheng Fa really didn't expect that those disciples could brainwash the elders of Chongxuan Sect.
This Ninth Elder actually gave me a big surprise.
Looking at the Ninth Elder, Zheng Fa actually didn't completely believe it. It was impossible for a Nascent Soul cultivator to choose to betray his master just because of the words of a clan member.
It is hard to know how credible what this woman said is.
It's really troublesome to deal with such smart people who don't know the details.
He looked at the top of the mountain and pressed the Cang Hai Pearl on his chest. He knew that the Ninth Elder was hiding her identity. Regardless of whether she wanted to help him as she said, he was still safe for the time being...
But if a conflict arises in the future, it will be hard to say.
"Since the elder has said so, I have something I would like to ask you."
"Um?"
"Elder, do you have anyone to help me transport some things to the Supreme Dao?"
“…”
Tai Shang Dao and Jiu Shan Zong were blocked by Chong Xuan Zong, so he had no good way to smuggle. However, this thoughtful Ninth Elder might have his own way.
There are certainly risks in cooperating with the Ninth Elder, but the benefits are now obvious.
"This...I can try."
Sure enough, the Ninth Elder frowned, but did not seem to be too embarrassed. Instead, he nodded and agreed.
Zheng Fa walked out of the cave, feeling the gaze of the Ninth Elder fixed on him, wondering what he was thinking.
…
Modern, nursing home.
"You have a big project and you're in need of programmers?"
The old man looked at Zheng Fa, bewildered.
"Well... I need a programmer with fast learning ability!"
"How many?"
"As many as you can get!"
No matter what the Ninth Elder was thinking, Zheng Fa was not going to rely on her keeping it a secret for his own safety.
He wants to quietly add a backdoor to the Heaven and Earth God Array! (End of this chapter)
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