BOOK 2: CHAPTER 413: THE ESSENCE OF LIFE TREASURES, THE SECRET OF SUB-SYMBOLS

Vol 2 Chapter 413: The Essence of Life Treasures, the Secret of Sub-Symbols

Zheng Fa quickly realized: the Lu Clan could no longer remain the Lu Clan;

only the Holy Patriarch could maintain such a persona.

Compared to the other two clans, the Lu Clan was the most knowledgeable about the Sacred Blood Seal.

A group of Lu Clan Nascent Soul cultivators surrounded Zheng Fa, their gazes distinctly different from before.

“Sacred Blood Seal is equivalent to the Fourth Patriarch?” Looking at their ingratiating smiles, Zheng Fa asked in confusion, “Where does that idea come from?”

The stern-faced clan elder who presided over the ceremony before now smiled like a blooming flower: “Nandang… oh no, Master Shi, do you know that Immortal Yun and Immortal Luo were originally from our Lu Clan?”

That was indeed unknown to him.

“Lu Clan?”

“Yes, they were geniuses of the Lu Clan in their early years. Only after obtaining the Sacred Blood Seal could they establish their own clans.”

Zheng Fa suddenly understood.

This meant that the Yun Clan and Luo Clan were essentially branches of the Lu Clan.

The Yun Clan likely emerged earlier, while Rogue Immortal Luo Sanxian’s path to Dao was relatively later.

Now, Zheng Fa fully comprehended Haori Mountain’s structure.

After all, the three patriarchs were all Lu Clan members, but Immortal Yun and Luo Sanxian obtained the Sacred Blood Seal, achieved Dao Fruit, and had their own clans—that is, Dao Fruit audiences.

This was somewhat similar to the Divine Path’s dependence on deities.

He glanced again at the Sacred Blood Seal on the back of his hand, guessing that this thing was not closely related to Fusang Wood.

After all, both Immortal Yun and Luo Sanxian possessed it.

This Sacred Blood Seal seemed more like proof of aptitude or strength, almost like a Dao Fruit reserve.

Speaking of which, he himself had already far surpassed the average Corpse Liberation stage, essentially being a Dao Fruit cultivator.

That red glow was pretty accurate.

Still, what was it that Fusang Wood longed for?

Zheng Fa raised his eyes and looked toward the two large gates.

This thing should, possibly, probably, be within the Nine Luminaries Heaven?

Sensing his gaze, the Lu Clan elder said again:

“The Nine Luminaries Heaven is the fundamental secret realm of Haori Mountain. Without the Holy Patriarch’s decree, no one may enter.” As he spoke, a warm smile appeared on his face, “But with Master Shi’s aptitude, you will eventually enter.” ȑ𝐚ɴÔ𐌱È𝘴

In just the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the elder transformed into a cheerful old boy.

Zheng Fa’s expression remained calm, seemingly unimpressed by their subtle flattery.

His main worry was:

He didn’t know whether that red glow had sensed Fusang Wood’s existence just now,

And whether the Lu Clan… was paying attention to him?

With these thoughts, Zheng Fa was suddenly reluctant to enter the Nine Luminaries Heaven.

“Master Shi?”

Seeing him lost in thought, the elder cautiously called out.

“Hm?”

“I wonder, what does the senior plan to do?”

Zheng Fa was stunned and looked around.

Everyone nearby showed reverence, eagerness, and caution.

He pondered briefly.

It was clear that the uniqueness of the Sacred Blood Seal had suddenly elevated his status greatly.

“Can I do whatever I want? Go wherever I want?”

“That, still depends on Immortal Yun.”

......

“Scripture Hall?”

Within the three palaces, Immortal Yun looked at Zheng Fa with an awkward yet puzzled expression.

He was thinking about temporarily hindering Rogue Immortal Luo Sanxian’s resurrection.

The purpose was quite simple:

To absorb all the benefits of the Tianhe Sect.

On the other hand, attacking the Tianhe Sect was extremely dangerous. He planned to make the Luo Clan sacrifice more so that when Luo’s junior nephew was reborn, his strength would be far weaker than before.

Unexpectedly, Shi Nandang appeared.

He thought, if he were Shi Nandang, right now he would be considering how to use the uniqueness of the Sacred Blood Seal to compete for resources, advance to Dao Fruit, and establish his own clan.

At present, Shi Nandang could only be called a Dao Fruit seed, since he had not yet achieved Dao Fruit.

What troubled Immortal Yun was that Shi Nandang seemed even more talented than Luo’s junior nephew. If he truly became a Dao Fruit Rogue Immortal, he might even become the fourth leader of Haori Mountain.

Unexpectedly, Shi Nandang’s first request was to enter the Scripture Hall?

“Is that not allowed?”

Zheng Fa asked.

“Of course it is.” Immortal Yun was puzzled but thought Shi Nandang was rather sensible, and smiled, “With your identity, the Scripture Hall naturally welcomes you.”

Upon hearing this, Zheng Fa cupped his hands and said, “Thank you, Immortal Yun.”

After saying this, he happily took his leave.

Seeing him leave, the Yun Clan cultivators turned to each other: “It seems there is no better cultivation method in the Scripture Hall than the Vermilion Heaven Jade Manual?”

Immortal Yun shook his head: “The Vermilion Heaven Jade Manual directly points to Dao Fruit. Beyond Dao Fruit, there are no records in the scriptures.”

The Yun Clan cultivators were a bit confused.

Obtaining the Sacred Blood Seal without showing off or celebrating—could that mean a steady Dao heart,

And no need for resources to achieve Dao?

Were there such diligent cultivators?

The two exchanged glances, feeling puzzled. Immortal Yun laughed and said, “His nature is actually a good thing.”

Zheng Fa was browsing.

“Haori Mountain’s Scripture Hall is really impressive.”

He was on the top floor of the Scripture Hall, holding a secret manual of the Six Dragons Patrolling Heaven Scripture.

Haori Mountain had three Dao Fruits, each with a cultivation method directly targeting Dao Fruit, like the Vermilion Heaven Jade Manual which Zheng Fa already knew well.

The Six Dragons Patrolling Heaven Scripture was the true method of Rogue Immortal Luo Sanxian’s lineage.

Naturally, before this, Shi Nandang had no chance to see this manual.

But now, with the Sacred Blood Seal, he walked through the Scripture Hall with ease!

Zheng Fa not only saw a more complete version of the Vermilion Heaven Jade Manual, but also reviewed the three lineages’ cultivation methods.

Moreover, this floor had many Nascent Soul cultivators’ annotations and insights on the three methods.

He absorbed them all and transmitted them back to the Jiushan Realm, enriching the Jiushan Sect’s database as material for the Yellow Court Scripture.

He didn’t spend much time contemplating.

With so many brilliant minds in the Jiushan Realm backing him up, Zheng Fa didn’t want to waste effort.

Senior Sister Zhang soon spoke:

“The foundation of Haori Mountain is still the Vermilion Heaven Jade Manual. The other two cultivation methods are surprisingly related to it.”

Zheng Fa had also noticed this.

Simply put, the Vermilion Heaven Jade Manual was like a pioneering academic paper within a domain, and the other two methods, though new breakthroughs, were derived from it.

Therefore, when Zheng Fa looked at Immortal Yun and Luo Sanxian’s Dao Fruit methods, he encountered few obstacles.

The Six Dragons Patrolling Heaven Scripture even had traces of Immortal Yun’s technique.

When comparing the three methods, their connections became clear.

Although there were no scriptures beyond Dao Fruit,

Zheng Fa’s Yellow Court Scripture was extremely ambitious and required vast reference materials:

Even seemingly useless knowledge would one day become stepping stones toward his Dao realization.

Besides, Haori Mountain still had immediately usable knowledge.

When Zheng Fa stepped out of the top floor and onto the stairs, he saw the Scripture Hall now like a popular tourist spot—

Everywhere were heads packed tightly together.

Thousands of Haori disciples crowded the large libraries, standing before bookshelves, heads buried in scriptures, studying hard.

But as soon as Zheng Fa appeared, the eight-story Scripture Hall suddenly fell silent.

This seemingly quiet dormant volcano was in fact flowing with molten lava named ambition.

Zheng Fa glanced around and even saw some familiar faces: a few Lu Clan members.

In fact, Zheng Fa had received many message talismans in recent days, all secret attempts at allegiance.

There were disciples not aligned with the three clans.

Even members from the Lu, Yun, and Luo Clans.

At first, Zheng Fa was surprised, but after seeing many message talismans, he understood:

Although the three clans were dominant in Haori Mountain, there were always disgruntled individuals within.

Especially the Lu Clan, whose long lineage produced countless descendants, too many for even Lu Mo to count.

Hence the distinction between main and branch lines.

Branches received slightly better treatment than ordinary disciples, but how could the main line compare to a Dragon’s minister?

Of course, most were self-recommenders, eager to help strengthen the Shi Clan.

Thinking of this, Zheng Fa felt a bit of fulfillment and sent a message through the Creation Jade:

“Forget the others, I promise the Yun Clan main line female cultivator for you?”

Shi Nandang was silent for a long time before replying: “Including her entire family?”

......

In the Jiushan Realm, Shi Nandang looked at the Baiyun beyond the island, a trace of relieved smile at his lips.

Xie Qingxue also saw the conversation. Now, watching Shi Nandang’s expression, her eyes were full of curiosity.

She had become more comfortable in the Jiushan Sect and no longer had to hide her talkative nature. Without Zheng Fa, she communicated often with Shi Nandang and others.

With a tone of great enlightenment, Shi Nandang said, “Fairy Xie, when she finally returns her heart and chooses me, I will understand that what I truly cherished was the powerless self unwilling to accept defeat. She... no longer matters.”

Xie Qingxue nodded softly, still confused as if she hadn’t fully understood.

“Of course, Fairy Xie, since you have never experienced love, it is hard to understand...”

“I understand what you mean.” Xie Qingxue interrupted, “What I don’t understand is, that Yun Clan female cultivator’s choice... isn’t it supposed to be the Sect Leader?”

Shi Nandang’s expression stiffened. He looked at Xie Qingxue and said faintly, “Are all sword cultivators like this?”

Xie Qingxue nodded confidently: “All great sword cultivators are like this.”

“What about the not-so-great ones?”

“They are like this too, but they’re all dead.”

Shi Nandang looked at the Qingping Sword, took a deep breath, and sincerely said, “Fairy Xie, I still like your silent self.”

....

Zheng Fa headed toward a secret arts library.

Cultivation manuals were currently of little practical use to Zheng Fa.

But forging secret arts were very useful to the Jiushan Sect.

It could be said that without Haori Mountain, there would be no Jiushan Sect’s Tiangong Pavilion today.

The secret arts library Zheng Fa entered was considered high-level in the Scripture Hall, and its forging secret arts were previously inaccessible even to Shi Nandang.

As soon as he entered, the Haori disciples present all made way.

Zheng Fa smiled and nodded lightly to those around him, then walked to a bookshelf and picked up a forging secret arts manual to read.

To others, he appeared to be quietly studying.

In truth, he was copying the secret arts into the Creation Jade and chatting with Senior Sister Zhang and others.

After reviewing about ten top-secret forging manuals of Haori Mountain, Zheng Fa sighed to Senior Sister Zhang and the others:

“Spirit Tools and Life Treasures are indeed as we thought.”

Zheng Fa had long speculated about what Spirit Tools and Life Treasures were. Now, in Haori Mountain’s Scripture Hall, it was fully confirmed.

The best analogy was—intelligent robots.

According to Haori Mountain’s scriptures, Spirit Tools and Life Treasures were magical tools with a degree of intelligence.

Simply put, they were like intelligent mechanical arms or robotic vacuum cleaners.

Though not as comprehensive as cultivators, they had some functions and in certain tasks were even stronger than cultivators themselves.

However, the mysterious cultivators preferred functions related to combat rather than daily life, and their power was far greater.

Senior Sister Zhang replied, “Spirit Tools and Life Treasures are equivalent to inscribing part of a cultivator’s Yang Spirit structure, or spiritual intelligence, onto the magical tool. Therefore, only cultivators beyond Nascent Soul can begin forging Spirit Tools?”

Zheng Fa agreed, “Senior Sister is right. Compared to the Heavenly River Method, Haori’s traditional Spirit Tools and Life Treasures have much simpler functions.”

The Nine-turn Golden Core Method in the Heavenly River Method allowed cultivators’ life treasures to be more flexible, modifiable at will, and even fully carry the cultivator’s spiritual intelligence.

Traditional Spirit Tools and Life Treasures were limited by materials and could only realize partial intelligence.

Zheng Fa looked at several more bookshelf manuals and began to clarify the distinction between Spirit Tools and Life Treasures:

For analogy, it was like levels of intelligent driving.

Spirit Tools still required cultivator control or issuing commands.

Life Treasures could be fully automated in some respects and even stronger than cultivators.

Haori Mountain cultivators didn’t fully understand the connection between Yang Spirit and intelligence, so many Spirit Tools and Life Treasures relied on bionic simulation, improving generation by generation.

There were fewer than twenty methods for forging Spirit Tools and Life Treasures.

Zheng Fa was not especially interested in Spirit Tools and Life Treasures themselves;

in terms of intelligence research, Jiushan Sect’s Tiangong Pavilion was already ahead.

The most useful knowledge for Jiushan Sect was Haori Mountain’s exploration of various spirit materials:

Which spirit materials were best suited for engraving intelligent spiritual energy circuits.

What spirit materials were most powerful for which cultivation methods.

This accumulated experience was in short supply at Tiangong Pavilion and could not be bypassed.

The more Zheng Fa read, the more excited he became, hardly skipping a single jade tube or manual.

In the Jiushan Realm, Shi Nandang looked at one forging secret arts manual after another in Tongjian, a mocking smile at his lips:

Immortal Yun was confused!

Letting the Sect Leader enter the Scripture Hall was like letting a mouse into a rice jar!

He turned his head and saw Madam Xuanhua holding Tongjian, biting her lip, breathing quickly, clearly very excited.

Sensing his gaze, Madam Xuanhua looked up at him and embarrassedly said, “Although it’s not the first time, I still lost control.”

“Not the first time?”

“Speaking of which, the first time I have to thank Master Shi.”

Shi Nandang blinked and felt a little awkward.

“Thanks to Master Shi, we now have so many profound secret methods.”

Shi Nandang was stunned for a long moment, the smile on his lips gradually fading.

Xie Qingxue laughed nearby.

“I didn’t say anything!”

....

Zheng Fa stayed in Haori Mountain’s Scripture Hall for more than ten days at a stretch.

At first, the Haori Mountain disciples were somewhat respectful and hesitant to disturb him.

Later, seeing that he didn’t mind, they gradually became more relaxed.

Although not daring to speak to him directly, they started whispering among themselves again.

Zheng Fa was studying the Life Treasure secret arts when buzzing voices came from behind, and he heard his name, Shi Nandang.

“Master Shi is so serious;

he must be forging a powerful Life Treasure!”

Zheng Fa’s divine consciousness probed—it was a middle-aged Nascent Soul cultivator.

He didn’t care;

it wasn’t the first time people discussed Shi Nandang, and Zheng Fa had ignored it before. This group naturally grew bolder.

Moreover...

“Remember, Master Shi is my model in Haori. Study hard.” The middle-aged Nascent Soul admonished a young girl. “Even if you only have one-thousandth, no, one ten-thousandth of Master Shi’s talent, your old man would be satisfied.”

Very good.

Flattering people loudly with a heavenly voice.

His daughter nodded seriously, admiring Zheng Fa’s figure, mentally noting which books Master Shi read.

Zheng Fa knew this was not just her. Many Haori disciples would scramble to read the secret arts after he finished, seemingly eager to discover secret martial skills.

But this middle-aged Nascent Soul and the girl were not qualified to study those secrets due to their cultivation levels.

The girl seemed talented and confident she could read them in the future.

Most disciples in the Scripture Hall had two motives: on one hand, hoping to make an impression;

on the other, secretly wanting to steal the techniques.

Zheng Fa put down the jade tube in his hand, knowing he had read the most valuable secret arts.

Yet he was not satisfied.

After all, since he had come,

He sped up, no longer reading carefully, taking jade tubes and directly copying them into the Creation Jade.

If he had read them before or if Jiushan Sect already had them, he skipped.

Compared to Haori Mountain, Jiushan Sect’s collection was less than one percent.

Zheng Fa wildly devoured ninety-nine percent of Haori Mountain’s scriptures, hardly leaving one unread.

At first, the girl quietly noted the books Zheng Fa had read.

Later, she was bewildered, looking at her father with a blank face, as if to say: how can one learn like this?

The middle-aged cultivator gaped, not knowing what to say.

Zheng Fa moved on to another library, still not sparing a single manual.

The middle-aged Nascent Soul was puzzled:

“These are all forging methods. How are they useful to Master Shi?”

He watched Zheng Fa pick up a jade tube, close his eyes to comprehend it, then after a while, laugh happily, clearly having gained much.

The Nascent Soul was even more puzzled.

What had Master Shi realized?

After Zheng Fa finished reading the jade tube, he left with barely concealed joy.

The middle-aged Nascent Soul approached the jade tube, but another cultivator had already picked it up to read.

A moment later, he exclaimed:

“The forging method for storage pouches?”

The Nascent Soul was stunned and stopped in his tracks.

He had also seen a little of this before, and it wasn’t really a secret method.

Storage pouches were not valuable.

Or rather, most Haori disciples had encountered this secret method.

Looking at Zheng Fa, the crowd exchanged looks and murmured:

“Master Shi can even gain insights from this?”

Everyone was confused.

Until one cultivator sighed, “How else could the senior have the Sacred Blood Seal?”

In silence, someone asked, “Should we... keep watching?”

The cultivator holding the jade tube was speechless, and after a long while, he put down the secret manual and despondently walked out of the Scripture Hall.

The middle-aged Nascent Soul looked at the jade tube for a long time, then turned to his daughter and thoughtfully admonished:

“Not everyone is like Master Shi.”

“Better not to learn it. Developing heart demons isn’t good.”

Zheng Fa ignored the group, his mood excited, paying no attention to what they said.

The Jiushan Sect had also researched storage pouches for some time.

Now, after seeing Haori Mountain’s forging method for storage pouches, he finally had a preliminary understanding of Xuanyi’s spatial mysteries.

At the same time, he gained new insights into Xiao Lingwu’s Three Sub-Symbols theory.