Chapter 110

Jiushan Sect, the dock.

Zheng Fa was seeing off Han Qi and the other two.

Shijie Zhang was likely the type of leader who acted with decisive speed; the reception boat was ready in just a few short days.

Since this was their first attempt, both Zheng Fa and Shijie Zhang leaned toward caution—they dispatched only one boat, and planned to visit only the nearby sects and markets, a round trip taking roughly half a month.

Besides Shijie Zhang's people and several senior brothers from the markets, the boat also carried Han Qi and the other two, whom Zheng Fa had specifically arranged.

Han Qi and the other two were not inserted by Zheng Fa to seize power or profit; rather, after discussing for two days with Shijie Zhang, he refined his previous idea—now, many talismans collected from the markets were stored in those empty guest rooms.

The current model for the reception boat was to carry talismans out and bring customers back, striving not to waste transport capacity.

Han Qi and the other two were not strong in cultivation, but they did possess some business acumen; Zheng Fa intended for them to help sell the goods.

"Han Shixiong, this is just a trial; do not put too much psychological pressure on yourself." Seeing Han Qi's expression was clearly very tense, Zheng Fa spoke to comfort him.

"Junior Brother..." Han Qi gave a bitter smile: "Such a huge batch of talismans is under my charge; if anything goes wrong..."

Shijie Zhang was extremely decisive; after he recommended Han Qi and the other two, she simply handed over the spiritual talismans on the boat to Han Qi for responsibility—how to sell them and at what price were all up to him.

Han Qi had always been at the bottom of Jiushan Sect; where had he ever shouldered such great responsibility?

Worrying about gains and losses was truly very normal.

Zheng Fa patted his shoulder and, after thinking for a moment, said: "As long as you do your work with heart, no one can do anything to you. You have me above you, and I have Shijie Zhang above me."

Hearing this, Han Qi nodded, and the anxiety on his face diminished slightly.

The boat gradually rose from the water; Han Qi watched Zheng Fa's figure on the dock grow smaller and smaller, as if watching him depart.

He turned around and, leading the two junior brothers beside him, walked toward the cabin.

While going up the stairs, the three encountered two senior brothers.

These two had previously patrolled the markets; Han Qi and the others were very familiar with them.

Or rather, they had previously been very awestruck—both fearing to offend the other party and wanting to curry favor, yet with their past status, they could not find a way to curry favor.

Now encountering the two, all three stopped their steps, their faces instinctively showing ingratiating smiles as they bowed to the other party.

Unexpectedly, the two senior brothers on the other side also halted their steps, smiling kindly at them: "Junior Brother Han, no need for such excessive courtesy!"

"Senior Brother?"

"We are all people of Zheng Shidi..." One senior brother even lightly put an arm around Han Qi's shoulder, as if very familiar with him: "You have followed Zheng Shidi for a long time and have great face before him; the entire boat of spiritual talismans has been entrusted to you! In the future, please speak a few kind words for me, your senior brother."

"... Yes!"

After a few friendly exchanges, the two senior brothers took their leave.

The tall, thin one beside Han Qi watched the backs of the two senior brothers disappear, clicked his tongue, and said somewhat proudly: "We... now have such great face?"

"... That is because Zheng Shidi has great face!" Han Qi shook his head.

"Senior Brother, this time we might make a fortune!" The tall, thin one suddenly changed the topic, saying excitedly: "Before, it was always small-scale; this time... it is an entire boat of spiritual talismans!"

"... If you want to seek death, do not drag me along!" Han Qi slapped the back of the other's head.

"..."

"We have only just had two good days; you want to court death!" Han Qi took two deep breaths and scolded in a low voice: "Do you really think the senior brothers on the boat will not be watching us? The more courteous they are to us now, the more they want to replace our positions!"

"This..."

"What kind of future does Zheng Shidi have? Where are we even at? If your eyes are so shallow... next time do not follow me!"

After speaking, he added two more reminders: "Our cultivation is not good; we can only rely on our hearts. For these few days, keep one eye open even when sleeping."

The tall, thin one rubbed the back of his head, grimacing and saying: "Senior Brother, since following Zheng Shidi, you are almost not yourself anymore."

"..." Han Qi glanced at him, then looked at the senior brothers in the distance, and suddenly said softly: "Following Zheng Shidi, I am finally like myself."

"?" The tall, thin one's expression was puzzled, looking as if he did not quite understand.

"Is it not good now?" Han Qi was too lazy to explain.

"Good."

"Then why so much nonsense?"

A waning moon hung in the sky; the night was deep.

In a slightly larger courtyard two streets away from Zheng Fa's small courtyard, Sun Daoyu and Zhou Qianyuan were sitting on the pavilion.

Sun Daoyu's gaze was fixed on the direction of Zheng Fa's small courtyard.

"Senior Brother? What are you looking at?" Zhou Qianyuan asked.

"Looking at Zheng Fa."

"Zheng Fa?" Zhou Qianyuan was stunned; he looked toward Zheng Fa's courtyard but saw nothing.

Only when he turned his head did he realize Sun Daoyu's eyes had changed color; the originally black pupils were now dyed with a silver glow, looking mysterious and unfathomable.

"Void-Piercing Spiritual Eye?" Zhou Qianyuan's face showed surprise, and a somewhat terrifying conjecture suddenly surged in his heart...

He gently stepped back three paces, moving a bit farther from his own senior brother before saying: "Senior Brother, is this... somewhat rude?"

"It is somewhat rude." Sun Daoyu sighed: "I cannot stand before him and stare at him, after all."

"Actually... this is not a wrong thing; among the common world's great families and young masters, are there not many with hobbies similar to yours, Senior Brother?" Zhou Qianyuan pressed his lips together and suggested dryly: "We cultivators do not have so many prejudices; why not go directly to Zheng Shidi and declare your intentions?"

"... Intentions?" Sun Daoyu was stunned, slowly turning to look at Zhou Qianyuan.

Zhou Qianyuan looked at him with a face full of encouragement and understanding.

A thoughtful expression appeared on Sun Daoyu's face; he seemed to finally understand the meaning of the word "intentions," and his face slowly cracked.

"It is for the Thousand-Year Purple Bamboo Tears!" Seeing Zhou Qianyuan's skeptical expression, Sun Daoyu gritted his teeth and explained: "A few days ago, Shijie Zhang went to find the Sect Master, saying she wished to exchange the 'Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method' for two portions of the Thousand-Year Purple Bamboo Tears."

Zhou Qianyuan looked at his own senior brother, his expression still somewhat disbelieving: "What does this have to do with Zheng Fa?"

"Shijie Zhang said that Zheng Fa's cultivation progress with the 'Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method' has improved extremely rapidly; even after condensing the Yang Yuanfu Dao Foundation, his cultivation speed can double."

"... So powerful?"

"Not only do you not believe it, but the Sect Master doesn't fully believe it either." Sun Daoyu shook his head and said, "And he doesn't want to give two people's share of the Thousand-Year Purple Bamboo Tears."

Seeing that Zhou Qianyuan still didn't quite understand, Sun Daoyu explained softly, "The Thousand-Year Purple Bamboo of the Sect Master produces fewer and fewer Purple Bamboo Tears. Currently, there are only enough for two people."

"Because of me?"

"Yes. If I gave Sister Zhang two people's share, you would have to wait at least ten years." Sun Daoyu explained.

"..."

"Moreover, the 'Tao of Talismans Foundation Establishment Technique' has flaws and is simply not worth that much."

Sun Daoyu's words made Zhou Qianyuan pause, and he couldn't help but ask, "Then why does the Sect Master still want this cultivation technique?"

"On one hand, this cultivation technique is indeed marvelous and very suitable for Talisman Masters to cultivate. The Sect Master once said that Sister Zhang's inability to remedy the flaws of this cultivation technique doesn't mean he can't; he actually already has some leads." Sun Daoyu smiled: "Moreover, the Sect Master also has the idea of surpassing the other branch by repairing the 'Tao of Talismans Foundation Establishment Technique'."

"... Then, Senior Brother, why are you here today?"

"The Sect Master asked me to see if Zheng Shidi's cultivation speed is really that fast. More importantly, to see if Sister Zhang has already remedied the flaws of the 'Tao of Talismans Foundation Establishment Technique', which allowed Zheng Fa to cultivate so quickly."

Zhou Qianyuan's face looked somewhat conflicted.

Sun Daoyu saw this and laughed, "Junior Brother, rest assured. No matter how fast he cultivates, I will tell the Sect Master that the 'Tao of Talismans Foundation Establishment Technique' is not worth two people's share of the Thousand-Year Purple Bamboo Tears."

Zhou Qianyuan nodded somewhat shamefully and said in a low voice, "Thank you, Senior Brother."

"You are my junior brother! Of course, you come first." Sun Daoyu smiled gently at his own junior brother.

Zhou Qianyuan pressed his lips together, his expression somewhat moved, yet as if he didn't quite dare to be moved.

He said in a low voice, "Senior Brother, for you... my heart holds only respect."

Sun Daoyu: "?"

Zheng Fa did not know that someone was secretly watching him, and that someone was a man.

He had already arrived in the modern world in his dream.

At Bai Lao's house, a laptop sat before the three of them, its screen displaying talisman diagrams that had been classified.

"It's not working well."

Zheng Fa frowned, looking at the results sent by Han Xiaobai, feeling somewhat disappointed.

"I have tried every calculation method that could be tried." Han Xiaobai's reply was also somewhat aggrieved: "It's still that the training set you provided is insufficient."

Zheng Fa did not feel this person was shifting the blame.

Indeed, the Yin-Yang Five Elements talisman diagrams classified by Sister Zhang were not many, and a portion still had to be reserved to verify the accuracy of Han Xiaobai's classification calculation method.

This made the number even smaller.

"How about we just don't classify them so finely?" Zheng Fa thought for a moment and suggested.

"You're right!" Bai Lao clapped his hands and nodded in agreement: "With few samples, let's just classify them into broad categories!"

Zheng Fa's meaning was very simple.

Since dividing them into ten categories of Yin, Yang, and the Five Elements revealed nothing.

Then divide them into two broad categories of Yin and Yang, or five broad categories of the Five Elements, to see if any leads can be found.

Obviously, the number of samples divided by Yin and Yang is the largest.

"Let's try the Yang talisman diagrams first."

More than an hour later, Han Xiaobai on the other end of the laptop sent back several results.

Zheng Fa looked for a long time but still saw nothing, then turned his head to look at Bai Lao.

Bai Lao looked for a long time and shook his head.

"Let's try the Yin ones next."

Zheng Fa's heart sank as he said this to the person on the other end.

"Still can't see anything."

Looking at the results Han Xiaobai had just transmitted again, Bai Lao sighed.

"Let's try according to the Five Elements. Let's try the Water Attribute Talismans first."

Zheng Fa was now quite calm.

After all, cultivation is not a matter of a moment; indeed, it cannot be rushed.

Sister Zhang is likely a Water Spirit Root, so the Water Attribute Talismans she experimented with are the most numerous.

After all this fuss, the night had already grown somewhat deep.

While waiting for the results, Bai Lao couldn't help but yawn.

Zheng Fa turned his head and asked Tang Lingwu beside him, "Don't you need to go back first?"

Tang Lingwu thought for a moment and said, "I will leave once these results come out."

"How about you go back first? I don't think there is much hope." Bai Lao, with his mouth wide open and a few tears squeezed from his eyes, muttered, "This thing still relies on some luck."

Tang Lingwu shook her head.

The laptop emitted a chime for a new message. Zheng Fa clicked to open it; it was the result Han Xiaobai had provided this time.

Zheng Fa frowned, scrolling the mouse wheel, looking at each of these talisman diagrams classified by the computer as Water Attribute.

"Wait! Look back at those few diagrams." Bai Lao suddenly shouted.

Zheng Fa turned his head, looking at Bai Lao with some surprise.

Bai Lao wiped the corner of his eye and muttered, "I just yawned and shed tears; my eyes are a bit blurry, I can't see clearly."

"..."

"Wait!"

"Blurred vision again?"

"This structure appears very frequently in this category."

Bai Lao Tou, however, pointed at the computer screen and said.