Chapter 123: Teach Me

At the Zheng family home, Zheng Fa sat cross-legged on a cushion, circulating his spiritual power along the path of the Crimson Sky Art within his body.

He had already cultivated for three hours—much longer than his usual cultivation time.

Suddenly, blood rushed to his face.

In the next moment, a vortex of spiritual energy appeared above his head.

When he opened his eyes, a look of satisfaction shone in them.

"Broke through?" the Sect Master's voice suddenly sounded by his ear: "Come see me."

He didn't know when this old man had started watching him; he had just broken through and the man had discovered it immediately.

When Zheng Fa arrived at the thatched cottage, the Sect Master was sitting on a cushion, a proud smile on his face, as if he had something he couldn't wait to show off to him.

"Master?"

"Qi Refining Layer Four? Not bad."

The Sect Master glanced at him, speaking with a smile, seeming very happy.

Zheng Fa lowered his head and answered in the affirmative.

"Since you call me Master, I should teach you something."

Zheng Fa looked at his own Master with expectation.

"But the Divine Thunder True Art requires you to cultivate the Five Thunder Body first; you can only practice it after Foundation Establishment."

The Sect Master shook his head and said.

"..."

"As for the Spirit Mountain Art, that also requires Qi Refining Layer Seven to even begin entering the gate."

"..."

"With your current cultivation, it's very difficult for me to teach you!"

Zheng Fa originally didn't understand why his two senior brothers had been so sneaky.

But hearing the Sect Master speak to his disciple this way, he understood.

Don't doubt it; he just wants revenge!

"Actually, this disciple doesn't lack cultivation techniques much, just lacks some..."

Zheng Fa looked up at the Sect Master, the meaning in his gaze self-evident.

When Fourth Uncle Pang said he wanted to take him as a disciple, he promised to prepare spiritual materials for him that could last until Nascent Soul.

You are the Sect Master of the prestigious Jiushan Sect; you can't be outdone by your junior brother, can you?

"..." The Sect Master pointed to his thatched cottage: "In the future, this cottage will be passed down to you."

Zheng Fa looked at this house.

Inside the house, besides two cushions, there was nothing else.

How to put it? This house, located on the farmstead, had the configuration meant for cows.

"..." You also know, I wasn't planning to take disciples again before."

The Sect Master seemed to feel the house was a bit too humble, a bit apologetic toward Zheng Fa, and explained in a low voice.

... So you're justifiably poor?

"This disciple suddenly feels Fourth Uncle Pang is also a man of wealth and talent." Zheng Fa's tone held a hint of regret.

"Exactly! He prepared them; you can just take them from him!"

The Sect Master clapped his hands, speaking cheerfully.

"..."Take"?"

Zheng Fa remembered those four thousand-year-old Purple Bamboo Tears.

Then he looked again at the amiable yet encouraging smile on the Sect Master's face.

He finally understood Fourth Uncle Pang's expression of reluctance mixed with generosity at that time.

"Master, I can't learn the techniques, and I have to scam my junior uncle for the materials... What about yours?"

That call of "Master" felt like it was shouted in vain!

"It wasn't me who wanted to take a disciple!" the Sect Master said with righteous indignation.

"..."Then why did you call me here, Sect Master?"

"Oh right, I called you to look at this 'Saving Little Cultivator Zheng Fa'."

When the Sect Master mentioned this, a proud smile appeared on his face—obviously the work was finished, and he had specifically called Zheng Fa to show it off.

Zheng Fa twitched the corner of his mouth: "Master, can we change the name of this play?"

Yes, Sister Zhang named this thing a play—a drama adapted from a storybook, which is very reasonable.

To show that he really had many storybooks, Zheng Fa not only adapted several domestic ones or movies into the Xuanwei style.

He also specifically wrote a collection of ideas—

That is, recording the summaries of some classic literary works from the modern era.

Among these were many works that had won awards or were very popular abroad.

When choosing the first play for the Jiushan Sect, Sister Zhang spotted this script, later called 'Saving Little Cultivator Zheng Fa', at a glance.

According to Sister Zhang, this script could demonstrate our Jiushan Sect's unity, the spirit of sparing no cost to save lower-level disciples!

But from Zheng Fa's understanding, Sister Zhang probably felt that—

Although our Jiushan Sect discriminates based on spiritual roots, has wealth polarization, struggles between two factions, and fights with talismans every day, looking at it any way, it's not united.

But we still need to promote the beautiful Jiushan Dream.

"This script name is so good, simple and easy to understand!"

Obviously, the Sect Master was also quite satisfied with this script.

"Then, Old Master, please change the protagonist's name!" Zheng Fa pleaded.

If this thing actually goes viral, how mortifying would that be?

"... Fine. I hate coming up with names the most." Seeing he was truly unwilling, the Sect Master frowned, pointed at the script cover, and the two characters "Zheng Fa" on it slowly transformed into "Pang Qian."

"Pang... Qian?"

Zheng Fa suddenly thought of someone.

But... that shouldn't be right?

"It's your Junior Uncle Pang. When he was young, fortune-telling said he needed a female name to suppress his fate... Later, he changed his name himself and didn't want to use that name anymore."

The Sect Master indicated Zheng Fa had guessed correctly; it was indeed that unlucky soul!

So you just go around harming the people around you, is that it?

"Then Junior Uncle Pang probably... wouldn't be very willing for you, Master, to use his name?"

"I'm not using his name! He doesn't want that name anymore, so isn't it perfect for me to use it?"

"... Master's insight is profound!"

Zheng Fa watched "Saving the Saving Saving Xiao Xiu Pang Qian" with the Sect Master for a while, frowning more and more as he watched.

After all, as a pioneering work, the Sect Master had grasped none of the narrative techniques of cinema.

Perspective, shot scale, montage... nothing of the sort; it looked more like a run-of-the-mill documentary with a bunch of internal monologues.

Zheng Fa, of course, didn't understand these things either.

But he had seen the original film, and his memory was quite good.

"Master, this thing might need a slight revision."

Zheng Fa said after a moment of silence.

"Where to start?" It was evident the Sect Master was someone who accepted good advice readily.

"From the beginning."

"... From the beginning?" The Sect Master said gloomily: "Do you mean what I produced is—unwatchable?"

"... Mm."

The Sect Master suddenly stood up and said: "You two, come up!"

Soon, Zheng Fa saw Senior Sister Zhang and Senior Sister Yuan ascend the mountain together.

"You two, take a look at my play first!"

The Sect Master played "Saving the Saving Saving Xiao Xiu Pang Qian" for the two of them again.

"How is it?"

"... It's very good!" Senior Sister Yuan said with bright eyes: "Quite interesting; I found it quite moving!"

Senior Sister Zhang, standing nearby, also nodded.

"He said it's unwatchable! It needs major changes!"

Senior Sister Zhang and Senior Sister Yuan stared at Zheng Fa, their eyes conveying a reproach that he simply didn't know how to appreciate.

Zheng Fa felt a bit puzzled in his heart.

Could it be that his aesthetic taste didn't align with the mainstream taste of the Xuanwei Realm?

"Don't say I didn't give you a chance!" The Sect Master snorted: "Say now how to change it, and I'll do it exactly as you say right now!"

... Truly a Nascent Soul; even revising plays is so efficient.

Zheng Fa, helpless, could only recount the original film from memory, shot by shot, based on his impression.

Senior Sister Zhang and Senior Sister Yuan didn't quite understand these things either; it was the Sect Master who seemed very proficient—he had, after all, been playing with the Lu Zhong Heaven for so many years.

In less than two hours, the Sect Master clapped his hands and said: "Done!"

"Come, you two, take another look!"

Senior Sister Zhang and Senior Sister Yuan were also a bit curious; the two sat on the meditation cushions and watched Zheng Fa's version of "Saving the Saving Saving Xiao Xiu Pang Qian" again.

After finishing, the two fell silent.

"How is it? Which version is better?" the Sect Master asked.

"Yours, Sect Master!" Senior Sister Yuan said first.

Senior Sister Zhang also nodded and said: "I think yours, Sect Master, is better."

Zheng Fa, standing nearby, fell into complete self-doubt.

No way, are the people of the Xuanwei Realm's tastes so peculiar?

Everyone is a documentary enthusiast?

"See!" The Sect Master smiled proudly at Zheng Fa and said to Senior Sister Zhang and the other: "Then I'll play mine for you again!"

It was evident he was indeed quite proud of his work.

"Then I'd like to see... Zheng Shidi's version." Senior Sister Yuan suddenly said softly.

"?"

The Sect Master paused, slowly turning to look at Senior Sister Zhang beside him.

Senior Sister Zhang nodded gently and explained to the Sect Master: "It's mainly to see what deficiencies exist in Junior Brother's play, so we can better appreciate the excellence of your version, Sect Master!"

... What high-EQ judges are these two?

Zheng Fa looked at the Sect Master; confusion slowly surfaced in the Sect Master's eyes as well.

Obviously, this old man had also seen through their true opinions.

It was just that he truly seemed to feel his own version was better.

"I have spent over a thousand years on this Lu Zhong Heaven..."

Zheng Fa understood immediately upon hearing this—

This thing, in the fashionable terms of the Xuanwei Realm, is called the Obstacle of Perception.

Over a thousand years, this old man has formed his own system and aesthetic.

The problem is, this aesthetic has never been tested by the market.

There is a gap between him and ordinary people as vast as a chasm.

It is like a person who has written in isolation all his life, wanting to write a masterpiece, but never publishing, never reading others' works, and receiving no evaluation from anyone—he might be a genius, but there is a ninety-nine percent chance what he wrote is nonsense.

Moreover, the Sect Master's first version was already sufficiently brilliant for Zhang Shijie and the other, and it was the pioneering work of this world.

It just happened that Zheng Fa was a cheat who had experienced the era of the great explosion of modern entertainment works.

"You two, speak from the heart: which one is better?" the Sect Master said to Zhang Shijie and the other.

"..."

Neither of them spoke.

And silence is often an answer.

The Sect Master looked at the two of them and suddenly said to Zheng Fa, "What do you think? Teach me."

"Ah?"

Zheng Fa looked at the Sect Master; what he hadn't expected was that this old man would admit defeat so quickly.

It was clear that this old man truly loved the World Within the Hut, or rather, the drama—he had even let go of his obsession so quickly and was humbly beginning to learn from his own disciple.

Seeing the old man's eyes thirsting for knowledge, Zheng Fa cleared his throat: "Your cultivation in drama right now is so advanced that I find it hard to teach you!"

The Sect Master was stunned; he felt this remark sounded somewhat familiar.

Hadn't he said something similar before?

"Master suddenly feels that with your current cultivation, there are some things I can teach you..." After a long silence, a smile of being eager to teach appeared on the Sect Master's face.