Chapter 155: Manifestation

Zheng Fa and the other two arrived in Jingcheng around nine o'clock at night.

By the time they reached the nursing home, it was nearly midnight.

Since it was already late, the three of them simply decided to stay in a village at the foot of the mountain.

This village is close to Jingcheng and probably still has some tourists from the capital, so there are a few homestays or farmhouses here.

Zheng Fa and the other two picked the one that looked the best decorated.

Early the next morning, Zheng Fa and the other two got up and prepared to go out.

The owner of the homestay was already up, fiddling with a selfie stick in the courtyard in front of the homestay, seemingly looking for an angle.

"You're up?"

This owner was a man who looked to be in his early thirties; seeing the three of them come downstairs, he greeted them.

"Yeah, boss, what are you doing?"

Zheng Fa watched his movements and asked curiously.

"Oh, this? I'm preparing to find a background for a livestream!" the homestay owner explained.

"Livestream?"

"Hey, just promoting it online; our place isn't very famous." The owner said: "Look, with me here, the background not only shows my house but also Goddess Hongshan."

"Goddess Hongshan?"

Zheng Fa looked at the small hill behind him; the nursing home was built right there.

"Yes, our village calls this mountain Goddess Hongshan; it's considered a local attraction." The owner said casually.

Zheng Fa thought for a moment and wasn't in a hurry to leave; after all, he might be cultivating here for a long time, so it was good to understand the local situation.

"May I ask your surname, boss?"

The owner looked at him, then at Bai Lao and Tang Lingwu behind him, seeming somewhat puzzled as to why the three of them seemed to treat Zheng Fa as the leader.

"Not at all, my surname is Mu."

"Are you a local?"

"Yes, I grew up here." Boss Mu looked at him suspiciously twice, seeming to think his inquiry was a bit strange: "I was originally working in the city, but when I couldn't make it anymore, I came back."

Zheng Fa took a look around the homestay.

A two-story small building, decorated quite modernly.

It was clear it had some European minimalist style, which has been popular in recent years.

It probably wasn't cheap.

"Boss, with your business, saying you 'couldn't make it' is modesty; it's more like returning home in glory."

Upon hearing this, Boss Mu quickly waved his hands, though he couldn't help showing some pride on his face.

"Boss, what is the history of Goddess Hongshan?"

Nearby, Tang Lingwu tactfully asked as well.

Having been praised by Zheng Fa.

And then being questioned by such a pretty young Miss like Tang Lingwu, the owner's interest in conversation seemed to rise.

"Goddess Hongshan? Only locals like me know this story." He said with a hint of mystery: "If you walk up the mountain to the back, you will find a temple where Goddess Hongshan is enshrined."

"..."

Zheng Fa and the other two exchanged glances; they truly didn't know about this.

"Goddess Hongshan?"

"Yes, according to old legends, several hundred years ago, one day a rainbow suddenly fell into this mountain, and a fairy descended from the sky. She cured the sick and saved people in the village, solving their worries and difficulties." The owner said, his rhetoric seeming very practiced: "Later, the legend of Goddess Hongshan remained, and this mountain was named Goddess Hongshan—I'm telling you, this temple of the Lady is very efficacious!"

"Efficacious my foot!"

Before Zheng Fa and the others could speak, an old woman's voice cursed.

An old woman who looked to be seventy or eighty years old walked out of the homestay.

Boss Mu called out somewhat helplessly: "Grandma! These are just legends from our village!"

"Spreading this stuff online every day! It's all fake!" The old woman cursed: "Decades ago when the village knocked down the temple, we didn't see any god strike us with lightning."

"This is... just a historical anecdote, an old attraction! I'm doing this to attract customers!"

"Old my foot! If it weren't for that dog from the Wang family getting rich and insisting the feng shui on the mountain is prosperous, building a new one, there wouldn't be any temple of the Lady—that temple isn't even as old as your son!"

"..."

Zheng Fa and the other two bid farewell to the somewhat withdrawn Boss Mu and walked up the mountain.

They first went to check out the nursing home.

The main building of the nursing home was almost finished.

Entering the courtyard gate and walking along the path paved with white stone slabs, on the right was a cluster of transplanted bamboo groves, and on the left was a spring of mountain water drawn from the hill.

Behind the bamboo grove was the main body of the nursing home, a three-story small building shaped like the character 'pin'.

The two wings of the small building only had one floor, while only the middle section was the highest at three stories.

The decoration style of this building leaned towards the classical, except the walls were white and the roof tiles were green; standing amidst the mountains, it complemented the greenery covering the hills and the white clouds in the sky, creating a certain quiet seclusion.

Passing the small building, there was a large open space.

This was the place where Zheng Fa wanted to try cultivating spiritual plants; at present, only the weeds had been cleared and the land leveled, with no other decorations.

Passing the open space, the residence reserved for the three of them arrived.

This was a two-story small building, situated much higher than other places, as if overlooking the entire nursing home.

From the outside, the building looked as if it was embedded in the cliff face, blending with the mountain's contours; from a distance, the building was invisible.

This was designed by Tang Lingwu.

She walked while introducing: "For where we live, the first thing I considered was privacy."

Zheng Fa nodded.

The three of them occasionally engage in feudal superstitious activities; indeed, it is not good to be too high-profile.

"Building here, furthest from everyone else, in a couple of days when the trees my mother bought arrive, we'll surround this place; even with a telescope, they won't clearly see what we're doing."

"This place uses all floor-to-ceiling windows; not only is the lighting better, but more importantly, looking down the mountain from this angle is the most beautiful."

Zheng Fa walked into the small building and looked out the window.

The mountain scenery was indeed visible at a glance.

"Also, these furnishings, appliances, and decorations, I just picked them randomly on the spot... If you're dissatisfied anywhere, I'll find someone to change them!"

Tang Lingwu said again.

Zheng Fa turned to look at her, seeing her looking at himself with a slightly anxious expression.

Turning his head to look inside the room again.

This small building looked somewhat rustic, even unremarkable, from the outside.

But the interior was extremely exquisite.

Zheng Fa hadn't lived in any good houses in the modern era, but he could still see that some of the furnishings and appliances here, and the layout of the entire room, all hid Tang Lingwu's thoughtfulness—it truly couldn't be called random.

Expensive and carefully crafted... actually, both can be seen at a glance...

"I am very satisfied."

Zheng Fa nodded lightly.

He was not someone who cared too much about external things anyway.

Moreover, he could certainly appreciate Tang Lingwu's careful effort.

"Are there no other requirements?"

Tang Lingwu pressed her lips and smiled, seeming to sigh with relief; her worry, as if still uneasy, prompted her to ask another question.

Zheng Fa shook his head.

"I have one!"

From the side, Bai Lao suddenly spoke.

"Ah?"

Tang Lingwu looked at Bai Lao, puzzled.

"My room must be far away from you two!" Bai Lao looked at the two of them sideways, his face full of disgust.

After viewing the nursing home, Zheng Fa finally began the main task of this trip to Jingcheng—cultivating the Lingshan Method.

He stood on the open ground.

Closing his eyes, he recalled in his mind the records of the Sect Master in the Lingshan Method.

The mountain shape of Goddess Hongshan matches the Turtle-Snake Spirit Vein described by the Sect Master; according to the "Treatise on Spirit Veins," the location of the nursing home lies exactly on the turtle's back.

Zheng Fa opened his eyes and began to walk slowly on the ground.

His steps were elusive and uncertain, yet seemed to follow a certain pattern, and his speed grew faster and faster.

This made Bai Lao and the other two watching from the side feel a bit dizzy; eventually, they could barely see his figure.

Gradually, starlight seemed to cling to Zheng Fa's clothes; with his steps, this starlight transformed into streams of flowing light.

Even though it was summer now and the sun hung high in the sky, the light surrounding Zheng Fa still made Bai Lao and the other two feel dazzled.

Suddenly, Zheng Fa's steps stopped.

He flicked his right hand repeatedly, and two Spirit-Opening Talismans flew toward the sky.

One flew toward the highest point of the mountain range, that is, the top of the "turtle's back."

One flew toward a slightly lower hilltop, that is, the place of the "snake's head."

As the two talismans flew out, the specks of starlight around Zheng Fa actually chased these two talismans toward the two locations; to Bai Lao and the other two, these two talismans looked like two small kites.

And this starlight seemed like two faintly visible threads, connecting Zheng Fa with these two talismans.

The two talismans flew extremely fast; the naked eye of a mortal could not see them at all.

But in Zheng Fa's eyes, as soon as these two talismans reached their target locations, they quickly shattered, scattering into broken points of light that soaked into the mountain body.

Zheng Fa inexplicably felt a sensation that he and Goddess Hongshan beneath his feet seemed to have become one.

The spiritual power within his dantian suddenly seemed to boil, transforming into clouds and mist that surged outward from his body.

Down the mountain, in the homestay where Zheng Fa had just left this morning.

Boss Mu was live-streaming to promote his homestay.

"Yes, yes, yes, two days and one night, only 198! Three days and two nights, minimum 248!"

"Only ten orders with a discount! Once the ten orders are gone, they're gone!"

"What's fun to do? Our place here has green mountains and clear waters; eating some farm dishes and climbing the mountains is so nice!"

"Let me tell you, our place's Goddess Hongshan has a legend..."

He told the legend again, the same one he had told Zheng Fa before.

There were already few people in the live stream room; at this moment, they were all posting "cliché" and "don't believe it."

He was not discouraged; he started talking about the farm dishes in the village again.

"Streamer! Streamer! Look back!"

Suddenly, a viewer said.

"Look back?"

Boss Mu looked slightly bewildered.

"It has manifested! Goddess Hongshan has manifested!"

Boss Mu turned around and saw a rainbow bridge spanning the mountains, clear and beautiful.

"It hasn't rained these past two days..."

Boss Mu muttered, then saw something even more astonishing—

From atop Goddess Hongshan, flocks of birds suddenly flew out, covering the sky and earth. They swarmed together, circling the mountain peak and that rainbow bridge.

Birdsong echoed through the mountains, seeming extremely joyful.

Boss Mu couldn't help but take two steps, wanting to see more clearly.

Then, he saw his own grandmother inside the house, kneeling before the incense altar, muttering to herself.

"Grandma?"

"Niangniang, I did not mean to offend..."

"Grandma?"

"Don't strike me down, strike down that old man from the Wang family! He was the ringleader back then!" His grandmother completely ignored him: "Don't be fooled by him building a temple for you, Niangniang. His grandson, Gouzi, has made money with a conscienceless heart—but absolutely do not be deceived by him!"

"..."