Chapter 157: Lei Chi

On the ninth peak of Jiushan, the atmosphere was unusually solemn.

With such a major incident, even Uncle Pang had personally ascended the ninth peak; the Sun Daoyu and Zhou Qianyuan following him both looked somewhat at a loss.

Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Yuan were also present.

As soon as Uncle Pang climbed the mountain, he shouted: "Senior Brother, what exactly has happened?"

His face looked very anxious.

The Sect Master was somewhat calm: "Zhao Shimei Huang sent word back; she arrived too late."

"What do you mean 'too late'?"

"She first went to the Changchun Sect to assess the situation, but the place was empty; even the spiritual veins had been destroyed."

The others could not help but feel a chill.

This was no longer a matter of exterminating a sect—it was digging out the very roots, showing how ruthless they were.

The Sect Master continued: "Having lost the trail, Zhao Shimei Huang could only search the Lei Chi; she searched for several days with no results... until later, she discovered traces of many disciples of the Great Zizaimo Mo Sect."

"Many?"

Uncle Pang frowned.

"Yes, later, following these demonic sect disciples, she understood that the Changchun Sect was exterminated by the Great Zizaimo Mo Sect... When the Changchun Sect Master discovered their tracks and prepared to send word to Junior Niece Zhang, they spotted him."

"Great Zizaimo Mo Sect?" Uncle Pang's face was full of an expression of utter confusion: "Why would they send so many people to Taiyang Commandery?"

This was also Zheng Fa's confusion.

If the Great Zizaimo Mo Sect was targeting geniuses to kill Zheng Fa, he could understand that—it belonged to learning lessons from history and behaving better.

But exterminating the entire Changchun Sect.

This behavior was somewhat too conspicuous.

Currently, the Xuanwei Realm was still, on the surface, the domain of the Immortal Sects.

No matter how deep the demonic sects' reserves were, they were in a weak position during this tribulation.

"They are not coming to Taiyang Commandery." Unexpectedly, the Sect Master shook his head, his face also looking somewhat depressed as he said: "They were already in Taiyang Commandery."

"Ah?"

"According to Zhao Shimei Huang, this emergence of the spiritual vein also brought a Lei Chi, triggering massive underground changes—it seems to have exposed the secret realm of the Great Zizaimo Mo Sect."

"..."

Zheng Fa was somewhat speechless.

This matter... why did it feel like the Great Zizaimo Mo Sect was the one being wronged?

They were hiding nicely and developing, only for a spiritual vein to descend from the sky.

Uncle Pang was also somewhat speechless.

He pressed his lips together, his face becoming even heavier.

Zheng Fa could understand the meaning behind this.

This was a sudden ambush battle; no one was prepared.

But on the other hand, the Great Zizaimo Mo Sect, blocked right at their doorstep, if they panicked, would likely fight desperately.

"What about Junior Niece Zhang and them?"

"Zhao Shimei Huang followed those demonic sect disciples and found the disciples taken away by Junior Niece Zhang; when they arrived at the Changchun Sect, they were ambushed by the demonic sect disciples, so Junior Niece Zhang could only lead them to hide everywhere."

"What happened later?"

Hearing this, even Zheng Fa felt a bit anxious.

"After all, that is the Great Zizaimo Mo Sect's stronghold; Junior Niece Zhang, facing several Nascent Souls, was outnumbered and even injured, so she could only lead them toward the Lei Chi..." The Sect Master shook his head: "Only by borrowing the power of the Lei Chi could they barely hold on."

"What do you mean... borrowing the power of the Lei Chi?"

Uncle Pang did not understand again.

"That Lei Chi is extremely Ji Baolie... According to Zhao Shimei Huang, within that Lei Chi, the higher one's cultivation, the more careful one must be; if one's cultivation above Foundation Establishment is exposed, heavenly thunder will strike the body."

"If it is above Jin Dan, it is ten thousand thunderbolts crashing down; above Nascent Soul... I heard a demonic sect Nascent Soul, because he was too arrogant, was blasted to death alive."

"..."

Zheng Fa twitched the corner of his mouth.

He also knew why Senior Sister Zhang had hidden in the Lei Chi.

Simply put, she was preparing to use her rich experience in low-level combat to beat this group of shameless Nascent Souls to death.

"Did Zhao Shimei Huang find Junior Niece Zhang?"

"No, she fought a great battle with several demonic sect Nascent Souls and went deep into the Lei Chi." The Sect Master frowned: "These disciples who got separated from her also suffered heavy losses."

Hearing these words.

Everyone fell silent.

Although this matter was not as urgent as Senior Sister Yuan had shown.

It was still difficult to handle.

Not only was the missing Senior Sister Zhang very important to the Jiushan Sect.

The bigger problem was that secret realm of the Great Zizaimo Mo Sect—Taiyang Commandery is considered the Jiushan Sect's territory; having a demonic sect secret realm riding right on their face was truly enough to make one's scalp tingle.

"I will request aid from the Baixian Alliance regarding this matter." The Sect Master decided immediately: "Such a huge incident involving the Great Zizaimo Mo Sect, how can we Jiushan Sect bear it alone?"

Zheng Fa nodded.

His master's words were very clear: what chivalrous justice is there to discuss with the Mo Sect? Everyone should shoulder the burden together!

Uncle Pang, however, looked somewhat reluctant: "This... the spirit stone mine inside that spiritual vein, and the Lei Chi."

"The spirit stone mine must be discussed among us Jin Dan cultivators; this Lei Chi, I think, is even more important... We must send disciples below Foundation Establishment." The Sect Master said hesitantly: "We must find Junior Niece Zhang; given the current environment of the Lei Chi, it is actually better for disciples of lower cultivation to go."

"On the other hand, the Lei Chi is quite beneficial to our sect's supreme true transmission, the Shen Xiao Yulei True Art; if we can occupy the Lei Chi, perhaps in the future our Jiushan Sect will see its former glory again."

"Makes sense."

Master Pang nodded slowly.

Zheng Fa could feel everyone in the room secretly glancing at him.

He knew what they were thinking.

The Lei Chi was extremely advantageous for him—

Though he was still at Qi Gathering, his spiritual sense had already matched that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and his talisman arts carried the power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

On the other hand, he had trained the Five Thunder Body Scripture, which excelled in withstanding lightning.

If anyone in Jiushan Sect could navigate the Lei Chi like a fish in water, it could only be him.

He even believed everyone present knew this.

"Master, I'll take a group—"

"You can't go!" the Sect Master suddenly said; "I'm not letting you go."

"Huh?"

Looking at his master, Zheng Fa was stunned.

He was the most suitable one.

"Zhang Shijie is certainly important, but your talent now is no less than hers," the Sect Master hesitated to say. "She's already missing—I won't let you risk yourself."

"But—"

"You are my disciple!" the Sect Master suddenly adopted the demeanor of a master: "Listen to me."

Looking at his old master's stern face, Zheng Fa didn't know what to say.

Master Pang, however, nodded beside him: "Indeed. We still don't know Zhang Shijie's condition—we should wait until we find her. Zheng Fa, don't act rashly."

Seeing even Master Pang opposed him, Zheng Fa clenched his lips and said nothing more.

Seeing he was silent, the Sect Master and Master Pang nodded, seemingly quite satisfied.

"Then who do we send?" Master Pang frowned. "This person's cultivation can't be too high—ideally just Foundation Establishment—but they must have enough prestige in the sect to command the other disciples."

There weren't many candidates.

Jiushan Sect had only two branches.

Zhang Shijie's branch had Zheng Fa as the most suitable, but the Sect Master wouldn't let him go.

So they had to look within Master Pang's branch.

Master Pang sized up Zhou Qianyuan and Sun Daoyu beside him.

Among his disciples, only a few had prestige, and these two were among them.

These two were the most suitable.

"Qianyuan… your cultivation is still Qi Gathering, and you're a single-elemental cultivator, single-elemental…" Master Pang seemed reluctant: "Not suitable."

He turned to look at Sun Daoyu beside him.

"Daoyu, you're dual-elemental—no, you're already Foundation Establishment. You go!"

Sun Daoyu: "?"

…

After everyone else left, Zheng Fa followed his master into the thatched hut.

Neither spoke.

"What, you've got something to say to me?" the Sect Master asked, noticing he wasn't leaving. "Want to find your Zhang Shijie?"

"No…" Zheng Fa fell silent for a moment, then voiced his own idea: "Master, why won't you let me go? I'm the most suitable."

"Suitable?" the Sect Master muttered, sneering. "You're my disciple."

"..."

"In my life, I've taken only three direct disciples."

"..."

"Two of them died when they went out."

"..."

Zheng Fa finally understood why this old man had refused when he heard Zheng Fa wanted to leave Jiushan Sect.

He was nearly developing a mental demon.

"Zhang Shijie is indeed gifted and vital to Jiushan Sect—she's our future—but she's Huang Shimei's disciple," the Sect Master suddenly gazed outside. "I now have only you as my disciple."

"..."

"Actually, I'm not forbidding you to go—even without Zhang Shijie's incident, when your Five Thunder Body reaches completion, you should go to the Lei Chi."

"Huh?"

"The fifth step of the Five Thunder Body requires summoning heavenly thunder to refine the body. Even after mastering the first four steps, it's still somewhat dangerous for you," the Sect Master explained. "The Lei Chi's advantage is that it contains many thunder-affinity spiritual plants suitable for the Divine Thunder Control True Method, and many layers of heavenly thunder, allowing you to safely purify your body with them."

"Then—"

"Let your Master Pang's disciple investigate thoroughly. Train for a while longer, and go only when you reach Qi Gathering tenth layer," the Sect Master said calmly. "Right now, it's a den of chaos—we don't even know how many Zizaimo Sect members are there."

"Thank you, Master, for looking out for me."

Zheng Fa fell silent for a while before whispering.

Only today did he truly realize his master was acting in his best interest.

"Actually, this isn't just my idea. Before Zhang Shijie left, she came to see me."

"Huh?"

"She said, if anything happened to her, I should stop you first."

"Huh?"

Zheng Fa blinked, surprised that Zhang Shijie had left him this message.

"She said you'll be a better sect leader than I am, and better than she was," the sect leader seemed to recall Zhang Shijie's words: "For the Jiushan Sect, you are more important than she was."

Zheng Fa slowly descended the Ninth Peak and arrived at Zhang Shijie's courtyard.

He paced slowly through the courtyard, walking from the study to the back garden, where he sat in the pavilion, listening to the waterfall roaring behind him.

After sitting for a long time, he stood again and walked slowly toward the garden.

The path he walked was exactly the same as the one Zhang Shijie had taken with him during their past Dao discussions.

By the end, Zheng Fa almost felt as if Zhang Shijie were beside him.

He turned his head involuntarily, but saw no familiar figure.