Chapter 163: Results

The new marketplace was quickly built.

On the third day after arriving at Lei Chi, Zheng Fa and Master Pang selected the location for the new marketplace.

It was a small hill, once the sect seat of the Changchun Sect, now ownerless land.

The reason for choosing this place was simple—it still had some residual spiritual veins.

Although the Great Freedom Demon Sect had destroyed the Changchun Sect's spiritual vein, this branch seemed overlooked due to its sparse spiritual energy and thus survived.

This spiritual vein might barely suffice for cultivation.

But setting up a few illusion arrays to keep ordinary people from accidentally stumbling into the marketplace was more than enough.

Once the location was chosen, the construction work was straightforward.

Two days later, a new marketplace rose from the ground.

The new marketplace was fan-shaped, with a new theater at its center—this was primarily due to strong demands from the Jiu Shan Sect disciples working outside.

The inner three rings were shops, mostly rented out to sects of the Bai Xian Alliance.

Beyond that outer ring were stalls for disciples and free cultivators.

As soon as the marketplace opened, many sects and disciples came to inquire about rental fees.

Within just three days, all the shops in the inner three rings were sold out.

The stalls were also nearly gone.

"How many spirit stones can the Lei Chi marketplace earn in a month?"

Master Pang asked curiously, watching Zheng Fa organize the ledgers.

"Lei Chi Marketplace" was the name of this marketplace—or rather, its natural nickname.

"Just from rent alone, it earns three thousand spirit stones a month," Zheng Fa thought for a moment.

"More than our Jiu Shan Sect marketplace?"

Master Pang knew well the income of the Jiu Shan Sect marketplace—barely over a thousand spirit stones a month, including rent and taxes.

"It could earn even more."

Zheng Fa looked at the endless flashes of light outside the marketplace and spoke with quiet confidence.

Master Pang glanced up too, softly clicking his tongue: "If I could just lie here earning spirit stones, I wouldn't even want to enter Lei Chi."

"You're going into Lei Chi too? For the Heavenly Stele?"

Zheng Fa couldn't help but be surprised.

"What look is that? Who here isn't after the Heavenly Stele? Can't I have some ambition?"

"I mean, Lei Chi severely restrains high-level cultivators. It's disadvantageous for you to enter."

Zheng Fa explained.

"It is a bit." Master Pang sighed helplessly: "But it's the Heavenly Stele."

"..."

"Do you think these people don't know Lei Chi is dangerous?" Master Pang pointed to the streaks of light in the sky: "Don't they know even seeing the Heavenly Stele doesn't guarantee any gain?"

"..."

"Cultivators are the most cautious yet most reckless group of people," Master Pang said simply, then, as if remembering something, grew serious: "Don't underestimate higher-level cultivators just because of Lei Chi."

"Why do you say that?"

"Even though they can't use their true cultivation level inside Lei Chi, there are still magic treasures, puppets, and other methods—enough to kill you."

"Understood."

Zheng Fa was startled—this was something he hadn't considered before.

"Don't worry, using such methods inside Lei Chi is usually difficult. Just don't provoke your opponents."

"... I've always been kind to others!"

"If you can say that, you've truly inherited my teachings!"

Master Pang nodded, looking quite satisfied.

More and more people came to the marketplace, among them one figure who stood out greatly.

It was evening; Zheng Fa and Senior Brother Yang and others were patrolling the marketplace, checking for improvements.

Suddenly, a sword's cry echoed from the sky.

The group looked up—a long rainbow of sword qi split the heavens and landed directly at the marketplace entrance.

When the swordlight faded, a young cultivator in his twenties appeared.

What surprised Zheng Fa was the man's unusual attire—star-crowned, crane-cloaked, unlike current trends in the Xuanwei Realm.

But Senior Brother Yang spoke first: "Isn't that a Tianhe Sect disciple?"

"Tianhe Sect?"

Zheng Fa was slightly surprised—Tianhe Sect was a name he knew well.

Tianhe Elder.

Five Great Sects of Xuanwei.

Those eight characters alone described Tianhe Sect's influence on the Xuanwei Realm.

"Yes, only they wear that outfit."

"Why?"

"Legend says it's the favorite attire of the Tianhe Elder, so Tianhe Sect disciples love to wear it."

Understood. Professional cosplayer!

"And they're quite tyrannical—prohibit outsiders from dressing like that."

... Professional monopolistic cosplayers!

The Tianhe Sect disciple seemed proud of his sect's stature; he ignored the murmurs around him, clearly accustomed to it.

He walked slowly into the marketplace, ignoring the cheap stalls, heading straight for the shops.

He was generous and decisive—soon he bought many elixirs and magic treasures, then turned to leave.

From arrival to departure, he spent no more than an incense stick's time.

Clearly, he was a man of impatience.

The more he acted this way, the more reverent others looked at him—after all, a great sect disciple, spending so freely, with obvious arrogance and haste.

He sounded utterly unapproachable.

As he walked out of the marketplace, he passed right by Zheng Fa and the others.

Watching his back, Senior Brother Yang turned to Zheng Fa: "Zheng Brother, do you think he's here for the Heavenly Stele too?"

Perhaps hearing the words "Heavenly Stele," he slightly turned his head.

"... robably. Aside from the Heavenly Stele, I can't think of anything else that would attract someone like him."

"But... doesn't Tianhe Sect have its own Heavenly Stele to contemplate?" a young new disciple frowned: "Why travel so far? Is it because he can't understand... ugh!"

Zheng Fa saw the man pause, then walk away slowly.

Senior Brother Yang gently released his hand from the disciple's mouth and exchanged a glance with Zheng Fa—the disciple had spotted the blind spot!

Yet this Tianhe Sect disciple's temper wasn't so tyrannical...

In the Five Dragon Heavenly Palace, Zheng Fa swallowed a Ning Yuan Pill.

After reaching Qi Refining eighth layer, he could condense his eighth Yuan Symbol.

He had already chosen—it would be the Great Dream Symbol.

It was a yang water-type spiritual symbol, simple in function—inducing dreams, even allowing limited control over another's dreams.

But its restrictions were severe.

Generally, Foundation Establishment cultivators struggled to control the dreams of Qi Refining cultivators.

But Zheng Fa intended to use this symbol to test the nature of ordinary people—it was perfect.

The Great Dream Symbol was soon condensed.

Zheng Fa picked up the Xuan Lei Stone and began cultivating the Five Thunder Body Scripture.

Beside him lay the half jade pendant; its silver glow flickered, as if accompanying him, or waiting.

Modern day, a nursing home.

Zheng Fa handed a book to Old White and the other man.

On the cover were three characters: "Spirit Eye Technique."

Old White glanced at the cover, raising an eyebrow: "Is this... a technique?"

"It's a technique."

Techniques were not popular in the Xuanwei Realm.

People preferred spiritual symbols, magic treasures, arrays, and other methods.

In the end, people always liked to take shortcuts.

Or rather, to make use of external tools.

It wasn't that techniques weren't wondrous—just that, aside from a few unique ones, ordinary techniques consumed too much spiritual energy for too little power.

With spiritual symbols or magic treasures, cultivators could harness greater heavenly forces with less spiritual power.

But that didn't mean the Xuanwei Realm had no techniques—in fact, every sect preserved their technique lineages.

On one hand, spells are the root of many things—for instance, many spirit talismans are closely tied to spells.

On the other hand, it is to cope with the decline of spiritual energy and the extinction of spirit materials.

In the end, you'll most likely end up blasting each other with spells.

The current dilemma of the retirement home lies in the fact that it's inherently a scene of declining spiritual energy.

So Zheng Fa only flipped through the Scripture Hall and dug out a few spells for the two old men.

Spirit Eye Spell—essentially the spell version of the Spirit Eye Talisman.

The first time Zheng Fa saw the glyph patterns in the void was when Zhang Shijie stuck a Spirit Eye Talisman on him.

He hoped the two old men would learn this first, so they could observe glyph patterns and perhaps make new discoveries.

"Spirit Eye Spell…" the old man touched the book, his eyes gleaming with eagerness: "Once mastered, how many layers can it see…"

"... ayers?"

"I mean… can it see through multiple layers?"

Tang Lingwumin silently covered her upper body and stepped back a few paces.

"Hey, I haven't even practiced this yet! Why are you guarding against me? Guard against Zheng Fa—he's definitely practiced!"

Hearing this, Tang Lingwumin thought it made sense and stepped even farther away from Zheng Fa.

"I haven't practiced it."

Tang Lingwumin sighed in relief.

"The Spirit Eye Spell only lets you see spiritual energy," Zheng Fa explained.

"Can't it see through things?"

"No."

The old man snorted, clearly unimpressed, his enthusiasm fading: "Then what's the point? You cultivators are nice people, but weirdly obsessed with privacy."

Tang Lingwumin, however, was quite pleased—and a little embarrassed—stepping a few paces closer to Zheng Fa.

She remembered her own "Void-Sight Spirit Eye" and the secret techniques Master Pang had passed down to her.

Zheng Fa suddenly felt his cheeks flush…

…

The old man could only sulk as he and Tang Lingwumin practiced and studied the Spirit Eye Spell together.

Suddenly, Zheng Fa's phone on the distant table rang.

He opened his eyes, slowly closed the "Mount Ling Scripture," and the two beside him—Tang Lingwumin and the old man—had to halt their cultivation.

Zheng Fa picked up the phone and looked at the incoming call notification.

"Old Chen?"

Zheng Fa raised an eyebrow, wondering why he was calling.

"Teacher Chen?"

"Hey, Zheng Fa, did you check your scores yet?"

"No."

Zheng Fa suddenly remembered—it was the day the Gaokao results were released.

He'd nearly forgotten himself.

"No?" Old Chen's tone first showed surprise, then surged with excitement: "You don't need to check—I know!"

"Mm."

Zheng Fa waited for Old Chen to tell him.

…

At Qing Shui Middle School, Old Chen stood in his office, phone in hand, excited.

He wasn't alone in the office.

Two school administrators and two officials from the education department were there too.

"You scored… the city's…" The word "Top Graduate" stuck in his throat, unspoken.

For years, regulations forbade promoting rankings, let alone announcing the Top Graduate.

Whispering it privately was fine, but with leaders present, Old Chen felt he had to show some discretion.

…

On the phone, Zheng Fa heard Old Chen stammer for a long time before saying:

"You got a rank I can't even bring myself to say!"

"?"