Chapter 163: Performance

The new marketplace was built quickly.

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 Zizaimo Sect 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 entering 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 mainly due to strong demands from Jiushan Sect disciples working in external affairs.

The inner three rings were shops, mostly rented to sects of the Baixian 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, the natural way people called it.

"Just from rent, we earn three thousand spirit stones a month," Zheng Fa thought for a moment.

"More than our Jiushan Sect marketplace?"

Master Pang knew well the income of the Jiushan Sect marketplace—totaling barely over a thousand spirit stones a month from rent and taxes combined.

"It could be even more."

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

Master Pang glanced up too and softly clicked 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—entering it puts you at a disadvantage."

Zheng Fa explained.

"It does," Master Pang said, somewhat resigned: "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 ones who value life the most—and yet value it the least," 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 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 anyway—just don't provoke your opponents."

"… I always get along well with 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 Yang Shixiong and others were patrolling the marketplace, checking for possible 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 straight 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 the current fashion in the Xuanwei Realm.

But Yang Shixiong spoke up: "Isn't that a Tianhe Sect disciple?"

"Tianhe Sect?"

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

Tianhe Zunzhe.

Xuanweiwu Sect.

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

"Yes, only they wear that outfit."

"Why?"

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

Understood—professional cosplayer!

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

……a professional COSER who plays monopolies!

This Tianhe Sect disciple also seemed to carry the pride of a great sect; he ignored the murmurs around him, as if utterly accustomed to them.

He walked slowly into the marketplace, not even glancing at stalls selling cheap goods, heading straight for the shops inside.

He was generous and decisive in his spending; soon he bought many pills and magical artifacts, then turned to leave.

From the moment he entered the marketplace to when he prepared to depart, no more than an incense stick's time had passed.

It was clear he was a man of impatience.

The more he acted this way, the more reverent others' glances became toward him—after all, a great sect background, spending so freely, combined with obvious arrogance and impatience.

Just hearing him made one feel he was hard to provoke.

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

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

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

"... Probably. Aside from the Heavenly Stele, I can't think of anything else that would draw a person like him."

"But… doesn't the Tianhe Sect already have one Heavenly Stele for contemplation?" a newly initiated young disciple frowned. "Why did he come all this way? Could it be because he couldn't… ugh—!"

Zheng Fa watched the man pause for a step, then slowly walk away.

Senior 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 quite so tyrannical…

…

In the Five Dragon Celestial Palace, Zheng Fa swallowed a Ningyuan Pill.

After reaching Qi Condensation Eighth Layer, he could condense his eighth Yuan Fu.

He had already chosen—he would now condense the Great Dream Fu.

It was a yang water-element spiritual fu, and its effect was simple—it could induce dreams, even partially control another's dreams.

But this Yuan Fu had severe limitations.

Generally, Foundation Establishment cultivators found it hard to control the dreams of Qi Condensation cultivators.

But Zheng Fa intended to use this fu to test the nature of mortals; this fu was perfectly suited.

The Great Dream Fu was soon condensed.

Zheng Fa picked up the Xuanlei Stone and began practicing the Five Thunder Body Technique.

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 Bai Lao and the other man.

On the book's cover were three characters: "Lingyan Fa."

Bai Lao glanced at the cover and raised an eyebrow: "This is… a technique?"

"It's a technique."

Techniques were not very popular in the Xuanwei Realm.

People preferred using spiritual fus, magical artifacts, arrays, and other methods.

In the end, people always liked to take shortcuts.

Or rather, to make good use of tools.

It's not that techniques aren't wondrous, but except for a few unique ones, ordinary techniques consumed too much spiritual energy and delivered weak power.

By using spiritual fus or magical artifacts, cultivators could leverage greater heavenly forces with less spiritual energy.

But that doesn't mean the Xuanwei Realm lacks techniques; on the contrary, every sect preserves their technique lineages.

On one hand, techniques are the origin of many things—many spiritual fus are closely tied to techniques.

On the other hand, they're preserved to cope with spiritual decline and the extinction of spiritual materials.

In the end, they'll likely have to fight each other with techniques alone.

The nursing home's current predicament lies in its innate state of spiritual decline.

So Zheng Fa had to rummage through the Scripture Hall and pulled out some techniques for Bai Lao and the other man.

Lingyan Technique—essentially the technique version of the Lingyan Fu.

When Zheng Fa first saw the void's fu diagrams, it was because Senior Zhang had stuck a Lingyan Fu on him.

He hoped Bai Lao and the other man would learn this first, so they could observe the fu diagrams and perhaps make new discoveries.

"Lingyan Technique…" Bai Lao stroked the book, his eyes gleaming with eagerness: "Once mastered, how many layers can you see…?"

"... Layers?"

"I mean… how many layers can you see through?"

Tang Lingwu 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 it!"

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

"I haven't practiced it."

Tang Lingwu exhaled in relief.

"Lingyan Technique only lets you see spiritual energy," Zheng Fa explained.

"Not see through?"

"Right."

Bai Lao snorted, looking slightly disdainful; his enthusiasm faded: "Then what's the point? You cultivators are nice people, but oddly obsessed with privacy."

Tang Lingwu was quite happy, even a bit embarrassed, and took a few steps toward Zheng Fa.

She recalled her "Void-Piercing Spirit Eye" and the several secret techniques Master Pang had passed on to her.

Zheng Fa suddenly felt his face grow hot...

Old Bai could only sullenly cultivate alongside Tang Lingwu while also studying the Spirit Eye Technique.

Suddenly, the mobile phone Zheng Fa had left on a distant table began to ring.

He opened his eyes and slowly put away the "Spirit Mountain Art"; Tang Lingwu and the other person beside him had to interrupt their cultivation as well.

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

"Old Chen?"

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

"Teacher Chen?"

"Hello? Zheng Fa, did you check your scores?"

"No."

Zheng Fa suddenly realized; it was already the day the college entrance exam results were released.

He had almost forgotten about it.

"No?" Old Chen's voice on the other end first showed a hint of surprise, then was replaced by intense excitement: "You don't need to check; I know!"

"Mm."

Zheng Fa waited for Old Chen to tell him.

Inside the office at Qingshui Middle School, Old Chen stood holding his phone, looking somewhat excited.

He was not the only one in the office.

There were two school leaders, plus two people from the education department.

"You scored the city's..." The word "top scorer" stuck in his throat; he did not say it.

In recent years, regulations had forbidden promoting rankings, let alone boasting about the top scorer.

If it were a private conversation, it would be one thing, but now, with the leaders present, Old Chen felt he needed to show some political awareness.

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

"You achieved a ranking that I find hard to bring up!"

"?"