Chapter 166: Behind the Scenes

Zheng Fa walked through the market, conducting his final major shopping spree before entering the Lei Chi.

The information in the jade slip given by Pang Shishu was extremely detailed; some words even bore Pang Shishu's own tone—this indicated that Pang Shishu had not simply lain flat and played games, but had already been to the Lei Chi.

The Lei Chi, according to Pang Shishu, was a place where the laws of heaven and earth had mutated—

That is to say, the Lei Chi had different rules from other places in the Xuanwei Realm.

Combining what the jade slip stated, there were three greatest differences:

First, the power of Thunder Arts increased greatly, while the power of non-Thunder Arts weakened significantly; Pang Shishu had a guess in the jade slip—he had observed with the Void-Seeing Spiritual Eye that the spiritual energy attributes near the Lei Chi differed from other places, which might be due to the Thunder Dao Heavenly Stele.

But on the other hand, casting Thunder Arts was also more dangerous; regarding talismans, the Lei Fu was considered the most unstable type, and even more so within the Lei Chi.

If you were not careful, the heavenly thunder you summoned would boom and kill you yourself.

Finally, the most headache-inducing thing was that this place targeted divine sense specifically.

The jade slip stated that once a divine sense above the Foundation Establishment stage was exposed in the Lei Chi, it would attract a Lei Jie—like a human lightning rod.

Similarly, because spiritual power contained divine sense, overly strong spiritual power would also be sanctioned.

This caused cultivators of high cultivation to be severely restricted within the Lei Chi.

Pang Shishu summarized in the jade slip:

"In the Lei Chi, cultivators above Jin Dan are indeed restricted, but cultivators below Foundation Establishment actually face greater danger to their lives... According to my observation, those who can endure long in the Lei Chi must be people who hide their sharp edges and act low-key."

Zheng Fa partially agreed with Pang Shishu's words—

Under the condition of restricted divine sense, the possibility of being ambushed increased greatly, so someone would definitely try to use this environment to deal with their enemies.

On the other hand, this thing called the Lei Chi was like a fire extinguisher; whoever acted arrogant would be extinguished.

He was entering the Lei Chi merely to use it to train his body; being low-key was indeed the way of the king.

Zheng Fa first bought many necessary pills:

Ningyuan Dan, this was to reserve for condensing the Yuan Yuan Dan.

Grain Bigu Dan; Zheng Fa had rarely eaten this kind of pill before, but there was no spiritual grain in the Lei Chi either, so he could only make do.

There was also the Zengqi Wan, a pill for the Qi Refining stage—its effect was very single-minded: supplying spiritual energy and increasing cultivation.

In this era, buying Zengqi Wan to cultivate was a very luxurious thing.

This pill was not expensive; one spirit stone could buy three pills... well, it was a bit expensive.

But Zheng Fa counted as an absolute big spender among Qi Refining disciples; in these few months, he had income from Han Qi and the other two selling talismans, plus revenue sharing from the play, plus the wages of the market manager.

Even after deducting cultivation expenses, he had accumulated over one hundred spirit stones.

But using Zengqi Wan to cultivate required one pill a day; a month meant ten spirit stones.

Zheng Fa bought a month's worth at once, feeling quite pained.

After buying the pills, Zheng Fa arrived at the Hundred Treasures Tower—a weapon shop opened by the Zhongyue Sect of the Baixian Alliance.

The Zhongyue Sect was also one of the Upper Nine Sects of the Baixian Alliance, famous throughout the Baixian Alliance for manufacturing weapons.

Of course, compared to other weapon shops, the prices of weapons in this shop were enough to match its reputation...

The center of the first floor of the Hundred Treasures Tower was left empty for a large area.

In the middle stood three small boats.

A circle of cultivators surrounded them, all pointing and talking about these three small boats, all looking very tempted, yet few placed orders.

The shop assistants were not in a hurry; they stood smiling on the side, not shouting, seeming not to fear that no one would buy.

They indeed were not afraid of failing to sell.

This small boat was named the Du'e Zhou, extremely popular in the Lei Chi market.

Zheng Fa came here also for this Du'e Zhou.

The Du'e Zhou was a Yellow-grade weapon; according to the classification of the Xuanwei Realm, weapons could be roughly divided into four grades: Heaven, Earth, Mystery, and Yellow; above that were the terms for magical treasures and spiritual treasures.

As a Yellow-grade weapon, the Du'e Zhou's function was relatively single-minded—

It had certain movement capabilities.

It also had certain protective capabilities.

It didn't even count as a younger brother in the Five Dragon Heavenly Palace.

But this weapon had one benefit—its protection against Thunder Arts was relatively strong, and controlling it only required Qi Refining cultivation.

Therefore, the Du'e Zhou was very popular in the Lei Chi market.

Even the price had risen with the tide.

Zheng Fa heard that in other markets, this Du'e Zhou was only around fifty spirit stones.

But here—seventy spirit stones!

The Zhongxuan Sect was truly ruthless!

After buying the pills, Zheng Fa had only seventy spirit stones left to his name.

The frugal habits cultivated since childhood made Zheng Fa truly reluctant to part with it.

But this thing concerned his safety in the Lei Chi, so Zheng Fa still made up his mind.

He looked around at the surrounding cultivators, did not act immediately, but walked outside the shop, found Yang Shixiong patrolling the market, and asked him to help order one for him.

"Junior brother, what are you doing?"

"Senior brother, after all, I am only of Qi Refining cultivation..."

Zheng Fa explained to Yang Shixiong; he intended to be low-key, and although Yang Shixiong was of Foundation Establishment cultivation and spending dozens of spirit stones was a large sum, it would not attract major trouble.

"Junior brother, your nature..." Yang Xiu paused for a moment, seemingly looking for a gentle adjective: "is quite unlike Shijie Zhang!"

Zheng Fa translated in his heart:

You are such a coward!

Soon, Yang Shixiong had ordered a Du'e Zhou in the Hundred Treasures Tower.

Zheng Fa saw with his own eyes that when he went in, he had a somewhat self-conscious expression, as if he felt he was meddling.

When he came out, however, he was beaming with joy.

Behind him followed many female cultivators, shoving sachets and handkerchiefs into his hands...

By the time he handed the Du'e Boat to Zheng Fa, there was still a faint scent of powder on him, and a silly smile on his face.

【64】 "Junior brother, if you have such matters again in the future, come find me!"

"Junior Brother, if you have such matters again in the future, come find me!"

Yang Shixiong said eagerly.

"Senior brother..." Zheng Fa watched him carefully store each of those sachets and handkerchiefs into his storage bag and couldn't help but remind him, "Those women who came for spirit stones are likely of ill intent."

"It's fine; I didn't have good intentions either," Yang Shixiong said, waving his hand.

"?"

"Besides, I have no money!"

Zheng Fa couldn't help but bow his hands in respect, actually feeling that this senior brother possessed quite a bit of great wisdom.

Only after entering Lei Chi did Zheng Fa understand why the Du'e Boat was so popular—

He had once seen scenes of shipwrecks in modern videos:

Dark clouds obscured the sky, and wild winds whipped up towering waves. Placed within such a scene, one would not only feel helpless but also feel as if one were the sole being between heaven and earth, adding to the despair.

Now, this very scene lay before Zheng Fa's eyes.

The thunderclouds in the sky were already enough to weigh heavily on one's heart.

The waves at the boat's base surged violently; upon closer inspection, the white foam was actually bursts of lightning, while the blue torrents were writhing thunder-snakes.

Without the Du'e Boat, Zheng Fa would certainly have to withstand this rolling Lei Ting with his physical body.

Although he had practiced the Five Thunder Divine Body, granting him extreme resistance, facing these forces with his flesh would inevitably consume his spirit and mind.

But with the Du'e Boat, most of the Lei Ting could be blocked by it, making things much easier for him.

For a moment, he even felt that spending those seventy spirit stones was somewhat worthwhile...

Especially when he saw others scrambling to deal with the Lei Ting coming from all directions, he couldn't help but feel a genuine sense of satisfaction.

Zheng Fa followed the map given by Zhang Shijie, slowly advancing through Lei Chi.

Silver light flickered in his eyes as he used the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye to observe the surroundings.

Once any conflict arose, he would keep his distance—just as Zheng Fa had previously thought, conflicts in Lei Chi were indeed not few, with magical duels occurring everywhere.

After walking through Lei Chi for seven or eight days, the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye detected another disturbance of spiritual energy; it seemed people were fighting.

Zheng Fa originally intended to pilot the Du'e Boat away.

However, a few very familiar black shadows caused Zheng Fa to halt the boat's bow; he frowned and looked toward that place. After a long while, he slowly piloted the Du'e Boat forward.

Those black shadows just now were someone casting the Heavenly Demon Shadow of Absolute Death...

This was the supreme art of the Great Zizaimo Sect, which Zheng Fa had witnessed on Lin Lin Bu Fan.

And Zhang Shijie had disappeared during a conflict with the Great Zizaimo Sect.

Zheng Fa slowly approached; relying on the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye, he spotted the two conflicting parties from a great distance.

One side was those casting the Heavenly Demon Shadow of Absolute Death; they should be disciples of the Great Zizaimo Sect.

The other side Zheng Fa also recognized—that disciple of the Tianhe Sect.

He stood alone in the void, facing several people by himself, yet a faint, elusive smile hung on his face.

He seemed to care nothing for the disadvantage in numbers.

What made Zheng Fa somewhat concerned was that there was a third party in the scene whom neither side had noticed.

A person was lurking outside the spiritual sense of this group, also gazing toward the site of the conflict between the two sides, with most of his gaze fixed on those disciples of the Great Zizaimo Sect.

Judging by his back, this was actually an acquaintance as well—

The former true disciple of Jiushan Sect, the former covert agent of the Great Zizaimo Sect, the favorite of the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor—Chen Ting.

Watching him stare fixedly at those disciples of the Great Zizaimo Sect, ready to strike at any moment, Zheng Fa inexplicably thought of Uncle Pang's teachings...

His own master truly had the wisdom to recognize talent.

He immediately saw that this Chen Ting had deeply inherited Uncle Pang's true teachings!

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but stop behind that Chen Ting, watching the development of the situation in the arena.

"Disciples of the Great Zizaimo Sect?" That Tianhe Sect disciple spoke up: "You lot have been cowardly turtles for tens of thousands of years; today you actually dare to ambush me here?"

"... We are pursuing and killing others; we are not ambushing you."

Those few disciples of the Great Zizaimo Sect exchanged glances and actually spoke up to explain.

Hearing this, Zheng Fa couldn't help but look at Chen Ting again.

"No matter; today I will emulate our Ancestor and slay demons and evil, clearing the universe!" That Tianhe Sect disciple seemed to care nothing for these people's explanations; a broad sword appeared in his hand.

Those few disciples of the Great Zizaimo Sect could only stand on high alert.

If one were to speak of who holds a hatred as deep as the sea against the Demon Gate, the Tianhe Sect would certainly rank among them.

They have been fighting until it became a habit!

Zheng Fa saw Chen Ting's shoulders relax slightly, as if he felt his scheme of diverting the disaster eastward had succeeded.

The broad sword before that Tianhe Sect disciple transformed into a deep blue rainbow light shooting straight into the sky, slashing down from above his head directly toward those few people of the Great Zizaimo Sect.

Above those few people's heads, a black auspicious cloud faintly appeared; within the cloud, a demon god with a blurred face extended both hands, attempting to block this sword light.

Who knew that this sword light suddenly flashed, slashing directly toward Chen Ting's direction.

"Yan Xiaoxiao, how dare you secretly plot against me?"

The demon god above those few people's heads, holding up both arms, looked somewhat dazed.

Chen Ting... was even more dazed.

Zheng Fa... Zheng Fa hid even farther away.

The Xuanwei Realm has so many tricks!