Chapter 215: Planting the Sun

The homestay owner drove along the mountain road, already regretting his decision.

This mountain road was already treacherous; one slip would send a person plummeting into the abyss, let alone now that the rain was intensifying, mist shrouding the mountains and obscuring the path ahead.

Although the windshield wipers worked tirelessly, all the way up, he had broken out in a cold sweat.

"Grandma, if I hadn't grown up in this place, that last turn would have been fatal!"

Gripping the steering wheel tightly, he spoke to his grandmother in the back seat.

"Didn't we not fall because Goddess Hongshan protected us?"

His grandmother seemed to hear the blame and complaint in his tone and refuted him with a ready argument.

The owner shook his head, unwilling to argue with his grandmother, and simply slowed the car down even more.

The two of them finally reached the Hongshan Niangniang Temple.

The temple was newly built, and parking was convenient; he followed his grandmother into the temple.

The statue inside was draped in gold and red, with kind eyes gazing down at the hall; the owner's grandmother knelt devoutly on the cushion, muttering prayers.

The owner looked at the rain falling harder outside; he no longer cared about business, only worrying about how to descend the mountain.

He heard his grandmother's prayers:

"Hongshan Niangniang, look at this heavy rain; only we came to see you, only we are thinking of you in our hearts."

"I don't ask for much."

"My grandson doesn't have a wife yet; Hongshan Niangniang, please be kind and find him a good marriage."

"Grandma!"

"Don't make noise! If you speak so loudly, Hongshan Niangniang will be angry." His grandmother hissed, then added, "His business is hard; I don't understand live streaming or anything like that. I don't ask for him to be rich and noble, just for him to live more easily, not so tired."

The homestay owner pressed his lips together.

"He hasn't enjoyed any fortune in his life; he is a filial child. His parents fell ill one after another, he had to return to care for them, delaying his work and marriage..."

"Now he has to support an old useless thing like me..."

"Grandma, why are you saying these things?" The owner said, slightly embarrassed: "Does Hongshan Niangniang care about all this?"

"Oh, there is one more thing." His grandmother ignored his words: "If my natural lifespan ends, may Hongshan Niangniang protect me to pass away cleanly and smoothly, without burdening this child anymore."

"Grandma!"

"Come here!" His grandmother stood up and said to him: "Pray again, work and marriage, say it a couple more times; if Hongshan Niangniang hears it often, she will remember."

The owner fell silent for a moment.

Suddenly, he knelt on the cushion, silently reciting in his heart:

"Protect my grandmother to live a long life of a hundred years."

He didn't think of anything else and stood up directly.

"So fast? Did you pray sincerely?" His grandmother muttered: "What did you pray for?"

"I have nothing to ask for." The owner smiled and said: "I don't believe in this anyway."

"You little turtle grandson!"

"Let's go down the mountain quickly! The rain is getting heavier!"

The owner helped his grandmother into the car.

The rain grew even heavier; the mountain road was dark and slippery, becoming even harder to traverse.

After driving for half an hour, the two of them were still wandering in the mountains.

Suddenly, an extremely bright lightning bolt struck the mountain peak right on target, thick and long.

The owner was blinded by the flash, startled, and slammed on the brakes, staring at the mountain top.

"What's wrong?" His grandmother asked from the back seat.

"Grandma... the rain has stopped."

"Stopped?"

The two of them looked up at the sky.

The clouds, thick as cotton quilts, had actually broken open a huge hole in the middle; sunlight poured down from the hole, exactly covering Goddess Hongshan.

Outside the mountain, the sudden rain and wild wind continued.

But on Goddess Hongshan, the wind had stopped and the rain had ceased.

"Hongshan Niangniang... has manifested her power!"

His grandmother shouted, trembling.

The owner stared with his mouth open at this scene, and his heart actually began to agree with his superstitious grandmother.

"I told you to say a few more words earlier!"

His grandmother said again.

"I said them." The owner stepped on the accelerator, heading out of the mountain while the rain had stopped: "Everything that needed to be said has been said."

"Truly amazing..."

Looking up at the sky, Bai Lao clicked his tongue in wonder.

"This cloud, rain, and thunder system is indeed very difficult." Tang Lingwu recorded beside him: "We have now summarized the three most useful trajectories."

"Moving clouds, spreading rain, and the Rain-Stopping Thunder just now; among them, spreading rain requires higher control over thunder techniques, while Rain-Stopping Thunder requires lower control but higher spiritual power."

Zheng Fa nodded.

After a period of experimentation, the cloud, rain, and thunder they had now organized was entirely from the perspective of lasers.

For example, moving clouds and spreading rain produce rainwater; the only difference is the strength of energy and the duration of time.

As for this thing called stopping rain, it is even more crude—completely using the heat generated by high-energy lasers to vaporize the water droplets in the clouds again and drive them away.

Just now, Zheng Fa used nearly one-tenth of his spiritual power, yet only dispersed the rain clouds over a single mountain peak.

Now, Zheng Fa has encountered two difficulties.

The first is that his precision in controlling rainwater has not yet reached the level of a hair's breadth.

The second is that he cannot use the Rain-Stopping Thunder on a large scale, and naturally, he cannot produce rainwater on a massive scale either.

Ultimately, both his ability to manipulate spiritual power and his total spiritual power reserves have not yet met the standard.

Xuanwei Realm.

The Jiushan Sect is now clearly in sight.

After telling a few people the difference between the new method and the old method, Han Lao left with Yan Wushuang, who was lost in thought.

Zhang Shijie also had not spoken deeply with Zheng Fa, seemingly digesting this astonishing fact.

Even Yuan Shijie, who was carrying them, seemed somewhat silent.

Only when they saw those familiar nine mountain peaks did Zhang Shijie speak to Zheng Fa: "What do you think of the Qingyang Dao Body now?"

She did not ask what Zheng Fa's choice was, as if she was already confident in her mind.

"One must not stop eating for fear of choking. I do not know Tianhe Zunzhe's train of thought regarding the new method." Zheng Fa pondered: "But if we wish to create another path, the current immortal techniques are also an important reference—after all, spiritual qi is external."

This was the point Zheng Fa had never been able to figure out:

Any discussion regarding immortal techniques actually has a major premise—

Spiritual qi is inherently external; Zheng Fa even now suspects that the rise and fall of spiritual qi is related to this fact.

What exactly did Tianhe Zunzhe create that made practitioners of the old method utterly intolerant?

Thinking of this, Zheng Fa suddenly had a thought:

Could this Tianhe Zunzhe be trying to completely localize this thing called spiritual qi?

This is a bit like the modern world, where one country invests in another, originally intending to reap profits and then withdraw.

But the invested country says no; the profits are there, but not only can you not take the profits away, you must also leave the principal behind...

The more Zheng Fa thought about it, the stranger his expression became.

Could this Tianhe Zunzhe have also run to the modern world?

Just that he ran to a place slightly south of where I went...

The Jiushan Ancestor is still the same—just in Zhang Shijie's appearance.

Zhang Shijie watched "herself" squatting on the ground, playing with ants on the ground using a withered branch, and her face turned black.

"Oh? You two came together?" The Jiushan Ancestor turned his head, saw the two, and said joyfully: "Do you two have another good idea?"

"This disciple has a matter to ask the Ancestor."

"To ask?"

The Jiushan Ancestor flicked the withered branch, clapped his hands, and said: "What matter?"

"Previously, this disciple was granted Qingyang Qi by the Ancestor, and now has cultivated the Qingyang Dao Body."

The Jiushan Ancestor nodded, Shen Shi Yi for him to continue.

"But now I am also cultivating the 'Shen Xiao Yulei Zhenfa'. Does the Ancestor know of this cultivation technique?"

"Of course I know; isn't your master cultivating this?"

"Now, there is a problem with this cultivation technique..."

Zheng Fa explained the matter of his thunder seed being replaced by that tender sprout.

The Jiushan Ancestor's expression was also somewhat blank; he thought for a moment and said: "This, I do not understand. Qingyang Qi... was actually prepared by the original body for himself."

"The original Ancestor?"

Zheng Fa still remembered that back then, this Jiushan Ancestor told him he was a split soul of the original Jiushan Ancestor, and the original Jiushan Ancestor had already merged with that Shanhe True Form Talisman.

"Yes, back then he thought of abandoning this Jiushan spiritual vein to change his foundation, and actually made many preparations." The Jiushan Ancestor explained: "Using Qingyang Qi to transform into the Qingyang Dao Body was one plan."

"So it seems the Qingyang Dao Body is indeed extraordinary..."

Zhang Shijie on the side said in a low voice.

Zheng Fa also nodded silently.

Zheng Fa did not know what cultivation level the original Jiushan Ancestor was at—but it must have been stronger than Nascent Soul.

Although the Jiushan Ancestor was a strange creature that had taken human form, he might inherently be more special than ordinary cultivators, making his strength hard to measure.

But one must know that the Jiushan spiritual vein he abandoned had nourished the Jiushan Sect for tens of thousands of years, and among them, more than one or two Nascent Souls were born.

Such a person could treat this Qingyang Qi as a treasure, even as a choice for reshaping his own foundation—this shows the Qingyang Dao Body is indeed extraordinary.

"As for the Qingyang Dao Body... the original body only heard a passage, seemingly handed down from ancient times, and felt this thing was a treasure..."

The Jiushan Ancestor frowned, as if pondering deeply, and slowly said:

"Purple Mansion Cave Heaven, Qingyang transforms into Qi. Master the registers of all immortals, open the beginning of the Dharma gate..."

He recited a passage, then seemed to forget the rest, scratching his ears and cheeks in extreme anxiety.

If he usually saw this expression on "Zhang Shijie's" face, Zheng Fa would have to appreciate Gu Yier, but at this moment he had no mind for it, and blankly continued:

"Purple Qi connects the city. Great compassion, great vow, great sage, great mercy. Qingyang starts the sect, Purple Mansion Donghua Di Jun..."

"Eh? You have heard this too?"

The Jiushan Ancestor asked in surprise.

Zheng Fa, lost in thought, said: "I have seen it..."

He saw it in the modern world.

This passage comes from the "Donghua Di Jun Bao Gao".

Before he came, he had specifically searched online for information about "Qingyang," and this very passage had appeared.

The Eastern Emperor Taiyi, also known as the Duke of the Eastern King.

In legend, the foremost male immortal of ancient times.

His alias—The Great Emperor of Fusang.

He looked at the spiritual sprout within his body; was this thing—the Fusang Tree?

Was he preparing to plant a sun?

"Junior Brother, what are you thinking?"

Zheng Fa shook his head; even to Sister Zhang, whom he trusted most, he did not know how to begin.

He had long known that the modern world and the Xuanwei Realm were closely related; physical laws and biological forms were identical.

When he first received the Divine Light of the Five Elements, Positive and Negative, granted by Heaven, he had felt a sense of familiarity; he had also searched and read some classics and runes passed down in the modern world.

Those things could only be described as seeming similar but actually different, offering no help for cultivation, so he could only keep such doubts in his heart.

But he never expected that now, from the mouth of the Jiushan Patriarch, he would hear words almost identical to those in the "Precious Hymn of the Eastern Emperor Taiyi"...