Chapter 256: Little Deification List, Remote Teaching

Uncle Huang continued, "The transmission talismans from Jiushan Sect have been arriving fewer and fewer each day, all just messages of safety, with no other news."

"I fear Senior Sister and the others are afraid of having them intercepted."

As Zheng Fa spoke these words, a bitterness also filled his heart.

He carried a belly full of books, yet at this moment did not know how to teach them to Senior Sister Zhang—

Those things, Uncle Huang might not understand; after all, she is merely a Nascent Soul.

But the enemy Jiushan Sect now faces is a Soul Transformation.

Perhaps some of those things, the enemy can understand; transmitting such knowledge via talismans is too risky.

"Some words on the talismans are also quite strange, even ordering us to return—I suspect someone is impersonating Senior Brother Yuan to send us messages."

Uncle Huang frowned and added.

Hearing this, Zheng Fa was startled again—though transmission talismans are basic, they contain the cultivator's soul and spiritual energy aura, making them hard to impersonate.

Especially impersonating one's own master, a Nascent Soul True Person.

"Uncle, can you not tell if this talisman is real or fake?"

Uncle Huang shook his head.

Zheng Fa's face looked a bit ugly; this problem was even greater.

"Then are Senior Sister Zhang and the others truly still safe?"

Senior Sister Yuan, having been clever for a rare moment, voiced Zheng Fa's hidden worry.

If those from the Demonic Sect and the Demon Clans can impersonate the Sect Master, then are these recent talismans of safety real or fake?

Uncle Huang sighed, "I sought aid everywhere these past few days, but no one was willing to help us..."

Zheng Fa was not surprised by this.

Uncle Huang had few friends to begin with; even if he truly had such close friends, with two Soul Transformations targeting Jiushan Sect, to stand up for Jiushan Sect, one must first see how much weight one actually carries.

"I also do not know what Senior Sister Zhang is like right now..."

Senior Sister Yuan said with some worry.

Jiushan Sect.

"Senior Brother, what are you doing?"

Uncle Pang said, looking at the busy Sect Master.

"Didn't you see? The world within a gourd! The next play!"

Sect Zhu Yuanzhang looked up at him once, then resumed adjusting the spiritual talisman in his hand.

"What time is this! Still plays, plays!"

Uncle Pang muttered.

"If you don't do it now, will you do it after you die?"

"..."

"I have already decided; this time I will be the protagonist!" Sect Zhu Yuanzhang said. "After I die, this play will be passed down, and future generations will remember me!"

"..."

"You are well off; the name Pang Qian has already lived on in the history of plays!"

"... Senior Brother, I still wish to live in reality." Uncle Pang held it back again and again, then spoke.

"Then you must go ask Senior Niece Zhang."

Hearing this, the Sect Master looked up at him once, then shook his head.

"Senior Niece Zhang..." Uncle Pang sighed. "These past few days, the solemnity on Senior Niece Zhang's face has grown greater each day..."

The Jiushan Ancestor, standing nearby, also gazed toward the peak of the Ninth Peak.

It seemed he wished to see how his own original body was faring.

After a while, Senior Sister Zhang slowly walked down from the peak; she also looked utterly exhausted, lacking even the spiritual energy to fly, so she could only descend the mountain on her two legs.

The Sect Master and Uncle Pang exchanged a glance, shook their heads at each other, then asked:

"Still no success?"

"No success..." Senior Sister Zhang said with a frown. "Actually, the things Senior Zheng Shidi taught me, I have only just begun to comprehend..."

"Then why did you return?"

Senior Sister Zhang shook her head. "Before I returned, I indeed had fifty percent confidence... I did not wish to perfect the Shanhe True Form Talisman, but rather to awaken the Ancestor. That is to say, I only wished to find a way to communicate with the Ancestor, to find an interface."

"..."

The Sect Master and Uncle Pang listened, utterly confused, as if they did not know what Senior Sister Zhang was talking about.

"But no matter how I transmitted the message, the Ancestor did not respond to me..."

As Senior Sister Zhang spoke, her brows furrowed.

After speaking for a while, seeing the two elders who were still confused, she sighed in disappointment: "If only Senior Zheng Shidi were here..."

The Sect Master and Uncle Pang exchanged a glance; in both their eyes, there was actually some... shame.

Zheng Fa had just selected the spiritual materials he needed in the Hundred Treasures Hall.

As his fingers had just left the jade wall, the golden seal before him suddenly floated in front of him.

Immediately, a gentle wind carried Zheng Fa and the other two flying into the main hall, whose doors stood wide open.

"This is..."

Uncle Huang, entering the main hall for the first time, looked tense, staring at the tombstone on the high platform.

"Uncle, do not panic; this must be my golden seal upgrading."

The three of them stared at the golden seal.

The seal originally bore a statue of a divine figure, a figure without a face.

At this moment, the blank face suddenly took shape—Zheng Fa's features appeared upon it.

Simultaneously, the tombstone upon the platform suddenly blazed with light.

The characters on the stele body glowed with golden light, slowly coalescing in midair into a scroll.

The original stele body shattered into specks of starlight, like fireflies flying upward, then settling before Zheng Fa and the others.

These starlight specks enveloped the golden seal, gradually merging into its body, transforming the seal into a solid jade form.

No sooner had the jade seal appeared than a beam of Jin Guang shot from the divine figure's eyes and struck Zheng Fa's forehead.

Zheng Fa had no time to dodge—he felt a sudden boom in his skull, and his vision abruptly changed.

He felt as if he had become another person, wandering aimlessly across land, as if searching for something. Later, he encountered a golden bell he recognized instantly.

Afterward, he used the golden bell to seize control of a domain, gaining the awe-inspiring prestige of ten thousand immortals paying homage, and grew arrogant with triumph.

Until the great calamity of heaven and earth arrived.

He became unlike himself—transformed into another, powerless, until he was killed.

These visions were extremely fragmented, and silent.

It left Zheng Fa somewhat bewildered.

Yet at the end, a message-like text suddenly appeared, leaving Zheng Fa in long silence; after a long while, he sighed:

"So that's how it was…"

"What do you mean, 'so that's how it was'?"

"It's complicated—there's no time to explain in detail."

Zheng Fa replied, then reached out and beckoned to the scroll in midair; it flew into his hand.

The scroll was blank, leaving Shijie Yuan and Shu Huang even more baffled.

"Zheng Fa? Can you now control the Heavenly Stele Realm?"

Zheng Fa shook his head gently: "I wouldn't say I control it—I'm probably just the successor to its previous master."

Shu Huang frowned: "Then can Jiushan Sect disciples enter the Heavenly Stele Realm for refuge?"

"Yes," Zheng Fa nodded. "Now I can control the gateway of this Heavenly Stele and the Lei Chi outside."

"Then isn't that enough?"

"But I still cannot move this Heavenly Stele."

Zheng Fa sighed.

Shu Huang froze, finally understanding why Zheng Fa showed no joy.

Their earlier best-case scenario had been that Zheng Fa could use the Heavenly Stele to move the Lei Chi, using it to crush Xuehe Laozu and Qingyun Dasheng.

If the Heavenly Stele couldn't be moved, they had no way to rescue Shijie Zhang and the others…

"The Heavenly Stele Realm—really, it's the artifact space of the Sun-Moon Bell…"

"Sun-Moon Bell?"

"Yes, the Sun-Moon Bell…" Zheng Fa explained. "That's the name left by the previous master of this Heavenly Stele Realm. To control this realm, I must refine the Sun-Moon Bell…"

"Is it hard?"

Zheng Fa nodded: "Hard. At least, impossible in the short term."

"Then… what about Jiushan Sect?"

Zheng Fa pulled out the scroll and unfurled it before them.

"This object was called by the previous master the Little Divine Ranking Scroll…"

"Why 'Little' Divine Ranking Scroll? Why not just Divine Ranking Scroll?"

Zheng Fa twitched his lips—this… was probably because the previous master had heard the same myths as he had.

"What's this thing good for?"

"Besides allowing disciples to enter the Heavenly Stele Realm for refuge, the Little Divine Ranking Scroll can store the essence and spiritual soul of twenty-four individuals—they will become immortals and gods within the Heavenly Stele Realm…"

Shu Huang listened, stunned, still confused: "What does that mean?"

"It means these twenty-four people, even if they die in the world before us, will continue to exist as gods within the Heavenly Stele Realm…"

Zheng Fa explained.

Hearing this, Shu Huang's gaze toward the Little Divine Ranking Scroll changed: "Undying? Immortal?"

"No, far from it. If someone breaks into the Heavenly Stele Realm, they become extremely vulnerable."

"… "

"On the other hand, once an essence and spiritual soul is inscribed on the Little Divine Ranking Scroll, life and death—lie entirely in my hands."

Shu Huang fell silent, then nodded: "Even so, this artifact is extraordinary."

Zheng Fa explained the Little Divine Ranking Scroll not to boast—he said: "Shu, when Shijie Zhang entered the Heavenly Stele Realm, she gave me a drop of her spiritual essence…"

"You mean… write Wu Yi's name on it?"

Zheng Fa nodded.

"That… could be a way to save her."

"But I fear Shijie Zhang won't want to be bound by anyone… once the name is written, it can never be removed…"

This thing was called the Little Divine Ranking Scroll—and it truly bore some traits of the Divine Ranking Scroll—

First, those on the scroll are nearly undying and immortal.

On the other hand, it also functions like a cage.

"Wu Yi's nature? She'd rather die than be controlled. For others, I'd never allow it—but you…" Shu Huang looked deeply at Zheng Fa. "Do you think yourself unworthy of her entrusting her life to you? Or will you use this to threaten her?"

"Do you not trust yourself, or do you not trust her trust in you?"

Zheng Fa paused, then suddenly smiled. The refined blood and soul of Shijie Zhang flew from his hand, and on a blank scroll, the three characters Zhang Wuyi slowly appeared.

"Eh?"

A phantom figure flew out from the scroll and landed before the three of them.

It was exactly Shijie Zhang's appearance.

"Zheng Shidi?"

She looked again at Shushu Huang and Shijie Yuan beside her and said:

"Master? Junior Sister Yuan? This is..."

Zheng Fa explained the function and limitations of the Small Canonization List to Shijie Zhang.

After hearing this, Shijie Zhang seemed unmoved; she simply turned and said, "Zheng Shidi, I actually have some doubts I wish to discuss with you."

Zheng Fa paused, then suddenly realized this Canonization List could be used for online classes!

"Shijie Zhang, I also have a belly full of books I wish to share with you!"

"However, Shijie Zhang, there is some information in this jade seal that I would like to tell you first..."

Shushu Huang, standing aside, paused and muttered, "Didn't you say it was too complex to explain in detail?"

Shijie Yuan, having much experience, said, "Shushu, sometimes—whether something is complex or not depends on the person."

Shushu Huang: "..."

(End of this chapter)