Chapter 257: A Confidant is Hard to Find, You Got it Wrong

Senior Sister Yuan is right—though Junior Uncle Huang is a Nascent Soul cultivator, to be honest, she is a very traditional Xuanwei Realm cultivator, or rather, an intuitive cultivator.

The kind who relies entirely on enlightenment for cultivation.

Zheng Fa's exchange with her was naturally not as smooth as with Senior Sister Zhang...

Thinking of this, Zheng Fa was momentarily stunned, but suddenly understood in his heart—

In the boundless expanse of Xuanwei, among billions upon billions of sentient beings, the one who could understand what he said and comprehend what he wanted.

Was only Senior Sister Zhang.

However...

That was enough.

"Senior Sister, look."

Zheng Fa pointed a finger, and a curtain of water appeared before the group; within the water curtain was the Sun and Moon Bell.

But what was different was that dozens of figures sat beside the Sun and Moon Bell, seated in meditation around the bell's body, seemingly contemplating the Sun and Moon Bell, or perhaps cultivating under its influence.

"What is this?"

"This is a scene I saw among the remnants left by the previous owner of the Heavenly Stele," Zheng Fa explained. "There is also some information within it, very chaotic..."

Senior Sister Zhang nodded, Shen Shi Yi for Zheng Fa to continue.

"The previous owner of the Heavenly Stele, I shall tentatively call him Huorong Tianzun," Zheng Fa organized his words; this Huorong Tianzun had been dead for who knew how long, and much information required him to guess and infer. "He seemed to be a cultivator who had survived the decline of spiritual energy, or rather, a great calamity of heaven and earth, and possessed a certain level of cultivation himself."

"But his rise to power was actually after obtaining this Sun and Moon Bell."

"Or rather, in what we call the Divine Dao Ma Jiyuan—many great powers were like this, obtaining the spiritual treasures of predecessors."

Speaking thus, Zheng Fa tapped the water curtain, and the Sun and Moon Bell within it suddenly became transparent, as if made of golden glass.

What made Senior Sister Zhang even more surprised was—

On the body of the bell, there were layers of complex patterns that looked extremely familiar.

"This is... composite talisman diagrams like the True Form Talisman of Shanhe?"

Senior Sister Zhang understood why Zheng Fa had spoken of this to her first; she frowned and murmured to herself, "If, as we said before, these composite talisman diagrams are actually a manifestation of spiritual intelligence—then..."

"Then this Sun and Moon Bell is likely alive..."

Zheng Fa said in a deep voice.

Junior Uncle Huang and the other beside him opened their mouths.

"I even feel that the method of Tianhe Zunzhe's innate spiritual treasure..." Zheng Fa said, "was modeled after this kind of Grotto-Heaven spiritual treasure."

"According to what Xiao Yuying said, holding a Grotto-Heaven spiritual treasure can allow one to escape the decline of spiritual energy..."

"Tianhe Zunzhe, perhaps for this very reason, developed the method of the innate spiritual treasure."

Zheng Fa carefully reviewed the techniques of these three eras in the Xuanwei Realm—Tianhe Zunzhe was naturally a genius, but it was impossible for him alone to perfect a technique that pointed directly to the Great Dao.

Moreover, the Tianhe Sect also possesses the Heavenly Stele Realm.

Furthermore, in the Xuanwei Realm, scientific research truly relies on archaeology.

"Then what are they doing?"

Senior Sister Zhang pointed at the dozens of people in the scene and asked.

"This is the flaw of the Divine Dao method."

Zheng Fa sighed lightly and spoke.

"Before, I was always puzzled as to why that Nether Nine Nether Demon Ancestor, upon entering this Heavenly Stele Realm, did not take away this Sun and Moon Bell."

"Is there a problem with this object?"

"The Divine Dao method... it is not Huorong Tianzun who cultivates, but this Sun and Moon Bell that cultivates..."

Zheng Fa sighed.

"At the beginning, I was wondering why the Heavenly Stele Realm needed us to nourish the people and perfect the Thunder Method."

"The Sun and Moon Bell?"

"Yes, the Sun and Moon Bell requires the power of incense and faith, so the population of the Heavenly Stele Realm is extremely important."

"It needs to perfect its own Dao and methods, so our perfection of the Thunder Method is also of great benefit to it."

"In that era, spiritual treasures like the Sun and Moon Bell had a special name—" Zheng Fa fell silent here, as if thinking of something.

"Hmm?"

"Treasures that suppress fortune."

Senior Sister Zhang listened, somewhat confused, not quite understanding the meaning behind this.

"Cultivators practicing the Divine Dao method have their strength determined by the power of their Grotto-Heaven spiritual treasures, and Grotto-Heaven spiritual treasures are in turn affected by the quantity of incense and faith; they are a trinity—so the major powers in the Divine Dao Ma Jiyuan often waged war against each other, plundering populations, essentially to enhance their Grotto-Heaven spiritual treasures."

"And the problem is, the growth of the spiritual treasure made Huorong Tianzun realize an issue—the more they cultivated the methods learned from the Sun and Moon Bell, the more they were awakening the original spiritual nature of the Sun and Moon Bell, and possibly even its previous owner."

"By the time he understood this, it was too late; he himself had long been controlled by the Sun and Moon Bell."

"All the cultivators in the Heavenly Stele Realm were actually merely nourishment for the Sun and Moon Bell."

Senior Sister Zhang slowly frowned and spoke:

"Then obtaining this Heavenly Stele Realm, it is unknown whether it is good or bad for you..."

Zheng Fa shook his head and said, "This matter... I actually have to thank the Nether Nine Nether Demon Ancestor."

"Hmm?"

"He attacked the Heavenly Stele Realm and fought a great battle with Huorong Tianzun, unexpectedly awakening Huorong Tianzun's original consciousness; Huorong Tianzun used himself as a price to obliterate the spiritual energy circuits on this Sun and Moon Bell—oh, they called them the Heavenly Dao Rules."

"This is why the Nether Nine Nether Demon Ancestor erected a stele for Huorong Tianzun, to show respect."

"Therefore, I suspect that the current Sun and Moon Bell is somewhat like Xuehe Laozu's state; even if it has spiritual intelligence, it is in a deep sleep, possessing only some instincts—even the emergence of the Heavenly Stele was one of its self-preservation methods."

"Then how do you plan to proceed?"

Zhang Shijie asked.

Zheng Fa's meaning was very clear: this Sun-Moon Bell was nearly equivalent to a slumbering great cultivator.

Even the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor harbored some dread toward this thing.

"I think we need to reference the new Tianhe methods."...

Zhang Shijie froze for a moment, then suddenly realized: "The Immortal-Slaying method?"

Zheng Fa nodded and said, "Tianhe Zunzhe also possesses a Heavenly Stele; on another note, he seems unaffected by this grotto-heaven treasure..."

He even had a conjecture—

This Tianhe Zunzhe probably made a habit of getting everything for free.

Getting spiritual energy for free was one thing, but this grotto-heaven treasure might have been obtained by him for free as well.

Zheng Fa's current circumstances indeed bore some resemblance to Tianhe Zunzhe back in the day; that could only mean he needed to probe this 'stone' known as Tianhe Zunzhe even more.

The cultivators of the Xuanwei Realm were truly quite miserable.

They stumbled upon an extraordinary treasure, only to find it was a trap.

In fact, he now felt that even the Demonic Sect methods likely possessed means to deal with this thing—in this regard, the cultivators of the Xuanwei Realm were surely searching high and low, and the Demon Ancestor clearly held great dread for it too.

It was just... who could have expected that the spiritual energy itself contained a trap.

Perhaps the various Demon Ancestors had met their downfall right here.

"The Immortal-Slaying method, I'm afraid, won't be so easy to obtain..."

Zhang Shijie reminded him.

"This matter can only be addressed later," Zheng Fa said, shaking his head. "Sister Zhang, however, I believe this thing holds great reference value."

Zhang Shijie suddenly understood and nodded, saying, "Yes, it will be very helpful for us to understand the Patriarch's state."

Zheng Fa then began to slowly recount to Zhang Shijie the books he had read in the modern world, one by one.

Although he was not particularly knowledgeable in this area, having read so many books, as he spoke, he surprisingly found himself gaining some insights.

Not to mention Zhang Shijie.

Meanwhile, Uncle Huang and Sister Yuan, listening nearby, couldn't help but lean against each other.

"So this is the kind of life you used to live?"

"..." Sister Yuan nodded.

"Then you have suffered greatly."

After finishing his discussion with Zhang Shijie, Zheng Fa woke up the drowsy Uncle Huang and Sister Yuan, and only upon walking out of the main hall did he see—

The Heavenly Stele Realm was already completely empty.

Zheng Fa suddenly had a realization: now that he had obtained the jade seal, unless he permitted it, others would find it extremely difficult to enter this Heavenly Stele Realm.

Uncle Huang seemed to have thought of this as well, and joy appeared in his eyes.

Regardless of the Sun-Moon Bell, the Jiushan Sect disciples within the Lei Chi now had a safe logistical base.

He led the two of them straight toward that medicinal garden.

The Sun-Moon Bell still stood in the center of the medicinal garden like a small hill.

Having heard Zheng Fa's conjectures regarding the Divine Path method, Sister Yuan and the other two now looked at the Sun-Moon Bell with some apprehension.

"Junior Brother, is it truly alive?"

"It probably possesses very little spiritual intelligence right now."

Zheng Fa said softly.

"Even so, it looks a bit frightening..." Sister Yuan muttered.

Having said this, he tapped his own jade seal, and sure enough, the various spiritual plants he had previously selected rapidly matured and fell before Zheng Fa.

Zheng Fa looked at this medicinal garden with some hesitation—

He was wondering whether he should ask Xiao Yuying to help him research the Spirit-Wood Lightning again.

Now Zheng Fa finally understood the importance of this lightning method to the Sun-Moon Bell: in the early years, Huorong Tianzun had personally erased the spiritual energy circuits on this Sun-Moon Bell, causing the item to lose much of its power.

Yet this spiritual treasure possessed an instinct for self-perfection.

Therefore, the perfection of the Spirit-Wood Lightning was essentially a process of the Sun-Moon Bell awakening.

Zheng Fa had to be cautious.

To be honest, Huorong Tianzun had left behind too little information; indeed, many things were merely conjectures.

After thinking for a moment, Zheng Fa suddenly reached out, sweeping a beam of Positive-Negative Five Elements Divine Light onto the bell's body.

The Sun-Moon Bell vibrated violently, as if suddenly awakening, and leaped into the sky.

"Junior Brother?"

Sister Yuan and Uncle Huang both grew tense.

The Sun-Moon Bell seemed to have singled out Zheng Fa; it flew toward him, stopped before him, and buzzed loudly.

"Hmm?" Zhang Shijie suddenly scratched her head and said, "This scene, why does it feel so familiar?"

Zheng Fa swept out another beam of Positive-Negative Five Elements Divine Light.

The Sun-Moon Bell trembled violently, suddenly tilted, and collapsed onto Zheng Fa's shoulder, appearing as if it wanted to rub against him repeatedly.

"..." Sister Yuan widened her eyes and murmured, "Isn't this just another one coming to compete for favor?"

Zheng Fa also fell silent; he was merely testing—although this Positive-Negative Five Elements Divine Light was his innate divine ability, he fundamentally could not fathom its true nature.

It was likely due to his cultivation level being too low.

If it were anything else, he would not have used the Positive-Negative Five Elements Divine Light to probe it, but since he knew so little about this thing, it was hard for him to feel at ease...

I didn't expect the Forward and Reverse Five Elements Divine Light to be so useful.

Watching the Sun-Moon Bell rubbing against his shoulder, Zheng Fa had a feeling—after being tossed around by Huorong Tianzun, this fellow's intelligence was likely pitifully low; it seemed... to have mistaken him for someone else.

Yuan Shijie, standing nearby, suddenly said, "Junior Brother, did you get it wrong?"

"..."

"This thing looks so worthless, yet you say it's powerful?"

(End of Chapter)