Chapter 92: Yin and Yang

Zhang Shijie sat in the main hall, while Han Qi stood below.

Han Qi kept his head bowed, eyes fixed on the ground, not daring to look at Zhang Shijie at all.

It seemed that upon entering this place, the courage he had gathered along the way vanished from him.

"What business do you have with me?"

But Zhang Shijie was not one to waste time, and she asked directly.

"Reporting to Shijie, per your instructions, I took Zheng Shidi today to collect his life tablet and cultivation technique."

Zhang Shijie nodded slightly, listening as he continued.

"Zheng Shidi selected the 'Five Thunders Dharma Body' from the Scripture Pavilion."

Hearing this, Zhang Shijie fell into a brief silence, then suddenly said, "You came all this way just to tell me this?"

"Yes!" Han Qi, head still lowered, spoke in a slightly quiet voice: "Although the 'Five Thunders Dharma Body' is profound, no one has successfully cultivated it in a thousand years..."

"Mm."

"I just thought..."

"That I should persuade Zheng Shidi?"

"Yes; if Zheng Shidi is confident, that is fine, but I fear he is young and impetuous."

Zhang Shijie stared at Han Qi for a long time, as if pondering something.

"Han Shidi," she suddenly addressed him as such, and began, "You are not that kind of person."

"Shijie?"

"You entered my Jiushan Sect fifty years ago; you possess dual spiritual roots, your talent in the Path of Talismans is average, you hail from a small clan, you often loiter in the market towns, and you engage in petty scams and deceitful trades..."

Han Qi raised his head, surprise written on his face, clearly not expecting Zhang Shijie to know so much about him.

Zhang Shijie continued, "You schemed everywhere, eventually placing yourself under Junior Brother Yuan; hmm, your reputation is not good."

"Yes..."

"Han Shidi, you are not someone who cares so deeply about a junior brother who has just joined the sect."

"... He gave me ten taels of gold."

"Mm?"

A rare look of confusion appeared on Zhang Shijie's face.

"Shijie, with your extraordinary talent, you do not know the hardships of us low-level cultivators; those I have encountered in the immortal sect are all bullies who exploit their power and pluck feathers from every goose that passes..."

"Just for that?"

Zhang Shijie asked, frowning.

"Shijie may not know that I am already preparing to leave the immortal sect and spend the rest of my life among the mortals," Han Qi said, head bowed. "Shijie only knows I was born into a small clan; you do not know that my parents have long since passed away, and there are no close relatives left within the clan."

"..."

"It sounds laughable; I have had an extremely difficult time in Jiushan Sect, one could say I spent decades here cursing it for decades, yet in the end, I discovered that the only place I can consider home is right here."

For the first time, Han Qi's eyes looked directly at Zhang Shijie.

"Since Shijie values Zheng Shidi so much, he will surely become a great figure in the future," Han Qi said, looking at the ten taels of gold in his hand, then suddenly smiling. "I just thought, if Jiushan Sect had more great figures like Zheng Shidi in the future, perhaps my past few decades would not have been so hard."

Looking at his face, which seemed slightly embarrassed, Zhang Shijie's gaze suddenly softened.

"... Perhaps it is because I am about to leave that I realized I still hope for Jiushan Sect's well-being."

Zhang Shijie nodded gently, and only after a long while did she speak: "I already know about this matter; you need not worry too much."

Han Qi cupped his hands and respectfully took his leave.

Only after his figure gradually disappeared beyond the gate did a young girl's voice suddenly ring out: "Tsk, tsk, this Zheng Shidi is quite capable of winning people over; clearly, this person is mine, yet in just a few days, he has someone worrying about this and that for him."

As the voice faded, a young woman of fifteen or sixteen emerged from a side door behind the hall, rubbing against Zhang Shijie's arm and leaning beside her.

"Yours? He has never even seen you," Zhang Shijie gently retorted. "He doesn't even know whether you are male or female."

The young girl shook her head and snorted, saying, "Shijie, you don't actually believe him, do you?"

"Not entirely," Zhang Shijie replied, her gaze drifting toward the night sky outside. "But this person is not so foolish as to dare lie to my face."

"Mm..."

"Half sincerity, and half likely an attempt to curry favor upon seeing how much I value Zheng Fa—this person is accustomed to scheming," Zhang Shijie said, gently pushing away the young girl's hand reaching for her shoulder.

"This person actually came for you, Shijie?"

The young girl paused, then suddenly understood; who cares about some Zheng Shidi when one can get in front of Zhang Shijie!

"As long as there is that half of sincerity in his words, I can tolerate him."

"It is also because you, Shijie, value that Zheng Fa too much."

"Is someone feeling resentful?"

"Of course! A disciple who has just entered the sect, and Shijie gives him a monthly subsidy of two sticks of spiritual ink and one hundred sheets of talisman paper; this is a treatment reserved only for instructors of the Talisman Method Pavilion!" the young girl muttered. "Among so many talisman masters in our Jiushan Sect, who does not lack these? Who is not envious? I think Zheng Fa's days within the sect will not be easy."

Zhang Shijie's expression did not change.

"Shijie, I know it is because your Jin Dan lacks something regarding the Talisman Method that you value talent in the Path of Talismans so much... but others do not know this, nor do they know whether this Zheng Fa can withstand it."

"I have told him."

"Mm?"

"This is tempering," Zhang Shijie said.

"... Are you sure you really made it clear?" the young girl looked at her suspiciously. "Shijie, you need to fix this habit of speaking too little."

Zheng Fa had no knowledge of what had transpired in Zhang Shijie's courtyard.

He was throwing his whole heart and soul into cultivation!

How could he have the mind to worry about Senior Sister Zhang or Senior Han Shidi?

Sitting in his room with his five hearts facing the sky, eyes closed in deep meditation, he adjusted his consciousness and breath according to the contents of the first layer of Qi Cultivation in the Crimson Firmament Technique.

Why was the Crimson Firmament Technique so safe? Besides generating neutral and peaceful spiritual power, it was simply because it spoke in plain human language.

Its annotations were detailed, accompanied by illustrations, leaving little room for ambiguity.

Compared to the Spirit Crane Body, it appeared far more friendly to newcomers.

Although he had just obtained this book, Zheng Fa could already roughly understand the cultivation method of this first layer.

With his breathing, a strange power seemed to enter his meridians from the air, transforming into a current of qi carrying a warm sensation.

This differed from the qi force of the Spirit Crane Body; that force was actually self-generated within his body, whereas this power came entirely from the outside—this must be the spiritual energy spoken of in the Xuanwei Realm.

The spiritual energy gradually began to circulate steadily through his meridians along the path of the Great Zhou Tian, and a surge of joy rose in Zheng Fa's heart; this was the sign of successfully entering the door of the Crimson Firmament Technique!

Just as he could not resist the urge to open his eyes, the spiritual energy suddenly rushed up to his Niwan Palace; he felt only a slight tremor in his head, and his consciousness seemed to enter a gray, chaotic space.

Within this space lay a jade pendant of Yin and Yang fish.

On the pendant, the Yin fish and Yang fish merged and flowed together; within the eye of the Yin fish, a short-haired youth whose face was identical to his own sat hugging his knees, sleeping like an infant.

As if noticing his gaze, the youth gently opened his eyes and met his stare.

Then, a memory both familiar and strange appeared in Zheng Fa's mind—it was precisely the memory from his modern world before his parents had passed away.

The elementary and middle school knowledge contained within made Zheng Fa want to curse:

"You didn't come when I scored single digits in middle school exams."

"You didn't come when I stayed up late every night memorizing books."

"You still didn't come when I was starving to death on the farm."

"Now that I've become a top scholar, entered an immortal sect, and am flourishing in both study and cultivation, only then do you arrive—"

"You really know how to pick your timing!"