Chapter 292: Transcendence into Sainthood Zhang Jiuzhen! Zhongnan Mountain's First Expert

The suddenly quiet air, like the teasing of fate, brought memories Zhang Fan had never possessed, and the shock in his heart exhausted all his strength.

"When my mother gave birth to me, why were you beside her?"

Zhang Fan's expression was strange, murmuring softly, unable to help but re-examine this youngest Three Tian Shi of Zhongnan Mountain before him.

"I have a fellow-disciple friendship with your mother. When she was young, she once stole... learned arts in Zhongnan Mountain."

Ye Beichen whispered in a low voice, but still didn't solve the mystery for Zhang Fan.

"Then when my mother gave birth to me, what was my dad doing?" Zhang Fan couldn't help but ask.

Ye Beichen's expression tightened, his eyelids lifted slightly, he looked deeply at him, and spat out two words from his mouth.

"Killing!"

When Zhang Fan heard this, his heart turned cold, but his blood boiled warm, unable to help but think of what Bai Yujing had once told him.

"He encountered a great change when he was young, his relatives were all lost, his bloodline collapsed, from then on drifting in other lands, almost dying and returning to life, the slaughter he suffered was more than the road you walked..."

"You don't remember..."

Ye Beichen's gaze was like a divine reflection, looking at Zhang Fan faintly, saying a nonsensical sentence for no reason.

"How would I remember?" Zhang Fan was stunned, his expression becoming even stranger.

At that time, he was still busy rushing to this world, not yet born, how could he remember?

"Do you know when you were born?" Ye Beichen changed the subject and suddenly said.

"The ninth day of the ninth month!" Zhang Fan naturally remembered his birthday.

"The ninth day of the ninth month, the double-nine Chongyang..."

Ye Beichen murmured softly, his gaze unfocused, but a trace of reminiscence surged.

"The day you were born, many people were there, and many people died, many people..."

"Hmm?" Zhang Fan raised his eyelids slightly, revealing a different color.

"Red blood dyed the river, human heads piled like mountains..."

"Hmm!?"

"Your mother, such a bright person, really shouldn't have entrusted herself to Zhang Lingzong..."

Ye Beichen twisted his fingers, actually making a sound of thunder, making Zhang Fan's heart jump.

"Senior, that is our family's business."

Zhang Fan took a deep breath, bit the bullet, and gritted his teeth.

No matter what Ye Beichen's cultivation and status were, concerning his own father and mother, he would not allow others to speak.

Especially Zhang Lingzong, as a father, as a husband, he was worthy of this family.

"Your family!?"

These three words seemed like a sharp blade piercing the softest part of Ye Beichen's heart. He seemed like an outsider, his eyes revealing a trace of trance and loneliness.

"Your mother suffered a lot following Zhang Lingzong... the South Zhang lineage has withered to this point. Among the fourth-generation disciples, besides you two, who else is left?" Ye Beichen said coldly.

Zhang Lingzong encountered a great change in his clan when he was young, the South Zhang was destroyed, overnight like winter water and cold ice, from then on drifting in the rivers and lakes, blood rain and wind.

Li Linglong followed him, naturally licking blood from the edge of a knife, suffering a lot.

Today, the South Zhang lineage has long since become history. Among the fourth-generation disciples, besides Zhang Fan, there is only one Zhang Sheng left.

"Transcendence into sainthood... transcendence into sainthood..."

"That brother of yours is worthy of the word 'saint'."

"If it weren't for him back then, you wouldn't have survived, how could you have been born into the world smoothly?"

Ye Beichen's language was cold, telling a past event.

Zhang Fan listened, but his heart moved greatly.

"My brother? I don't remember..." Zhang Fan shook his head.

In his impression, they were always a family of three. When did a brother named Zhang Sheng pop out!?

"God-Demon Holy Fetus, Great Night not brightening..." Ye Beichen stared coldly at Zhang Fan and said lightly: "Zhang Lingzong is also crazy. He practiced this method, and actually passed it on to you."

"I..." Zhang Fan curled his lips, stopping mid-sentence.

In fact, his God-Demon Holy Fetus was not passed on by Zhang Lingzong, but by the Three-Corpse Soul Pill in his body.

"Senior, my brother... do you know my brother?" Zhang Fan changed the subject and couldn't help but ask.

"Zhang Sheng... Zhang Jiuzhen..." Ye Beichen murmured softly.

"If the incense of Mount Long Hu has not yet been extinguished, then among the young generation of the world's Daoist orthodoxy, he will surely be able to reign supreme and invincible, surpassing all in the present age."

The youngest Three Tian Shi of Zhongnan Mountain gave Zhang Fan's brother extremely high praise.

Although the South Zhang lineage was broken, it was not extinguished, and the strong fortune all fell on this last-generation disciple.

"He is the last disciple of the South Zhang lineage to seal gods and stand statues," Ye Beichen said lightly.

The Great Ritual of Sealing Gods of Long Long Hu Shan has a long history. Any Zhang family disciple who reaches the age of sixteen can participate. Once recognized by the ancestors, they can seal gods and set names, becoming different from then on.

Eighty years ago, after the Daoist world's great calamity, the Zhang family disciples withered, and this rule was slightly changed. One could participate at the age of twelve. If failed, there was another chance at sixteen.

"When your brother was born, his soul had not yet returned to silence, and he was favored by the ancestors, sealed gods and stood statues, given the name Jiuzhen," Ye Beichen said in a low voice.

"Soul had not yet returned to silence?" Zhang Fan's expression darkened slightly.

The soul is born innate. After ordinary people are born, the soul gradually returns to silence, the consciousness gradually arises, especially after the age of three, the soul completely returns to sleep, and life is dominated by consciousness.

Throughout history, only a very small number of people are born into this turbid mortal world, their souls do not return to silence, they are born to establish their lives, they are the roots of cultivating immortals, the mystery of seeking the Dao.

Not to mention, Zhang Sheng had already sealed gods and stood statues when he was born, and was given a true name.

In the history of Long Long Hu Shan, there has never been an existence that sealed gods and stood statues as a newborn infant.

From then on, Zhang Sheng became the most special existence of the South Zhang lineage, and even the entire Dragon-Tiger Zhang family.

The fortune of the last generation of Dragon-Tiger seemed to have fallen on him.

Just from the word "saint", one can see the expectations of the Zhang family for him.

It's just a pity that the South Zhang lineage obtained such a root, like the last glory, after the fireworks were brilliant, it was endless silence.

That night became the last glory of the South Zhang, and also the last darkness of the South Zhang.

"Senior means, the year my brother was born was the year the South Zhang was destroyed?" Zhang Fan's gaze gradually turned cold, unable to help but reveal a strange expression.

"Zhang Lingzong was only seventeen that year, seventeen years old and his family was destroyed..." Ye Beichen said lightly.

"Wait, wait, you wait?"

Zhang Fan raised a hand, seemingly not having recovered.

"Senior means... my dad had my brother when he was seventeen? At that time, he didn't seem to know my mom yet!?"

Zhang Fan's eyes widened, his face revealing strangeness.

According to the time calculated by Ye Beichen, Zhang Lingzong had to sow seeds at sixteen to have Zhang Sheng.

Five years later, Zhang Lingzong walked together with Li Linglong, and gave birth to Zhang Fan the following year.

Zhang Fan looked at Ye Beichen in astonishment, suddenly feeling confused.

"No... no..."

At this very moment, Zhang Fan faintly understood why every time he asked about Liu Fusheng or Bai Yujing's family affairs, people would stutter and be unwilling to say more.

With their family's situation, this kind of relationship, it really couldn't be sorted out in a few words.

"I called you here today, not to talk about your family's ethics and common affairs."

Ye Beichen waved his hand, interrupting Zhang Fan's thoughts.

"Then why did senior call me..."

Zhang Fan stopped mid-sentence, truly unable to grasp the temper of this Three Tian Shi before him.

"Someone wants to see you." "Ha!?"

Zhang Fan was confused. He was originally called by Meng Qingli to see Ye Beichen, but now Ye Beichen said someone else wanted to see him.

"Do I have so many acquaintances in Zhongnan Mountain?"

Zhang Fan couldn't help but mutter in his heart.

"Let's go!"

Ye Beichen took a step, and without waiting for Zhang Fan to react, he lifted him up and jumped.

In an instant, Zhang Fan heard the wind howling in his ears. Ye Beichen was like a giant eagle rising high, actually rushing straight up along the cliff.

That cliff was as smooth as a mirror, without any foothold to climb, truly a place where yellow cranes flying couldn't pass, and apes wanting to cross would worry about climbing.

But Ye Beichen's figure was elegant and floating, the fierce wind hunting around, clouds and mist gathering, turning into an invisible force dragging him to rise with the wind.

At this very moment, there was only one word in Zhang Fan's mind: riding the wind and controlling the Qi.

!

"Truly a Three Tian Shi's means!" Zhang Fan sighed in his heart.

Whoosh...

In the blink of an eye, the two arrived at a cliff. There was no cloud ladder here, nor rope, and behind them was a ten-thousand-foot abyss. Ordinary people truly couldn't reach this place.

"Senior, this is..."

Zhang Fan had just opened his mouth, suddenly, his gaze trembled, and he saw a giant claw mark on the cliff, an ancient and fierce aura rushing to his face. In a trance, Zhang Fan seemed to see a giant beast roaming between mountains and rivers, moving in the nine heavens, with clear fingers and claws, leaving behind such a terrifying mark.

"Senior, what animal left this claw mark?" Zhang Fan couldn't help but say.

Those five claws were mysterious, not like any animal he had ever seen, but rather like the divine object that could bring clouds and rain in many ancient paintings.

Dragon!?

"That was not left by an animal, but by a person," Ye Beichen said lightly.

"A person!?"

"Do you know the creature called a dragon?" Ye Beichen changed the subject and suddenly said.

The dragon is the most important totem in Chinese civilization, with horns like a deer, head like a camel, eyes like a rabbit, neck like a snake, belly like a clam, scales like a fish, claws like an eagle, palms like a tiger, ears like an ox.

It is said that in ancient times, tribes fought, and every time one was destroyed, a totem corner was taken, finally piecing together the dragon.

"Gathering the strengths of ten thousand spirits, becoming the divine dragon of creation..." Ye Beichen said lightly.

This is the origin of the dragon.

The dragon is known as the strongest creature, formed by gathering the strengths of all living things.

"In ancient times, there was also a method in the Daoist sect, investigating the mystery of the flesh, heading towards that ultimate evolution, reversing the five elements, existing outside the calamity..." Ye Beichen whispered in a low voice.

Zhang Fan's gaze narrowed into a line, how could he not know what method Ye Beichen was talking about.

"Five Elements Wrong King!?"

"Eight hundred years ago, an ancestor of our Zhongnan Mountain practiced this method, the reverse becomes an immortal, the wrong becomes a king..."

"This palm print was left by him."

"Five Elements Wrong King... Zhongnan Mountain actually had a predecessor who practiced this method," Zhang Fan was thoughtful.

He ultimately underestimated the ten great Daoist famous mountains in the world. Since they are the orthodox Xuan Gate, inheriting for a thousand years of light, how could they be indifferent to the nine great inner alchemy methods!?

Over the years, predecessors must have followed one after another, studying the mysteries within.

"Did that predecessor not leave the cultivation method of 【Five Elements Wrong King】 in Zhongnan Mountain?" Zhang Fan couldn't help but ask.

That was one of the nine great inner alchemy methods.

"Arts have methods, the Dao is inaction," Ye Beichen said lightly.

"You practiced the God-Demon Holy Fetus, you should know that this level of alchemy method has no detailed cultivation method at the end."

Once these words were spoken, Zhang Fan subconsciously nodded.

There are methods to follow at the beginning, but later...

To be honest, he still doesn't know how he practiced the 【God-Demon Holy Fetus】 to this day.

"The ancestor once said that anyone with fate in later generations can comprehend the mystery of the Five Elements Wrong King from this palm print," Ye Beichen sighed.

"Unfortunately, for eight hundred years, no one in Zhongnan Mountain has practiced this method again."

"Including you?" Zhang Fan asked casually.

Ye Beichen paused slightly and nodded: "Including me."

"Fate is like this, the Five Elements Wrong King is ultimately not in Zhongnan."

As he spoke, Ye Beichen took a step and walked past Zhang Fan.

Zhang Fan turned back, looked deeply at the giant palm print branded in the rock wall, and followed Ye Beichen's footsteps closely.

The two climbed the steps and turned to see the end of the cliff.

Under the stone wall at the very top, a figure was actually sitting cross-legged. He was withered and dry, like a dried corpse, his whole body without half a drop of water, not even as good as the bacon Zhang Fan hung on the balcony at home.

"Senior, why is there a dead person here?" Zhang Fan asked subconsciously.

"Master, he is here."

Once these words were spoken, Zhang Fan's eyes widened, looking at the dead person incredibly.

Whoosh...

Just then, that dried corpse actually moved. His chest rose and fell slightly, and faintly, the sound of a heartbeat could be heard, weak at first, then gradually sounding.

"He is breathing!?"

With the breathing of that dried corpse, his skin gradually filled up, as if absorbing the moisture from the surrounding air. The originally withered skin became full and shiny, and faintly, one could see blood flowing.

"Living dead!?" Zhang Fan couldn't help but be moved.

He knew that Zhongnan Mountain had a very powerful alchemy method, created by Wang Chongyang, one of the five ancestors of the Quanzhen Dao, called the Living Dead.

Living like a dead man, realizing the way to become an immortal; when a single thought does not arise, the carefree elixir method is achieved.

Since Wang Chongyang, very few people in Zhongnan Mountain practiced this method. It is easy to enter death from life, but difficult to be born from death.

Most people practiced this method, and ultimately their souls returned to silence, their corpses like withered bones, and they could never turn back.

But this one before his eyes actually came back to life.

"Senior, this is..."

"This is Zhongnan Mountain's first expert, and also my master, he is also surnamed Ye..." Ye Beichen said in a low voice.

His master was named Ye Jinzhao.

Ye Beichen had been an orphan since childhood, adopted by his master, so he also followed the surname Ye.

"Master of Three Tian Shi Ye?" Zhang Fan's heart began to ripple.

He knew that the master of Zhongnan Mountain was Zhou Kongchan.

But this living dead person was actually known as Zhongnan Mountain's first expert. He thought his cultivation realm was even above Zhou Kongchan.

Whoosh...

Just then, the figure on the prayer mat finally recovered. Although still thin, he no longer looked like that dried corpse.

He slowly opened his eyes, his spirit was vigorous, his gaze like electricity, looking faintly at Zhang Fan.

"Grandson of Zhang Laoer..." Ye Jinzhao had no expression, slowly waving his hand.

Zhang Fan was about to step forward, suddenly he saw an ancient painting worshipped behind Ye Jinzhao, incense smoke drifting, candles never extinguished, and on that painting was none other than the Eight Kings Carrying the Coffin.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 293 =====