Chapter 322: Zhang Sheng and Zhang Fan! The Closed-Door Disciple of Chu Chaoran

Yujing City, the old Zhang family residence.

The bright moon hung high like a jade plate, with a few sparse, large stars scattered around it.

The sound of cicadas was incessant in the midsummer night, bringing a touch of worldly life amidst the clamor.

A dim, yellow light shone in the kitchen, where a graceful figure was busy with her head bowed.

"To learn from the immortals, ride a crane to the sky, turn stones into gold, it's beyond words; one must go to Mount Laoshan to learn the immortal arts..."

Young Zhang Fan lay on the table, writing his homework while glancing at the cartoon playing on the television.

"Brother, the multiplication table is so hard to memorize, even harder than the Golden Light Mantra..."

Zhang Fan bit his pen, his head drooping like a defeated rooster.

Bang...

Just then, a tattered book was thrown from behind, landing right on Zhang Fan's little head.

"I'll memorize it right now..." young Zhang Fan sniffled, as if suffering a great grievance.

"Little Fan, tell your brother to eat."

At that moment, Li Linglong's voice came from the kitchen; she was seen wearing an apron, carrying dishes to the small dining table in the courtyard.

"Mom, Brother says he's not eating," Zhang Fan replied immediately.

"Ask him if he's become an immortal," Li Linglong said while busy, her voice following.

"Mom, Brother says not yet."

"Then stop making things difficult for yourself."

Li Linglong's voice came from the kitchen again, carrying the authority of a mother.

"Mom, Brother says..."

"Little Fan."

Just then, outside the window, a little girl poked her head out. She had twin tails, and a small red mark was on her fair, tender forehead.

"Xiao Fang, you scared me," Zhang Fan said, rolling his eyes after seeing who it was.

"Come play at my house. My dad came back from a business trip and brought me lots of toys," the twin-tailed girl invited.

"I can't, it's almost time for dinner," Zhang Fan said, glancing cautiously toward the kitchen.

"Let's sneak out, we'll be back in a bit," the twin-tailed girl suggested.

"Still can't, my brother is watching."

As he spoke, Zhang Fan gestured with his chin toward behind him.

The twin-tailed girl paused, looking through the window into the room behind Zhang Fan.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

The twin-tailed girl stared at Zhang Fan with a strange expression.

"If I sneak out to play, my brother will definitely tell on me," Zhang Fan shook his head.

"Zhang Fan, if you keep saying weird things, I won't talk to you anymore."

The twin-tailed girl pulled a long face and took a step back, a hint of fear appearing in her eyes.

"What weird things?" Zhang Fan asked, stunned.

"There's only you here, where did you get a brother?"

The twin-tailed girl pointed at the empty room behind Zhang Fan, turned, and ran, fleeing the Zhang family courtyard in a flash.

"Bad Zhang Fan, I'll never talk to you again."

Zhang Fan watched Xiao Fang leave, looking blank. He subconsciously turned his head and whispered.

"Brother, what's wrong with her?"

Inside the empty room, there was no response.

"Little Fan, you saw that strange girl again."

A moment later, a voice finally echoed faintly in the empty room.

In the kitchen, smoke rose from the chimney, as if a great furnace were refining mysterious pills.

In the master bedroom of the old house, black and white colors swirled, flickering like the light and shadow of a black-and-white television, appearing and disappearing endlessly.

On that midsummer night, the bright moon hung high, but it was a vivid, crimson red, like a fox's eye, staring indifferently at the human world.

Whoosh...

On the plane, Zhang Fan opened his eyes abruptly.

"What's wrong?"

Li Miaoyin sat beside him, watching Zhang Fan wake up, and asked with concern.

"Nothing, I dreamed of my childhood," Zhang Fan shook his head.

"You dreamed?" Li Miaoyin wondered, "I heard that after cultivating the Divine Demon Sacred Fetus, one almost doesn't need to sleep."

When the spirit is full, one does not think of sleep; cultivating the Divine Demon Sacred Fetus makes the primordial spirit incredibly powerful, and one almost never sleeps again.

Because of this, their cultivation time is twice that of ordinary people—excluding the lazy ones, of course.

"Perhaps I just merged my spirit and still need to adapt," Zhang Fan whispered.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Li Miaoyin asked with concern.

She knew that when Zhang Fan merged his spirit, he had severed the Three Corpse Gods. That thing viewed him as sustenance and stole his primordial spirit, causing him no small amount of trouble.

"I'm fine," Zhang Fan shook his head.

He had taken off his 'Night-Not-Bright' status and used the Divine Demon Sacred Fetus to suppress the Three Corpse Fate-Illumination; it didn't have much of an impact, at most suppressing a portion of his primordial spirit's power.

Even so, his current primordial spirit was much stronger than before.

Currently, the biggest headache was how to find that eerie Three Corpse God.

The existence of that thing truly made Zhang Fan feel restless.

"We're almost at Yujing," Li Miaoyin whispered solemnly.

"We're almost there?"

Zhang Fan played with the black iron piece in his hand, collecting his thoughts and suppressing his ideas, watching the lights of ten thousand homes gradually appear in his line of sight outside the window.

"Did you tell Old Li?" Zhang Fan picked up his mineral water and took a sip.

"I told him before boarding the plane, we'll arrive tonight..." Li Miaoyin was quite meticulous.

"I also told him that you've taken very good care of me on this trip."

Pfft...

Zhang Fan's hand holding the mineral water bottle trembled violently, and he was instantly choked by the water, nearly spraying it out.

Such a commotion instantly caught the attention of Brothers Qi Delong, Qi Dongqiang, Fang Changle, and Xia Weisheng, who were sitting in front, and they all turned to look.

"Why are you reacting so strongly?" Li Miaoyin patted Zhang Fan's back, helping him catch his breath, the corners of her mouth slightly raised, revealing a faint, imperceptible smile.

"What do you mean by 'you've taken very good care of me'?" Zhang Fan gritted his teeth and lowered his voice.

At this moment, Xia Weisheng and the others had already pricked up their ears, observing their noses and hearts, their divine intent covering the surroundings, unwilling to miss any movement.

"I'm complimenting you! Didn't you hear?" Li Miaoyin laughed softly.

"If you say it like that, he'll think..." Zhang Fan curled his lips, stopping mid-sentence.

"Think what?" Li Miaoyin stared at Zhang Fan, the corners of her mouth already uncontrollable.

"Think that you've taken very good care of me," Zhang Fan said helplessly.

"Without distinguishing between day and night?"

"You win," Zhang Fan leaned back in his seat.

He had to admit that Li Miaoyin was a hundred times more terrifying than Li Changgeng.

"Don't worry, I didn't tell him," Li Miaoyin patted Zhang Fan's head, soothing him.

"That's more like it..." Zhang Fan breathed a sigh of relief, but his expression changed immediately.

"Why am I worrying? Is there anything that needs to be hidden from him?"

"Then why are you nervous?" Li Miaoyin asked.

"..."

"Even with great supernatural powers, even if one cultivates the supreme pill method, as long as one is in this red dust, there will be trials, there will be nemeses," Brothers Qi Delong sighed.

"The biggest nemesis for Boss Fan isn't the Three Corpse disaster," Fang Changle whispered.

"It's women."

Brothers Qi Delong and Fang Changle looked at each other and said in unison.

Xia Weisheng sat to the side, silent, ears pricked, still listening carefully, unwilling to miss a single word; the terror of the Great Being realm was fully manifested at this moment.

A moment later, the silver-white plane landed at the airport in the southern suburbs of Yujing City.

Fang Changle had already arranged for a car to pick them up, sending everyone directly to the Bright Hotel located in the city center.

This five-star hotel was an industry of the Maoshan Sect in Yujing City.

Since they had arrived on their own turf, as a descendant of Maoshan, Fang Changle naturally had to fulfill the duties of a host.

"Thank you all for helping me out this time. Great kindness needs no thanks; I'll host tomorrow," Zhang Fan bowed.

It was getting late, so the banquet could only be held tomorrow.

"See you tomorrow," Li Miaoyin waved.

"Mm, see you tomorrow," Zhang Fan looked at her and nodded.

It was late at night, Hongfu Garden.

It was past eleven o'clock at night when Zhang Fan got out of the car. When he walked to the entrance of the residential complex, the light in the security room was still on, and vaguely, a chubby figure poked out from the window.

"Little Fan? I saw from afar that it seemed to be you," Liu Fusheng greeted.

"Uncle Liu..." Zhang Fan said warmly.

Seeing Liu Fusheng this time, he felt especially close; when he was young, he ate more of Liu Fusheng's cooking than Li Linglong's.

"Did the trip go smoothly? Little Fan, you've been running out a lot lately," Liu Fusheng asked with concern.

"It went smoothly. I won't be running around blindly after coming back this time," Zhang Fan laughed softly.

"That's what I said, there's no place like home; staying at home is the only way to be at peace."

Liu Fusheng grinned and pushed up his reading glasses: "Come here for buns tomorrow morning, Uncle."

"Alright, preferably fennel and pork filling; that was my favorite when I was a kid."

"No problem, it's getting late, go back first."

"Mm, Uncle, I'm going now."

Zhang Fan said goodbye and walked into the complex.

Liu Fusheng watched his retreating back and was just about to pull down the window when suddenly, his outstretched hand stopped in mid-air, and he turned his head abruptly, looking in the direction Zhang Fan had gone.

"When he was a kid!?"

"He's escaped his trials!?"

Liu Fusheng whispered, a deep look of shock and suspicion rising in his eyes.

Back home, Zhang Fan put down his backpack; the room looked exceptionally cold and quiet under the dim yellow light.

In the past, Zhang Lingzong would come back every few days to stay for a while; now, even Zhang Fan was going out from time to time.

"Perhaps I should find an opportunity to go to Mount Ailao!?"

Zhang Fan was thoughtful. Although he had successfully merged his spirit, he still had many questions in his heart that he wanted to ask clearly in front of Zhang Lingzong.

After all, things in their family were always kept from him.

He didn't know if it was because he was too young at the time.

"We'll see."

Zhang Fan shook his head, suppressing his scattered thoughts, took a photo frame out of his backpack, and placed it on the table.

The bright moonlight spilled through the window, reflecting on the group photo, which was none other than the victory commemorative photo of the Ten Thousand Mountains Battle.

The next day, Bright Hotel.

Qingyou Hall.

Zhang Fan was the host, so he naturally arrived early, and Fang Changle and Brothers Qi Delong also sat down.

"By the way, the thing I repaired for you last time is done."

As he spoke, Fang Changle took a paper bag from behind him and pushed it toward Zhang Fan.

Zhang Fan took out a square seal, which was none other than the Weiling Demon-Suppressing Jin Yin.

"The Long Hu Mountain Dharma Seal!?"

Brothers Qi Delong was worthy of being a descendant of Mount Laojun; his vision was unique, and he recognized it at a glance.

The Dharma Seal was one of the most common Dharma treasures in the Daoist sect, but in terms of mystery, no seal in the world could surpass those of Long Hu Mountain.

"Finally repaired."

Zhang Fan looked at the 【Weiling Demon-Suppressing Jin Yin】; the cracks were long gone, the former golden light was much more restrained, and holding it in his hand, it felt heavier, with an extremely handy sense of weight.

"It really is Maoshan craftsmanship," Zhang Fan sighed.

He could feel that the 【Weiling Demon-Suppressing Jin Yin】 was more powerful than before.

Although it was still a 【Huang Yu Dharma Treasure】, it was almost approaching a Huang Yu Dharma Treasure with three hundred years of history.

One must know that beyond three hundred years, it would be a Green Feather Dharma Treasure.

Daoist Dharma treasures, although they need time to be polished and offered incense day and night to have the foundation to advance step by step.

But there are still ways to take shortcuts to upgrade, such as using the bones of other high-grade Dharma treasures, or fusing with exotic treasures born of heaven and earth, etc.

This is what is called using space to exchange for time, saving time through the reallocation of resources.

Just like this repair of the 【Weiling Demon-Suppressing Jin Yin】, Maoshan used a fragment of a Green Feather Dharma Treasure, using it as the bone, and fused it into this great seal, which is why it had such an effect.

Counting it up, the one million plus that Zhang Fan prepaid was actually not enough.

"The quality of this Weiling Demon-Suppressing Jin Yin itself was quite good; otherwise, it would have been impossible to repair it to this level," Fang Changle said solemnly.

Even for upgrading, one has to see if the original Dharma treasure is qualified; not all Dharma treasures can use space to exchange for time.

"The elders in the sect said that if this great seal is nurtured a bit more, it can be promoted to a Green Feather Dharma Treasure."

Once these words were spoken, Zhang Fan's eyes lit up.

A Green Feather Dharma Treasure could be passed down through generations, almost catching up to his Bone Relic.

"You should keep it well," Fang Changle reminded.

"Don't worry," Zhang Fan smiled and tucked the Weiling Demon-Suppressing Jin Yin into his pocket.

Hum...

Just then, the door opened.

Li Miaoyin and Xia Weisheng arrived late; after all, they were girls, and dressing up to go out was always slower.

However, both were stunning beauties, and even without makeup, they were still dazzling.

Li Miaoyin was dressed as usual, in tight jeans and a white shirt, heroic and spirited, yet without losing her feminine charm.

Xia Weisheng, on the other hand, was actually wearing a short skirt today, stepping in shiny black leather shoes, forming a sharp contrast with her attire on the mountain.

"Weisheng, your trip down the mountain this time can be called a dragon returning to the sea, a tiger entering the deep mountains," Brothers Qi Delong couldn't help but tease.

"It's rare for me to come down the mountain," Xia Weisheng curled her lips: "I have to go back in two days."

Once these words were spoken, Qi Dongqiang couldn't help but say: "It's for the matter of True Person Chaoran taking a disciple, right."

"True Person Chaoran's closed-door disciple, ah."

As he spoke, Fang Changle couldn't help but look at Zhang Fan: "Boss Fan, I'm afraid you're going to be busy again."

"For such a great opportunity, even if I were busy until I vomited blood, I would be willing."

Brothers Qi Delong also couldn't help but laugh.

In their eyes, Zhang Fan was simply too special. He already carried the title of a disciple of Mount Zhenwu, and with such cultivation and talent, although Mount Zhenwu hadn't announced it yet, those around Zhang Fan knew that True Person Chaoran's so-called closed-door disciple was nine times out of ten Zhang Fan.

Just waiting for the day to announce it to the world.

"Old Zhang, you have to prepare in advance," Brothers Qi Delong congratulated.

"That's saying..." Zhang Fan smiled; in fact, he had long had guesses and preparations.

"My master is taking a closed-door disciple, what does that have to do with him?"

Just then, Xia Weisheng's words left everyone stunned.

"Mm? What do you mean? Could it not be Boss Fan?" Fang Changle asked, stunned.

"Who said it was him?" Xia Weisheng wondered.

(End of chapter)

"Who said it was him?" Xia Weisheng asked curiously.

(End of chapter)