Chapter 147: Old friends and new acquaintances meet together

The bamboo raft was originally floating on the clouds, but at this time, seeing the dragon and tiger, it slowly sank below the clouds and descended towards Immortal Tripod Mountain.

Just as they reached the sky above Immortal Tripod Mountain, someone came to receive them. The Long Hu Mountain Daoist saw the people sitting in the bamboo raft from afar and loudly announced their names,

"Hong Jiaozhu Lu of Sanqing Mountain has arrived with his disciples!"

The guiding Daoist led the bamboo raft to land on a mountain top, and everyone got off the bamboo raft.

"Hong Jiaozhu Lu, the grand ceremony begins tomorrow. Please follow the little Daoist to Zique Tower to stay for the night."

Lu Duxing smiled and replied, "Please."

Thus, several people stayed in a tall building. The building was built of purple wood, and magpies were relief-carved on the doors, windows, beams, and pillars. The building was built in a plum forest. The plum was spring plum, and at this time, plum blossoms were dotted, just when the fragrance was thick.

The person who led the way sent the twenty-some people from Sanqing Mountain into the building and said,

"Hong Jiaozhu Lu, fellow Daoists, this mountain is called Yiting Mountain. Those resting here are all guests. On the mountain, there are delicacies, hot springs, book pavilions, martial arts platforms, etc. Please do as you please."

"Thank you for your trouble."

The Daoist bowed and took his leave.

Several masters went upstairs to rest, while the disciples, who were visiting Long Hu Mountain for the first time, agreed to stroll around.

Zhu Jianrong, Zeng Jinian, and Xiao Miaoyu were familiar with Cheng Xinzhan and had a life-and-death friendship, so they came to find Cheng Xinzhan to go out for a walk, and also brought two other people.

"Cheng Xinzhan, Uncle-Grandmaster, let me introduce you two."

At this time, Zhu Jianrong pulled a young man to Cheng Xinzhan's side and opened his mouth to say,

"Cheng Xinzhan, this is my little Uncle-Grandmaster. His Dao name is Weimin, and he is the closed-door disciple of my Grandmaster, Mountain Master Wan. His secular name is Fang Fengyi; you should know him."

"Uncle-Grandmaster, this is Cheng Yifu, Cheng Xinzhan. His reputation is too loud; I don't think I need to introduce him further."

Cheng Xinzhan looked over. This was clearly an extremely young person, younger than Zhu Jianrong, looking as if he was even younger than himself. However, since he was of the 'Wei' generation and was in the same dharma lineage as Zhu Jianrong, Zhu Jianrong had to honestly call him Little Uncle-Grandmaster.

Cheng Xinzhan naturally didn't have to. Not to mention they were not in the same dharma lineage, if one really discussed the seniority in the mountain, Cheng Xinzhan was still his Grandmaster.

And as for this person Fang Weimin, Cheng Xinzhan naturally knew him. He was a Daoist child on the Nandou Qi-Eating List, and he also knew that the Mountain Master of Ziyan Mountain was surnamed Fang.

"Weimin, Wuliang Guan."

He greeted him.

In the sect, aside from Ancestor Tongxuan and his master, he had never seen anyone with a higher seniority than himself, so when he called people, he basically looked at their age. If they were older than him, he called them Fellow Daoist; if they were older, he called them Daoist; if they were even older, he called them Daoist Grandfather. Those with positions were called by their positions, and those he had heard lecture were called Master. He never looked at the level of cultivation.

If he met someone younger than himself, then naturally he called them by their name directly.

"Greetings, Uncle-Grandmaster."

This Fang Weimin was an extremely polite person. He bowed and performed the etiquette, calling him Uncle-Grandmaster. This seniority was three generations higher; no matter how high it was, they were called Grandmaster, otherwise adding a string of 'Great' characters in front would be very tiring.

Cheng Xinzhan was startled. He originally thought that a Daoist child would have a lot of airs; he never expected him to be such a rigid and conservative person. He repeatedly said it was not allowed,

"Weimin, you and I can just treat each other as peers."

However, this Fang Weimin was somewhat stubborn, shaking his head repeatedly, not speaking, and not changing his address.

Cheng Xinzhan probably knew why Mountain Master Wan gave him the Dao name Weimin.

"Little Daoist Grandfather, you don't need to worry about him; he is just a piece of wood."

At this time, another young man spoke.

Cheng Xinzhan looked over and knew at a glance that this was a person completely different from Fang Weimin.

Fang Weimin spoke in a very rigid way and walked very steadily, but the one who just spoke was a person who was unrestrained. To put it less nicely, he was sloppy. This person was wearing a thin linen garment, but on the linen garment, there was gold thread embroidered, embroidered into a phoenix chrysanthemum. The collar was wide open, revealing his chest, and at this time, he was looking over with slanted eyebrows and hanging eyes.

Cheng Xinzhan had a moment of trance, Fellow Daoist Miaoyuan...

"Cheng Xinzhan, Cheng Xinzhan!"

Zeng Jinian patted Cheng Xinzhan on the shoulder.

"Ah, I'm here!"

Cheng Xinzhan woke up in a daze.

Zeng Jinian sighed silently in his heart. He was present at the first battle in West Kunlun, and he also had a deep impression of that person Wang Miaoyuan. He could probably guess what Cheng Xinzhan was thinking.

"Cheng Xinzhan, let me introduce you. This is my Uncle-Grandmaster, the closed-door disciple of Mountain Master Ying, Zheng Miaoji, secular name Zheng Weicheng."

Speaking of the secular name, Cheng Xinzhan knew. The Mountain Master of Shi Lin Mountain was surnamed Zheng. He didn't expect his son to go to Toujian Mountain.

"Uncle-Grandmaster, this is..."

"Jinian, no need to say. I know. Cheng Yifu, Cheng Nandou, Cheng Duer, Cheng Xinzhan are all him."

Cheng Xinzhan waved his hands repeatedly upon hearing this, "Just call me Cheng Xinzhan."

Two months ago, he broke through the first realm, succeeded in rushing the palace, and got on the Nandou List, so the name Cheng Nandou was mentioned again. Seven years to rush the palace, and this ranking happened to be fifth again, just like when he was eating Qi. And the star lord ranked fifth among the six stars of Nandou was the Duer Star Lord, so some people also called him Cheng Duer.

However, Cheng Xinzhan was really not familiar with these two Daoist children. Before, when he was in the sect, these two were both outside searching for Gang and Sha, and by the time these two returned, he was traveling outside. Moreover, the difference in cultivation levels before was huge, and these two Daoist children acted quite low-key, so it was normal that they didn't know each other.

They were all young people, so they soon became familiar. The six of them were all in the second realm, so chatting naturally inevitably led to Gang, Sha, and supernatural powers.

Gang, Sha, and supernatural powers were the two paths of cultivation in the second realm.

Gang and Sha were spiritual machines born from the combination of innate yin and yang and acquired phenomena. They were called spiritual energy but could not be directly inhaled and consumed, but if one said they were not spiritual energy, they could circulate through the meridians after refining, and could also form Golden Cores and Nascent Soul talismans. In short, they were very mysterious things.

Besides this, Gang Qi and Sha Qi were also extremely fierce and ruthless things. When refining, if one was not careful, one could have one's acupoints pierced, so refining Gang and Sha was also replaced by the term "subduing the dragon and taming the tiger" in Inner Elixir terminology, with the focus on the two words 'subdue' and 'tame'.

But if one subdued Gang and Sha, then there were many conveniences. Besides the most important yin-yang harmony to form a Golden Core, Gang and Sha could also form Nascent Soul talismans.

Cheng Xinzhan's Twelve-Story Building used "Yangming Yuntang Gang" to form the Cloud Root Nascent Soul talisman. Zhang Zui his mouth to spit, he could spit out mirage clouds, instantly weaving an illusory realm.

Besides forming Golden Cores and Nascent Soul talismans, another great use of Gang and Sha was to attach them to weapons.

Taking flying swords as an example, a flying sword with sword Gang and a flying sword without sword Gang were two different things. For example, in Cheng Xinzhan's left eye, "Taodu" had "Yangming Yuntang Gang" attached to it, and its power was naturally extraordinary. It was precisely because of the attached sword Gang that he was able to cut open the dharma body of the third-realm demon Shang Sansi on the West Kunlun battlefield.

And besides collecting Gang and Sha, there was another great path in the second realm.

That was supernatural powers.

The name of the second realm was "Life-Embedded", and "Life-Embedded" meant the treasure of the flesh, referring to the hundred acupoints of the whole body.

Humans were the spiritual leaders of all things, and all things transformed into human form, so naturally, there was a root cause. Every acupoint on the human body carried innate attributes and acquired effects. As long as one opened the acupoints and understood their innate divinity, one could refine supernatural powers.

In fact, the first realm's 'opening the five mansions' could also be considered a supernatural power. The heart mansion moves essence and blood, the liver mansion vents emotions, the spleen mansion transports nutrition, the lung mansion breathes essence and Qi, and the kidney mansion stores essence and guides nature. This looked as if it was no different from the five internal organs of a mortal, but in reality, it was vastly different.

Mortals' Qi and blood were floating and weak, and after passing the sixty-year barrier, Qi and blood would decay. But if one opened the heart mansion, Qi and blood would still be surging at a hundred years old. Mortals' breathing was no more than a fleeting moment, but if one opened the lung mansion, breathing would be slow, long, and leisurely, and one breath could equal a hundred times that of a mortal. Mortals would have their essence water exhausted after fifty, but if one opened the kidney mansion, kidney fluid would still be full after a hundred years.

These supernatural powers acted within the flesh, so they were generally not deliberately mentioned.

What was truly talked about with relish were the supernatural powers that could be used for fighting.

For example, opening the nose acupoint, some people could practice the supernatural power of "Heaven-Shaking Drum"; for example, opening the ear acupoint, some people could practice the supernatural power of "Wind-Summoning Ear". Additionally, there were famous supernatural powers like "Thousand-Mile Eye", "Heaven-Covering Hand", "Heaven-Imprisoning Finger", and "Six-Pulse Divine Sword".

Cheng Xinzhan's Nine-Yang Returning-Form Elixir Pupil could be considered a supernatural power.

Besides this, opening acupoints to take the path of supernatural powers had another benefit that had to be mentioned, and that was storing magic power.

Fighting with others, as long as there were many people and a long time, magic power exhaustion was the biggest problem every cultivator had to face. Even a fifth-realm cultivator, with massive magic power, would have a time when it was exhausted.

At this time, as long as enough acupoints were opened in the body, more magic power could be stored. This was an advantage that could not be ignored when fighting.

However, human energy was limited, and supernatural secrets and heavenly Gang and earthly Sha were not things that were everywhere, so a person in the second realm would often focus on developing one route.

Of course, refining one yin and one yang, two portions of Gang and Sha, and opening the Huangting acupoint were the two most basic elements for breaking through from the second to the third realm.

The five people around Cheng Xinzhan started discussing these two routes.

Fang Weimin, who had the highest seniority, was taking the path of supernatural powers. He had already found two favorite Gang and Sha, but was not in a hurry to form a core; instead, he was concentrating on exploring the key acupoints of the Life-Embedded realm and tempering his foundation.

Zheng Miaoji, who was next, was taking the path of Gang and Sha. He had not found his favorite spiritual Gang, but he already had four earthly Sha on his body. He practiced the Yangqi school of magic swords, and in the Five Elements, he refined the metal element. Sha Qi was melted into his magic sword, and the current sword Sha was very powerful.

Zhu Jianrong also practiced supernatural powers. As far as Cheng Xinzhan knew, he had a supernatural power called "Heart-Connecting Fire" which was very remarkable. He could start a fire in his palm, and the change in firepower was completely controlled by his heart. This was completely different from condensing a fire with Five Elements arts in his palm. This "Heart-Connecting Fire" supernatural power of his was not very effective against enemies, but it could be used to refine pills in his palm, which was very remarkable. Zeng Jinian was determined to take the path of Gang and Sha, using Gang and Sha to nourish flying swords, but the Gang and Sha he was currently collecting were not many.

Xiao Miaoyu was determined to take the path of supernatural powers. He seemed to be practicing a supernatural power similar to "Words Follow the Law". If he practiced it successfully, combined with his talisman arts and magic treasures, it would definitely be very powerful.

How should I choose?

Listening to their discussion, Cheng Xinzhan asked himself silently in his heart.

Was there a way to kill two birds with one stone?

There should be.

Because when he was in the first realm, he had thought of the idea of refining a Yang sword with the Yang mansion. In his left eye now, there was a "Yangming Yuntang Gang" hidden, which was both tempering the Yang sword "Taodu" and enhancing the power of the "Nine-Yang Returning-Form Elixir Pupil".

But could this method be applied to other acupoints?

That was hard to say.

Because Gang and Sha were rare, and situations where various attributes were compatible, like the Yang mansion acupoint, "Taodu" sword, "Nine-Yang Returning-Form Elixir Pupil", and "Yangming Yuntang Gang", were very rare.

"It's Cheng Yifu!"

He was pondering, but suddenly a shout interrupted his thoughts.

He looked in the direction of the sound. It was someone of similar age, not from Sanqing Mountain, somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was.

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"Fellow Daoist Yifu, I am Du Quanxian from Gezao Mountain. You might not remember, but I remember you! A few years ago in West Kunlun, I went to you to receive talismans!"

"Oh, oh!"

Cheng Xinzhan remembered.

"How have you been later? I haven't seen you on the battlefield since. Were you caught by the demon of the Five Ghost Gate? Did it hurt your Dao foundation?"

That person said with quite a bit of concern.

Cheng Xinzhan smiled and replied, "Nothing, nothing."

The two chatted for a few sentences. Seeing that Cheng Xinzhan still had fellow disciples waiting, the person didn't talk for long, only saying that they would talk again if there was an opportunity in the future.

"Fellow Daoist Cheng Xinzhan!"

Cheng Xinzhan had just parted ways with the one from Gezao Mountain when he heard someone calling him again. He looked and saw a person in a blue robe walking over quickly.

"I didn't expect to meet Fellow Daoist Cheng Xinzhan here!"

The person in the blue robe walked quickly to Cheng Xinzhan's side.

"Fellow Daoist Lan!"

Cheng Xinzhan also recognized the person; it was Lan Yuqing from Lushan. He had met him at the sword-fighting meeting of the Master of Huanzhu Tower. This person formed arrays with sword Qi, which left a deep impression on Cheng Xinzhan.

"We fought in a hurry at Bai Yu Capital back then, and it has been many years since we parted. Fellow Daoist Cheng Xinzhan, you have entered the second realm, right? Your flying sword was damaged back then; did it have any impact on your cultivation?"

Lan Yuqing asked.

Cheng Xinzhan smiled and said, "It's fine. I have already entered the second realm; it was just a few months ago."

"Good!"

Lan Yuqing clapped his hands, "Fellow Daoist Cheng Xinzhan, this time we must compete again!"

Lan Yuqing had been brooding over losing last time for a long time and had replayed it many times, just wanting to compete again.

Cheng Xinzhan nodded with a smile, "If there is an opportunity, definitely!"

"Good, good, then I won't delay Cheng Xinzhan."

Lan Yuqing left with a smile.

"Cheng Xinzhan really has a great reputation. Just those coming to participate in the Long Hu Fa Hui have so many familiar people."

Xiao Miaoyu said with a smile.

He had also participated in the West Kunlun rotation battle, but there were so many people who participated in the West Kunlun rotation battle, so who knew who? Only everyone knew Cheng Yifu, knew this Cheng Yifu who escaped from the hands of a third-realm demon.

Cheng Xinzhan waved his hand, "Just a coincidence, just a coincidence."

The few people had just walked two steps when they heard another voice,

"Fellow Daoist Cheng Xinzhan!"

Cheng Xinzhan was helpless. He looked in the direction of the sound again, only to find a man and a woman walking over side by side.

Eh?

Cheng Xinzhan was a bit confused this time. These were two new faces.

"Who are you two?"

He asked with a bow.

The young man and woman who walked over looked at each other and smiled,

"Fellow Daoist, I am Meng Xuqi/Meng Xuyi!"

Cheng Xinzhan blinked upon hearing this and looked at the two carefully. Were they Meng Xuqi and Meng Xuyi from the Shenxiao Sect? Why didn't they look like it at all? When they first met, these two were still children!

"Fellow Daoist, you haven't changed at all, but my sister and I have already grown up."

Meng Xuqi said with a smile.

Cheng Xinzhan nodded happily. This reminded him of the scene of the first thunder induction. It had been four or five years, right? At that time, they should have been eleven or twelve years old, and now they should be fifteen or sixteen. They had really grown much taller, and their faces had changed a lot.

"Has Daoist Yibi come?"

Cheng Xinzhan asked. He had a very good impression of their master. If he had also come to Long Hu Mountain, he should take time to pay a visit.

However, just as Cheng Xinzhan finished speaking, the young man and woman's eyes dimmed. Meng Xuyi said,

"Fellow Daoist, Master's lifespan has ended, and he has passed away."

"This..."

Cheng Xinzhan choked upon hearing this, and then apologized repeatedly,

"I am really sorry. I didn't know the old Daoist had passed away. I was rude, I was rude!"

However, the brother and sister adjusted quickly. Meng Xuyi then said,

"It's fine. My brother and I were by Master's side when he left. Master had no regrets."

"That's good, that's good."

Cheng Xinzhan said in a low voice.

"Then Fellow Daoist, please be busy first. When you are free, we will come to visit you and ask for advice on thunder arts."

Meng Xuqi said.

"Good, good, just discussing with each other."

Cheng Xinzhan replied.

The five people waiting on the side, except for Fang Weimin, couldn't help but tease Cheng Xinzhan again. The few chatted and came to a brightly lit tall building, from which the fragrance of wine came.

"Drink a pot."

Zheng Miaoji's eyes lit up.

"Drink a pot."

Old friends and new acquaintances gathered, so Cheng Xinzhan naturally couldn't suppress the wine worm in his belly.

The few entered the building.

As soon as he entered the door, Cheng Xinzhan saw a familiar figure again. That person was in a cobalt blue Daoist robe, and there was a white egret pattern on his chest. He secretly called out 'not good' in his heart.

Sure enough, after that person saw Cheng Xinzhan, he was overjoyed and shouted loudly,

"Benefactor!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 148 =====