Trinity Traitor: From One Person to the Other

Chapter 764 Master Ziyang, Zhang Boduan

Given that all the safety measures have been implemented, it would be really unreasonable for He Songling not to go.

Even if it weren't for anyone else, he personally made a promise back then: he would protect Wugensheng from death, and he would avenge anyone who killed Wugensheng. You have to accept that promise.

He Songling circled around most of the earth again, confirming that the innate mechanism had completely shielded his aura, and that he could not find it by any means he had tried. Then he returned to the Qinling Mountains, above the Nine-Bend Cave.

This thing is located inside the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Valley, and it has a roof. But for both Zhang Boduan and He Songling, this mountain wall is no obstacle. It's as if there's a direct passage from the top, and they can see right down.

When He Songling returned, Zhang Boduan's memory had already withdrawn its beam of light, leaving only a faint lake-green glow as it floated directly above the Nine-Bend Cave. As soon as He Songling appeared, he used his Qi to reconnect with the arm he had previously detached and grasped the "core" that Zhang Boduan had given him again.

“I didn’t tamper with it, senior. You kept your word.” After carefully checking, He Songling found that there was no change since it left with him, and only then was he able to relax.

Standing in mid-air, he bowed deeply to Zhang Boduan, saying, "This humble student, He Songling of the Sanyi School, greets the True Man Ziyang."

"I dare not acknowledge you as a junior." Zhang Boduan looked at He Songling's current behavior. Although he was just a memory, he still felt some phantom pain in his liver area.

Angry.

This isn't like when they were bombarding me before, is it?

You've sent your wife away, so you have no weaknesses left, but you still hold onto mine. And then you start acknowledging me as your senior? Are there really such shameless people in this world?

In the era in which Zhang Boduan lived, people's thoughts were relatively simple and honest. It wasn't that there weren't bad people; in fact, the crimes they committed were far more inhumane than He Songling could have imagined—even the Japanese devils weren't that bad.

But this was the first time he had ever encountered someone as morally despicable as He Songling.

“Hey, senior, why do you say that? You are a very famous person in our later generations.” He Songling spoke the truth this time. “There was a guy who later became known as the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, who could make a great disturbance in the Heavenly Palace. Even he had to treat you with great respect.”

“The imaginations of later generations are boundless, and I am but a memory, unable to keep up with you.” Zhang Boduan’s lips twitched twice, and then he said, “Come on, let’s go into the cave and talk.”

He Songling nodded, stepped forward, and entered the range of the pillar of light. With a wave of Zhang Boduan's sleeve, the two entered a space.

"Is this the Nine-Bend Cave?" He Songling keenly noticed the change in the surrounding environment. It was similar to the Nine-Bend Cave that Zhang Chulan and the others had descended into when he read about it in his previous life.

But the question is, what about Wugensheng's ten people?

"Haha, fellow Daoist, you're not the only one who can create space." Zhang Boduan was indeed far superior to the mountain god of the Heavenly Cave. In mythology, he was no less than the Four Heavenly Masters of the Daoist Quanzhen School. He saw through He Songling's doubts at a glance and could even see that He Songling had created his own space. "This place was the Daoist temple I created when I attained enlightenment. Immortals and mortals are different, so naturally there is a different space here. Those who have not reached the Innate Realm, or have not received the Immortal Register, or have no affinity for immortality, cannot enter. Nominally, we all seem to be in the same place, but in reality, you and I, and those ten people, are already in different spaces."

"I see, Master Ziyang, you are truly brilliant." He Songling thought for a moment. It wasn't surprising that the mountain god with the gaping hole also possessed his own mountain god space. After all, if even the Wang family's "Divine Painter" technique could create a space, then immortals could certainly do it too.

However, it seems that the immortals prefer to open up their spaces within their own dojos, which is different from my unfinished time chamber on the second floor of the inner landscape.

It seems that Zhang Boduan didn't realize this either.

That's understandable. After all, his soul was from outer space. Before revealing his true nature, even a god wouldn't be able to see that he possessed the qualities of a "creator god." Not to mention that Zhang Boduan in front of him was merely a memory, lacking complete logical thinking, making it even more difficult for him to see through him.

With this in mind, He Songling didn't hold back. It was just a fragment of memory; even if it were the memory of a deity, it could only be used as a tool. Rather than saying that the illusory old man in front of him was a deity or a human, it would be more accurate to say that it was a recording of AI capable of complex interactions.

"How can Master Ziyang teach me?"

"When I wrote the classics such as 'Wuzhen Pian', I left them here so that future generations who could discover this secret would have a way to advance. Now you can see that it has indeed attracted many outstanding younger generations."

Zhang Boduan stroked his beard and laughed, "But since I can be so generous to even mortals, why not help you, fellow Daoist, to become an immortal?"

"Really? Are you Northern Song people really that hospitable?" He Songling became suspicious again. "So you saw me from a distance, called out to me, and handed your life-saving switch to me, all so that you could burn yourself to help me achieve enlightenment?"

It's not He Songling's fault. Even the most kind-hearted person would have to think twice upon hearing such words. Even if you, Zhang Boduan, are the Southern School's founder of alchemy and the revered patriarch of the Quanzhen Sect, shouldn't you be more than hospitable?

"Fellow Daoist, you jest. I certainly wouldn't come out like this for ordinary people; mortals don't have that qualification. If they can find my letter, it's their good fortune; if they can't, then they've missed their chance. But it's different for you, Fellow Daoist. You're... not yet fifty years old, are you?"

Zhang Boduan made his judgment based on He Songling's observations.

Even highly skilled eccentrics know that judging a person involves more than just observing their appearance; they also need to "observe their aura." Zhang Boduan, this old sage, is naturally even more capable of seeing through appearances to the essence of a person. Despite He Songling's appearance as a twenty-year-old college student, his observations of his temperament, eyes, and actions, combined with his own observations, allowed him to easily form a judgment about He Songling.

"I'm almost forty-four." He Songling wasn't surprised. In legends, those who can become immortals are all immortal. How old is Nezha? He still looks like a child. He doesn't expect his appearance to fool the gods.

“Not even forty-five, younger than I thought.” Zhang Boduan raised an eyebrow. “You should know that I was ninety-one when I attained enlightenment. Fellow Daoist is almost fifty years younger than me. You truly have a bright future. To have achieved so much at such a young age, I am also very pleased.”

Fellow Daoist, you should know that I am not Zhang Ziyang himself, but rather the embodiment of the Daoist principles he left behind when he attained enlightenment. Therefore, I am naturally born with a mission to mentor and guide future generations.

(End of this chapter)