Xiuxian: I studied abroad in modern times

Chapter 566 Senior Sister, Great Ascension, Heads Towards Haori

"It's all here."

Xiao Yuying handed a bag of tortoise shells to Zheng Fa.

Zheng Fa took it, opened the storage bag, and examined it carefully for a while. No wonder these tortoise shells could be kept for so long—although he couldn't sense any spiritual energy, the tortoise shells themselves were no ordinary objects. They seemed to be the shells of a spirit tortoise, and their texture was very hard.

"What do you want these for?"

Xiao Yuying asked curiously, her gaze lingering on his face, looking very interested.

"Let's take a look first." Zheng Fa shook his head, without revealing his own thoughts.

Although this thing looks a lot like the oracle bone inscriptions unearthed in modern times, he still needs to have someone take a look to see if it's the same thing.

Xiao Yuying blinked, as if she had thought of something, her expression revealing obvious anticipation: "Then I'll wait."

Zheng Fa chuckled inwardly; these people were... used to it.

"I go first."

Xiao Yuying was stunned for a moment, then seemed to understand something. She turned around and looked at the island where Senior Sister Zhang lived. A rainbow light was already flying towards the island beside her.

Zheng Fa landed in front of Senior Sister Zhang's courtyard, but instead of going in directly, he looked at Uncle Huang beside him and asked with his eyes.

Senior Sister Zhang has been in seclusion for over a month, breaking through to the Mahayana stage, and he comes over almost every day.

Uncle Huang shook his head, his eyes filled with worry. Zheng Fa also looked towards the courtyard, waiting quietly.

Three days later, the scene in the courtyard finally changed:
Dark clouds surrounded the island, darkening the entire Sanyuan Sixiang area.

"No clothes!"

Dressed in white, Senior Sister Zhang leaped into the tribulation clouds and disappeared from sight.

Only wind, fire, and thunder remained, intertwined in the air.

Uncle Huang clenched his fists, staring intently into the depths of the dark clouds, never looking away for a moment.

A series of streaks of light flashed by, and Uncle Pang and the others landed beside them, looking up at the depths of the tribulation clouds with expectant eyes.

Although she is no longer the first Mahayana cultivator in the sect, Senior Sister Zhang's advancement is still an improvement in the strength of the Nine Mountains Sect.

Of course, more importantly, it verified the feasibility of the "Huang Ting Jing"—Zheng Fa alone could be considered an exception, but Senior Sister Zhang's successful advancement could reassure everyone.

Two hours later, Senior Sister Zhang's beautiful figure broke through the tribulation clouds and stood in the air.

The glow of the sunset draped over her shoulders, and the auspicious clouds resembled a white skirt tinged with gold, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

"It went very smoothly." Uncle Pang smiled broadly. "Once she overcomes the tribulation of inner demons, she will be the second Mahayana cultivator in the sect."

"Speaking of which, she only took twenty years longer than Zheng Fa?" Xie Qingxue suddenly said, "It seems that it only took Zhang Taishang a little over sixty years to go from Nascent Soul to Mahayana?"

Everyone was surprised to hear this, and Xie Qingxue exclaimed from the bottom of her heart, "In Xuanwei, Zhang Taishang can be considered a peerless genius. I am truly ashamed of myself."

Indeed, Senior Sister Zhang progressed from Nascent Soul to Mahayana Realm much faster than others.

Among the current Nascent Soul cultivators of the Nine Mountains Sect, Senior Sister Zhang's advancement was actually not early. Xie Qingxue, Jiao Wuji, and Blood River Ancestor all advanced much earlier than her. These three had been stuck in the Nascent Soul stage for thousands or even tens of thousands of years.

But Senior Sister Zhang is now the first to break through to Mahayana after Zheng Fa.

There are many reasons for this, but they mainly boil down to three:

Firstly, it is naturally Senior Sister Zhang's own talent, which is not only referring to her single spiritual root and primordial spirit body.

Furthermore, her unparalleled talent in the art of talismans allowed her to comprehend the "Huang Ting Jing" extremely quickly.

It can be said that, within the Jiushan Sect, the one with the deepest understanding of the Huangting Jing, besides the founder Zheng Fa, is Senior Sister Zhang.

The second reason is the relatively abundant resources of the Nine Mountains Sect:

Although Zheng Fa values ​​making money, he is not a miser, and Senior Sister Zhang is a high-ranking member of the sect.

The maritime trade routes bring a steady stream of spirit stones, and now the spirit materials collected within the Haori Mountain area are also abundant.

These resources are enough to support a major sect like Haori Mountain.

Therefore, even though the Nine Mountains Sect has many disciples, their cultivation levels are relatively lower compared to Haori Mountain, and they require fewer resources.

Therefore, both Senior Sister Zhang and the other disciples were able to obtain ample cultivation resources.

Of course, these are not the root causes.

The root cause is her close relationship with Zheng Fa.

This intimacy was reflected in their dual cultivation. Before they reached the Nascent Soul stage, Zheng Fa received more benefits from their dual cultivation.

Now the tables have turned. After Zheng Fa attained Mahayana, he became Senior Sister Zhang's cheat code. He poured all his cultivation into Senior Sister without reservation, and carried her to new heights every day.

The others in the Nine Mountains Sect did not have such an "opportunity".

Of course, this intimacy is also reflected in Zheng Fa's complete lack of reservation towards Sister Zhang—Zheng Fa has always been generous in imparting his knowledge of the difficulties of Mahayana Buddhism and the secrets of the Huangting Jing. In fact, Sister Zhang is the one who knows best how Zheng Fa created the Huangting Jing step by step.

In the past, Senior Sister Zhang paved her way to immortality through her own cultivation and insights. Now, Zheng Fa can do the same for her, helping her on her way.

The others also figured out the key to it, and their gazes toward Zheng Fa became somewhat strange, but no one spoke.

Only Yuan Xiaoniao spoke her mind: "I really envy Senior Sister!"

Uncle Huang's worries subsided slightly. Hearing Yuan Xiaoniao say this, he couldn't help but glare at her. What was this silly bird envious of? Did she think he couldn't see it?

She knew that birds only grew old and not smart, but she shook her head secretly, not caring much.

Uncle Pang nodded slowly and said, "Indeed, it is enviable."

"..."

Something's not right with this guy surnamed Pang!
A moment later, Senior Sister Zhang overcame her inner demon tribulation and broke free from her seclusion.

The Nine Mountains Sect welcomed another Mahayana disciple, which naturally brought joy to the disciples. However, the atmosphere among the elders was somewhat somber—they all knew that with Elder Zhang's advancement to Mahayana, Zheng Fa would be heading to Haori Mountain.

Inside the Heavenly Palace, Zheng Fa looked at the elders below him and made arrangements for what would happen after his departure:
"According to our investigation, the Gu God should have fled far away."

Old Han reported, "There's nothing unusual about Haori Mountain. I don't know if she's gone back yet."

“This person should not be underestimated,” Zheng Fa said to Xiao Yuying. “The Yuan Magnetic Array cannot be neglected.”

"Understood, I will arrange for my disciples to take turns on guard duty."

Zheng Fa nodded, then looked at Senior Sister Zhang: "How is the situation at Haori Mountain?"

"The insects have retreated, but the soil is already polluted and poisonous." Senior Sister Zhang frowned and said, "At least 50% of the territory within Haori Mountain's sphere of influence has been contaminated by Gu insects. The water is undrinkable, the soil cannot grow crops, and even breathing there can easily lead to poisoning."

Upon hearing this, Uncle Pang and the others all frowned in worry.

Is there a way to solve this?

Senior Sister Zhang looked at Mu Qingyan.

“We are already researching it, but there are too many types of Gu worms, making it difficult to find a universal solution. We can only research different antidotes for each type. In addition, we need a large number of cultivators to use magic to treat the toxins.”

"My Tranquil Bamboo can work, but it consumes too much energy," Senior Sister Zhang said helplessly. "Even now that I'm at the Mahayana stage, it's hard for me to sustain it."

Uncle Pang said, "So, it's going to be difficult for us to make a rapid advance towards Haori Mountain?"

Zheng Fa affirmed, "We can take it, but it's worthless, and we can't hold it either. We can only clear it out while advancing."

Although the Gu God has gone into hiding, the trouble he has caused is considerable.

Her insectoid horde was too large, and the area of ​​chaos it caused was too vast. Even if Senior Sister Zhang worked herself to death, it would be difficult to clean them up completely.

If it's not cleaned up, that place is completely uninhabitable, and setting up a magnetic array is out of the question.

After much deliberation, Zheng Fasi made up his mind:

"Qingyan, you and Elder Xiong continue to research and create elixirs to cleanse the Gu poison."

"Yes!"

"Uncle Pang."

"You said."

"We can't just keep those rogue cultivators we rescued for nothing."

Uncle Pang immediately understood: "You want them to return to Haori Mountain to help us clean up the poisonous soil?"

"What do you mean by helping us...isn't this their own home?"

"That's right!" Uncle Pang immediately understood and said excitedly, "That works. Otherwise, I was worried something might happen if we sent the disciples of the Nine Mountains Sect over."

Zheng Fa nodded slightly. He had no ill intentions towards those rogue cultivators, but he was not a selfless person either. Naturally, he cared more about the lives of the Nine Mountains Sect disciples—that was what he had painstakingly cultivated.

Not only is Haori Mountain poisonous, but the Gu God might also have hidden tricks up his sleeve, so he doesn't want his disciples to take any risks.

“Of course, we should still give them some good deeds,” Zheng Fa said after a moment of contemplation. “We also need to explain things to them clearly.”

"Those who are willing to go will be contributing to our Nine Mountains Sect. We will select the best candidates to recruit in the future."

"Those who don't want to go, let them be, but they can't be kept in the Nine Mountains Realm."

Uncle Pang agreed, "I understand. Our Nine Mountains Sect doesn't support idlers."

The people in the hall nodded in agreement. They were all in meetings every day, with one task after another on their shoulders. How could they let those rogue cultivators enjoy a life of leisure?

"As for attacking Haori Mountain..." Zheng Fa said helplessly, "We have tens of thousands of cultivators working hard for several months, but it's not as bad as the sins committed by the Gu God alone."

"..."

These words even brought a hint of sympathy to Xie Qingxue's face, who deeply resented Haori Mountain.

The Gu God's emergence to fight against the Nine Mountains Sect didn't actually cause much damage to the Nine Mountains Sect, but Haori Mountain was severely harmed.

According to the Lu Clan prisoners, the Gu Goddess's actions were not free; her insect army required living creatures to feed it every day.

At first, it was poultry and spirit beasts, but later Haori Mountain couldn't hold on any longer, so they started arresting people and rogue cultivators.

Today, Haori Mountain is nothing but scorched earth.

Even Uncle Pang couldn't help but sigh, "At first, we used the pretense of eliminating demons and protecting the righteous path, and even I didn't believe it myself."

"Now things are really looking up, we really have to save Haori Mountain from this disaster."

Zheng Fa could only shake his head and said to Senior Sister Zhang, "In that case, let those rogue cultivators clean up the toxins, and our disciples will follow behind to prepare to set up the great formation."

Senior Sister Zhang nodded gently.

Zheng Fa then looked at Xie Qingxue: "Fairy Xie, could you please lead the Divine Firmament Warship to protect those rogue cultivators?"

"clear."

Having made preliminary arrangements for the next steps of the Nine Mountains Sect, Zheng Fa flicked his wrist and took out the Yin-Yang Two Qi Bottle.

"This precious bottle is entrusted to you, Senior Sister, to prevent the Gu God from returning."

Now that Senior Sister Zhang has reached the Mahayana stage, using the Yin-Yang Two Qi Bottle is not a burden for her.

This treasure is the natural counter to the Gu God, and it also has the Thick Earth Magnetic Array, and even the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Array is hidden within the Nine Mountains Realm.

With triple protection, Zheng Fa, being a cautious person, could finally feel 80-90% at ease.

But Senior Sister Zhang seemed worried: "You keep this treasure, lest the Gu God be in the Nine Luminaries Heaven."

“I have already made a plan. This time, I will still enter Haori Mountain under a false identity.” Zheng Fa said his thoughts. “Those Gu worms seem to be very sensitive to this treasure bottle. If I bring it with me and the Gu God senses it, it will ruin my important plans.”

Fake identity...

Everyone turned to look at a corner of the hall, where Shi Nandang slowly raised his finger and pointed at himself: "Me?"

……

At the foot of Haori Mountain, the giant city that looks like a mosquito coil is still majestic, but the city itself is much more desolate.

Two spies from the Nine Mountains Sect pushed their pancake stall through the city gates. Along the way, they saw that every household had its doors half-closed, shops were closed, and there wasn't a soul in sight.

"What a big change..."

The two exchanged a glance, feeling a chill in their hearts. So many people had disappeared; if it weren't for the Lu Clan standing behind them, they probably would have been dead long ago.

They arrived at their stall, only to find that one of the original vendors beside them was gone.

"What about people?"

The female disciple of the Nine Mountains Sect couldn't help but ask the person next to her.

"Who knew that things would turn out this way, and we might not be able to continue our business. We might even have to close down."

The female disciple of the Nine Mountains Sect nodded. Nowadays, most people dare not go out anymore, for fear of being handed over to the Demon Ancestor, and business is not doing well either.

Even they are barely making ends meet now, and if it weren't for the missions and support from within the sect, they wouldn't want to continue.

This Haori Mountain looks like a sign of the demise of a clan!
"He's quitting?" an old man selling magical artifacts said. "He actually wants to keep going!"

"How to say?"

Upon hearing this, the people around him became interested and asked questions one after another.

The old man remained silent, simply tapping his long pipe lightly on the ground.

"Come on, take mine! It's good stuff!"

A man stepped forward and took out a small bag of tobacco from his chest.

The old man smiled with satisfaction, slowly stuffed the tobacco into the pipe, lit it, took a slow puff, and then said unhurriedly, "It's a gift."

deliver……

It's obvious who it's given to; these days, at Haori Mountain, just mentioning giving a calligraphy piece is enough for everyone to understand.

"He has someone behind him..."

"What do you mean, 'behind me'?" the old man sneered. "At this age, everyone is too busy taking care of themselves. Whoever is behind us, is they more powerful than the God of Gu?"

"What happened to the Gu God?"

"I heard that the Gu God has gone mad and keeps demanding offerings." The old man's voice was cold. "Not to mention us, people from all three clans have also been sent away."

"Three clans?" The vendors stared wide-eyed. "How is that possible?"

"How is that impossible? Ancestor Luo is gone. Where does the Luo clan have to rely on?"

"At least there's some connection..."

"He's the Demon Ancestor, why should I offer you any incense offerings?" the old man sneered. "Those high and mighty disciples of the three races only feel the pain when the stick hits their own backsides!"

"Shh..."

Several disciples from the three clans walked towards them from afar.

The group of vendors dispersed, and the old man stubbed out his cigarette, bowing his head respectfully, not daring to invite trouble.

Sure enough, the group of people, looking indignant, strolled around the market.

Among them were several Luo clan disciples and several Yun clan disciples, but no Lu clan members.

“My uncle, though from a collateral branch and not a direct descendant of the Luo clan, served Haori Mountain diligently his entire life, and now he’s gone to feed the insects!” a Luo clan member shouted. “Is this still Haori Mountain? Is this still a celestial sect?”

The other Luo people also looked very unhappy.

"Don't think that the Gu God will let you go!" Seeing that the Yun Clan remained silent, the Luo Clan disciple spoke directly, "Although Ancestor Yun is still alive, he is the Demon Ancestor! Can he possibly care about Ancestor Yun?"

"If they occupy Haori Mountain, the first person they'll deal with will be Ancestor Yun! After that, will Haori Mountain still belong to our three clans?"

The Yun people looked at each other but didn't speak.

At first, they arrested rogue cultivators, then their subordinates, and now they're arresting members of their own three clans!
Despite their reluctance to admit it, they had to acknowledge that what the Luo people said was quite possible.

“Now, just one Gu God has severely damaged our Haori Mountain, and there are still two Demon Ancestors behind us…” the Luo Clan disciple continued, “Where will our three clans have a place in the future?”

"The Lu Clan will be fine then, won't they?"

"The Lu Clan, it's them who arrested people!" Upon hearing this, the Luo Clan member's face turned even uglier, and he gritted his teeth as he said, "No wonder they are the legacy of the Primordial Demon Ancestor!"

The others were horrified: "Are you out of your mind?!"

"Fate? With the Gu God within and the Nine Mountains Sect without, and Ancestor Yun trapped in the Underworld, who in the entire Haori Mountain Sect dares to say they can survive?"

"..."

These words left everyone speechless.

"In Haori Mountain, there is no one left who can stand up for us and protect our disciples from the wind and rain!"

Just then, a loud shout came from afar: "Welcome, Ancestor Stone!"

A group of people stood in the market, gazing blankly out of the city, seemingly unable to believe their ears.

Then a cultivator rushed into the inner city, overjoyed, and shouted, "Master Shi Nandang has returned!"

(End of this chapter)