Chapter 293: Favorable to Advance, Favorable to See the Great Man

Staring at the Golden Alms Bowl before him, Zhongjian stood completely stunned. He didn't recover his senses for a long while, until the hushed voices of Nurong and Suoze came from behind him:

"Master, are you alright?"

"..."

In an instant, blood rushed to Zhongjian's usually fair face, turning it a deep crimson. It stung fiercely, as if he had just been slapped hard across the cheek.

He hadn't expected to suffer such a crushing blow right after talking so big. His mind subconsciously replayed what he had just experienced.

After projecting his divine sense into the spark, he hadn't even gotten a clear look at the person. He only saw a tall, slender figure wearing armor and wielding a saber. Just as he instinctively activated his Divine Powers, the other party slashed at him. His Divine Powers were shattered without the slightest resistance, and his divine sense was blown apart as a result.

'Is this... the art of anchoring the spirit in an object?'

After all, being under the Arhat Seats, Zhongjian possessed considerable experience and insight. He immediately saw through the profound mechanics at play: 'Do I have to defeat that person in the fire to extinguish the spark?'

Such methods were actually quite common.

The problem was that the opponent was simply too strong! Even if he had been caught off guard and hadn't gone all out, he shouldn't have been instantly killed like that.

"...Cough!"

At this thought, a surge of resentment welled up in Zhongjian's heart. He turned around and glared coldly at Nurong and Suoze. "Did you two already know the secret behind this spark?"

"We have indeed experienced it a few times."

The two nodded, their expressions bitter. "Unfortunately, that person is too powerful, and he doesn't allow the two of us to join forces. In a one-on-one fight, we are truly no match for him."

After speaking, Suoze carefully glanced at Zhongjian and whispered, "Master, you need not take it to heart. That person nearly triggered the Immortal-Fan Dao Contention earlier. He is clearly an unparalleled genius of the Immortal Gate. Losing to him is only normal. When it comes to a real battle, we can all rush him together."

When it came to the Immortal Gate, most Brahma Cultivators were quite open-minded.

After all, up until now, the Immortal Gate and the Brahma Nation had constantly traded victories and defeats. Sometimes the Immortal Gate won, and sometimes the Brahma Nation lost. Everyone was used to it.

However, Zhongjian could not accept this.

After all, he had come down with a mission this time. If he handled it well and was transferred in the future, he would have a shot at the Buddhist examination. If he failed, he would be stuck as a secretary for the rest of his life.

How could he allow that?

"I was careless just now and didn't give it my all... Let's go again!"

As soon as he spoke, Zhongjian immediately split off another strand of divine sense and cast it into the Golden Alms Bowl. Yet, less than three breaths later, his head jerked up once more.

"Boom!"

His second strand of divine sense was shattered. Compared to the first time, his only improvement was being fully prepared; he had unleashed all of his techniques in an instant.

His great vow, Divine Powers, and dharma treasures—he had brought them all out.

And then they were shattered once again by the exact same saber strike.

"..."

This time, Zhongjian's expression finally changed. All his unwillingness rapidly faded. He turned to look at Wu Chi inside the Golden Alms Bowl, and a look of amazement gradually surfaced on his face.

Good lord, how did you even manage to escape alive?

I underestimated you!

Seeing Zhongjian in this state, Nurong and Suoze remained outwardly respectful, but inwardly, they felt a sense of vindictive pleasure. Wasn't he from the Arhat Seats? How could he be this pathetic?

He had just been instantly killed.

I could do that too if I went up.

Even so, seeing that Zhongjian wanted to try again, Suoze quickly stepped forward to stop him. "Master, one or two times is enough. It's best not to do it too many times."

"Why?"

Zhongjian furrowed his brows. In magical combat, intelligence always came first. If he didn't test the waters a few more times to probe the enemy's depths, how was he supposed to figure out a countermeasure?

However, Suoze's next words made his expression change drastically:

"Because this spark will spread. Once or twice is fine, leaving just a few embers at most. But if you exceed four times, the spark will take root on your body!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhongjian immediately took a step back. He subconsciously circulated his divine sense, and sure enough, he saw a scattered ember within his sea of consciousness. His face instantly turned ashen. He immediately wanted to use his divine sense to extinguish it, but recalling his previous sudden death experiences, his movements abruptly froze.

"This..."

Seeing this, Suoze spoke up again. "It's fine, Master. A few tiny embers won't burn away much of your lifeforce. It's not even enough to offset our natural recovery. In truth, it's no major hindrance."

"As long as you don't continue to feed it your divine sense and allow it to grow, it won't be a big problem."

With that, Suoze proactively rolled up his sleeve. Beside him, Nurong also pulled open the front of her monastic robes. Shockingly, two slowly burning sparks were visibly resting on their skin.

Seeing this sight, Zhongjian finally realized something was wrong.

"As far as I know, the strength of that immortal gate cultivator shouldn't be that high. He was only able to defeat Wu Chi because a Qi Refining practitioner shamelessly intervened to help."

"Why is he so strong?"

Hearing this, Nurong and Suoze shook their heads in bewilderment. "We don't know. He really wasn't this strong before. Perhaps his cultivation base broke through, and his strength increased along with it?"

"Impossible!"

Zhongjian immediately denied it.

"The Great Monk told me that he hasn't reached the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer yet. Besides, how could one's strength increase so rapidly? Do you think he gained the acknowledgment of a Spiritual Treasure?"

As his voice fell, the atmosphere suddenly plunged into a dead silence.

Right, the acknowledgment of a Spiritual Treasure... Did he actually get one?

After a brief silence, Zhongjian gritted his teeth and stomped his foot. "I'll write a report to request a Spiritual Treasure from the higher-ups. We must eradicate this spark!"

...

"I am indeed invincible!"

Beside the Ever-Suppressing Six Harmonies Cauldron, Wang Ping sat cross-legged. The combat memories from his spark phantom were transmitted back into his sea of consciousness, instantly leaving him feeling utterly refreshed and satisfied.

'This is amazing. By leaving a phantom inside the spark, I can lure people into fighting me. If I win, it proves my invincibility and greatly boosts my Divine Intent. If I lose, it's not my main body, so it doesn't count. This is simply the best method to cultivate Invincible Divine Intent! Furthermore, the spark can be transmitted from person to person, gathering even more powerful opponents.'

And that wasn't even the most absurd part.

What was even more absurd was that the more people his spark phantom defeated, the stronger his Invincible Divine Intent became. As his strength rose with the tide, the spark phantom could then defeat even more people...

He was practically stepping on his left foot with his right foot to ascend to the heavens!

Most importantly, his true body remained completely unharmed throughout the entire process!

"Wonderful."

Wang Ping couldn't help but narrow his eyes. He was immensely satisfied with this kind of battle, where he could engage in life-and-death combat without having to worry about his own life in the slightest.

"Oh, right."

Just then, Wang Ping suddenly seemed to remember something. He reached into his robes and brought out a Hundred Treasures Pouch, laying it flat in front of him.

This was Xuanlongzi's relic.

After Xuanlongzi died, Wang Ping had pocketed this item. However, the vast majority of the resources inside had already been used up by Xuanlongzi, leaving very little behind.

Strangely enough, Wang Ping hadn't noticed its existence at all initially. It wasn't until he killed Jin Hai earlier that he discovered Xuanlongzi had, at some unknown point, left this item inside the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart. Casting a spell to unseal it now, three streaks of flowing light suddenly flew out from within.

Wang Ping focused his gaze.

As the light dispersed, it revealed a book, a Token, and a flowing arc of lightning. Upon slightly sensing it, Wang Ping discovered that the lightning was actually a strand of magical power.

Magical power governed by the Thunder Sound Universal Transformation Azure Thunder Qi!

"...Kunyun?"

Wang Ping raised an eyebrow, recognizing the source of the magical power. Looking at the book and the Token again, he was surprised to find that none of these things had anything to do with Xuanlongzi.

They were all Kunyun's!

The book seemed to be a diary. Kunyun's name was written on the cover, along with traces of his magical power. The Token was made of bronze, looking entirely unremarkable at first glance.

"To think Xuanlongzi actually had such things."

Wang Ping knew that when Kunyun was facing his life tribulation back then, he had paid a hefty price to hire Xuanlongzi for help. But this diary was clearly very private. How did it end up in Xuanlongzi's hands?

Picking up the diary, Wang Ping gently stroked it.

Was this a proper diary?

He could sense a vigorous, profound energy emanating from the book. It seemed that something needed to be injected into it to open it. Otherwise, the profound energy would detonate, inevitably incinerating the diary.

"There's a restriction..."

Wang Ping thought for a moment and drew over that strand of Kunyun's magical power. But when the magical power landed on the diary, it simply spread out, failing to break through the book's profound restriction.

"Hm?"

Seeing this, a look of surprise immediately appeared on Wang Ping's face. Kunyun's own magical power couldn't open Kunyun's diary? Did he really write this diary himself?

Or could it be...

At this thought, Wang Ping's earlier nonchalance instantly turned into seriousness. He looked around and pondered for a long time before finally reaching out his hand again.

This time, he used his own magical power.

"Click..."

In a flash, the previously locked diary flickered with light. The profound restriction dispersed, and it was actually unsealed!

'Impossible!'

Kunyun's diary actually required the magical power of the Hidden Dragon Meridian-Circulating Nether-Penetrating Qi to open! How could there be such a thing? This was absolutely not left behind by Kunyun!

Or perhaps—

'It wasn't left behind by the Kunyun who was about to undergo his life tribulation back then?'

'But rather, from afterward?'

Wang Ping sat cross-legged, his expression calm, yet great waves were crashing in his heart. 'Afterward? How could it be afterward? Could it be that guy isn't dead?'

Did he survive his life tribulation and achieve Qi Refining Entering the Dao!?

Then why didn't he appear at the time? Did someone hide him away? Who was it? And most importantly, why use Xuanlongzi as a medium to contact him?

For a time, Wang Ping's thoughts spun rapidly.

'Real? Or fake?'

Was it that Kunyun truly hadn't died and was hiding in the shadows, using Xuanlongzi to pass a message? Or was it someone else setting up a scheme under Kunyun's name?

Bearing these questions, Wang Ping flipped open the diary in his hands.

Unexpectedly, the contents inside were actually very sparse. There was only a single passage, recording a private meeting Kunyun had with Mingyou prior to undergoing his life tribulation.

During that meeting, he had seen a hexagram.

One Yin at the bottom, two Yangs at the top. It was the Xun Trigram.

And what the diary recorded was Kunyun's own account of his insights into this trigram:

"Xun is the wind."

"When wind follows, all things proceed smoothly. Therefore, the core of this trigram lies in the word 'smooth'. Follow heaven and respond to the people, and thus comes Xun—wherever you go, all will be favorable!"

Seeing this, Wang Ping was already certain.

'The Dao secrets of the Eight Trigrams! This is absolutely not Kunyun's own insight. Someone behind the scenes is simply using the guise of Kunyun's diary to pass this phrase to me!'

Who was it? That Mysterious Wood Qi Daoist Master?

Not necessarily. They were merely expounding on the Xun Trigram. The key point wasn't the other party's identity, but rather what they wanted to tell him.

Wang Ping's thoughts raced as he continued to flip through the pages. Then, at the very end of the diary, he saw a line of small text:

"Small success. Favorable to advance; favorable to see the great man."