Chapter 117: 109 Seeking (Part 1)

“How is it? Take all the ones you picked yourself!” Wanyan Road said generously.

Zhang Rongfang bowed to her.

“Then I won’t be polite.”

He stood up and started from the tray on the far left.

The attribute panels in his eyes flickered constantly, displaying lines of information.

The first one was a piece resembling a metallic half-circle, with tiny spikes and protrusions inside.

’Intuition alert: This unknown fragment possibly belonged to a large structure before. When collected, it might reveal something through external diagrams and texts.’

Zhang Rongfang went on to examine the second one.

The intuition alert was similar, providing little useful information.

He walked along the trays, and finally saw the first piece that matched the set from the Taoist statue he had collected before.

It was a part resembling a torso.

’Intuition alert: This piece and the previous one seem to be a set… perhaps you can take them back and try assembling.’

Zhang Rongfang felt a stir in his heart, the same prompt as before.

This intuition alert seemed to clarify his intuition.

Actually, even without this prompt, he also vaguely sensed something about these pieces.

He felt these things might hide secrets, not simple at all.

He chose not to pick others, but to select all the pieces related to that statue first.

Soon, sixteen pieces were chosen, along with four large ones.

He thought that looking for the larger ones first might save more time when assembling later.

“Zhang Ying, are you planning to take these back and reassemble them?” Wanyan Road suddenly asked from behind.

“Yes, why? Is there a problem?” Zhang Rongfang caught the hint of something amiss in her tone and asked back.

“Well, this thing is actually quite sensitive. If you want to collect them all, you’d better not let anyone know,” Wanyan Road warned. “Spirit Court law states that only Spirit People are allowed to collect these.”

“Not allowed for anyone other than Spirit People to collect? What’s the reasoning?” Zhang Rongfang asked in surprise.

“I don’t know either. But… this law has always been strict, you should be careful,” Wanyan Road advised.

“Alright.” Zhang Rongfang kept it in mind, feeling grateful for her warning.

If she hadn’t reminded him, he might still foolishly look to openly buy and search for the pieces everywhere.

Now that he was mentally prepared, he knew it was against the law.

After selecting twenty pieces, he had someone pack them in snakeskin bags, ready to take back for research.

Afterward, he conducted some weight loss training for Wanyan Road.

In the afternoon, Zhang Rongfang returned home on schedule.

As soon as he got home, he quickly took out a small box from the drawer.

Unlocking the box, inside was the fragment of that statue.

Then, he placed all the pieces acquired from Wanyan Road on a wide cloth.

He cleaned each piece and wiped them dry.

Finally, he began trying to assemble all the pieces together.

There were a total of seventeen pieces, looking very fragmented, with some areas showing traces of breaking.

Zhang Rongfang found some rice paste and used it for adhesive, putting them together piece by piece.

From two in the afternoon, he kept working until almost seven in the evening when it was nearly time for work.

And the statue was finally mostly assembled.

“Still missing pieces.”

Standing in the courtyard.

Zhang Rongfang looked at the nearly fully assembled statue, frowning slightly.

The statue was of a Daoist figure sitting cross-legged.

The figure held a Ruyi, wore a crown resembling flower petals, donned a robe of five-colored clouds, with a faint yellow aura emanating behind him.

On its chest hung a round, eye-like golden bead.

However, the bead was missing half, and the Daoist’s head was absent.

“At least two key pieces are missing. The head and the gold bead.”

Zhang Rongfang had anticipated the possibility of missing pieces before, but now that it had happened, he felt troubled.

Who knows where this statue was originally found?

The remaining pieces are lost in the vast sea of humanity; who knows where they’ve ended up.

He reopened the attribute panel.

’Intuition alert: This is a statue missing some crucial parts. Once it’s complete, perhaps you could try worshipping it….’

After pondering for a while, Zhang Rongfang laid the statue flat, storing it inside the wardrobe and covering it with a large cloth.

The assembled statue, over half a meter tall, was not large but quite conspicuous.

After heading out to go to the office for work, Zhang Rongfang sent word to Qingsu again, asking her to bring all relevant data on the collected pieces.

After finishing the patrol at night.

Returning to his courtyard, Qingsu was already waiting in a corner.

Ever since he subdued this woman last time, Zhang Rongfang noticed that Qingsu was entirely loyal to him.

Especially after the Black Ten Sect incident, Qingsu revered and feared him even more.

Drizzling rain kept falling, Qingsu held a small red umbrella, wearing a bamboo hat and a black leather raincoat, standing motionless in the shadow like she didn’t exist.

It wasn’t until Zhang Rongfang entered the door that she stepped forward.

“Sir, a lot of the materials you requested are missing.

“The files in the building have been moved to Pingya Temple as a base, as per your instructions. I searched for a long time there, and this is everything.”

She handed over an object wrapped in oil paper from beneath her raincoat.

Zhang Rongfang took it.

“Thank you for your hard work. By the way, I haven’t asked about your situation. What are you doing in Tan Yang these days?”

“Thank you for your concern, Sir. I opened a garment shop in Tan Yang. My family has been in business for generations, mainly dealing with clothing dyeing,” Qingsu replied.

“You’re working for me, and I won’t let you down. If you encounter any trouble, don’t hesitate to come to me,” Zhang Rongfang said softly.

Qingsu was quite handy, obedient, capable, and had commendable martial prowess. She was a young talent with a promising future.

“Thank you, Sir!” Qingsu felt a flutter in her heart, her eyes flashing with joy. She had strived so hard precisely to gain Zhang Rongfang’s complete trust and hoped to follow closely in his footsteps.

Now, she finally received Zhang Rongfang’s recognition.

She always believed that Zhang Rongfang was not someone who would remain in a small pond. Being merely at the Eagle Level would never be his final destination.

Now, she sought Zhang Rongfang’s advice on some martial arts doubts.

To her surprise, even without practicing the Golden Roc Secret Record, Zhang Rongfang could answer some crucial questions.

Especially when it came to surpassing physical limits, he had profound insights.

This greatly benefited Qingsu.

Half an hour later, after seeing Qingsu off, Zhang Rongfang let out a gentle sigh. He returned to his room, lit a lamp, and opened the oil paper package.

Inside were some old, somewhat tattered books. A few of them weren’t even books but notebooks similar to hand-copied manuscripts.

He picked up the one on top.

“Spiritualism Overview,” Author: Zhang Zongxi.

Opening the first page, it contained an introduction to the general content of mainstream religions in the Great Spirit.

It also included some religious deity illustrations.

Zhang Rongfang flipped through it, finding the book had little content, with key parts seemingly torn out.

Among the religious deity illustrations of Taoist sects, he searched but couldn’t find any features matching the assembled deity icon he had.

In the end, at the closing remarks of the author, there was a mention of a piece about metal fragment remnants.

’The religious deity illustrations are divided into Yang Illustrations and Yin Illustrations. The records in this note are all Yang Illustrations.

The rumored Yin Illustrations are strictly prohibited by the Spirit Court for various reasons and are not conveniently mentioned here.’

“Yang Illustrations, Yin Illustrations?” Zhang Rongfang squinted his eyes.

The Great Dao Teaching worships the Celestial Venerable Yujing, and beneath the Celestial Venerable are ninety-nine deities of Taoism. It is rumored that the sect founder Liu Derong received the scriptures when the Celestial Venerable, incarnated as a man on a bull, passed by his house.

But no one knows whether it’s true or false.

He put down the book and picked up the subsequent notebook to browse through.

Regarding the bronze-colored parts, most were prohibited by the court, with only brief mentions.

It mostly mentioned that these deity figures were often worshipped by branches resulting from sect internal struggles, which later declined, leading to the fragmentation and eventual extinction of the deity figures.

Suddenly, a question occurred to Zhang Rongfang.

“I remember… it seems our Great Dao Teaching’s full name once had a ’True’ character… Could it be True Great Dao Teaching?”

Since there’s a ’True,’ there should be a ’False.’

Only when there’s a ’False’ would there be an emphasis on being ’True.’

Zhang Rongfang noted this in his mind, planning to inquire further at the Daoist palace later.

As he flipped through the booklets, eventually, in an intelligence record booklet from the Golden Wing Pavilion, he found a clue.

’Upon investigation, the primary sources of the bronze-colored parts originate mostly from tombs, underground locales, abandoned Daoist palaces, temples, and individual collectors.’

“Tomb?” Suddenly, Zhang Rongfang recalled that since he saw so many bronze-colored fragments at the exchange meeting, those at the exchange should know where the incomplete deity he possessed came from.

He remembered that the auctioneer mentioned at the time that the deity was acquired from a certain tomb.

At this moment, he took a thin piece of paper and carefully wrote in the unique code of the Golden Wing Pavilion.

Then he went out to the courtyard, took a black incense stick from his sleeve, and lit it with an oil lamp.

The incense emitted a fresh and peculiar fragrance, slowly spreading upwards into the night sky.

Not long after.

A small red bird about the size of a sparrow flew soundlessly from the night sky, landing on his shoulder.

Zhang Rongfang slipped the rolled-up coded paper into a small bamboo tube, secured the stopper, and tied it to the bird’s leg.

He then fed it a bit of grain and millet.

“Off you go.”

The red bird took off without a sound, disappearing into the night sky in a flash, moving extraordinarily fast.

With an intelligence organization as large as the Golden Wing Pavilion, Zhang Rongfang naturally wouldn’t personally investigate everywhere.

After doing all this, he simply had to wait for the news.

With the intelligence ability of the main building members of the Golden Wing Pavilion, a response should arrive promptly.

If not, he could activate the subsidiary branch.

However, involving the subsidiary branch would require extra compensation, as members are temporarily affiliated and do not enjoy the various benefits and advantages of the main building.

After releasing the bird, Zhang Rongfang didn’t bother returning to his room but opened the attribute panel in the courtyard.

He had accumulated one attribute point already.

But unfortunately, progressing from the Foundation Establishment Stage to the Core Formation Stage in the Void Observation Skill seemed to require more than just one point.

This leap in realm was significant, likely requiring two points.

And the second attribute point, according to his calculations, was likely to come in the next two days.

Boom!!

Suddenly, the sound of fireworks exploding came from inside the city in the distance.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep