Chapter 309: 285 Spirit Light Part 1

The forces of the Thousand Teachings Alliance were uprooted overnight, and the surface of Cituogang Port remained as calm as ever. However, the related information quickly spread to various major forces after dawn.

Agarwood Palace was once again pushed to the forefront.

It was then that the many forces realized that the ones stirring up trouble behind the scenes were people from the Secretive Cult.

If the Sensing Sect is a chaotic force of half-black, half-white with some scattered individuals.

Then the Secretive Cult is a true anti-Spirit Court force, always eager to meddle in anything detrimental to the Great Spirit.

These people, however, are incredibly secretive, making it difficult to track their whereabouts.

The removal of the Secretive Cult’s largest force, the Thousand Teachings Alliance branch, caused quite a stir.

Zhang Rongfang immediately drafted a report to the court, detailing how he battled wits with the Thousand Teachings Alliance, overcame countless hardships, and bravely killed enemies, narrating it all completely.

Then he credited all acts of valor wherever he could.

Finally, he stamped the document and sent it to the Great Capital via the government post station.

As for Zhu Wanguo, he had his limbs cut off, teeth pulled, and was kept in a jar, to be executed after the interrogation was complete.

Everyone else, except for a few deity-worshipping martial artists, were all dealt with.

The deity-worshipping martial artists were captured by the Rebel Sect as samples for the upcoming experiments.

Zhang Rongfang never gave up on finding a way to quickly kill the deity-worshipping martial artists.

Besides the crude method of grinding them down and smashing their core statues, he refused to believe anything could be absolutely immortal.

Everything settled down, the Thousand Teachings Alliance suffered a fatal blow and completely ceased its activities.

Even the formerly arrogant Jade Sea Gang quickly fell silent as if frightened.

Citong regained its former peaceful and calm state.

Gong.

Gong.

Gong….

The clear tolling of the Taoist bell echoed from the mountain top of Agarwood Palace.

Deep within the Tao Palace, in a dimly lit room.

The entire room had only one window, made of light yellow glass.

A beam of sunlight passed through the glass, shining on a brown water jar inside.

Inside the water jar was a bizarre human form, missing all limbs, only the head remained.

The figure was filthy, with long hair hanging down to cover most of the face, and occasionally a glimpse of pale eyes appeared from behind the strands of hair.

Creak, a faint sound was heard.

The door to the room was opened from the outside.

Zhang Rongfang walked in calmly, placing the bundle he carried on the table, his gaze landing on the person inside the water jar.

“How about it? Have you made up your mind? Tell me everything, and I can spare your life.”

“Heh heh….” the person in the water jar raised his head to glance at him and chuckled hoarsely.

“I’ve already said everything.”

“That’s not what I want to hear.” Zhang Rongfang stepped to the person’s front, squatting down.

He grabbed the person’s hair, yanking his head up.

“Why did you target me? What is your purpose in coming to Citong? Who is behind you? Who else besides you is part of the Thousand Teachings Alliance?”

“What difference would telling you make?” Zhu Wanguo said with a faint smile. “You won’t let me go in the end anyway.”

“…..” Zhang Rongfang did not expect the opponent to see things so clearly.

“Actually… would you believe it? I didn’t want to come at all initially.” Zhu Wanguo said.

“What do you mean?” Zhang Rongfang paused, sensing the peculiarity of the person before him.

Different from any opponent he had encountered before.

“I mean, I actually… just wanted to go to the countryside, find a quiet place, live a life of farming by day and weaving by night, ignoring the storms outside. Just lead a simple life in my own patch of land.

What business is the Secretive Cult or the Great Spirit of mine?” Zhu Wanguo continued.

“If possible, I would wish the same. But do you think it’s feasible?” Zhang Rongfang said solemnly.

Indeed, with his attribute panel, he was destined to reach unimaginable heights someday.

But essentially, he still craved a simple, ordinary life.

“True, it’s impossible.” Zhu Wanguo nodded, “Your mentors, family, friends, wife, and daughters would all make it impossible to let go.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Rongfang silently pondered. What if he wished to retire?

First, his master Chongxuan would never agree, clearly holding high hopes for him.

Then… the Eastern Sect, Rebel Sect alike saw him as a beacon of hope.

Moreover, those forces and foes he had previously offended would surely pounce like ferocious ghosts, devouring him, killing him should he show any sign of faltering.

“It seems, you are like me…..” Zhu Wanguo smiled, “I am someone who never harbored grand ambitions, this martial world never was meant for someone like me.”

“You had better be careful, my master, Demon Eagle, he wouldn’t grieve my death, only enraged by my failure, then he’ll turn his sights on you….”

In the end, Zhu Wanguo finally offered some words of genuine sincerity.

Zhang Rongfang opened his mouth, intending to ask something more, but was astonished to see Zhu Wanguo slowly closing his eyes, his breathing weakening and finally stopping….

Within his dim vision, he could see the opponent’s subdermal bloodstream gradually ceasing, like a frozen stream.

It was apparent that Zhu Wanguo was already at the end of his rope.

“Thousand Teachings Alliance, Demon Eagle….”

Zhang Rongfang engraved these names deeply within his mind. Obviously, having eradicated the Thousand Teachings Alliance’s plot, this person would likely become his formidable enemy in the future.

Yet, he didn’t fear this; rather, the prospect of battling strong enemies stirred a faint excitement within his heart.

After all, entertainment in this world was woefully scarce. His rigorous martial arts cultivation for self-improvement, perhaps the only form of amusement, was fighting.

Gathering his thoughts once again.

He confirmed that Zhu Wanguo had stopped breathing.

Zhang Rongfang gently extended a finger, pointing it at the other’s forehead, creating a hole that exposed the flesh and blood within.

A strand of pale white brain matter slowly oozed from the bloody hole.

Only when there was no further reaction from the other did he turn and leave the room.

“Give him a proper burial. He was quite a man.” Zhang Rongfang said in a deep voice as he walked towards the door.

“Yes.”

The gatekeeping Daoist responded softly.

He then quickly made his way to the study, pushed the door open, and entered.

’Hmm, I should mention this to my master. Originally, I wanted to battle the Demon Hawk, but upon careful thought, I’m still young, still on the rise, and if I can’t win, it could be disastrous.

Better to wait a few more years.’

The disciple of Zhu Wanguo from the Thousand Teachings Alliance is already so formidable, surrounded by a group of experts.

If it were his master….

After the adrenaline had subsided, Zhang Rongfang thought carefully and realized that what he liked was a guaranteed victory.

If the likelihood of losing was too high, then it wasn’t enjoyable.

Immediately, he sat down by the desk, quickly added water, ground ink, spread paper, and picked up a pen.

Then, he began to write a letter.

’Disciple Zhang Ying respectfully pays homage to Master Chongxuan: In the year of Ling Yuan 17, June, a major case occurred in Citong, endangering the Dao Palace where the disciple resides….’

In the letter, he expressed extreme patience and evasion (everyone was in the Celestial Extreme Cave completely unaware), continually seeking possibilities for reconciliation, and finally, out of desperation, reported and applied for assistance from the Snow Rainbow Pavilion.

When the location of the person behind the scenes was tracked down, General Shangguan, who came to support, repeatedly requested bombardment to cut off their retreat.

For fear of harming the innocent, he refused several times. It was only at the last moment, when the ship was about to escape….he was forced to agree to General Shangguan’s request.

Ultimately, this led to a life-and-death feud with the Thousand Teachings Alliance…. It was never the intention of this earnest and honest disciple who only wishes to cultivate….

Soon, a letter was completed, carefully folded, handed to the clerical Daoist to copy over ten times and send them out in segments, to prevent them from being lost midway.

With that, Zhang Rongfang let out a long sigh, feeling much relieved.

No matter how formidable the Thousand Teachings Alliance is, there is always Master Chongxuan standing behind him.

All he needed to do was develop quickly under his master’s protection.

*

*

*

In the days that followed.

Once Zhang Rongfang promptly recorded the incident with the Demon Hawk of the Thousand Teachings Alliance in a letter and sent it to his master Chongxuan.

He also reached out to the Thousand Stone Sect and confirmed that if the Demon Hawk made a move, the Sect Leader of the Thousand Stone Sect would not stand by idly.

In such times, of course, more significant matters should be handled by someone of greater stature.

Then he delegated the task of purging the Hundred-Change Organization to Chen Han and Shangguan Lianyue, allowing himself to somewhat relax.

Returning to his original rhythm of life.

Daily cultivation, martial arts practice, tea breaks, continued cultivation, occasional alchemy…. Solidly progressing step by step.

In this peaceful life, time seemed to drift by like mist, passing in the blink of an eye.

Soon, it was a year later….

Citong·Cotton Cloud Residence.

The weather was hot and humid, and the tea house was filled with tea friends wearing thin vests, single shirts, and jackets.

Even the women mostly wore wide strapless tops and sleeveless square-necked sleeveless tops, and they all kept fanning themselves with palm-leaf or folding fans.

In the corner of the tea house.

Zhang Rongfang picked up a cup of sweet iced tea, took a gentle sip, the mint and luohan fruit-flavored tea flowed down his throat into his stomach, bringing some refreshment.

During the year, he practiced hard kung fu daily and continually increased his attributes.

Now, he had finally mastered the Thirteen Grand Guards’ practice to perfection, reaching the Ninth-Grade Limit-Breaking, and had developed a new Extreme State of hard skill.

He had also fortified all the vulnerabilities.

Moreover, he had tried every hard skill he could find, and those that could enhance his physique, he maxed them all out.

Now, his hard skills elevated his defense to a level impervious to ordinary blades and spears.

But this was only against ordinary weapons. It’s a different matter with firearms and Divine Weapons.

Such a level was what external hard skills could achieve.

Next, he focused on maximizing his life energy.

Retracting his thoughts, Zhang Rongfang exhaled. Compared to his progress in hard skills, he was more concerned about how traditional Extreme Realm Grandmasters contended with the God-Worshiping Martial Artists.

Back then, how did the Imperial Tutor Damir defeat so many physically overbearing God-Worshiping Martial Artists to become the top?

Over the past year, through various investigations, he always sensed that within the realm of Extreme Realm, there seemed to be other critical information hidden.

Moreover, the information left for him in the Eastern Sect Celestial Maiden’s secret trove seemed incomplete.

He vaguely suspected that the contents of the other two Celestial Maiden’s secret troves might not be the same.

And according to the message from the Dao Palace in the Great Capital, Master Chongxuan told him not to worry about the Demon Hawk’s matter. To focus on cultivation and breakthrough in the Cultivation of Literature.

The letter also casually asked if he knew about the Eastern Sect’s previous human experimentation plans. It mentioned that the New Golden Wing Pavilion seemed to have found some clues. He was encouraged to share any information if known, as the Spirit Court took this matter seriously, which might even help him gain more resources by contributing.

Zhang Rongfang sent back a perfectly complete letter, stating he was unaware.

But in his heart, a sense of urgency grew.

If he happened to reveal the secrets of the hidden troves….he wondered what the Spirit Court’s attitude towards him would be.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep