I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 288Book 2: : The New Master of the Hundred Immortals, Take a Seat at the Table
Vol 2 Chapter 288: The New Master of the Hundred Immortals, Take a Seat at the Table
Zheng Fa eyed the Dao Fruit cultivator from Haori Mountain warily, clearly on guard.
Though Senior Sister Zhang hadn’t said a word, and the two hadn’t even exchanged glances, how could Zheng Fa not understand her concern?
This Dao Fruit cultivator who had stood by doing nothing the entire time probably didn’t have good intentions.
Fortunately, the man now looked much more friendly—that smile, like reuniting with a beloved family member, was so sweet it gave Zheng Fa the chills.
Due to his limited knowledge, Zheng Fa didn’t fully grasp what this blood rain phenomenon meant. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦
Thankfully, the Dao Fruit cultivator from Haori Mountain gave him an answer.
“The Great Freedom Demon Emperor, whom even the Tianhe Venerable failed to kill, has died by your hand…” His face still bore a smile, but his voice couldn’t help trembling a little. “Sect Master Zheng…”
“This is the first Dao Fruit death since the current era began, perhaps even since the previous one.”
It sounded like praise, but also like probing.
Zheng Fa, however, was utterly confused—I’m not a Dao Fruit, okay!
Objectively speaking, the battle in the Jiushan Realm had involved the Tranquility Bamboo, the Fusang Tree, and the Qingping Sword—three powers on the Dao Fruit level. That was impressive.
But the one who had truly defeated the Great Freedom Demon Emperor was still that strange power within him—or rather, the hidden card left by the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor—
Was the Demon Emperor really killed by his hand?
He looked to the distant sea. Where were Chen Ting and the Netherworld Immortal?
…
Half a stick of incense earlier.
On a sea island stood an altar, built of rough black rock, etched with totems of a hundred beasts. The dark red lines within the totems pulsed as if real blood flowed through them.
The Abi Sword was stabbed into the altar, emitting a dim light, as if thirsting for the blood on the altar.
Chen Ting and the Netherworld Immortal Qin Mu stood before it.
As a cautious man who had just been revived, the Great Freedom Demon Emperor, though Zheng Fa’s strength was still far beneath his own, left a backup plan—
Okay, mostly because he hadn’t figured out Zheng Fa’s true depth…
The newly subdued myriad demons had yet to earn his trust.
But Chen Ting and the Netherworld Immortal—these two, in the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor’s eyes, were paragons of loyalty and integrity.
The Great Freedom Demonic Sect only had them left, and they even helped resurrect him!
Worthy of trust!
Chen Ting and the Netherworld Immortal also believed the Demon Emperor had excellent judgment.
Strangely enough, though Chen Ting was only a Golden Core, the Soul Formation-level Netherworld Immortal stood behind him like a subordinate.
Especially those dark eyes of Chen Ting’s—Qin Mu didn’t even dare look directly at them.
At the moment Zheng Fa’s sword struck the Great Freedom Demon Emperor, Chen Ting spoke. The voice was neither male nor female, ethereal and unreal:
“It is time.”
“Yes!”
The Netherworld Immortal answered respectfully. The two knelt before the altar and began chanting.
Their prayer was first so soft even the dust beneath their knees couldn’t hear it.
Then so loud it shattered the clouds above.
The light on the Abi Sword turned from dark red to black, and the black was so pure it seemed bright, too dazzling to look at directly.
At that moment, talisman diagrams flowed in from all directions, forming the Great Freedom Demon Emperor’s shadow.
There was still a wound on his chest, but his eyes were calm, though faintly puzzled.
Upon seeing the Abi Sword, joy lit his face. He rushed toward it, wanting to merge with his life-bound immortal sword.
The Abi Sword remained motionless, seemingly loyal—until… the black light suddenly expanded and, in one gulp, devoured his shadow.
“Who?”
By now, the Demon Emperor realized something was wrong and struggled inside the black light, but resistance was futile—he could only roar out two words.
His head turned sharply. His gaze fell on Chen Ting and the Netherworld Immortal. If he still couldn’t see through them at this point, he’d be a fool.
The Netherworld Immortal dared not raise his head, but Chen Ting met his gaze directly.
Now, the Demon Emperor even guessed the mastermind:
“Jiuyou!”
“Only you could deceive…”
Beneath Chen Ting, his shadow rippled. A figure slowly emerged.
No one could see this person’s face or form clearly.
But those eyes—burned bright into the minds of the three present. They seemed to contain the most intense emotions of the universe, and yet were utterly cold, like ice frozen atop a river of magma.
“So it really is you!”
Talisman lights flickered around the Demon Emperor’s body as he stubbornly resisted the black light, but the wound in his chest was his fatal flaw.
The black light, like a cold venomous snake, slithered through his body.
“You revived me?”
“You planted your Dao Fruit in my body?”
“Why…”
The Nine Nether Demon Ancestor seemed in no rush. He actually answered the question. The voice was the same non-male, non-female one Chen Ting had used earlier:
“If you don’t resurrect, how can you die?”
“If you don’t die…”
“How could I complete the supreme treasure?”
He pointed a finger. A black, ancient book floated into the air. The three characters on the cover were so old that even the Netherworld Immortal couldn’t read them.
But the Demon Emperor understood at a glance:
“The Book of Life and Death?”
The Nine Nether Demon Ancestor chuckled lightly, watching his shadow grow fainter, a touch of pride in his tone. “As expected of the Great Freedom.”
The Demon Emperor’s face was full of realization—and bitterness.
“To rule life and death, to grasp karma of the world… you actually refined the supreme treasure?”
“Not yet,” the Demon Ancestor replied. “If Dao Fruits do not die, how can one rule over life and death?”
“If the Five Sects do not fall, how can one control all karma?”
Hearing this, the Netherworld Immortal buried his head nearly into the ground. If the Book of Life and Death were to be fully refined, killing one Demon Emperor wasn’t enough?
They’d need to finish off the Five Sects too?
He felt his Saint Ancestor’s ambitions were way too grand—it was terrifying.
The Great Freedom Demon Emperor, however, suddenly laughed, as if realizing something:
“You want to complete the Book of Life and Death?”
“Or avenge Tianhe?”
“You’ve… been hiding for an entire era.”
“……”
The Netherworld Immortal wanted to dig a hole and bury himself.
It involved the Tianhe Venerable…
Shouldn’t we just focus on destroying Taishang Dao or something instead?
At least that sect he was familiar with!
The Nine Nether Demon Ancestor said nothing, simply tapped the book again.
The book opened, revealing a page filled with densely packed characters:
“Zhou Yun, age 1,360,000, studied the Dao in early years, possessed outstanding talent, but his sect was destroyed and he became a lone cultivator, yet he remained steadfast…”
“Reached Demon Ancestor at 50,000 years, killed all enemies, no one in the world dared meet his gaze. The number of those slain was beyond counting…”
“Became Demon Emperor again… gravely wounded by the Qingping Sword, perished by the hand of the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor.”
A single page summarized the Demon Emperor’s long, long life. He gazed over the writing, eyes filled with complex emotion, while the Abi Sword devoured the talismans around him.
From the sky, blood rain began to fall.
The Great Freedom Demon Emperor looked up at the blood rain, seemingly offered as his funeral, and suddenly laughed.
“Jiuyou, do you think Tianhe… ever regretted?”
The Nine Nether Demon Ancestor fell silent for a moment before answering: “He never would.”
“Nor do I.”
Those were the Demon Emperor’s final words.
Moments later, only the Abi Sword remained on the altar—no sign of the emperor.
But the Book of Life and Death hanging in the air grew ever more eerie. Countless wraiths drifted in from every direction—sky, land, underground—transforming into lines of text, recording life and death.
The Ten-Thousand-Beast Banner had been terrifying, but to the Netherworld Immortal, this book was something else entirely:
He felt his own life being written into the book—and would one day return to it…
The Nine Nether Demon Ancestor flipped through the pages, then tucked the book into his sleeve. He glanced at Chen Ting. Chen Ting stood and picked up the Abi Sword.
The Netherworld Immortal beside them kept his gaze down, pretending to care about nothing.
The two followed the Demon Ancestor, gazing toward the battlefield where Zheng Fa and the Demon Emperor had fought.
The Netherworld Immortal couldn’t help but think wildly:
By now, he still didn’t understand why the Saint Ancestor remained hidden—
Was his strength still insufficient?
Or…
He recalled what the Demon Emperor said—if the Demon Ancestor’s relationship with the Tianhe Venerable wasn’t a secret, was he being hunted by all the Immortal Sects? Forced into hiding?
If so, and if word got out that the Demon Emperor had died at his hands…
Whether the Demon Ancestor could survive such consequences was uncertain.
But Qin Mu himself was absolutely terrified!
The Saint Ancestor’s mind—was impossible to fathom.
The Nine Nether Demon Ancestor stood a moment longer, as if locking eyes with Zheng Fa across the battlefield. He let out a soft laugh, then turned into a shadowy night.
In just a blink, daylight returned—and he and the other two were gone without a trace.
Zheng Fa hadn’t seen the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor—but he did spot a rather unexpected person—
Master Wuzhi from Leiyin Temple.
Wuzhi wasn’t even discovered by Zheng Fa—it was Zhenren Luo from Haori Mountain who noticed him.
Wuzhi gave an awkward smile, the Supreme Alms Bowl hovering above his head, cursing the Demon Emperor in his heart—
He and the Demon Emperor had come together, targeting Zheng Fa. The Demon Emperor only wanted the Demon Emperor Dao Fruit, while he aimed for the Tranquility Bamboo. All in all, the cooperation had been going well.
Everything was just fine… until:
That Zhenren Luo from Haori Mountain showed up.
So the Demon Emperor had him hide in the shadows, to guard against Luo making a move—especially to prevent him from snatching the Fusang Tree.
That plan wasn’t bad…
The problem was, the Demon Emperor died way too fast!
Only Wuzhi was left behind.
Wuzhi felt he had never suffered so much in his entire life. As he looked at Zheng Fa, there was an unmistakable fear in his eyes.
Clearly, like Zhenren Luo, he too was frightened… by the death of the Great Freedom Demon Emperor.
Zheng Fa glanced at Wuzhi, then turned and looked at Zhenren Luo on the other side, but said nothing. He then looked down at the common people on the ground, hesitated for a moment, and called out loudly to the cultivators from Qingmu Sect and the other Hundred Immortals Alliance sects:
“Assign disciples to guide the refugees, count the survivors, and treat their injuries.”
The countless demons had died under their own Demon Emperor’s hand. The seawater had only just receded, and the land was left in complete ruin.
The cultivators were still alright, but for the mortals, the danger was far from over.
The farmland had turned into marshes, and half the houses had been swept away.
It was easy to imagine that without follow-up efforts, hunger and disease would soon claim the lives of these survivors.
In the past, even if Zheng Fa had thought of this, he wouldn’t have had the spare energy to handle it, and it seemed the other Immortal Sects never cared about such matters either.
But now that he was the Alliance Master of the Hundred Immortals Alliance—things were naturally different.
The Sect Master of Qingmu Sect and the others exchanged glances, seemingly unfamiliar with this kind of command, and hesitated.
But when Zheng Fa’s gaze swept over them, all of them instinctively shrank their necks and suddenly understood one thing:
The Great Freedom Demon Emperor was killed by Zheng Fa, and no one objected…
Could they have objections?
Dare to have objections?
A group of cultivators descended from their clouds and stepped among the mortals, beginning to calm the people and treat the wounded.
Seeing that they were at least obedient, Zheng Fa allocated a batch of food from the Jiushan Realm, prepared to distribute it to the disaster victims.
Zhao Jingfan followed behind his Senior Brother, walking among the mortals.
Truth be told, it didn’t feel great.
Two counties had been flooded, and the dead civilians made up more than half the population. Yet over 100,000 survivors had gathered here.
Crying, praying, wailing echoed in their ears.
The stench of blood, mud, and the sweat of the people made it hard to breathe.
There were even corpses floating at their feet, pale faces and rotting flesh so ghastly that Zhao Jingfan felt a chill down his spine.
The Senior Brother walking ahead of Zhao Jingfan couldn’t help but toss out a Breeze Talisman and grumbled bitterly, “So many injured… how long will it take to treat them all?”
He didn’t know either, and his heart was filled with frustration.
High in the sky, Senior Sister Zhang gently waved the Tranquility Bamboo. Golden light fell like rain onto this hellish landscape.
The cries gradually quieted.
The unpleasant smells were blown away by the wind, replaced by the fresh scent of bamboo leaves.
Many of the less serious wounds on people’s bodies even began healing on their own.
Zhao Jingfan’s spirits lifted—this made the task much easier!
Qingmu Sect specialized in pill methods and naturally had some knowledge of medicine.
His Senior Brother pulled out a pill, dissolved it in a bowl of clean water, and with a wave of his sleeve, the water scattered into streams that fell over dozens of people.
A woman who had broken her leg while running opened her eyes—and stood up.
A man whose arm had been skinned by a branch during the flood touched his now-healed right arm, overjoyed.
Just like that, under the effect of one bowl of medicinal water, dozens of seriously injured mortals were immediately healed. Filled with joy and fear, they knelt and bowed their heads to Zhao Jingfan and the others.
Zhao Jingfan couldn’t help feeling pleased.
But when he looked ahead at his Senior Brother, he saw a dark expression on his face, as though he were annoyed by these mortals.
“Senior Brother?”
His Senior Brother’s lips moved slightly, casting a wary glance at Zheng Fa above, and then—perhaps recalling their connection—he forced a smile and said:
“I just… feel bad about the pills.”
Zhao Jingfan lowered his gaze, then looked at the other Qingmu Sect cultivators—the expressions on their faces were exactly the same.
He instantly understood what they were thinking.
It was understandable.
Forget that they previously lacked any sense of duty to help mortals—now, even if they had such awareness, Qingmu Sect itself had just suffered disaster, and resources were limited. Every pill used was one less in reserve.
Zheng Fa had ordered them to treat the mortals, and many probably resented it.
But Zheng Fa’s overwhelming strength left them no room for complaints.
He looked up at Zheng Fa and pressed his lips together.
…
Zheng Fa didn’t know what those cultivators below were thinking. And if he did, he wouldn’t care.
He had always believed that cultivators were supported by the mortal world—not just in terms of taxes and grain, but in many other ways.
Only through his practice in the Jiushan Realm had he come to truly understand things like—
The ownership of spiritual energy.
In Zheng Fa’s view, many systems in the Xuanyi Realm were actually quite vague, largely due to historical reasons.
Spiritual energy—he still didn’t fully understand its nature—but in the Xuanyi Realm, it functioned almost like a component of the air.
So, did spiritual energy belong to cultivators, or to all people of the Xuanyi Realm?
Extending from that, what about spiritual veins? Spiritual fields?
The previous chaos within the Hundred Immortals Alliance was largely caused by these systemic ambiguities.
Had he not governed the Jiushan Realm, Zheng Fa wouldn’t have thought deeply about any of this.
He hadn’t even planned on influencing or shaping the Hundred Immortals Alliance.
He never aimed for absolute fairness—but in practice, the disparity between cultivators and mortals in rights and responsibilities was far too great.
Take the Great Freedom Demon Emperor, for example… the chaos he caused resulted in the deaths of at least hundreds of millions of mortals.
No one cared about the casualties. Most sects in the Hundred Immortals Alliance simply let it be.
But logically, without those mortals, the Alliance wouldn’t even have anyone to take in as disciples in the future.
And emotionally… Zheng Fa just didn’t like that.
…
Since saving lives came first, Zheng Fa had temporarily ignored Wuzhi and Zhenren Luo. But the two of them never took their eyes off Zheng Fa.
Seeing how much he cared about these mortals, the two reacted differently, but neither seemed to take it seriously.
A short while later, Head Seat Mingde suddenly fixed his gaze on Wuzhi and asked coldly, “Why are you here?”
Zheng Fa looked over curiously as well.
After all, Wuzhi had betrayed Taishang Dao for the Tranquility Bamboo—his motives now were easy to guess.
Beads of sweat formed on Wuzhi’s forehead. How could he dare tell the truth?
“I…” Wuzhi gritted his teeth, suddenly thinking of something, and blurted out, “I came to invite Sect Master Zheng to attend the Five Sects Conference!”
Five Sects Conference?
Zheng Fa blinked, a little confused.
But Zhenren Luo and the others’ expressions shifted slightly, all turning to Zheng Fa as if reminded of something.
Zheng Fa looked at them.
Head Seat Mingde explained, “The Five Sects Conference is being convened because of the resurrection of the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor and the changes to the Xuanyi Realm’s situation. The Xuanyi Five Sects intend to eliminate misunderstandings and discuss how to resist the Demonic Sect.”
“As the name suggests—only the Five Sects may attend.”
Zheng Fa thought back to Mu Qingyan’s ‘memories’ and understood instantly:
Polished version: eliminate misunderstandings.
Plain version: divide up territory.
The Immortal Sects might have endless internal strife, but when it came to suppressing the Demonic Sect, they were surprisingly united.
So what Wuzhi meant was—after this battle, Zheng Fa and his group now qualified… to sit at the table?
He glanced at Wuzhi, knowing full well that the man was likely bluffing.
But… Zhenren Luo’s expression didn’t say the same. He was nodding continuously at Zheng Fa, as if agreeing with Wuzhi’s words wholeheartedly.
It looked like the death of the Demon Emperor had really scared him.
Wuzhi continued, “Sect Master Zheng’s strength is on par with a Dao Fruit, and he’s eliminated the scourge of the Great Freedom from our Xuanyi Realm. In this humble monk’s opinion, for the Five Sects Conference, Sect Master Zheng’s strength and merit certainly qualify him to attend…”
Behind Head Seat Mingde, Zhenren Tongming—who had never dared get involved in such high-level matters—twitched at the corner of his mouth.
He had labored for tens of thousands of years, dreaming of the Hundred Immortals Alliance becoming the Sixth Sect of Xuanyi. That dream had been crushed, leaving him disheartened, reduced to drunk ramblings.
And today, he suddenly saw a shortcut:
Give it to Zheng Fa—without him, the Hundred Immortals Alliance meant nothing, but with him, they were the Sixth Sect!
Who could possibly object?
On his face appeared an expression… of overwhelming sorrow and deep gratification.
