I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 381Book 2: : You Chase, I Follow, Sharing the Spirit
Vol 2 Chapter 381 You Chase, I Follow, Sharing the Spirit
The Rainbow Transformation Method was unmatched in speed throughout the world. Zheng Fa, accompanied by Xie Qingxue, reunited with Senior Sister Zhang and the Jiushan Ancestor after just a few breaths.
“Where are the others?”
Upon meeting, Zheng Fa immediately asked.
Senior Sister Zhang shook her head and said, “We didn’t dare get too close, and since Rogue Immortal Luo left decisively, neither of us knows where he is now.”
Hearing this, Zheng Fa was not disappointed. Although he had chased out immediately, he had to admit that Luo Sanxian really ran fast.
Moreover, Zheng Fa spent some time modifying the Trapping Immortal Sword.
It was also wise for Senior Sister Zhang and the Jiushan Ancestor not to approach too closely;otherwise, if they were discovered, Zheng Fa would regret it deeply.
“Senior Sister, can you calculate?”
Senior Sister Zhang frowned at this and replied, “With Luo Sanxian’s cultivation level, the Innate Eight Trigrams cannot accurately locate him…”
“It’s not Luo Sanxian we’re calculating, but the Zhongxuan Sect Elder Ba.”
Senior Sister Zhang’s eyes brightened as she activated the Innate Eight Trigrams diagram. After two breaths, she pointed and said, “This direction!”
Zheng Fa led the three and surged forward on the rainbow light without hesitation.
Senior Sister Zhang’s Innate Eight Trigrams diagram was incredibly mystical but also had limitations.
If used to locate Luo Sanxian, the margin of error would probably exceed thirty percent.
Even calculating other Nascent Soul cultivators would not be perfectly accurate—though the error might be less than ten percent or even five percent.
Given Zheng Fa’s speed, even a tiny error would translate into a distance difference of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of miles in the end.
Fortunately, Luo Sanxian brought along a Zhongxuan Sect Elder Ba, a Nascent Soul cultivator who was almost completely exposed before the Innate Eight Trigrams.
Halfway through, Zheng Fa noticed several familiar talismanic runes in the void—
His eyes flickered with silver light as he briefly stopped the rainbow light to identify them: “These were left by those five Red Dragons!”
The four spirits lifted, confirming that Senior Sister Zhang’s indicated direction was correct, and realizing Luo Sanxian had just passed through not long ago.
…
At the border between the Hundred Immortals Alliance and Haori Mountain.
Luo Sanxian’s heart skipped slightly as he glanced back but saw nothing.
Still, an inexplicable unease lingered in his heart—though he did not know its source, he had relied on a sense of caution since his path began.
Though he believed himself stronger than the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor, and that Zheng Fa might not be able to handle him, he still avoided risk and decisively left Zhongxuan Sect.
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Sensing something unusual, he stopped and looked around carefully.
A festive cloud appeared above Luo Sanxian’s head, upon which stood a red Yang Spirit entwined by five fire dragons, standing proudly.
His Yang Spirit extended its palm, which suddenly opened, forming a black and red vortex in the void.
Talismanic diagrams in the surrounding spiritual energy were instantly drawn into the vortex.
The spiritual aura around was thrown into chaos.
Luo Sanxian scanned the surroundings and nodded slightly, relieved inwardly—this was his exclusive secret technique that had saved him from countless dangers, best at dispelling all kinds of tracking methods. After becoming a Scatter Immortal, he had further refined it.
Now, he was confident no tracking technique in the Xuanyi Realm could keep up with him.
Retracting his Yang Spirit, he changed direction and swiftly left with his escape light.
Within less than a tea time, a rainbow bridge suddenly appeared in the sky, and Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang stepped out from it.
“Senior Sister?”
Senior Sister Zhang quickly tapped her Feixian Brush, causing runes to fly across the Innate Eight Trigrams diagram. After a moment, she frowned and shook her head slightly at Zheng Fa: “The energy flow here is chaotic. The Innate Eight Trigrams’ accuracy is low. Even calculating Elder Ba’s position only yields about a ninety percent confidence.”
Hearing this, Zheng Fa was troubled as well.
He now roughly understood the principle behind the Innate Eight Trigrams’ calculations—it was basically probability calculation, but because it contained some ultimate truths of heaven and earth, it was much more accurate and mystical than the Nine Chapters Calculation Array.
However, losing key data would severely reduce accuracy.
For example, Senior Sister Zhang was not very familiar with Scatter Immortals, so the calculation was difficult.
Also, the energy flow in the void ahead had been disturbed by Luo Sanxian, making the data collected by the Innate Eight Trigrams inaccurate. Even calculating the Nascent Soul Elder Ba’s trail, the success rate dropped.
“Ninety percent… easy to lose the trail.”
The Jiushan Ancestor understood the difficulty and murmured.
Even Xie Qingxue frowned thoughtfully, realizing she had no better solution.
Suddenly, the three of them all looked at Zheng Fa.
Zheng Fa was also unsure how to decide, surprised by Luo Sanxian’s caution.
Not only did he run fast, but his traces of crime were destroyed professionally—a clear habitual offender.
While Zheng Fa hesitated, the Creation Jade Slip in his sea of consciousness trembled lightly. Opening it, he saw a spirit message from Head Seat Mingde:
“There is a major earthquake at Haori Mountain. Are you aware?”
Before Zheng Fa could answer, Head Seat Mingde, apparently unable to contain his curiosity, sent another message:
“Is this earthquake related to your Hundred Immortals Alliance?”
Zheng Fa was stunned for a moment, then quickly replied, “How so? Head Seat, please don’t wrong my Jiushan Sect!”
“...Someone saw Luo Sanxian running from the Hundred Immortals Alliance territory toward Haori Mountain.”
Looking at this information, Zheng Fa fell silent briefly and decisively responded, “Then you should suspect him.”
“Is he crazy?”
Zheng Fa was momentarily speechless, then quickly asked, “Has anyone actually seen Luo Sanxian?”
“Yes, several people have. He is a Dao Fruit cultivator, and his escape light is well known.”
“Where did they see him?” Zheng Fa asked first, then shook his head, realizing he needn’t ask—he could use the Creation Jade Slip to investigate himself.
As the spirit message server, he usually did not monitor cultivator communications, but if he wanted to investigate, he had the means.
Meanwhile, Head Seat Mingde seemed to sense something amiss and hurriedly asked, “...What do you intend to do?”
…
The Taishang Dao sect had a Mount Tianchi, over ten thousand zhang high.
At the summit was a vast lake, with a waterside pavilion nearby.
Head Seat Mingde sat there, suddenly putting down his Tongjian and looking up sharply, loudly ordering: “Contact everyone in the Haori Mountain territory.”
Zhenren Tongming was serving in the pavilion and asked puzzled, “Everyone?”
“All cultivators affiliated with Taishang Dao, even those from external branches, as long as they are in Haori Mountain, oh, and the Hundred Immortals Alliance too—contact as many as possible.”
Seeing Head Seat Mingde’s serious expression, Zhenren Tongming hurriedly took out a Tongjian to send spirit messages but suddenly froze and asked blankly, “What are you saying?”
Head Seat Mingde replied, “Zheng Fa might have had a confrontation with Haori Mountain’s Luo Sanxian. Have them investigate and locate both parties to clarify the outcome.”
Zhenren Tongming’s hand trembled, nearly dropping the Tongjian. He quickly steadied himself and asked, “Zheng Fa? How dare he…”
Head Seat Mingde walked out of the pavilion, gazing toward Haori Mountain with a confused look.
He shook his head and whispered, “Xuanyi is about to change.”
…
Zheng Fa checked Luo Sanxian’s name on the Creation Jade Slip and found many cultivators had recently mentioned him.
As the most active Dao Fruit cultivator in Haori Mountain, Luo Sanxian’s travel was never very concealed, and his escape light was familiar to many.
Currently, Jiushan Sect had produced nearly ten thousand Tongjians, half held by Jiushan Sect disciples.
A large portion of the rest had fallen into the Xuanyi Realm.
Of those, fifty percent were purchased by Hundred Immortals Alliance cultivators.
Outside the Hundred Immortals Alliance, only a few thousand Tongjians existed.
Though not many, quite a few people had seen Luo Sanxian.
Zheng Fa was puzzled and cautious, so he studied further and understood why.
The first reason was the cultivators’ levels.
The farther from Jiushan Realm, the higher the average cultivation level of Tongjian holders.
Currently, every Qi Refining disciple in Jiushan Realm owned a Tongjian.
Only Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Hundred Immortals Alliance could buy one.
Outside the Hundred Immortals Alliance, eighty percent of Tongjian holders were Golden Core cultivators or higher.
Zheng Fa quickly understood this logic:
Tongjians were highly sought after, and Jiushan Sect’s production capacity was limited.
After reaching outside the Hundred Immortals Alliance, prices naturally doubled or even multiplied ten to twenty times.
Thus, for most cultivators, Tongjians were luxury items.
Moreover, the external version of Tongjian was almost purely for entertainment. Cultivators with lower levels simply did not have extra money to spend on them.
Therefore, Tongjians were nearly standard issue for Jiushan Sect disciples but had become status symbols outside—and these external versions were stripped-down to the extreme.
These cultivators were strong, and their spiritual vision and soul sensing were naturally far beyond ordinary people—a Golden Core cultivator’s soul could cover at least a hundred miles, essentially a super camera.
Of course, this was just one reason.
The Xuanyi Realm was vast, and a hundred miles was not very large, so chance encounters with Luo Sanxian were rare.
Yet, Luo Sanxian was somewhat unlucky:
Looking toward Haori Mountain’s territory, Zheng Fa saw treasure lights flashing above the collapsed mountain ridges, and the cultivators on the ground were thickly packed.
Some were searching the ruins for something, others seemed to have noticed Zheng Fa and were looking toward him and his group.
A rough count revealed the number of cultivators here was several times more than before the earthquake.
Part of the reason involved Zheng Fa himself:
Twenty percent of Haori Mountain’s spirit veins had exploded, causing a significant impact.
At first, no cultivators dared to investigate, but now, seeing no abnormality after the earthquake, many could no longer restrain themselves and flooded into the area.
From these spirit messages, their intentions were simple:
Firstly, to understand the situation and truth.
Many were Haori Mountain disciples.
Another group was ready to profit from the sect’s troubles.
Most spirit veins had been sect bases.
Some belonged to Haori Mountain’s branch halls, primarily tasked with collecting spirit materials and supplies from sects.
Now, with the spirit veins destroyed, these sects and branches suffered heavy losses, but their warehouses still held many spirit materials, pills, and magical tools, lacking caretakers.
Initially, only a few cultivators had found treasures.
But news spread quickly, and nearby cultivators, unable to resist greed, wanted a share.
Thus, cultivators surged at the border between Haori Mountain and Jiushan Sect. Since Haori Mountain bordered the Hundred Immortals Alliance, many Tongjians flowed in.
Especially those cultivators near the Hundred Immortals Alliance border found it easier to purchase Tongjians.
Zheng Fa silently calculated that there were now probably one to two thousand Tongjians in this area…
“Junior Brother?” Senior Sister Zhang asked when Zheng Fa remained silent for a long time. “What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing…” Zheng Fa raised his eyes toward Haori Mountain and suddenly sighed, “I’m praising the great spirit of the internet.”
“?”
Senior Sister Zhang and the others were even more confused, not understanding what Zheng Fa meant.
Zheng Fa truly admired these cultivators’ mutual aid spirit.
Though their intentions were not pure, they feared Haori Mountain’s trouble and recognized Luo Sanxian, making them even more cautious.
Many Tongjian holders were powerful cultivators who could easily gather intelligence. Many were constantly communicating through Tongjians—he had even been exchanging information with them, reminding each other to avoid provoking this Dao Fruit cultivator.
Luo Sanxian’s escape light was unique, and every short distance he stopped to perform secret techniques to disturb the energy flow.
Though cautious, these wide-ranging energy fluctuations made it easier for nearby cultivators to notice.
Though not everyone saw him at every stop, Zheng Fa pieced together dozens or even hundreds of spirit messages from cultivators and not only traced Luo Sanxian’s route but summarized a pattern in his escape…
Senior Sister Zhang and the others were speechless upon hearing this. Xie Qingxue muttered, “Who would have thought Luo Sanxian was exposed because of this?”
Senior Sister Zhang shook her head with a smile, “Let’s not talk about him. Who in the Xuanyi Realm could have guessed? Who could escape? None of them expected someone to uncover this information so quickly.”
Zheng Fa also felt Luo Sanxian was unlucky, or rather, he hadn’t grasped the horror of surveillance cameras everywhere.
In truth, it wasn’t that Luo Sanxian wasn’t cautious, but most cultivators running away never considered hiding from every cultivator along the route:
Without the Tongjian network, Zheng Fa would have spent an enormous amount of time interrogating cultivators to find Luo Sanxian’s whereabouts.
By then, Luo Sanxian would have long returned to Haori Mountain’s old base.
But with Tongjians, everything was different.
Luo Sanxian simply could not understand what it meant to live a life with no audience but everywhere had cameras…
…
Luo Sanxian truly hadn’t expected this. He now slowed his escape light and felt much more relaxed mentally.
He even felt a little self-mocking, thinking he had been overly cautious:
Whether Zheng Fa chased him or not was another matter. Moreover, now that he had reached Haori Mountain’s territory and performed secret techniques eight or nine times, no one could catch him.
His eyes landed on a collapsed spirit vein below. Frowning, he pondered silently:
“Passing the border between two sects, it seems the Hundred Immortals Alliance suffered some spirit vein damage too, but not nearly as much as my Haori Mountain…”
“Could this matter be related to Zheng Fa?”
Luo Sanxian had thought about this many times but still couldn’t understand how Zheng Fa had done it.
“Even if I reveal this, it would be unfair to Haori Mountain, and I have no proof…” Luo Sanxian smiled suddenly, “So what if it’s unfair? So what if there’s no proof?”
“With the Tianhe Sect uprising and the impending great battle in Xuanyi, now is the time for decisive action. Since the Trapping Immortal Sword has problems, I might as well ask Senior Brother Yun to come to the Hundred Immortals Alliance first and capture it.”
Thinking this, he glanced back toward Jiushan Sect, his gaze extremely distant:
“Unfortunately, if Senior Brother Lu had already become a Golden Immortal and returned from Leiyin Temple, Haori Mountain wouldn’t have to be so restrained.”
Shaking his head, he smiled secretly, “But Senior Brother Yun is a True Immortal. With me, that’s enough.”
Putting away his thoughts, he turned again to move toward Haori Mountain, but out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw a familiar figure:
“Zheng Fa?” He stood dumbfounded and almost shouted, “Why are you here?”
Zheng Fa looked at him, slowly drawing out the Qingping Sword, his expression tinged with disappointed reproach:
“Rogue Immortal Luo, you’re too slow. You kept me waiting.”
