Starting Cultivation During a Trip
Chapter 465 - 235: The Last Celestial Master Zhang Tai Xu! King Yan Appears
Immortal Family, divided between South and North!
The latest post by the Thousand-Year-Old Demon was like a beam of light entering a dark room, blinding and captivating, instantly jarring Zhang Fan’s nerves.
He subconsciously clicked on the post and started browsing.
"Aside from Chu Zhenren, are there others?"
Moments later, Zhang Fan’s expression changed completely as the various secrets mentioned in the post overturned his understanding—truly unimaginable.
Especially the account of the Daoist catastrophe eighty years ago.
The Thousand-Year-Old Demon mentioned in the post that everyone knows, eighty years ago, during the Daoist catastrophe, various Daoist lineages suffered great losses, ending some dharma lineages forever, and even mountain and sea demons and ghosts died on Dragon Tiger Mountain...
Honoring Immortal Gods and blessing the mortal world had become a Daoist tribulation, and on Dragon Tiger Mountain, only the young Chu Chaoran escaped alive.
However, in reality, at the sacrifice altar on Dragon Tiger Mountain, a total of five people survived.
"Five people..." Zhang Fan furrowed his brow.
On that day, during the Universal Sacrifice, not everyone was qualified to approach the altar to witness the ceremony; those who could enter the altar were undoubtedly of high virtue and profound cultivation. None of them survived, except Chu Chaoran.
Even those guarding the periphery of Dragon Tiger Mountain were nearly wiped out.
They knew nothing about what had happened during the Universal Sacrifice, and even if they survived, they were forever trapped in the tribulation, living a fate worse than death.
The Thousand-Year-Old Demon’s account was yet another version.
"Aside from Chu Zhenren, there were four other survivors?"
The first person Zhang Fan thought of was the Three Corpses Daoist.
According to the memories he peeked into from the Three Corpses Primordial Pill, the Three Corpses Daoist should have met Chu Chaoran in his childhood years, approximately a hundred years ago.
At that time, the Three Corpses Daoist was around thirty years old, his Divine Techniques not yet perfected, having been pursued by both the Wuwei Sect and the Daoist Sect in Yujing City.
Eighty years ago, the Three Corpses Daoist was about fifty years old, his Divine Techniques perfected, unrivaled, and he was already the greatest master in the world.
By rights, for such a grand event like the Universal Sacrifice, a figure like the Three Corpses Daoist should definitely not be absent.
Even if he came uninvited, he undoubtedly held a position as elevated as the heavens.
"Chu Zhenren, Three Corpses Daoist, and this Zhang Tai Xu..." Zhang Fan’s gaze sharpened.
The Thousand-Year-Old Demon’s post did not mention the Three Corpses Daoist but did mention another survivor among the five.
The last Celestial Master, Zhang Tai Xu.
The name of Celestial Master, for the Dragon Tiger Zhang Family, is not merely a realm but carries special significance.
Back in the day, Great Zhenren Zhang Daoling achieved most of his accomplishments at the Celestial Master rank before entering the immortal stream, and Breaking Mountains and Attacking Temples started from this rank.
Thus, the ancestors of the Dragon Tiger Mountain Zhang Family are also called Ancestral Celestial Master.
The name of Celestial Master has been passed down through generations of the Dragon Tiger Mountain Zhang Family.
Zhang Tai Xu was not only the last Celestial Master but also the last true head of the Dragon Tiger Mountain Zhang Family.
"Zhang Tai Xu..." Zhang Fan muttered softly, ruminating on this name.
According to the account in the Thousand-Year-Old Demon’s post, after the Daoist catastrophe, Dragon Tiger Mountain was henceforth sealed, and Zhang Tai Xu led the remaining survivors of the Zhang Family away from Xijiang Province, hence splitting into two, passing down from South to North.
The Southern Zhang Lineage inherited the Dragon Tiger Zhang Family’s Sword Talisman Seal, said to be bestowed by Taishang Laojun upon Zhang Daoling during his enlightenment on He Ming Mountain after founding the sect on Dragon Tiger Mountain; these three treasures are tokens of the Zhang Family sect leader.
In other words, the Southern Zhang Lineage inherited the Dragon Tiger Zhang Family’s Daoist tradition, legally speaking, this lineage is the orthodox line.
As for the other lineage that continued northward, known as the Northern Zhang Lineage, they mastered the Dragon Tiger Zhang Family’s secret Divine Investiture Ceremony; all Zhang Family disciples must visit the Northern Zhang Land for the God Sealing Statue.
"Immortal Family, divided between South and North... the origin is here, but why?" Zhang Fan showed an odd expression.
He caught the key point not mentioned in the post.
Zhang Tai Xu was one of the five survivors of the Daoist catastrophe. If he had led the Zhang Family disciples away from Dragon Tiger Mountain, why complicate matters by splitting them into South and North?
"Perhaps... there was some special emergency situation at the time, fearing they’d be wiped out?" Zhang Fan pondered.
He could think of only this possibility. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
However, a dignified Immortal Family and the Dragon Tiger Dharma Lineage, what kind of urgent special situation could pose such a danger of annihilation?
"The Daoist catastrophe truly seems strange everywhere." Zhang Fan murmured softly.
The root of everything was in that Daoist catastrophe.
"So one of the Nine Great Inner Elixir Methods, the Great Fulit Earth, has always been in the hands of the Dragon Tiger Zhang Family."
The Thousand-Year-Old Demon’s post also mentioned this inner core technique.
Great Fulit Earth, unlike other inner core techniques, has been held by the Zhang Family since the founding of Dragon Tiger Mountain, passed down through generations.
Great Fulit Earth, Immortal Realm, anyone who bathes in this technique could transcend the mundane.
In coordination with the Zhang Family’s God Sealing Statue, it made the Zhang Family disciples unique within the Daoist Sect, once the foremost sect of cultivation in the world.
"Great Fulit Earth..." Zhang Fan pondered.
The post did not mention more details of this inner core technique, but the scattered words suggested that Great Fulit Earth, unlike the other eight major inner core techniques, seemed capable of nurturing more masters.
After the Daoist catastrophe, this inner core technique was jointly held by the Southern and Northern Zhang families.
Southern Zhang inherited the Sword Talisman Seal, as the Dragon Tiger orthodox.
Northern Zhang mastered the Divine Investiture Ceremony, maintaining the flow of blood.
Great Fulit Earth was jointly held by the Southern and Northern Zhang families.
In such an environment at the time, Zhang Tai Xu’s arrangement seemed not unreasonable.