Chapter 200: Chapter 50: A Chance Encounter at the Dharma Transmission Hall?

The upgraded Growth Technique was now completely unrecognizable. It had become the Flowering Jade Demon Vine.

This Technique was now even more powerful than many people’s Rune Core Techniques.

Moreover, this Vine Technique had already developed a hint of spiritual wisdom.

It could be considered a plant-based Summoning Technique and could even link with the Spirit Nurturing Summoning Technique. This also settled the matter of the Magic Rune for his Tai Chi One Life breakthrough.

He checked the energy in his repository. Merit: 1.2, Qi Fortune: 17.2.

Zhang Deming closed the editor and opened his palm. A vine resembling jade sprouted from his hand.

The vine didn’t look like a plant at all. It was fantastical, like a segment of pure jade.

Zhang Deming tested it for a long time before stopping.

He got up, left his room, and went to the side of the pool. He settled in to loaf around, enjoying a rare moment of leisure.

...

The next morning, Zhang Deming checked his schedule. It was a public lecture day again.

He hadn’t attended a lecture in a while. If he wanted to lie low, he still had to show up at the Dharma Transmission Hall every so often.

Even if it was just to keep up appearances. Otherwise, he’d run into problems during the background check when it was time to enter the Inner Sect.

Seeing it was almost time for the lecture to start, Zhang Deming set off immediately.

By the time he arrived at the Dharma Transmission Hall, the lecture was less than fifteen minutes away, so Zhang Deming randomly picked one of the last few halls that weren’t full.

But as he reached the halls numbered in the teens, he was surprised to find they were no longer full.

Today’s lecture was on Spiritual Shield. Shouldn’t all thirty Dharma Transmission Halls be nearly packed?

Why was the attendance even worse than for the Agility Technique?

’Right,’ he thought, ’the entire Outer Sect has seemed a lot quieter these past few days.’

Even someone like Zhang Deming, who rarely wandered around the Outer Sect, had noticed it.

When it was time for the lecture to begin, the instructing senior brother arrived, and Zhang Deming’s brow furrowed slightly once more.

’Why is it Dang Jin again?’

For the better part of the last year, Zhang Deming had been living a low-key life. Although he spent most of his time in Celestial Spirit City, he made sure to come back once or twice a month to avoid raising suspicion.

He had come eight times in the last six months, always choosing one of the last halls.

But for the last five of those eight times, Dang Jin had been his instructor.

Whenever he switched halls, the other man seemed to switch right along with him.

This was no coincidence. Dang Jin used to exclusively teach in the first ten halls.

His brow furrowed. After pondering for a long while, Zhang Deming still couldn’t figure out the reason.

After loafing his way through the morning, Zhang Deming went to the dining hall.

Just as he got his food and found a place to sit, someone came up beside him.

Zhang Deming looked up at the newcomer and said, "Senior Brother Dang, here to eat as well?"

Dang Jin was as suave and charming as ever, a perfect gentleman. He smiled and said, "That’s right."

Zhang Deming looked at him, paused, and said, "It seems we’re quite fated to meet. I only come once or twice a month, but lately, I run into you every single time, Senior Brother Dang!"

Dang Jin’s movements faltered for a moment. He smiled. "Isn’t that the truth? If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would’ve thought you’d gone to Steward Luh and had him pull some strings in our Dharma Transmission Hall."

Hearing this, Zhang Deming also paused.

’Does that mean he’s been wondering about it too?’

Zhang Deming smiled and replied, "You’ve got quite a sense of humor, Senior Brother. How could an ordinary disciple like me have the reach to arrange something like that?

"By the way, I heard that for the less crowded halls at the back of the Dharma Transmission Hall, you don’t need to swipe your Identity Card if you aren’t saving a seat, right?"

Dang Jin glanced at Zhang Deming and nodded. "Yes, that’s right. The card swipe for the seats was set up specifically to prevent people from fighting over them mid-lecture.

"If you’re not planning to fight for a seat, you don’t have to swipe your card. You can even sit at the front without swiping, but you risk someone taking your spot."

Zhang Deming nodded and didn’t say anything more. A silence fell between them.

They finished their lunch in silence. Zhang Deming then got up and left.

After leaving the dining hall, Dang Jin returned to his private break room and activated a light screen.

On it was some of Zhang Deming’s basic information, along with some other data.

In the assessment field, he wrote: Personality: cautious. Heart: excellent, but overly content to drift.

Considering the lingering conflicts from Spirit Nurturing Peak and his poor talent, there is no need to specially recruit him into the Dharma Transmission Hall.

Given that he has become aware of the observation, I request to conclude the preliminary assessment.

After completing the entry, he closed the light screen.

During the afternoon lecture, Zhang Deming continued to loaf around.

He decided he wouldn’t be coming to the Dharma Transmission Hall for a long time. He had originally come here to lie low and develop his skills, but now that he had somehow attracted attention, it was becoming counterproductive. He might as well just stay away.

...

After returning to Qingyou Pool, Zhang Deming reflected on the day’s events and realized he had underestimated the Sect’s intelligence-gathering capabilities.

He didn’t know where he had slipped up, but he had definitely been noticed.

Regardless of what went wrong, with a Spirit Root like his, Zhang Deming had no intention of sticking his neck out.

If someone with his Spirit Root were to stand out, he would attract a high level of attention, even drawing the gazes of many high-ranking members. Under that kind of scrutiny, many of his secrets would be exposed.

He should never assume his actions were seamless and underestimate the intelligence capabilities of an Upper Sect, especially one that has existed for tens of thousands of years.

This was especially true for anything related to Spirit Nurturing Masters. The Spirit Nurturing Technique was originally a Tier Four Technique, but for various reasons, it had been reclassified as a Tier One Enlightenment Dao Technique.

But the difficulty remained the same. Normally, only Three Talents Great Cultivators should even attempt it, and even for them, reaching the entry level was extremely difficult.

A Duality Cultivator who could learn it would be a genius among geniuses.

Someone at the Tai Chi Stage learning it would be a demon fiend, the kind of existence who could become a top Saint Son or Saintess in the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land.

As for an Apprentice?

Forget the Celestial Spirit Sect—there might not be a single one in the entire Hongmeng Realm. At least, Zhang Deming hadn’t read about any in the year he’d spent cramming general knowledge.

Therefore, if he were discovered, it would be no simple matter.

Given that activating the Body Disc Talisman could fundamentally change his true appearance, he didn’t have to worry about being recognized.

Zhang Deming thought for a long time. Since this identity was his foundation, he decided that from now on, he would have the "Zhang Deming" account lie as low as possible.

He was going to make an alt!

Having set this new course, Zhang Deming contacted Qin Shizhong. His materials were almost depleted.

After half a year of development, Qin Shizhong had already opened a proper shop in the stall area, though he hadn’t given up his street stall either.

It was clear how much he had expanded his business in the last six months by riding on Zhang Deming’s coattails.

Even now as a shop owner, he still maintained a very humble attitude toward Zhang Deming, coming whenever he was called.

Moreover, Zhang Deming had looked into it and found that despite his own bulk purchases of materials, Qin Shizhong was taking very little profit, dead set on latching onto him.

It was precisely for this reason that Zhang Deming hadn’t bothered finding a second supplier to compare prices.

Of course, the bigger reason was that a point of light representing Qin Shizhong had already appeared in his Spirit Nurturing Space.