Starting Cultivation During a Trip

Chapter 529: Chapter 262: The Hexagram of the Yisi Snake Year! Eight Kings Carrying the Coffin

An Nan City, Ping’an Villa.

”Senior Brother, what could Master Uncle want with Zhang Fan?” Fang Changle watched the two leave and looked at Yu Hua with a puzzled expression.

The seniors in the sect, even if meeting privately, should have met with him, a Maoshan inheritor.

”Perhaps to understand the matters of Tusk Mountain, after all, it involves Qi Yun Mountain, even Sect Leader Mo personally came.” Yu Hua speculated.

Fang Changle pondered, thinking it over, and it seemed that could be the only possibility.

”Senior Brother, who exactly is Master Uncle? Why have I never heard of him before?” Fang Changle couldn’t help but ask.

From earlier observations, it was clear that Xu Xuan Guan was extraordinary, not only possessing unfathomable power but also being an old acquaintance of Qi Yun Mountain Sect Leader Mo Rancun.

Someone of such eminence, yet unknown in Maoshan, was truly bizarre.

”Master Xu left Maoshan many years ago, what’s strange about you not having seen him?” Yu Hua said indifferently.

”That’s odd, even if he wasn’t around, someone so powerful should have been mentioned by our elders, right?” Fang Changle wondered out loud.

”I’ve heard Master Xu was eccentric and too rebellious in his youth, so...”

Yu Hua hesitated, for it was taboo to gossip about elders, especially as a Maoshan disciple.

”Rebellious? How rebellious?” Fang Changle couldn’t help but press further.

Even within the Daoist Sect, there were those who acted uniquely. The most rebellious he’d seen was Zhang Fan, who from start to finish didn’t embody a single trait of a disciple from renowned sects.

”How would I know? Even if I did, I couldn’t tell you,” Yu Hua shot him a glance and said coldly, ”It’s taboo to casually discuss elders behind their backs.”

”You’ve forgotten all the rules!”

”So you’re saying our Master Uncle is a regular in the Hall of Reflection?” Fang Changle could not stop.

The Hall of Reflection was a place where Maoshan disciples went for self-reflection as a form of punishment.

In his youth, Fang Changle had visited there more than a few times.

”Mind your manners!”

Yu Hua snorted coldly and glared at Fang Changle fiercely. Sometimes, he really wanted to tear his junior brother’s mouth apart.

”Senior Brother, it’s not about manners, I’m just worried.”

”Worried about what?” Yu Hua asked in a serious tone.

”Senior Brother, don’t you think Master Uncle’s so...” Fang Changle paused slightly and lowered his voice.

”So odd, meeting Zhang Fan alone, how can one not worry?”

”....”

”Junior Brother, misfortune comes from the mouth, be careful your words don’t lead to disaster someday.”

Yu Hua shook his head, looking towards the empty courtyard outside, suddenly changing the topic: ”But Junior Brother, you did say something right.”

”What?” Fang Changle instinctively asked.

”Master Uncle indeed seemed a bit off today.”

”About not gossiping on elders, Senior Brother, how can you speak of him like that behind his back? Be careful you don’t invite disaster,” Fang Changle said with a smile.

However, seeing Yu Hua’s serious expression, Fang Changle’s smile faded as he asked, ”Why do you think he’s off?”

”Master Uncle never sees outsiders, yet today...”

Yu Hua narrowed his eyes, staring in the direction Xu Xuan Guan and Zhang Fan disappeared, appearing thoughtful.

...

In the dark room, a wisp of incense drifted, while two red candles glowed, a faint fragrance permeating the hall.

This wasn’t just ordinary incense, resembling the Daoist Descent of Truth incense, however, it was different. The scent Zhang Fan smelled now was more akin to the incense offering to the Three Corpses Daoist Monarch at the Imprisoned Immortal Temple.

”Senior, what is this place...”

Zhang Fan followed behind Xu Xuan Guan, eventually unable to hold back his question. This dark room was hidden deep within Ping’an Villa, appearing almost like an ancestral hall.

”This is where I usually offer incense for profound cultivation,” Xu Xuan Guan replied without turning his head.

He walked three steps forward, only to turn back to a wall where a painting hung, accurately speaking, a Hexagram. The upper three lines were a broken line between two solid ones, the Dui Trigram, and the lower three lines had continuous lines on either side with a break in the middle, the Li Trigram.

The two hexagrams combined, with Dui on top and Li below, form the Ge Trigram among the sixty-four hexagrams.

Xu Xuan Guan took out a stick of incense, with a gentle flick it caught fire and began to burn.

”Daoist True Flame.”

Zhang Fan’s gaze sharpened, having to admit in awe that someone like Xu Xuan Guan, whose techniques follow his thoughts, could manifest Daoist True Flame into void marvels, traceless.

Xu Xuan Guan offered the incense, bowing slightly to the Hexagram before placing it into the incense burner.

”This Hexagram was left by an old friend of mine.”

At that moment, Xu Xuan Guan spoke.

”He had the same surname as you, Zhang, and among our group, he ranked second...”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Fan’s gaze shifted slightly, though his heart raced.

From the earlier conversation between Mo Rancun and Xu Xuan Guan, he already knew there had been a faction of elders bonded by brotherhood.

The current Qi Yun Mountain Sect Leader ranked fifth among them.

As for Xu Xuan Guan, he ranked sixth.

The Zhang the Second they mentioned was none other than the father of Great Spirit Sect King Zhang Lingzong, Zhang Fan’s grandfather, Zhang Tian Sheng.

”This year is the Yisi Snake Year, and this year’s Hexagram is it.”

”The Ge Trigram!?” Zhang Fan pondered aloud.

”Indeed, the Yisi Snake Year’s Hexagram is the Ge Trigram,” Xu Xuan Guan murmured as he gazed at the Hexagram on the wall.

The Ge Trigram’s representation is up water and down fire, water dampens fire, and fire burns up water, symbolizing the ultimate conflict of mutual destruction that can only be resolved through transformation.